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| JULY 31- AUGUST 5
Sorry about the lack of pictures...we seem to have misplaced our camera :(
After Portland, we headed back down to California. We drove through the redwoods and out to the ocean. It was an amazing drive. We stopped near Fort Bragg to crash our church family camp-out. It was really nice to see so many familiar faces again. Lily was excited to see her grandpa and show him all of her new tricks. She has grown and learned so much this past month!
The next morning, it was back on the road for us, as we headed down to Monterey for the Spirit West Coast Music festival. It was a pretty big event, with a lot of big name folks in the Christian music industry. It was totally different from Cornerstone, which had a lot more music and much less of a main-stream focus.
As I mentioned in the last entry, I took part in the Christian Musicians Showcase. We spent most of our time hanging out there, so we didn't really see too much of the other concerts. Micah and I actually preferred to listen to the folks in the showcase, anyway. So to make a long story short and slightly less painful, I did make it into the finals(six of us were chosen) but I did not win anything. I hope to learn and grow from the experience, but I can't say that I wasn't disappointed.
So we came home to San Jose on Saturday evening having been away for 41 days, stayed in 8 hotels, 7 Campgrounds, 1 farm, played music at 12 places, killed countless bugs on the windsheild, passed through 10 states, had 0 car problems, and traveled just under 7,000 miles.
It has been such an awesome adventure traveling accross the country. I expected to come upon some hard times, but I don't really remember having any. It was so apparent that folks were praying for us all along the way. We are very grateful as well to all of those who helped financially to make this happen. I expected to have more specific stories to share about how God used us to minister to people... but I've noticed that God doesn't usually follow our plans or expectations. Discerning God's will can be tricky business sometimes. All I know is that He orchestrated this trip, and we followed along. Thank you for being a part of it and making it possible!
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| NEBRASKA TO PORTLAND JULY 23-30
So, things are winding down- we’re on the home stretch! After Omaha, we stopped near Kearney, NE to stay at with the Fees, relatives of Merryle and Marilyn Weisse. We drove way out to the country where they live on a beautiful farm. It was really neat. We got the tour- ate corn from the stalk, and Micah tried to feed the livestock- that didn’t go very well... I really wish I had pictures him with those cows, though.
From there,we headed back to the KOA Kampground in Cheyenne, WY. We had planned to do another campfire, but when we arrived, we found out that the Frontier Days festival was going on- the campground was completely full, but everyone was going to be at the rodeo that night. So, the lady at the campground let us stay there for free, anyway. It was such a blessing! She said that there was really good feedback from the last time we did the campfire, so that was cool.
Our trip plans changed a bit when we found out about the early arrival of our new nephew, Lewis Mann. So, we decided to take the long way around to stop in Portland, OR to see him! This lead us onward through Utah, where we stopped at another KOA Kampground near Brigham City. It was a nice place. There were some mosquitos around, though. Micah was being bothered by them, but I didn’t notice it too much. I thought maybe I had some great blood-type that the mosquitos weren’t interested in. So Micah put on a bunch of bug spray- and we slept in the van with all the windows open. I guess this was pretty much a very bad idea. I slept quite well. But later the next day- as we were driving down the road- I started itching....and itching... I’m still itching(five days later). At last count, I had at least 56 mosquito bites. BIG ones. ITCHY ones. This is amazing to me- as I never felt one sting. They just suddenly appeared.
Anyway- we continued on our camping adventure to a state park just over the Oregon borer. It was a beautiful place. We decided to get a little cabin thing, because it was air-conditioned. Our car thermometer said that it was 109 degrees outside, but we don’t know if that was accurate. Anyway- it was hot. And the air-conditioner didn’t really cool down the cabin at all. BUT- Micah did do a little fishing, and we made s’mores... so we enjoyed ourselves.
Then it was off to Portland! We always enjoy spending time with Jared and Heather. It was extra special that we got to see their new son, Lewis.
He was about 4 weeks early- but perfectly healthy and totally cute. We had a nice time- went to the Portland Zoo- had an early surprise birthday party for Micah. That was fun- we did a piñata and everything. And you know, guys never get too old to be excited about those little plastic men with the parachutes on them...
Anyway, I was able to find a coffee shop to play music at as well. I played at The Waypost in Portland on Saturday. It is a brand new coffee shop, so they are still getting things set-up, but it was a nice little place. I did music in the afternoon, and there really wasn’t anyone there... which I’m getting used to... but it was fine. You just never know what God is doing behind the scenes.
So today we are trying to make it all the way down to the Fort Bragg area to catch a night or two at the WPC August Moons Campout. We are very excited to see Grandpa Steve!!
From there, we will be going to Monterey, CA to the Spirit West Coast music festival. I will actually be performing in a showcase/competition on Thursday at 11:30AM. The best from the showcase will be asked to perform on the MAIN STAGE of the festival on Saturday. I would like to be on that stage... Prayers are needed!
