OHB Stage Band Trip to Branson, MO

Right now I'm at Stone Castle Inn found in Branson, MO. It's a cute hotel, each room has a painting above each bed and the outside of the building has several stone structures. It's split between three large buildings, like links in a chain set in a giant parking lot. The first building has the lobby and check in desk. Food is served in the second building which also houses the main pool, hot tub, and game lounge. The last of the three buildings is mainly rooms, cleaning storage lockers, and also has a pool for guests. Everyone's trip to Branson began yesterday morning.

Tuesday was the Oklahoma Homeschool Band's (OHB) Christmas concert. So all the families loaded up for the rehersal and concert, and all those who drive long distances to go to the concert also planned to stay overnight. I stayed the night with my sister at our Stage Band (jazz) Director's house in Edmond, OK. This was the preview for today's adventures...

TODAY...began

at 5 am

when my darling sister woke me up so she could take her shower and do yoga. For about 20 minutes I made my attempt to sleep but failed and drug my body out of bed. As I've been sealing my clothing in plastic bags on this trip Ihad to get all my clothes out then grab the clothes for today and repack what wasn't for the day. Later I would realize that I would need to unpack to repack my pajamas. Figures. I got dressed, got coffee, stripped the bed with Beth, then we quietly tidied up the room. All of this before our hosts came out to check on us.

Just after

6:30 am

we piled into Mr. Rye's truck and hit the road. I gave dirrections as his navigator and we arrived a few minutes before departure time. The night before we had written on my family's suburban (The Tank) with chalk paint, so when they arrived a few other cars in our caravan painted their's as well. Then after driving to Branson for an hour and a half, the truck needed gas. At this stop we met up with one more car, and painted 2 more cars. Again, at the next stop we joined up with another car and 2 more cars were painted. By now all but two or three cars have been decorated.

About

11:00 am

the caravan arrived in Joplin, MO for an early lunch. The plan was for the group to meet in the Starbucks parkinglot then have an hour to eat wherever they wanted and regroup to continue to Branson. Plans never quite work out so it was more than an hour, but not too long before we were back on the road. Antiscipation ran high as turns became more frequent and billboards for our hotel, dinner reservations, and concert building came into view.

Hours ahead of schedule we pull into the Stone Castle Inn, so we gathered in a bunch and went over rules then dispersed to do as each pleased. After unpacking and settling into my room, the boys went to swim, Mom is napping, Beth is chilling, I'm writing this update before heading down to play Apples to Apples with the gang.

We'll be eating

at 6:00 pm

then going putt putting. I'm looking forward to the putt putting. If I have time (and brain cells left) I'll try to write more after we settle in for the night.

Have a great evening!

Trombone 3 out!

Love,

Jessie Bear

John 13:34-35

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

2015 DR Discipleship Trip Day: 13

Location: Rivendell and Santiago, Dominican Republic

After another wonderful sunrise and Bible reading time with Jenn, we finished our coffee and headed inside to get ready for church.

We had been told that they were working on their church and to expect no air conditioning. We were fine with that, the A/C had not been working the year before anyways. Yet, by the way we were told, some of us were on guard for something interesting today.

As we all loaded into the van our hosts asked me to ride with them. :D It was a lot of fun. We drove past a large cycling group biking up the mountain. As we drove down, we jammed out to Sovereign Grace's Spanish worship songs, then...the brakes were given a test as we let baby chicks cross the road. I didn't put my shoes on until we pulled into the church parking lot.

Oh, about the church A/C...it was more than a new A/C. They had moved locations and built an entirely new church. It was magnificent and beautiful! Rosario gave us a tour of the building before church started.

We sat down for the service to start, and all at once, all of our no-see-em bites began to itch like crazy. The music service was cut short due to technical difficulties. After the service we went to our host's house in Santiago for a huge lunch. This was the first good WiFi since leaving Santo Domingo. Our drive back was in the van, Bronco Chen's, and that also has some WiFi.

Once back in Rivendell all of us girls broke off to have our study time together. It was Jenn's turn to lead.

What are you living for that is not seeking Christlikeness?

How will you reform that?

These are deep questions. Let them go deep. Take a moment. Think.

So, after this we had dinner. Our host wanted to give us American food so we had hot dogs. Then we went out on the deck and had our I Thessalonians Study and our Biblical Thinking Study. Then went to crash in bed.

love,

Jessie Bear

I Thessalonians 2:19-20

"For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy."

2015 DR Discipleship Trip Day: 12

Location: Rivendell put in the Misty Mountains of the Dominican Republic

I got up to see the sunrise. If you’re ever in Rivendell, be sure to get up for the sunrise, they are some of the most beautiful sunrises in the world (at least in as much of the world as I’ve explored). Vecina made café and brought it out to us, those of us in the pavilion overlooking the valley, and it was a wonderful way to witness first light.

After a big breakfast we had a I Thessalonians Study. Then around lunchtime, Emanuel rejoined our group! All of us happy American’s threw a lil “Partay”. We did another I Thessalonians Study, catching Emanuel up on it, and finishing our first discussion. We had needed to end it short in order to be on time for lunch.

When lunch was over, we were free to go explore the property and finally run wild. Janie and I put on our running clothes and went for a run. It felt so good to be free to run. Running down hills and stairs is the easy side, it’s the whole getting back up that burns. But it was good to get to stretch and be free to run again.

While we were out running around it began to rain! This was good news for all of us but especially Connor who tries to take pictures of lightning. The rain meant that there might be more water at the 27 water falls, in turn this means that we have better odds at being able to go. So, we all run outside onto the driveway and did a rain dance, okay, maybe it was more like we ran around singing and dancing for joy.

We sang songs in Spanish and English at the same time. As in, Jenn, Patrick, Emanuel, Rosario (our hostest), and myself sang in Spanish, while Mr. R, Mrs. R, Josh, Janie, Andrew, and Knepps sang in English. It was really fun. This was right before we did our Biblical Thinking Study. Then we were all too tired to stay up so we just went straight to bed.

Love,
Jessie Bear

Proverbs 12:25

"Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad."