A beautiful dinner outdoors with the family…

The game of choice among the cousins is DUTCH BLITZ. Should’ve counted how many rounds were played…probably hundreds?!

Allison scripting quotes and verses on my aunt’s cupboards.

Brother/sister date at Chipotle!

Um…what happens in the green room, stays in the green room.
Selfie shenanigans, inside jokes, and much more. We love these backstage memories. =)

Mom with her newest great-nephew-one week old!

We love these ladies!! Whenever they show up at our concerts we just have a blast with them! They were in VS with mom “back in the day”, but now we say that we’ve stolen them from mom and they are Allison’s and my best friends too! =)

Denver’s first asked question when we pull into a church, “Do they have a gym?!?!” =)

I’m going to let mom tell about this picture in her words:
“This precious story is all about God, His plans, and His amazing ability to use ordinary people in ordinary circumstances to do extra-ordinary work.  It all began with with just another trip to our favorite place, Costco, to buy huge amounts of vegetables, fruits, nuts, peanut butter, and toilet paper. (yes, we ARE ordinary!!) As Hudson and I entered the store, the sign announcing a deep discount on a package of 2 pillows nearly jumped out and grabbed me.  Another ordinary fact is that I am, at times, prone to jump for an extra-ordinararily priced item that I know we will need sometime in the near future.  For those of you who don’t have the privilege of shopping at Costco, as you exit the store there is an employee who matches your cart of purchases with your receipt.  At this store, Mr. Mike, (see photo above) was providentially provided to check my receipt. Mr. Mike, being a friendly man, drew a caricature on the back of my receipt for Hudson and then asked him if he was going to have a pillow fight with the pillows.  I told him that in our family the children have rubber band fights instead of pillow fights which led me to a conversation in which I described our music, family, and ministry.  When I invited him to the concert he said he would come because his girlfriend loves gospel bluegrass music.  I smiled politely, remembering the many other times that had people told me something similar without ever showing up to the concert. But something about him seemed to be serious so when I got to the bus I asked Marlin if he would tell him how to get to the church. Sure enough, Mike and his sweet girlfriend showed up at the concert that evening. As I watched the couple during the concert I thought “I’m not sure if Mike is saved but his girlfriend’s face certainly indicates joy in her heart”.  Sure enough, after the concert she told me that she was saved, how her husband had died about 17 years ago, and how God had showed her that she should date Mr. Mike even though she didn’t think he was saved.  Turns out, God was using her to bring Mr. Mike to the Kingdom of God!! Mr. Mike shared with Marlin and I how he had been rejected by his mother as a newborn, his recent “battle” with Satan, and when we asked, that he was not saved.  We had the immense privilege to share the Gospel message more completely with him, and when Marlin asked him if he would like to be born again he said “YES”!! And that is the story of an ordinary story with an extra-ordinary ending!!!  TO GOD BE THE GLORY!  Without Him, we can do nothing!  Our songs, our testimony, our ministry are NOTHING without the power of the Holy Spirit!! (note: Marlin talked with “Costco Mike” again the other day. Mike was fired up and excited about his new Christian journey and told Marlin that he is getting baptized this Sunday!)

The pastor of one of the churches we sang at in Ohio treated us to breakfast.

Loved catching up with my mother’s niece and her little girl in Ohio!

We see fun signs like this at churches sometimes. =)

Bus chores continue, day after day. It’s just like keeping up with a house, only on a smaller scale!

The outside of the bus is no exception-you wouldn’t believe the grime and filth we pick up as we drive all over! 

This dear friend is a trucker and always so kind to give our bus a wash whenever we are in the area!

As you may have noticed by now, we are missing a family member this concert tour.
Carson quit traveling with the family band this spring. We miss him a lot but are excited for the new opportunities God has opened up for him! (stay tuned for a post on that coming soon!)
I will be honest and tell you that our first couple concerts without him were beyond rough. We were nearly in despair. Some of us considered mutiny some nights; we were that embarrassed about how badly we sounded. =) Carson had been our bass player, sound guy, and bus mechanic. So he definitely left some pretty big shoes to fill! Thankfully everyone has pitched in-Mitch and Dad and other people along the way with bus repair issues and troubleshooting, Denver + Josh with running sound, and Taylor with the bass guitar (with a little help from Mitchell and I).
Eventually, after about a week, we got into a routine and now I am happy to report that we have adjusted and things are going much better!

Still working on getting Taylor incorporated with Carson’s spot on siblings cooperation and mom talking over Taylor’s bass on this song. For now, we’ve just cut the second set, and do the song with the older set and the youngest ones.

Liz catching up with friends after a concert!

With Carson’s departure from the band, Hudson stepped up to take over all battery charging and mic checking. He does a great job keeping our vocal amplification

 Liz before a concert, with her great-aunt Liz, whom she was named after!

Dad, Mitch, and Hudson with this gentleman, who was one of Dad’s teachers at Bible School thirty years ago. It is such a great testimony to us children to be able to meet the people who had an impact on our parents’ lives. What a heritage.

Concert set-up routine…

After our concert at a church in Ohio one night, one of the men there came to my dad and said, “Here is a video from when y’all were here six years ago.”
We watched it the next day while we were eating lunch. I must confess, it was difficult to eat because we were all in STICHES laughing SO HARD. Those were the days when Liz, Hudson, and Rebecca were all babies, and we were constantly taking turns running off stage to tend to them or something similar. It was to DIE FOR funny.
It was also encouraging to see that by God’s grace we have improved a bit! And humbled to know that God is willing to use whatever we are willing to do for Him.

Practice, practice, practice…Hudson + Allison during a violin lesson in a church nursery in Maryland.

 One of the biggest perks of tour life remains that we get to stay in touch with our hundreds of cousins, uncles, aunts, and even more distantly related family. Here, mom poses before on of our concerts with her uncle + aunt, and her cousin + cousin’s husband.

 Fog over the mountains in Virginia. What a beautiful view from the church we sang at!