We are so grateful for all the support you have given. It is evident that there have been prayers surrounding us the entire time. I wanted to leave you with a message that I got after playing at Java Joe’s:
“It was awesome seeing you in Des Moines. You have such an amazing gift and I was so blessed by seeing you. I keep playing your cd, it's quite nice to have around. Thank you so much for giving it to me.
Lilly was one of the first people to talk to me since I moved here, and I thought it was quite nice of her.”
Lily phone home... (I think Aggie was on the line)
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| WISCONSIN TO NEBRASKA JULY 17-22
Sorry about our lack of blogging- Here’s a little update- there will be more soon!
After leaving Munising, Melia, Lily and I packed up and headed for Melia’s grandmother’s home in Ripon, Wisconsin. We had dinner with her and stayed in a hotel that night. it was a nice time.
From there we drove to Omro, Wisconsin to Melia’s Aunt April’s house where we stayed for two nights. April’s husband’s name is Steve which is the same name as her brother. Years later, that brother had a daughter who married someone with the same name as her bother. That someone is me. Isn’t that neato? It was also nice to spend time with Melia’s cousin Alex and his wife Karissa- and we got to meet their new baby AJ! While we were there, went to the zoo and saw monkeys and other critters.
We also went to the beach on lake Winnebago and stuck our toes in the water.
Melia played music that night at a coffee shop called the New Moon.
Melia’s grandmother, Judy, blessed us by coming up from Ripon with a friend to see Melia play. So we had a good audience along with Steve & April and Alex & Karissa and friends. Good times.
We didn’t leave Wisconsin before stopping by the Rippin Good Cookie Factory to buy our breakfast.
Nor did we forget to visit Shullsburg to buy up a bunch of really good cheese.
Melia’s next gig was in Des Moines, Iowa at another coffee shop. This one was called Java Joe’s.
Java Joe’s was a neat experience considering that there are two kinds of music that they don’t book: country music and “religious rock.” So, it was cool that Melia was invited to play there. After she played, she was able to spend a time talking with people. It was a great venue and a really cool place to hang out. It even had a kids’ area where Lily and I hung out. A Best Western in Des Moines was our home for two nights.
Our next stop was back in Omaha where we stayed with Kathy and Renee Padilla again. This time we stayed the night and went to their church the next morning.
The Padillas:
Lily with a new friend:
But before we did any of that, Melia played music at The Foundry, a christian coffee shop in Omaha. It was a cool place, but not many people showed up. They just opened the coffee shop about 8 months ago, so they are still getting started with things. It’s hard to get people to come out to see music when they don’t know who it is. A lot of venues only book local talent for that reason. But- it was a neat place, and we hope to visit there again.
So, for your comic relief, I would now like to share with you some of my experiences in communication. The folks out here don’t know it, but I have been listening to the way people talk out in the midwest. By listening to them closely, I keep a mental log of weird accents and strange phrases I hear along the way.
In Wisconsin, someone was giving directions to us a while back and they said something about a “via dock”. Melia either knew exactly what they were talking about, or was just too embarrassed to ask. I, on the other hand, jumped on the opportunity to become better aquatinted with local lingo, and inquired about the meaning of this land mark. It turns out that what they meant was “overpass”. Another midwesternism we have heard was “stop-and-go light”. This is also known as a “stop light” or as I like to call it a “traffic light” or just “light”. Oh, and someone just taught me that a drinking fountain out here is called a “bubbler”. Ha!
And up north, my absolute favorite Yooperism is, “Like you said.” Now when someone from my part of the world says, “like you said,” they are usually going to talk about something you said, right? That makes sense. However, when someone from Upper MI says, “like you said,” there is no written rule that whatever follows that phrase has to have anything to do with what you actually were talking about. This sounds like a joke, but it’s not. I counted three times that this was used when talking to me. Here is an example:
Me: Hi, I’m Micah.
Friendly Yooper: Really nice tO meet yOu, Micah.
Me: I accidentally caught and kept a fish that is like way too small.
Friendly Yooper: We wOn’t tell anybOdy. But I have a fishin’ stOry yer otter hear.
Me: I would love to hear it.
Friendly Yooper: I was Out On da bOat and, like you said, I pulled out this One fish dat was near 60 pOunds an I was hOldner up here and da tail was dOwn to da grOwn!
The nice thing about this is that I feel included in the story. Like I am an authority in the matter with whom one can agree and even quote. The problem is that I never said anything like that, and I feel like interrupting and confessing that I never said anything of the sort. However, for some reason, I really like being talked to like that. It makes me feel good.
Here is a short glossary for your comprehension convenience:
Yooper- Someone from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Via-Dock - overpass
Stop-and-Go Light - traffic light
Bubbler- Drinking Fountain
Like you said - nothing, absolutely nothing.
And here's the truck you DON'T want to be on the road with:
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| JULY 14-16 MUNISING, MI
blog entry number 39.
We trudged on through tall grass doing what we could avoid snake bites, seeing as we would have to leave any wounded behind. Food became scarce, and melia starting eating squirrels raw with ketchup.
