School is right around the corner for the three younger children, which means that we have ordered the curriculum and the the looming threat of academics hangs over the heads of our children.  As for Josiah, he is preparing for college in the fall by working hard for the same man in our church that gave him a job previously.  As you may remember, Josiah was one of the Neighborhood Bible Time evangelists, but all of their meetings canceled this year due to reactions to COVID-19.

In his first year of college, Josiah had our 1989 Ford Ranger, a work truck that was given to us not long after we moved to Mississippi.  The truck has its character, to be sure: a speedometer that doesn’t work properly, a paint job that looks as if it was completed with spray cans, and a ladder rack worth more than the rest of the truck.  Its air conditioning has never worked since we received it, and the defrost works best when the windows are open, especially in the winter time.  From Paul’s point of view, the vehicle was a rite of passage.  It was a vehicle with a manual transmission that taught the boy a lot of valuable lessons.

Sarah did not see the vehicle in the same light.  She felt that the vehicle was fine for a local work vehicle, but was nervous about Josiah driving 600 miles to school in it.  Not long ago a relative on Sarah’s side was moved from her home to a nursing home and determined to sell her 2012 Ford Focus with 35,000 miles on it.  When she put feelers out to the extended family about interest, we responded.  The last word we had was that she was going to give us the vehicle.  It seems that our son will be riding in style back to school.  He literally will be  driving the newest vehicle that our family owns.

Yesterday, our family spent hours in the recording studio.  For many years in our meetings, people have asked for a family recording.  For different reasons, we were unable to do so until now.  As of today, the process has officially begun.  As we move forward, there will be a lot of decisions to make as we mix the songs, decide on distribution, pay our royalty fees, and a host of other details.  Our hope is that the album will be available before Christmas.

In light of this, we will set up a system for pre-ordering the album.  Those who pay in advance will be the first to receive the new album.  All of the details have not yet been finalized, but they will be forthcoming next month.  Making the recording was a joyous time for our family.  We sang until we could sing no more, from 10:00 in the morning to almost 5:00 in the afternoon with a break for lunch.  The album will be entirely vocal (no piano solos) and will feature every member of the family doing solo work, as well as our family’s four-part sound.

As always, thank you for your prayers.  May we all keep looking to our God to provide health, power, and comfort to face these uncertain days.