With Mark Lamb and Mark Edwards at Victory FM

Toby deciding if he's brave enough to talk on the air

The view from our balcony in the outer banks - beautiful

At Kitty Hawk

Getting ready for worship at Hickory Ridge Community Church

Snow in Virginia - view out our back window on Monday

Some of the ships at Jamestown

One of the coasters the kids conquered from the skyride at Busch Gardens

Fife and Drums Corp at Williamsburg

Okay, this is a serious catch up blog. We have been traveling and I have not kept up, but it’s been a pretty amazing couple of weeks. We just got back from a 10 day trip to NC and VA with a lot of ministry, a lot of history, and a lot of family time.

The Tuesday before we left I was live on Greg Bullen’s show, Off the Bookshelf, on WMPC. I’ve done this show with Greg several times now, and it’s always great to be on there. I love his heart for ministry!

Then we packed up our whole family of five with all the stuff we would need for 10 days of traveling and all the gear needed to do multiple events, and somehow squeezed all of that and all of us into one minivan. My husband is a packing genius, that’s all I have to say!

We left Thursday morning and drove straight to Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, the home of WRVL, Victory FM. This is a great station. They cover the whole state of VA and also quite a bit of NC and some other surrounding areas. They have supported my ministry for a long time, and I was so glad we were finally going to be close enough to them to stop in! We got there for the afternoon show with Mark Lamb, and he even put my kids on the air for a bit, which was so kind of him. Had a great time visiting with Mark Edwards, the music and production manager, as well, and I just want to thank them for making the visit such a great one both for me and my family!

Then we drove on a couple more hours to stay in Charlottesville that night. We got up early because we had a couple of extra hours, and we wanted to take the opportunity to see Monticello. The kids loved it, which was a good sign considering the plans for our off time that week, and then we headed four hours south to the Outer Banks where I was doing a women’s retreat in Kill Devil Hills, NC.

The church we were working with for the rest of this trip was Hickory Ridge Community Church and they were just amazing. By the time we left, we felt like family! What a sweet church. It was such a fun God story too. The women’s director called me to see if I would do their women’s retreat on Palm Sunday weekend. Then the next day, the pastor called to see if I would do a concert and their worship services on Easter Sunday one week later. Neither of them knew the other had called me! I was trying to think of how to make that work since I don’t like to leave my family that long, but I hated to have them pay the travel twice when we realized it was exactly the same dates as my kids’ spring break. Voila! They can come with me, and we have a great excuse to check out VA while getting to do everything the church wanted us to do!

So that first weekend we did the women’s retreat. I was teaching on the life of Peter, and we had a wonderful time with all the women! The kids ended up babysitting the sound guy’s 3 little girls, so they had a ministry themselves. 🙂 We had a couple of hours to check out Kitty Hawk which was really cool, and then we headed back north to Chesapeake where I did the worship on the Palm Sunday services.

After those services, we went out to lunch with a few of our new friends from church – did I mention this was a friendly congregation!?! They were wonderful. Then we headed up to Williamsburg where we planned to spend our week days.

My husband, Nathan, had to work a couple of the days, and Sunday night it snowed 4 inches. Yes, on spring break in VA. So not fair. It also rained all day Monday and we were all exhausted by then, so Nathan worked and I worked about a half day, and the kids just sat and read and played games and watched movies, and it was a great down day. The next day Nathan worked, and the kids and I checked out Jamestown (which was fabulous! Don’t miss that if you’re ever there).

Wednesday we went to Busch Gardens where Toby shocked us all by turning out to be a coaster freak. I am not so much. Nope. I can do a couple, but I’d rather watch any day. Dad and sisters came to the rescue, and he got to ride almost enough coasters even for him.

Then we spent two days at Colonial Williamsburg which was also fabulous! I feel like they have improved this so much since we last went. There was a lot more interactive stuff which the kids loved. They even had a spy quest the kids could do, and we had to find the identity of a loyalist spy and then warn our own revolutionary spy. Pretty fun stuff!

