On September 9th. I married my best friend and the best man I know. The long awaited day couldn't have been more beautiful. Under an oak tree, with my dearest friends and family gathered around us, I committed my life to my husband.
"Where you go I will go, Where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die and there i will be buried. May the Lord deal with me if even death separates you form me."
Together we are embarking on an adventure together. As many of you know - we've committed the first season of our marriage to traveling the country, sharing our music and testimony. For the next 40 days we'll be playing at churches, coffee shops, homeless shelters and bars west of the Mississippi. It is our desire to pour out our lives as a sacrifice to the Lord and pour Christ's love on those that cross our path. In the meantime we'll be listening for His voice to guide us into the next season of our lives. We invite you to join us on our journey west.
We started our tour yesterday after a frenzied 48 hours of packing and preparation. We flew into MN from Maryland on Wednesday afternoon and left Friday afternoon for our first destination - Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Go big or go home. Our mode of transport: my parents Honda Odyssey, packed to the brim with our sound system, our camping gear and a custom built loft created by my amazing husband (so we have a place to lay our heads on night we don't have a host home). Taking care of me from the start :) It didn't take long for our loft bed to get put to use. Bogged down by a nasty cold I crawled into the back approximately 30 minutes into the drive. Slept like a champ.
Driving through south-western Minnesota proved easy enough, straight and flat. As Corey put it - With the cruise control on I really don't have to do much. We stopped by our host home before the show - located down a long dirt road and surrounded by corn fields. We were greeted by the lovely and amazing Bruce and Joyce Olsen with daughter and grandkids in tow. They fed us a feast of comfort food; a good ole-fashioned midwestern roast - complete with veggies from the garden and the beef from a family farm. It was nice to start off the tour with some familiar faces. (Bruce and Joyce are parents to two of our closest friends - The infamous Carolina Story). On the road you realize you have family everywhere, people willing to share their home and stories with you. Makes the world feel a lot smaller. And a lot sweeter too.
We then headed out to find our venue, a recently renovated bar right on the train tracks in downtown Sioux Falls, called Latitude 44. It was a beautiful place - cozy and warm and run by Cyndy, the sweetest bar mama I've ever met. 62 years young with a penchant for calling her patrons "hon" and passing out as many hugs as drinks. "We're a family here," she said. "Yea this place is like a warm hug" added a faithful patron by the name of Dave.
We shared the stage with two other acts. Hello Signal and Weliveinsodhouses. A great group of people who welcomed us in with open arms - literally. Hugs all around. One man band Hello Signal opened the show, followed by Weliveinsodhouses a 5 piece indie rock band led by husband and wife team Dustin and Rachel - Dustin on guitar and vocals, Rachel on drums. Ironic right? We had a great time talking with the fellow husband and wife duo. Came to find that the couple - who we assumed we younger than us by their appearance and enthusiasm, were actually 10 years older than us, with a 6 year old boy, an organic crop farm and 2 thousand hogs. It was inspiring to see a couple 10 years ahead of us with a successful business and growing family who are still pursuing music with a passion. They've even developed their own music festival. Every year on the 4th of July they host a festival with 10+ bands playing in their back yard. They don't charge admission - they just do it because they love it. "We have to limit the number of kids who come though - last year there were 30 of them running around like a pack of ferrel children - wanting to light off fireworks and blow things up… It just gets to be an insurance issue…"
All in all I'd say our first show of the tour was a success. Despite a raging cold draggin both of us down, we sang the best we could. In a bar room in south dakota, we brought the name of Jesus to a family of folks just looking for a good time and a place to belong. As people settled in to watch us, I became very aware of every mention of His name. Its my prayer that the Lord was able to speak through our music, calling his people home - where their hearts truly belong. At the very least we offered them the good time they were looking for as people clapped and sang along late into the night.
After the show we spent a good deal of time talking and hanging out with the folks there, leaving the bar well after 1am. We headed back to our host home, loaded up on homeopathic drugs to fight off our colds - I swear we could open up shop as a mobile hospital - and hit the hay. After a few short hours of sleep we were fed a heaping breakfast by the oh-so gracious Olsen family and headed out for Lincoln, NE. Our next stop - People City Mission.
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