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I'm thankful that the Lord has CALLED us to do what we do. I can't imagine trying to do it without His strength, guidance and provision!

*7 days away from home
*7 nights in motels
*sharing a motel room with the 3 people that I love more than anyone else in the world, but still, that's 3 more people than me in one small room!
*setting up, sound checking, "performing" (see a previous post!), and tearing down gear 6 times
*listening in awe as my sweet hubby expelled every ounce of energy each night to give folks an unforgettable concert. His voice still makes the hair on my arms stand up!
*sharing our testimony over and over, watching hope spark in people where there hadn't been any hope for a long, long time
*listening to heartwrenching stories of heart ache, disappointent and, of course, mental illness
*driving hundreds of kilometers and seeing thousands of acres completely flooded and knowing how devasted the farmers must be
*encouraging a hotel clerk who had been married to a youth pastor who abused her
*encouraging the grandma beside me on the plane who seemed frightened by every bump ... her hubby of 52 years had recently passed away and she was learning to live life alone
*encouraging the young dad beside me on another flight who woke up in the morning in Calgary and decided to move to Toronto that very day to be close to his little girl. He was so disraught about his decision. He was from a broken home and was fighting hard not disappoint his mom or dad and at the same time be a father himself
*doing laundry in a filthy little laundryroom in a tiny motel in the middle of nowhere (the INSIDES of the machines were clean!)
*dragging bags of groceries from motel to motel in an attempt to eat a bit healthier and save the expense of restaurants


We also did get to connect with my cousin and her sweet family over a meal. We reconnected with some awsome fans. We had a picnic in a hotel room with some old friends. We got to share the stage with one of our all time favourite groups ... Double Portion! We got to spend some time with our dear friends, Dr. Richard and Elaine Horner, who drove in from Edmonton to be with us.

We flew from Saskatoon to Calgary yesterday afternoon before catching our connection to Toronto (I know that route doesn't make sense, but try and tell that to WestJet!). In Calgary airport they have a Chili's, one of our all-time favourite restaurants, so we sat back, relaxed and enjoyed a delicious meal. We were wandering around, doing a bit of shopping afterwards when MacKenzie came running out of a shop saying they had just called our names over the loud speaker. I walked calmly to the gate wondering if they were going to upgrade us or something. The desk clerk picked up the phone and started yelling, "Cancel baggage removal ... they're here!" She asked me for our boarding passes. I gave them to her and reminded her that we had another hour before we flew. Oh no we didn't! There is NOT an hour time difference. The plane was loaded and they were waiting for us! In fact, they were just getting ready to remove our bags from the plane because we hadn't shown up! We nearly missed that flight!

We arrived in Toronto at midnight, got our bags (yes, they were all there), jumped in our van and headed home. We pulled into our driveway at 3:00am ... tired, but with a sense that we had accomplished what God had sent us to do. We are blessed indeed!

Adventure to SK

Just a quick overview of how our quick tour to SK is going.

-we left for the airport a tiny bit late and 10 minutes down the highway, the traffic was STOPPED. There was a huge accident and they were rerouting all the highway traffic. Thankfully my hubby knows the back roads and so we were able to make up some time on them.

-In the middle of Toronto, in bumper to bumper 140 km/hour traffic, a man decided to run across 16 lanes of traffic. We were in the 8th lane across and he ran in front of the car in front of us. We all jammed on our brakes, but thankfully we were fine. Unfortunately sirens started screaming right afterwards, so I think his venture across the Westbound lanes was not so successful.

-We got to the airport 50 minutes before our flight, so were anxious, but everything seemed to go fine.

-After checking in, we noticed our boarding passes weren't right. I didn't have the seat the my hubby had paid extra money and spent a bunch of time on the phone to get.

-After boarding, the lady who had my desired seat, realized I wasn't with my family and offered to change seats with me! Yahoo. Great flight, nice movie.

-Got into Saskatoon and went to pick up our rental van. They wouldn't accept our 25% coupon because it was issued in another province even though we had called ahead to check.

-Went to baggage claim and got our lugguage ... all but our gear box arrived safely. After much frustration with Air Canada Baggage Claim, we left without our box. They assured us it would be in Prince Albert by the morning. It wasn't. It didn't arrived until 4pm and our concert started at 6:30pm!

-Everything else has been wonderful! The people, the pastors, the concerts ... incredible! Looking forward to what God has in store for the rest of the week!

Thank you Lord for Freedom!

Thanks to Teena's hubby for the reminder!

Listen to "Ordinary Miracle"

Amazing ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMqn0pdCNRM

Ordinary Miracle

This week the girls and I had a movie day while dad was away on business ... just us girls, take out pizza and a couple movies we've been wanting to see. One was "Charlotte's Web". My mom had read the book to my girls once when she was visiting, but we hadn't seen the movie. When the movie ended with Sarah MacLachlan singing "Ordinary Miracle" I was so drawn in! Time stopped and the hair stood up on my arms as I listened to the beautiful words.

Lord, open our eyes to see all the "Ordinary Miracles" you've provided for us.


Sarah McLachlan Ordinary Miracle

It’s not that unusual
When everything is beautiful
It’s just another ordinary miracle today
The sky knows when its time to snow
Don’t need to teach a seed to grow
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

Life is like a gift they say
Wrapped up for you everyday
Open up and find a way
To give some of your own
Isn’t it remarkable?
Like every time a rain drop falls
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

Birds and winter have their fling
But always make it home by spring
It’s just another ordinary miracle today
When you wake up everyday
Please don’t throw your dreams away
Hold them close to your heart
Cause we’re all a part
Of the ordinary miracle
Ordinary miracle

Do you want to see a miracle?
It seems so exceptional
That things just work out after all
It’s just another ordinary miracle today
Sun comes up and shines so bright
And disappears again at night
It’s just another ordinary miracle
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

How to weigh yourself ...

I'm glad I found this out! I can't believe we've been doing it wrong all these years! We've got to get the word out!

HE IS RISEN!

How can two kids be so different?

Anyone who has been a parent for any length of time knows how incredible it is that kids can be so different. We have two beautiful children who have the same mother and father, same geneology, same home setting, even same schooling and yet, they are soooo different.

A friend was playing in hockey finals this last week and the reaction when the game was tied was hilarious!

MacKenzie ... "Well, that's nice. Then they BOTH won!"

Savannah ... "Kyler's team should have won. He should NOT have been given the 3 minute penalty for only standing up for himself! If he hadn't had that penalty, THEY WOULD HAVE WON!"

I suppose it's the same with our Heavenly Father ... he's done the same miraculous things for all of us, provided a way of salvation for all of us and yet we all react in such different ways! I wonder if He chuckles at it sometimes?

Testimony Recorded

While we've been able to travel and share Andrew's testimony from coast to coast, it has always been a dream of ours to have the testimony recorded so that it can go where we cannot. This past Sunday saw that dream become a reality. The power of God was so strong and following the testimony we had the opportunity to pray with several folks!

Andrew has the most phenomenal friends on his worship team and they all were so supportive. It really gave him strength to be honest in front of our home church.

We had a chance to listen to the first copy today and it was just as powerful today as it was on Sunday morning! I'm always amazed at how the anointing can be transferred via CD!! How does God do that??

I'm just believing that so many people are going to be encouraged, given hope and SET FREE from this!