Great lakes, Pasties and Yoopers, Oh my!
The Lord has blessed us again and again. The past few days have been great and there are far too many things to write about. If this was the “Micah” blog, I wouild tell you about swimming in lake superior and fishing in another lake where I caught a pike. A Pike! Yes you did read that right. Where are the picures to prove it? Well, I didn’t take any. It was only 12 or 13 inches, which I thought was great, but it wasn’t until I was cooking up my fish, that I found out that a pike has to be 24” or bigger to keep it. Oops. Yes well anyway, that’s what I would tell you about if I this blog was mine. Alas, I will not abuse this space to tell you about that kind of stuff.
Let’s talk about where we stayed. We reconnected with an old friend of Melia’s that she knew from her years in Munising. Her name is Amy, and we stayed at her house with her and her 3 year old daughter, Chloe. What fun that was! It was also fun to see how Lily interacted with Cloe. They both have a few social skills that are missing, but they had fun together none the less. We all had a lot of fun with those girls this past week.
Melia had two opportunities to play music this past week. Her first gig was at a coffee shop that was really nice. She had a good sized audience for that show. It was fun and she had some three year old dancers, too. There were some old friends of the Normans there that got to talk to Steve via iChat video conference. Melia's friend Donna Petersen took a lot of pictures while we were there. You can view her photo album here: http://community.webshots.com/album/552330556ujOXTO
The other gig was at Melia’s old church on Sunday where she did three songs. This was a special opportunity for Melia because it was in the same sanctuary where she first started singing. She told me about all the times she would take back-up tracks in there and sing her heart out to Amy Grant and Sandy Patty (when no one was there, of course). It was good for her to see so many familiar faces. Most of the people there were people she remembered.
This is the coat rack at the church where people apparently hang their bathrobes and hunting jackets...
We had the chance to see many old friends of Melia's. It was a very special time. We had breakfast at the Deisenroth's home, where we got all the little girls together.
When I look back at this past week and think about when God used us and how he used us, I think of several different circumstances. To be brief, we had conversations with several different people and felt that God had a hand in it in some shape or form. We will be praying for those that we have met up with on this journey, that God would develop anything that he may have used us to introduce.
Now we are headed back down to Wisconsin. More updates coming soon.... | | |
| JULY 9-13 MILWAUKEE,WI & KINGSFORD, MI
Sooo... we were at Aunt Carol and Uncle Lonnie’s house. We arrived there on Sunday after leaving Cornerstone. We had a great time with them! On Monday night Melia had a gig at a coffee shop in Waukesha, WI. It was a really good show. Melia sounded great. Lily had a blast.
Carol and Lonnie and Melia’s aunt Toni were there and they all brought friends that made up a great audience. We sold a handful of CDs to Melia’s new fan club and even a couple to people that weren’t apart of it. That was really a blessing. When people are touched enough by her music to want to hear it again and buy the CD, we thank God for those opportunities.
The next day (Wednesday), Melia and I went to a mall to get glasses for me with a new prescription. I CAN SEE AGAIN! And that night we took Lonnie and Carol out to a restaurant called The Safe House. We had a good time with them and they took us on a short tour of downtown Milwaukee and the Lake Front. It was very beautiful.
So strange to see what looks like ocean, but with no salt in it. I don’t know how many of you have seen a “great” lake, but it’s pretty amazing. They have beaches and everything. The look of our country has changed so much since we left home, I keep feeling like we are going to start using some other kind of currency. I am still in the same country (technically) even though I have experienced some language barriers. Sometimes I just have to wave my arms around and grunt to get my point accross. Like when when I want to fill-up on gas, I wave and grunt, only to get a response that is totally foreign to me. The cashier will say, “You pump first, then pay.” What??? What are they talking about? I’m glad I have Melia around to translate sometimes.
After dinner, the party continued back at Carol and Lonnie’s house where we took funny pictures of eachother and did a lot of laughing.
The next day we took-off after a brief visit with aunt Toni and headed for the UP. Melia had a gig at Koinonia Cafe in Kingsford, MI. When we got into town, we got ourselves a hotel room so that Melia could practice some worship songs.
When we arrived at the coffee shop it was pretty much empty and very few people showed up to see Melia. The owner was there with her two little girls so Melia did a lot of kids’ songs for them.
I do not know why, but while we were there last night, I felt a stirring in my spirit. I dont’ know what the Lord was trying to communicate with me, but I could tell that God wanted to do something there and WAS doing something there. I was suprised when the owner told us that they were burned out of trying to get the coffee shop going. They had been there for four years trying to bring people in, and it hadn’t happened. They are planning to sell the coffee shop soon. I told her that she may have planted seeds for the next owners.
We have had many experiences on this trip- we’ve gone to a bunch of different places to share music- but the one thing that has been consistent throughout is that things seldom turn out the way we imagine that they will. I think God is teaching us to be flexible- to be ready- to be open.
We are now in the Upper Peninsual of Michigan. We will update again soon with more Michigan adventures. We love and miss you all!
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