Saturday we went back to Hickory Ridge and I rehearsed with the band for Sunday, and also gave a concert that night as part of their Easter weekend. Then the next morning I led the worship with the band on the Easter services, and we drove all the way home so everyone could be back at school and work the next day.

We are exhausted, but had so much fun, both as a family, and with the larger family of God. We’re already talking to Hickory Ridge about doing it again next year, and I hope we do, because I can’t wait to see them again!

Teaching on brokenness at the Wesleyan women's retreat

Speaking and singing at First Covenant Youngstown

The cookies they made for the reception were so sweet! My book is called Life Not Typical and they made these for me. 🙂

This was such a great weekend! Totally exhausting, but so much fun to see God moving!

On Friday and Saturday, I was with the Greater Ohio District of the Wesleyan Church for their women’s retreat. I think there were delegates from over 90 churches there, but it was such a warm and friendly group – it seemed like everyone knew everyone else!

Friday night I did a concert and ministry event, and then Saturday I led worship and taught on “The Art of Godly Brokenness.” It was a very interesting event for me because I’ve taught on brokenness many times before, but I just couldn’t get comfortable with what I had planned. I kept praying over it and praying over it and rearranging it in the two weeks prior. Then suddenly at 5am on Friday morning (and I am not a morning person!) bam! My eyes popped open, and I knew exactly what God wanted me to say. So I wrote for about 7 hours that morning and changed the whole thing. I was so touched by the feedback – one woman told me that she had been stuck for two years and that God gave her exactly what she needed to come out of her “pit” in my talk that morning. He is so good!

Then, we went home and re-packed everything and drove up to Youngstown, getting in around 11. The next morning we went to First Covenant in Youngstown where I gave the sermon and did a little special music. I also gave a concert that afternoon. The whole point of their invitation was to kick off their Covenant Kids Congo with World Vision campaign. I have been a World Vision artist for years, and this is a specific initiative the Evangelical Covenant is doing with World Vision to impact the Congo.

This is not a huge church, and the area is somewhat economically depressed. Statistically, I would have expected to get 12 or maybe 15 kids sponsored this weekend. I had brought 30 with me. Would you believe my surprise when we ran out of kids and actually had people signing up to wait for more? We ended up sponsoring 34 kids out of that church – I was so touched! And the pastor had tears in his eyes, he was so moved by the response of his people. So, way to go, Youngstown Covenant!

Two totally special and wonderful groups, and what a blessing for me! I came home totally exhausted, but also completely excited by all the ways God was moving this weekend. Sometimes I can’t believe that I get to do this, and meet and work with the people I do. Pretty incredible.

My daughter shooting - in the middle in the blue shirt with the bun

Their team takes #1!

Speaking at the event for Encounter Church

Fun weekend, this. On Friday, I spent pretty much the whole day at Vets Memorial downtown (Columbus, that is) where they were holding the state tournament for archery. Little disconcerting to be in a room with that many armed children. My daughter’s team made it in, and then, drumroll, please – won the whole thing! Yeppers, we were first in the State! And, the part that was completely hilarious to me was that they made the tournament part of the Arnold Classic. You know, that humongous bodybuilding competition that descends on Columbus every year headed up by none other than Mr Universe/Governor Ah-nold himself. There are people all over Columbus for the entire weekend who are physically unable to put their arms down. Pretty fun people watching to be sure. And my daughter was in this competition, so that means that officially, my little 60 some pound pumpkin not only has deadly aim, but has also competed in the Arnold Classic! She will never live that down.

AND, not just that, but Arnold himself came to the awards ceremony, and despite 6 bodyguards in front and 6 in back (and I ask you – who do you get for a bodyguard who can look remotely threatening at the Arnold Classic?!) she still managed to touch him. Yep. Apparently that was her goal. We are so proud. And glad she wasn’t arrested. So much for his bodyguards, eh?

Then Saturday morning, for something completely different, I did a women’s ministry event for Encounter Church in Dublin, OH. They are a relatively new church plant, and growing quickly and doing some really amazing things for God! I did a ministry presentation, and we had such great feedback – people wanting more information on how to have a relationship with Jesus, and even one woman who was coming out of a hard lifestyle situation telling us that God had answered her questions personally through my ministry. She was so touched that God cared enough to answer her specific questions. It was a really moving day – thanks for having me!

We just finished producing a new intro video for this ministry. Just wanted to put it up here – you can find it on my media page under “Introduction”. Hope you enjoy it – let us know what you think!

I just had the one of the longest 24 hour periods of my life.

A couple of weeks ago I had my annual checkup at the OB-GYN and after examining me she told me I should have a mammogram just in case. It was probably nothing, and not to worry.

So I didn’t worry, and I made an appointment. I didn’t really like going through the big “Cancer Center” doors, but I figured that was where they do this kind of testing even when it’s routine and I needed to get over it. They told me I would hear in a week to ten days.

A week later I was thinking through what had to happen that day: several important calls, some email, final planning for an event that weekend, taxi driving for my kids. The phone rang and it was the Cancer Center telling me that they saw something and needed me to come in for further testing.

Right there, all my seemingly important stuff immediately became unimportant.

Let me back up. I remember when my dad was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS), he told us that he’d felt like God had been preparing him for something for several years. Lately, I’ve been feeling the same way, as if God has been preparing me. Now, I’m not going to lie, I have obviously been rooting for the scenario where something really big and important was going to happen to me so I would need to be prepared, but I know very well that just as often, the things we are preparing for aren’t pleasant.

I was thinking about this very thing during my Bible study a couple of weeks ago, before any of this happened. The study asked what hard thing we were afraid of, and if we thought we could do it with the Lord’s help. My immediate thought was cancer. And I was surprised and so encouraged that when I tested that in my mind, my first thought was to pray, “Thank you, God – You have changed my heart, and I know that even if I had to go through cancer, I would be okay, because You are big enough, and You would be with me.” How He has changed my heart! I have always struggled with fear, but with all our family has been through, God has taught me over and over that He carries us when we have nothing left, and that even when everything else is gone, He is with us.

So I went back for more testing. They took several pictures and then I waited for the radiologist. They came out and told me they needed more pictures. I waited again. Then one more picture. More waiting. Then a different person came out and told me I needed an ultrasound. At this point, I knew something was up. I was alone in that office, but I was never alone – I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was there with me, and He had the whole situation in His hands.

I watched the screen during the ultrasound and saw the technician zoom in on something large and black. She started marking the dimensions and taking pictures. Well, there it was. I guess this is where we’re going now. Okay, God.

After ten minutes I finally said, “So, that’s what we’re looking at, that black thing?” She said, “Yes,” and then hesitated. “I’m not supposed to say anything to you.” I said, “Oh, of course, sorry.” Then she hesitated again and said, “Black’s good. We like black. But I didn’t tell you.” And she smiled. That was the first time it occurred to me that I could have something, but it could be benign.

Ten minutes later the doctor came in and told me it was nothing to worry about, totally benign, and we didn’t even have to check it again until next year. I’ve never felt such relief, and at the same time, I thought, “Thank you, Lord! I am so grateful that I don’t have to go down this road today, and yet I am so much more thankful to know that if I had, You would have been here with me, and You would have given me and my family everything we needed.”

Isn’t it amazing when God makes us stop and actually see some of the changes He has made in our hearts? I really like to feel in control, and I would love to get to tell the Lord how I would like Him to order my life and the lives around me, but I have learned that that would really not be as great as it sounds. God’s much better at being in charge than I am, and I’m so grateful that He’s taught me to trust Him. How is God teaching you to trust Him today?

Some fun things have come out this week as well. Autism Speaks published a guest blog from me as well as the video for “Your Child” which was great – I love all the different paths God is using to get that song out there and increase awareness for Sensory Processing Disorder!

Then, this morning, The Worship Community picked up the article as well and put it in as a health article. Loving it!

Worship at New Hope

I'm the green and tan dot at the piano. 🙂

I had a great weekend this weekend. I got to do two really fun ministry things, and they were both in my home city, so I got to do all that while hanging out with my family too.

