Everyday News

Tonight¢¬?¢s concert was held at a church called Pleasant Hill Baptist, and upon arriving they found the building to fit the exterior atmosphere. Rustic, captivating, old- surrounded by a graveyard. The graveyard itself told a story involving time. There were brand new burial headstones, and right next to them were old, rough stone grave markers. A new shelter identical to the old one had been erected not ten feet from the old structure, and the difference was striking. This place had a history, something that the modern lifestyle erased so quickly with all of its state of the art buildings and architecture. Something about the oldness of the country seemed to draw you in. It was if there was a magnet the grabbed a place inside of you that you¢¬?¢d forgotten was there into a realm of history, stories, tales, heritage and the very meaning of life. The people themselves, as they began arriving for the evening concert were a living relic of this life we were witnessing. I wouldn¢¬?¢t call it one to be envied, but perhaps one to be in awe of, and read as you might a great book. Appalachia has taken on a new and indepth meaning to us ...

... But that has nothing to do with my story ... :-)

As the van got loaded after the concert, and weary children and adults piled back into the cramped transportation, oldest son, and eighteen year old Jared climbed into the driver¢¬?¢s seat to drive. He revved the engine and then flipped it off just as quickly.

"Papa, this van¢¬?¢s on empty!" Papa groaned and hung his shoulders

"Ah, man, I forgot about that. I meant to fill up in Burkesville. We¢¬?¢ll have to see how far we can go, but you know the drive, it was a long way up here, and a nearby gas station is unheard of." The next few minutes were spent getting directions to the nearest station from a lady standing nearby, which ended up being on the way home anyway. "Phooey too, this van only gets thirteen miles to the gallon, and it was twenty miles into this place." said Papa shaking his head and grinning at his forgetfulness. The rest of the crew laughed and returned "ah, we know how to do this. Remember our miracle on I-90?" They were referring to the van (with the trailer hitched on) on the way to Ohio one year and running out of gas at the bottom of a hill in between Cleveland and Erie. There¢¬?¢s no better way to learn about faith than to put into practice, eh? So they had prayed that van into action and made it to the top of the hill, where it stopped and coasted down. Faith stoked, they prayed again, thanking the Lord for that awesomeness. The second hill felt even more powerful from the sheer force of what faith really was, and by the time they reached the gas station and coasted into the one open lane only to find out that it was out of order, they were ready to pray it into gear one more time.
Same thing here, right? The adults (worldly-wise old things they are, including Grandpa!) smiled and let it go, but those kids prayed anyway. Finally, the gas station came into sight (they weren¢¬?¢t technically out of gas because they hadn¢¬?¢t yet begun sputtering) and Papa, the ever resourceful and cheap man that he was, told Jared to drive by and see if they could make it to Burkesville. There was a resonance of disagreement and pushback that reverberated in the back of the vehicle, but who¢¬?¢s to argue with the dad?

"Do you think that might be pushing God's grace, Papa?" Elisabeth asked rather circumspectly.

"Oh, I¢¬?¢m not, I believe that if he can get us here, he can take us to Burkesville." Was the confident reply. Half a mile later the sputtering began, and the Papa (full of faith, remember?) Said to turn around and go back, which Jared did willingly, only to find when the gas station was in sight, and we were almost up the small grade leading to the entrance that pressing on the accelerator was doing nothing. There you have it. Out of gas, right next to the gas station entrance. What a pickle.

"I think we should pray for God to get us in" Elisabeth said, and was met by a chorus of "yeahs" and "of courses" and a "would you do it?"

"Jesus," she began, "we¢¬?¢re sorry for taking advantage of your miracle, and we just ask that you would grant a little more grace and get us into the station. Thank you Jesus."

Amen¢¬?¢s followed, and Jared turned the key, the engine rolled, but not for long before it died. Papa switched with Jared, saying something about having to do something a little tricky to see about getting it started. Rebekah and Elisabeth looked at one another with a look that said "I think we should rely on the miracle instead of tricks" and both simultaneously fell back into their seats with a frown and arms crossed. Papa took the wheel, looked for traffic and let the van roll backwards, and when it picked up enough speed he turned the wheel and flipped out into the lane enough to have the front of the van point down the hill "to get gas in the front of the tank" he said. Those strategies only worked for a moment, and certainly not long enough to get them into the station. Elisabeth¢¬?¢s blunt and somewhat reproachful voice popped up from the rear,

"I think someone needs to ask God¢¬?¢s forgiveness for taking advantage of his grace and his miracle." Her words were generalized, but they were obviously directional to one individual, though sweetly coated in humor. There was a laugh that circulated around, and then Papa put his head on his headrest and his hands gripped the steering wheel, and still humored he prayed, "I¢¬?¢m sorry God, I didn¢¬?¢t think I was taking advantage of you, but I¢¬?¢m sorry if I did. Please, please, please, just get us to that gas station. I¢¬?¢m really sorry." There was a satisfied grunt, and smirk of satisfaction and triumph on Elisabeth and Rebekah's countenances. It would work now. The two conspirator's crossed their arms and sat back, smiling confidently at each other.

Papa rolled the engine, and it...didn¢¬?¢t work.

Ah man! But when there¢¬?¢s believers stoked like they were, there was no backing down or getting discouraged. They were ready for a miracle!

"Do it again!" Came the chorus of laughing, excited voices from the back of the van.

Shaking his head, and Grandpa shaking his concurrently (though he was being strangely quiet with that ¢¬Ë?I¢¬?¢m wiser than you, and this is funny, but go ahead and have your childish fun¢¬?¢ look on his face), they rolled the engine again.

Like a hybrid electric car, it sprang to life, and with a holler that travelled through the van, Papa put it into gear and swung around. It pulled up the hill, up the entrance to the station, and was still humming almost noiselessly when they pulled into the pump and stopped.

Throughout this time Grandpa¢¬?¢s worldly-wise appearance had vanished, and a look of awed shock fell in its place. As we stopped, and there were shouts of joy and praise to the amazing God drifting outside of the van to curious onlookers, Grandpa¢¬?¢s hand fell from his face, and he looked at his son and voiced his timeless, trademark words:

"I¢¬?¢ve seen it all now."

Amen?

Amen!

We had a great time in Ohio beginning with spending some time with our lifetime friends the Richardson's (I say "lifetime" because my parents have known them since before I was born!)  We don't hardly see them enough these days!  I guess that's the curse of a busy lifestyle...

The concert on Saturday (Winter Gospel Concert - or something to that effect) was a success (at least in the sense that the building was packed out).  The Welch's did a great job advertising it.  We were the last band at around 9:30 or 10 PM, so it went late, but we had a great time.  We met a few new bands, including the Welch Family and For His Glory (the Walker Family).  We had met a couple of the Welch's on a previous Athens trip, so it was nice to get a feel of the whole family.

We immensely enjoyed our fellowship after the concerts (until one in the morning I might add) with the Walker Family.  They have not been in the music industry that long, but they definitely have the feeling and the drive along with the family effect that makes poplularity invevitable!  The fact that they love Jesus is also very obvious, and we love to find family bands that have that as their primary focus!  Hopefully some more fellowship with them will be orchestrated in the near future...

As stated before, we had a late night on Saturday...and two concerts on Sunday (one on Sunday MORNING).  Ugh!  Not a nice way to start.  And we also had to say our goodbye's and do all our packing on Sunday morning.  On top of that, Ben came down with some horrible sickness on Thursday, so he was completely out of the loop.  And to add the cherry to the whipped topping, the first church we played at we couldn't get the sound working.  Talk about a set up!  But God uses what we think are incredibly difficult situations to show us that He is incredibly creative and completely unhindered by anything.  It was their first day with a new Pastor, who's message was awesome, and the fellowship with the sweet folks afterwards was really a blessing.

Then Grandpa Lindsey and Grandma Jeanie took us out to Golden Corral for lunch.  Oh my was that ever good!  Thanks Grandpa and Grandma!  I love being spoiled once in a while!  We were so stuffed that I was sick!  I think the bible says something about that doesn't it?  ...Eat so much as is SUFFICIENT for you...?  I offer no excuses...

The evening concert was again a blessing (though we struggled with the sound, but that happens frequently so we just try to move past it.  it wasn't anyone's fault at all!)

The weather had turned bitterly cold, so loading wasn't pleasant, and we had to do a lot of switching between our two vehicles due to the fact that Jared, Papa, Ben and I were leaving in the morning to go home while the others remained behind in Cincinnati with Mama's parents for a few days.  When we finally got on our way (Jared and me driving) it was another 2 hours before we reached Cincinnati, and by then Ben was in absolute agony (we had sort of diagnosed a double ear ache, plus a really bad sore throat).  We got settled in and one of Ben's ear drums burst...  Oh!  Ouch!  But the fluid behind it drained some, offering a temporary relief to what he called "knives hacking at his ear".

