Tour Scrapbook

Sunday, February 23

The next two weeks are going to be the busiest we've had since we left home in August. We have 5 events both weeks!! Today we went to the Maritime Museum in San Diego (www.sdmaritime.com). It was very interesting to look at the Star of India, the only functioning mast ship in the country. We saw where people lived and slept for months down in the lower deck of the ship just to find freedom in a new country.

When we left the museum, we went back to our buses which were parked at a Walmart. Abby and Avery were tired and not feeling well, so I kept them on the bus while the rest of the crew went to David Jeremiah's church, Shadow Mountain Church. We ate supper after they got home and we put the kids to bed. It was pretty late when we headed to park the buses at the next church. Charles asked me if I wanted to try my hand at driving the bus . . . I did it!!! The kids were asleep and I drove in the parking lot!! I'm not ready to take on LA traffic, but at least I know how to turn on the engine (if I forget, Alec knows how) and how to start and stop! I gave the wheel back to Charles and we headed for Oceanside.

Monday, February 24

Our week of events started off great with New Song Community Church MOPS. Charlyn Kelley was the coordinator for the group today and had been talking with me (Laurie) for almost a year planning for our coming. The group may have been small in number (55-60), but made up for it in support and encouragement! Charlyn went above and beyond . . . making our families an egg casserole for breakfast! What a neat lady! We heard lots of encouraging words and the group blessed us financially!

Tuesday, February 25

This morning we were at Mariners for their first of three groups for the week. There were about 75-80 moms in attendance. They gave us a big basket of coloring books, magazines, munchies and lots of other fun stuff! Tiffany, the speaker coordinator, was gracious and the group was encouraged. The MOPPET leader (the one who oversees the children while their moms are at MOPS) Julie, was an incredible lady. She bragged on our kids and they fell in love with her!

We met a sweet MOPS mom named Jessica Ho. She invited our whole family to dinner at an exquisite Chinese Food Restauarant Sam Woo's Seafood sometime this week!
We will be camping out in the church parking lot all week since we are doing all three groups. We had been wanting to attend Mariners Small Group Studies on Tuesday nights, but hadn't been able to do so until tonight. Leslie Tekstra (the Friday MOPS speaker coordinator) arranged for our children and us to be involved in a small group. The kids were eager to go to their classes. Avery and Crislynn met Jill, a sweet 17 yr. old, who let them have popcorn and played with them! Her mom was Julie, the lady we met this morning . . . I wasn't surprised! This was the first time we'd been in any kind of small group study since leaving home. We've missed it! The study was on I Cor 13 . . . we focused on anger in relationships especially with our husbands. It was sooo good, and we all needed to hear it!

Our table leaders were Mark and Shannon. After talking with Shannon a little while, she told us that we were scheduled to not only to be at her MOPS group on Friday, but we were also scheduled to be at her mom's church in Washington for a ladies tea in May!! Wow, it is a small world. Her mom is coming next week and we are going to try and meet her while she's here! We had a great time meeting new friends. Shannon and Sharon and I talked about getting together tomorrow night at Starbucks with the leaders from the Thursday and Friday groups.

Shannon and Mark came to see our buses after the Bible Study and *Leslie, Michael and their children, Travis, Sydney, and Emit brought us a basket full of fresh fruit, roasted almonds, and lots of other goodies in a beautiful picnic basket! She and her group also provided a huge Honey Baked Ham and potatoes! Wow!

Wednesday, February 26

We had to find a place to dump and refill our tanks this morning. We had difficulty finding fresh water to refill our tanks . . . There are no RV parks in the Irvine area and that makes it difficult.

We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Charles stayed behind to find water and work on other unfinished projects. The kids loved the Aquarium. They were able to touch some sharks, sting rays and starfish.

We saw God's handiwork in the hundreds of different kinds and colors of fish!

We stopped at In-N-Out Burger on the way back to the bus, and then Shannon came to pick us up to go to Diedricks Coffee. She had two cases of juice boxes in tow!

We met the speaker coordinators for both the Thursday and Friday groups at Diedricks Coffee. We had sooo much fun getting to know these ladies. Laura MacAdam was the one who arranged (almost a year ago) for us to come to all 3 groups at Mariners. It was fun to finally meet her! Leslie Tekstra was so eager to know what could be done at their groups to make our time better! They were the most gracious ladies! God truly blessed us all that night.

