A couple of nights ago we had a stupendously great time playing at Mary Luker’s own house! Mary is a longtime friend of ours and co-founder with Michelle of WWF. She and her friend Brian, (no one ever told us his last name) opened for us and it was AWESOME! They have an incredible, warm sound tand our musical tastebuds were tantalized. We recorded them live that night and we will let you know where to find it when it is ready for a listen.

Mary’s friends were so kind to us and we felt great affinity with them right off the bat. We had a sweet time of worship in the concert that refreshed our hearts. To top it all off, we finally convinced Barry to play his infamous parody “El Camino” and it met overwhelming applause! Watch for the free download.

Another item of interest from that night is the attendance of the Superfans. Our friends Jennifer & McKenna Meacham showed up for their THIRD dose of Pattersons on this tour. What sort of prize should we give them?! We feel so loved! Thanksa girls!!

We feel like it’s important to document the kid friendliness of this tour-as an encouragement to all our musician friends who have or want kids. We have been taking ours to most of the concerts and it’s a hoot. The bigs care for the littles during the music and they are actually getting used to PM rock star hours. What we are finding hard is the mornings. For some reason, their internal AM clock is not resetting to rock star hours and they are still getting up early. Really early. We trade off being the adult in duty in the am, but somehow Barry hasn’t had to do it yet…
Schooling has proven hard as all we want to do in the daytime is veg out. Maybe touring with kids in the summer would be a less pressured experience.
We have worked a couple of kids into the concerts and that is so fun in a partridge family way. Russell plays his horn and Ivy sings on the song, “Green”.
Overall, we love having them here-not being separated from them. But let it be said that we could not accomplish this without Melissa. She is invaluable to us and proving to be so, so patient. She brings breathing room to us and she’s just plain fun. So, if you think you want to tour with 4 kids, just make sure you have a Melissa.

What an amazing weekend! We left Tyler and went straight to Madagascar 2 to bless the kiddos for being such troopers. They have been amazing adjusting to road life. From the movie we landed at Kenny & Lynn Thacker’s. (www.soundword.org). They were so kind to us and hosted an amazingly fun house show. Their beloved dog/child, Bosco, helped our kids to run off their pent up energy and we are grateful to him.

When Michelle was praying towards this event months ago, she had felt like there would be folks there who would need physical healing. We prayed and played over them for a while and sensed God’s aggressive mercy for them. The next day, we sang in two am services at Lighthouse Christian Fellowship. Michelle met a sweet lady who said she had been unable to come to the concert the previous night because she was in too much physical pain to come, due to an injury in August. Michelle got to pray for her right there and they were both stunned by how God still got His business done with this lady even when she wasn’t able to be present to receive the word the previous night.

We felt like Lighthouse was a family connect for us and we can’t wait to come back. Thank you Kenny & Lynn for your kindness to us and for letting us meet the family.

Last night we played at the ywam base in Lindale, TX. Our hosts were Dan and Dawne Broadfield. What an awesome connect! We felt like we were from the same tribe for sure. Obviously because, as you can see in this picture, Elliott thinks he is a part of their family. Dan and Dawne do music together (Artlife) and Dawne had pimped the venue out in original artwork that we loved! The event was super meaningful to us because so many folks came up to tell us how much old songs off of Birth had become life songs for them. It encouraged us and reminded us not to devalue the older stuff. It was Melissa’s first time to play with her full set up and she did great! We felt very alive doing the music and we are expecting to see the sweet Broadfields again and again and again.

Last night before our concert in Lindale, TX, I took Sam to the bathroom. I turned my head for a minute and he was peeing and holding the toilet seat in his MOUTH. He is way too rock star for me.

Our first concert of the tour in Frederick, Oklahoma and we r already collaborating. During Barry’s jam portion, Doug Roberts felt led to get his rainstick on. Rainstick can be like cowbell, you know. It was a warm welcome in OK and a super first concert.

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