July Music Notes

I am back home!!  After exactly two months on the road, it was nice to be home in my own bed again and the best part….my hubby!!!
Equally nice has been being able to get my clothes out of a closet and dresser instead of a suitcase!
So grateful to everyone who has hosted me!  Great visits and hang time too.  What a great time.  The only sad part of being home is….. all you are SO far away and there’s moments where I’m a little sad that I can’t just pop over to spend time with each one of you! 

Thank you Pastor Bill & Pat Martin, Kim & Mike Eaton (and Renewed), Susan & Billy Casillas, Terri & Shawn Taylor & Phyllis Arnold, Brandon & Cheryl Breaker, Cheryl & Scott Marlow, Melanie Daigle, Michael & Tawana Albert, Jean & Kent Brund, MJ & Cat Jones, Carol  B. and last stop: Sue Dempster.  You all mean so much to me and I’m so grateful for your hospitality, your love, the fun, laughter, trips, sightseeing, music, stories, FOOD, memories and future plans!  It’s been awesome!

MUSIC WISE:
My June Update came from Clovis, NM at my friend Susan’s house.  I love her place.  We planted a lot of flowers in her pots and it just looked gorgeous when I left!! 
While in Clovis, I got to lead worship for Crossroads Cowboy Church in Broadview, NM and a week later was my concert at First Christian Church in Clovis and the following morning they invited me to play with the worship band for Sunday’s service.  That was a LOT of fun!  A huge thank you to Pastor Jon Forrest for opening the church to me for the concert night and having me be part of the service.  Precious moments!

After Clovis, my in-between stop for the night was Abilene, where I visited family (Warren’s sister & mom), had a 3 mile walk with my nephew Xavier and the next morning the road called to start heading further south. 
Actually so far I had such a pleasant road trip, no inclement weather the whole way ever since I had left Minnesota, so that was cool.  Sunshine all the way.

Once arrived in Woodsboro, things were busy until the day I left.  HAHA.  Between my daughter working on her photoshoots and following edits and me on my music office stuff, photo sorting and working on finding art events in the area to consider for future reference and visits, we had times where we just took a break and went to town!  Although that involved mainly to run errands, it was still fun to go to Corpus Christi to get those things done we both needed to attend to.
I also got to tag-team one of her client’s ordering sessions.  It took place at Starbucks and another curious customer sat across from us, so I was able to relay to her the information as I overheard Cheryl  sharing about her services to the client she had the appointment for.  That was pretty cool and a blast.  During my stay Cheryl also had photo sessions with clients and it’s been fun helping her with that.  She said I really should move there cos she could use an assistant!!
Then both of us took a sight seeing trip to Fredricksburg, TX, a little touristy “German” town and picked up my grandson from his dad’s to spend the summer vacation with his mom.   The only thing I wish we could have done was to have some German food, however the budget did not allow for the prices of that fare!
Although I got some music work done, sold some jewelry while there, it was really nice just to get to visit without having events scheduled…..and of course be a busy photographer’s assistant!  HAHA!
Here are a few photos from my stay there:

The rest of the trip would be fast and furious to get back home by the end of the month.
Leaving Woodsboro, I headed to Sugarland, TX next to visit my long time friends Scott & Cheryl who were also my host home before my concert in Pasadena, TX at The Refuge. 

A couple days later I headed to Pasadena, checked into the hotel and headed over to the venue to prepare for the concert that night.  Ah, it refreshed my heart to see my good friend Melanie Daigle who heads up The Refuge, a ministry she’s done for 15 years if not more.  We knew her since we lived in Houston all those years ago, often taking part in some event The Refuge had.
Concert night went wonderful, with the favorite song of the night being “For A Time As This”, which I played again per request at the end of the night during a time of testimony and prayer.  The song really spoke to people that night and was also spot on for the direction the Lord seemed to take that evening in ministry.
After a good night’s rest in the hotel, the next morning I headed to Spring, TX where I would be spending some time with singer/songwriter friend Tawana and her family.  Tawana and I had some music related topics to discuss, hopefully bringing encouragement to her and we both decided to try out an open mic night at The Blue Giraffe, a secular coffeehouse/music venue.   It was an interesting night for sure.
My music was well received, however, which was pretty cool, people bobbing their heads, tapping their feet and even singing along on one song!  That was pretty cool!

