Louisiana and Mississippi

After being home for what seemed like forever (about 2 months) we hit the road last week and were oh so happy to do so.  I never thought I'd be the type to get cabin fever, but I am.  It's like my suitcase begs me to pack it and I get all stir crazy.
  

The first stop was La Croix Church in Baton Rouge, LA.  We first went to this church in fall of 2010, when it was a new church and they were meeting in a house.  This was our third time and they have a building and keep growing!  It has been fun to witness.

Up close and personal.

Nerrylee and me.  She's the pastor's wife and mother of 5!  Yowza.  And I just love her name.

We've been toting around the cajon in the box it came in for quite some time.  The church had a bag and they gave it to us!  I was shocked.  I might've gotten teary eyed.  These bags are not cheap and I've been searching for used ones on ebay and Craigslist.  I named it La Croix...for obvious reasons.

That night, we stayed with a family from the church (Jay and Deidre Buzbee) and I met who I want to be at 45.  Deidre (the mom/wife) gardens, makes detergent and toothpaste, has chickens and bees, makes homemade bread from wheat she sprouts herself, has home schooled her 4 children (Abigail, Aaron, Emma Grace and Shawn) since day 1 and they have manners!  And the 18 year old makes her own clothes, wears vintage outfits from the 40's, and listens to jazz.  She is so cool.  I loved our time with them.  It was good for the soul.  I will also say that Deidre is an AMAZING cook.  And it's official that the best Jambalaya ever comes from her kitchen.

Emma Grace, Shawn, Deidre, and us.  

With Deidre and Abigail (the coolest 18 year old).

 Onto Zachary, LA.  FBC Zachary had the grand opening of their new (like totally awesome) youth building.  *Sidenote: I loved youth group when I was in high school.  But, we did not have the luxury of playing pool, XBOX and ping-pong while ordering food and drinks from the snack bar.  We went to the China Spring General Store to get Blue Bell ice cream in the car that our youth director let us drive illegally.  Ahhhh, the joys of the country*

Since I'm with Trent on stage more, I'm really finding I do not have good clothes for squatting on a cajon.  I'm either worried about my backside showing, my tummy rolling over my pants or some other kind of wardrobe malfunction, if you catch my drift.  So, I've begun planting the seeds of "I need some new clothes for work purposes" in Trent's head.  I think he gets it.

Now to Natchez, Mississippi for a show at Jefferson Street UMC.

(I would like to point out that I realized I say "Missippi."  Turns out I drop a syllable).

The church put us up in the Grand Hotel right on the Mississippi River.  We felt very fancy and were equally as appreciative.

I told Trent to pose next to the extinguisher because he's on fire.  Cheesy, I know, but it was too hard to resist. 

Reed, Karie Sue, and their son Reynolds.  They also have a daughter, Riley Kate, but she was shy during the picture taking.  Between the two of them, they are on staff at 3 different churches! That baffles me.   

After MS, we went to TX for a bit before heading to Oklahoma and Arkansas....

That'll be the next blog, so stay tuned!