The four of us left at around noon the next day, and then Papa took Ben to our doctor friend on Tuesday who said Ben had major congestion, Strepthroat, double ear infection, and a nasel infection.  Wow!  What a list!  Well, some friends called on Tuesday and wanted a couple of us to come over and work on their computer, and Ben really couldn't go, so I stayed home with him.  You'd think by playing the sweet, sacrificial nurse that I'd be spared the contagious disease, but boy was I wrong!  I came down with the most horrible case of strepthroat and the achy stuff again that I have EVER in my life encountered!  Maybe that's due to the fact that I have not encountered much sickness in my life, but just the same, it was AWFUL!  Naomi and I were put on antibiotics for the first time in our lives, and that is helping.  But here's the good part...

THE LINDSEYS HAVE BEEN STRUCK DOWN WITH PLAGUE NUMBER (what was it again?) 5???  I think...  I hate to be a raincloud, but that leaves five to go, right?

Everyone's got bad stomach sickness, dehydration, and diarrhea, and a few have strepthroat.  Well, here we go again.  Ya'll pray for us!  This is nothing like we've experienced.  Lindseys have a bunch of tough immune systems, but they have met their match in Kentucky.  A friend, in an attempt at consolation, offered that perhaps the constant winter in NY froze all the bacteria...  She might have stumbled on to something there... :-)

And, as a side note, I would like to mention that we are in the process of the first of a collection of Hymns CD's.  The hope is that we can complete it and have it ready by June...  We'll see how many more plagues we can conquer in the process!

I'll be updating the pictures sometime later, so be sure to check that.

May the Lord bless you all!

Elisabeth

We arrived in Athens, Ohio yesterday night after a longer drive than usual because the van's transmission was skipping a little.

Today, we hung out with our friends the Richardsons, and Sara (Richardson), Elisabeth, Ben and Jared did a full-blown production on a song that Sara wrote, then we all ate pizza and wings for dinner...it felt like we were in New York again. :)

We played tonight, we'll be playing tomorrow, then twice on Sunday, then we'll probably go visit Grandpa, then head back home.

We had a "photo shoot" on Sunday (which was actually just a thrown together jumble resulting in some half decent photos intended for my aunt who needs to update her picture wall...).  Anyway, Grandpa was here, so we made it a bit of an event.  We seem to always pick the less than best days to do this sort of thing.  I was going to set it up in a "studio" environment down where we work, but nobody wanted to cart the whole entourage down there.  So we did the "make do".

It was quite funny because the section of the porch that we used for the picture was the part that was done - this insinuates that to GET to it, you have to somehow get across the four feet that is just bracing that is NOT done...and a long fall if you miss! - So, we safely escorted the crew across, and I timed the camera, did the settings, and pressed the button (this would be the first of many).  Then I had to skirt the empty space in the air without falling through, or worse, straddling one of the braces...  Not my kind of adventure in a skirt and dress shoes.  I won't give any more details on this, but it really was funny!

I was going to ask for you all to leave your comments on the pictures.  Ben is doing a new web design and we're thinking about using some of these.  Give us your feedback!!

Elisabeth

Hey everyone,

That nasty sickness has finally been killed.  We all held our breath two days ago when Mama said she wasn't feeling that great, but she skipped right to the head cold part and missed all the other progressions.  Thank you Jesus!

The weather has been awesome here in southern KY.  We've been out in t-shirts working and playing, and soaking up the sunlight.  It smells like spring ya'll!  I woke up at around six this morning (I had left the window open last night) and the birds were chirping and the wind was whistling.  It was great!  We had severe weather warnings yesterday, but just got the after effects of some bad storms in TN.  Just rain and fast winds.

Lastly, the parents headed off to Bowling Green this morning (early) to have Grandma Bear's car worked on, and return a bunch of her stuff that was sitting at her house.  I'm hoping that Papa doesn't spend the whole time on the phone or on his laptop and does the "real" date thing... :-)

You guys have a blessed day!

Elisabeth

Things have been quiet around the Lindsey house--by necessity.  All of the ten children have been in one stage or another of relative comatose for The whole last week!  It starts with headache, body aches and follows with 4 or 5 days of just laying around unable to do anything.  Now, many have sore throats and are still having difficulty standing and we're supposed to sing tonight.  Hmmm.  I heard Papa practicing some of his favorites from 20 years ago.  Maybe it'll be a solo experience!

Looks like due to the sickness and falling behind here, we won't be attending SPBGMA this year so we'll miss seeing many of you.

Hope you all stay well and warm!

God Bless,
Tammy (the still-well Mama and nurse-maid)