Then it was time to leave to head to Duncan, OK where I would be helping  my sweet sister-in-law after her severe car accident a month earlier (right when I had left to go on the road!!).
When you go through things like that, there’s a lot of pain emotionally and for sure physically which you face in the aftermath.  I know….I’ve been there myself!  So it was good for her to have some girl-company, have help when she needed it and also someone who could scrub the house to have it looking fresh, which for us girls, that’s so important as it helps us feel more calm and peaceful.
I got to play a mini-concert for her which was a huge blessing to her.  She so enjoyed it!  Even their dog came to listen!  Below are some pictures of that…..we hoped to catch him when he had his head cocked from one side to the other, but by the time the camera was out, he didn’t do that anymore.  It was so hilarious that we both couldn’t stop laughing and it was hard to sing amidst all the giggles!   Such a refreshing time for both her and I!  Moments we won’t forget so easily as they were precious!  I loved our late night talks and miss them now….

After Duncan, my next stop was Tulsa to spend just one night with my friend Cat and family.  We had silly moments (like doing a Facebook Live about exercise outdoors in the heat and it’s benefits), a sweaty walk and a late night Facebook LIVE concert I did, sitting at her kitchen table playing a few songs for folks on her page!  Fun!    Thankfully NO thunderstorms there!

The longest part of my drive was next. Heading straight home to MN would not have been possible for me without staying in a hotel, which I did not want to do.  So I drove to Monticello, Illinois for a couple nights with a friend there. 
On the way I experienced some scary….VERY SCARY weather!!!!  The closer I got t St. Louis, the more the clouds coming from the northwest were closing in on me.  By the time I got to the outskirts of town in rush hour traffic, the radio bleeped with alert and announcer said “tornado warning” and at the same time my phone went off like crazy with the same message!   So I prayed, “Lord I need an exit…..soon” and almost regretted that I didn’t stop earlier.  As the traffic inched down the road, a sign said “exit 1 mile”. YEY!   Best place I could stop!  A QT!!!  Food and shelter if need be!  Thank You Lord.
As the warnings kept being announced, where I was sitting not one drop of rain fell and the clouds all moved more towards town and down south.  So I had a 2 hour layover to wait out the weather before I could go on crossing through town to head north east!  No tornado touched down and the rest of the drive was uneventful, with just a little lightning here and there in the distance and DRY roads!!!  Yey!  However I got to my friend’s house quite late and very exhausted, physically and emotionally.  Don’t like thunderstorms like that, however they sure were a storm chasers dream!!!

From Monticello, my last stop would be Sheboygan, WI to make it a shorter drive each day and it was good to see another friend.   Yet…..after all that driving….and exactly to the day two months later…. I was glad to be back home!

PERSONALLY:
Once home, there was some house cleaning to do amidst helping with the last days of sales in the TNT Fireworks tents my hubby runs every summer and the Tent Revival.  With me being gone, he had to hire extra help and we are grateful for all the awesome folks who worked very hard to make sales as successful as they could be for a Wednesday July 4th.  Good job guys!

UPCOMING EVENTS:
Date: 7/19/18
Time:  10-4
Event: Art in the Park  (NotesNBling Jewelry)
Place:: Munsinger Gardens  
Town:  St. Cloud, MN
 
Date:  8/4/18
Time:  11 am
Event:  Rock On The Rock
Place:  Harry Moore Pavilion, Riverside Park
Town:  Beloit, WI


IN ENDING:
There have been times thoughout the trip where I’ve had some concern about “how am I ever gonna make it?”.  But it’s been equally amazing how God, not only through provision but also a lot through His Word brought encouragement and peace to my travels!  At each stop there was always some kind of message for me from the Lord that spoke directly into the situation of trip finances and road safety.
I am thrilled to testify that the Lord provided above and beyond for this trip, with the last provision coming in once home through the Munsinger Gardens Art Fair and other sales.
At the Art Fair, the opportunities to show God’s love through great conversations and times of sharing the scriptures attributed to my RockNStone and LeatherNLink lines were amazing!  It’s like God was sending people.
So many walked away with a smile because in some way God ministered to them in our conversations.
I also got to deliver a special order bracelet to a cancer survivor who got to share with me at the booth during the art fair.  I think I’ll be hearing more from her as she said “God brought us together for some reason”.  Yes, there is always a “divine appointment”!!