On Saturday I went to a training day for Joni and Friends speakers. They were going to use the “Your Child” video in the conference, and since they knew I was local, they asked me if I would walk in at the end of the video as a surprise and share our family’s story for a bit. It was great to meet some of the people at Joni and Friends whose voices I know from the phone! It was also great to share with these people who are passionate about the rights of people with disabilities and to raise awareness for Sensory Processing Disorder.

Sunday morning, I went to New Hope Church, a church I’ve been with many times, to guest lead the worship on their services and do a little special music and presentation. This was really fun for me because their choir had learned the choir version of my song “God Loved the World” when they found out I was coming. We got to do the song with the choir and an 8 piece band, and that was pretty great for me! It was also just fun to catch up with all the people we know over there – so many friends, and their pastor, Steve, along with my dad married my husband and I.

I just had to post this because I am so grateful for the way the Lord is getting our new video for “Your Child” out there! Focus on the Family posted it about two weeks ago on their Facebook’s Pro-Life page and it stayed up at the top for only a couple of hours. We had over 1,700 likes and over 500 shares from that alone! Well, since then it’s been passed on and passed on. Today the video went over 20,000 views, and the comments and mail I am getting just touch my heart. There are so many parents out there in difficult circumstances who are loving their kids sacrificially. They are such a blessing!

Speaking on Esther

Leading worship with all these amazing singers!

The youth band who blew me away

Services on Sunday morning

I spent this past weekend at Evangelical Friends Church in St. Clairsville, OH, just on the border of WV outside of Wheeling. This is such a great church – I had an amazing time with them, and man, did they keep me hopping!

On Friday night and Saturday I did a women’s retreat on Esther called “For Such a Time as This.” I think this is my favorite retreat that I do, and the women were wonderful. I also led the worship for the retreat. All weekend I noticed that this church is full of outstanding singers! People were singing harmony all over the congregation and it was so fun to worship with them!

Then Saturday afternoon I sound-checked for the Saturday night “Ignite” service and then spoke and sang on the service after dinner with the worship team. They told me that one of their youth group worship bands was going to open the service. What they didn’t tell me was that they were all 12-14 years old. And they were amazing! Seriously, they did a phenomenal job led by their youth pastor’s wife – I was so impressed. It was hard to get up there after them. 🙂

Sunday morning there were three services and I gave the message and sang on all of them. They had their regular praise team on to do worship and they were also outstanding. I’m seeing a theme here – this is possibly the most musical church I’ve ever been to! I was also impressed by the music director and how many people he gave opportunities to. That’s actually fairly rare, and fun to see. I was so impressed by the humility and friendliness of everyone I met here – they truly made me feel at home. These little glimpses of what the family of God will be like in heaven are so fun, aren’t they?

My favorite moment came at the end, though. Everywhere I go, if it’s possible at all, I present the Gospel. Even when you’re in a church, you never know who’s listening and who has never heard that before. This was a very solid church, and they place a huge emphasis on the Gospel, so I was actually hesitating, thinking, “I’m sure it’s not necessary here. Everyone must know it! I don’t want the pastors to think I think they haven’t said it,” etc., etc. But then I thought, no, you never want to miss an opportunity. You just never know.

So I presented the Gospel, and at the end, the senior pastor came to tell me that they’d had several people come to him after the services and ask to pray with him for salvation. I can’t tell you how much that means to me! I love hearing about how God is changing people’s lives, and to know that He let me have any part of it is the most amazing blessing He could give me. I love Him so much!

Yesterday I did a Skype interview with Colleen Swindoll Thompson who runs the special needs ministry at Insight for Living. She is an amazing woman, and it was so fun to get to share how God has worked in our lives and our families’ lives.

I don’t have an air date for it yet, and I know it will be several months, but after it goes through editing and as soon as they let me know, I’ll let you know! They are doing a whole series of interviews and I am so amazed and humbled to be a part of this list – it includes Joni Eareckson Tada and Emily Colson, two people who I respect so much as well as many others. It’s a little surreal to get to be a part of it.

Also, Special Needs Book Review posted an article about the new video as well. They have been really supportive of my book, and I so appreciated their support for the video too!