Thursday, February 27

Today was a great day. There was a feeling of excitement in the air when I arrived at the church to do my sound check. I was able to pray with the leadership before the meeting started. I truly felt God's presence and anticipated what He was going to do that morning. Laura, was great to help us with our kids, handouts or whatever! Before we even started, Julie, the Moppets coordinator, volunteered herself and her daughter, Jill, to keep our kids on our bus, and let us go out for the evening!! I was so touched, I cried. I was overwhelmed by their love! She said that Jill had fallen in love with Crislynn and Avery and wanted to help! We set a date for Friday night (that's tomorrow!)

After our concert a lady with a preteen son told me of her struggles. She felt that she was always on his case and he was really acting out in negative ways to get her attention. Sometimes she just didn't know what to do with him. We prayed together and talked about some different ideas that might help her in dealing with his attitudes and behaviors. She was encouraged and seemed to have hope again! Other ladies came up to me saying how they had been praying for their child to change and realized during our program that they themselves were the ones who needed to change.

I love how God knows right were each lady is, and what she needs for the day... and then, through a story or a song we share, He touches their heart!

Camille, the cood of the group said that she felt that her family was supposed to do something to bless us. She said that she and her family would like to keep all the kids for us while we went out to her favorite restaurant ... GULFSTREAM a beautiful restrausnt in Newport Beach close to the ocean... and wanted to cover the tab! We planned the "Date Night" for Monday. What an awesome gift. Again, we were amazed at the generosity and love of this church!
I asked Camille if I could come to her house this afternoon and give the kids a bath! We did and they loved the big bathtub!

After we returned from Camille's house we went to meet Jessica and her family at Sam Woo's Chinese Food Restaurant. The children were intrigued by the live seafood swimming around in large tanks at the back of the restaurant. The wait staff were enamoured with all our blonde-headed, blue-eyed children! Jessica found out that it was Abby's Birthday on Saturday and had a Chinese birthday cake brought to our tables. We all sang "Happy Birthday" and the cake was wonderful. What a generous family!!

Friday, February 28

Today's group at Mariners went well!! We felt we already had friends in the group since we'd met with some of the leaders on Wed night. They all made us feel so welcome. Sharon and I, however, were dragging a little. It had been a long busy week and we were feeling it. But, despite our weaknesses, God obviously was at work in the lives of the ladies. A mom, approached me after the concert with tears in her eyes. She hugged me and said "I've done exactly what you talked about." She shared her struggles and wanted to know what helped me change. I talked with her about some creative ideas that had been helpful for me as well as encouraged her to see her child with God's eyes. I prayed with her and God gave her hope!

The girls and the kids went to Fashion Island with some ladies from the group and had lunch at McDonalds (Yea!!). Charles and Alec went down to Newport Beach to take pictures of Sports Cars!!

Abby and I came back to the bus and made cupcakes, colored and then joined Avery for a nap.

When we awakened, it was time for Julie and Jill (ladies from Mariners in childcare) to keep our kids so we could go out to eat with our spouses!! We went to Claim Jumper and it was! The kids had a wonderful time and wanted Ms Julie and Jill to keep them again! Thank you, Lord, for the volunteer childcare!

Saturday, March 1 - Abby's Birthday!!!

This morning we slept as late as possible and then began a busy day, which started with a birthday breakfast for Abby! Before lunch, we were visited by Rocky and Stacy Robbins and their little boy. They also have a singing ministry and were interested in our buses, because they, too, are interested in going on the road. We were very encouraged by their visit.

Abby and I quickly iced her cupcakes, and then we all went to In-N-Out burgers. After eating lunch, we went to a beautiful park nearby, opened presents, played football, laid in the grass and ate cupcakes! We plan to celebrate Abby's birthday again when Dinina comes to visit in a week!!

We had to get back to the buses to get them moved to an RV park in Aneheim and make it back to Mariners to sing for the MOPS and POPS event they were having that night. We made it back to the church by 5:30 and had a wonderful time singing for this fun, mixed crowd! The speaker talked about "The Effects of Kids on Marriage." Boy, could we relate!!

It was a fun week, but I think we were all glad it was over. I don't think we could take too many of these 5 event weeks!

-- Laurie