Sunday Sanity 7/13/25

 Hey Friends,

Last Sunday night at church, Bro. Tyler Austin preached his first sermon. I was so proud of him. He did a fantastic job!

Bro. Tyler grew up in our church. We have watched him grow up to become a man of God! I am so proud of him and his wife, Beth! They are wonderful young people!  I am thankful that I can call them my friends!

His title was “Praising From A Dark Place.” The Lord encouraged me through his message! 

Bro. Tyler said something that stuck out to me, and I wanted to share it with you today. I hope this little nugget encourages you today.

“Your position to the Son will change your perspective in the dark place. Praise will turn the light on in a dark hour!”

Bro. Tyler Austin- Lebanon, OH

Dryen Road Pentecostal Church

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a fabulous Sunday!

Odie

The Great Iowa Fall Of 2025

 Hey Friends,

Thank you for stopping by! Today, I am going to share a hilarious story with you. I hope you're ready for a good laugh!

As you may recall, Mom and I traveled to Iowa last month. We had a fabulous time with Pastor John Stringfellow and his family! We immensely enjoyed the revival in Keswick, Iowa. I am still rejoicing over the services we had that week.

Our very dear friends, Bro. Andy and Sis. Tina Stringfellow was the evangelist during the revival. It was so wonderful to be with the Stringfellow family! We all made so many great memories during that week!

Probably the greatest of them all happened unexpectedly! Let me give you a little backstory…

There is a wooden ramp attached to Pastor John Stringfellow’s home. That is the entrance that I used to enter the house. to get to the ramp, we had to do a little off-road driving in my wheelchair and cut through the yard.

On Wednesday, it rained, making the yard very soft. Bro. Andy offered to push me through the soft yard to help Mom. 

I trust Bro. Andy, therefore, I agreed to his help. We took this picture laughing at a memory made by our friend Mandi Morris many years ago. Bro. Andy was imitating Mandi’s version of leaning me back! 🤣 We had a good laugh!

Then Mom showed him how to properly lean me back on the back two wheels, to make getting across the soft yard easier.

We made it safely across the yard. Bro. Andy decided to keep me leaning back while walking on the ramp. Sis. Tina warned him that there was a slick spot on the ramp.

We found the said slick spot! When his feet hit that spot, they went toward the street and his face toward the ground. My chair proceeded to lay all the way down on the ground. It all happened in the blink of an eye!

Bro. Andy and I bumped heads on our way down. Thankfully, we were both were ok! It is a wonder that I did not come all the way out of my chair!

My dress had migrated up around my waist. Mom said I was laying on my back with my feet pointed toward the sky. All she could see was me lifting my dress up in the air, trying to cover my legs. I was worried about being decent! Bro. Andy assured me that he did not see anything, because his face was toward the ground.

Once we were assured that we both were alright. All we could do was laugh! The Great Fall Of Iowa 2025 happened insanely fast! The memory will last a lifetime! I have not quit laughing about it since that day!

Bro. Andy and I said we needed T-shirts saying that we survived The Great Fall of Iowa 2025. The picture above was taken moments before the fall! My mom still had my phone in her hand.Everyone around us was laughing too hard to get any pictures or video of the actual fall. We were asked for a recreation, but we declined! 

Let me just state, I still trust, Bro. Andy! He pushed my wheelchair again the next day. He did not keep me leaned back while going up the wood ramp. We learned our lesson! We also avoided slick spot!

There you have the story of The Great Iowa Fall Of 2025!  Bro. Andy felt horrible! There is no reason to feel horrible! I think it is hilarious! Accidents happened to all of us!

He offered to push my chair at church that night, but I turned him down. The spirit of my dad came over me, “I told him you know after our fall today I can't walk!” 🤣

See y'all tomorrow!

Odie

Dorcas and Dad In A Dream

Hey Friends,

Thank you for stopping by on this beautiful Tuesday. Did you catch yesterday's post? I shared an update on the latest GoodNews Christian School building project. You can see that post by clicking here.

Recently, I was compiling the photos for yesterday's post when I came across a picture of my dad and our precious friend Dorcas from Nigeria. 

Many of you all remember Sis. Dorcas. She was saved during one of the outdoor crusades my dad preached in Nigeria. He told her testimony for years. Dorcas drug herself through the dirt and grass to the altar, because she knew she needed Jesus! Actually, she did it two nights in a row until she felt like she got what she needed.

It greatly moved our family! When Dad realized her condition and that she was dragging herself to the altar, he got down and crawled to meet her!

I was on that trip, and I was able to meet Dorcas. We gained a friend for life! 

She actually became an honorary member of our family. She called my parents, mom and dad, me her sister and even wrote letters to my grandparents calling them grandma and grandpa. It really was special! Each trip that my parents made back to Nigeria She would have gifts waiting on them. Also sending some home for me. We would exchange video greetings through my parents during their trips.

Dorcas became my hero! She had to overcome tremendous obstacles to live with her disabilities in Nigeria. No other country makes life easy on someone with a disability like America does. We tried to help her with wheelchairs and other things. 

Every single day was more of a struggle for her than I could ever imagine. She lived life with a smile on her face and was thrilled to be a Christian. I know her life was never easy!

My parents were with her during their 2023 trip in Nigeria. She sent handwritten letters home with them. 

Shortly after their trip, Dad had a stroke. Later, we found out Dorcas had her own sickness, around the same time. God chose to call her home. Dad wrote a post about it here.

Our hearts were broken to lose one of our Nigerian family members! Yet we also rejoiced, knowing that she no longer had the struggles that life had given her. In Heaven, she would be completely healed! She would never suffer again.

Less than a year later, Dad joined her in Heaven. I knew that is one of the many people he would be reunited with! I rejoice knowing that they are worshiping our Lord together.

I hope you are ready for the story of a dream. A few weeks ago, I had a fleeting dream of Dad. I have had a handful of those through the months. Most of the time, I do not remember all the details. They are usually over before I realize what's going on.

On this one occasion, I had a quick dream in which I knew Dad and Dorcas were both in the location. I do not remember details of the location. It was shocking really, because I did not remember thinking of Dorcas before my dream. I did not get to speak to her. 

In the dream, I talked to my dad. He said your sister is healed. She  does not need her wheelchair anymore! I knew that he was meaning my Nigerian sister, Dorcas!

In an instant, the dream was over. I woke up rejoicing, knowing that they both were healed! No more wheelchairs, or any of the aids to help them live life. I was happy for the reminder that there struggles were over. 

The ache of missing them was there strongly! I am so grateful for the blessed hope and the promise that we will see them again! I look forward to the day that we can all be together in Heaven.

Thank you for reading, as I share what is on my mind today.

Odie

Happy 57th Birthday Mama

Hey Friends,

Yes, it is a holiday weekend! We will celebrate America's birthday tomorrow, but we must celebrate today!

Happy 57th birthday to the beautiful Kelly Jo Boggs! My prayer for you today, is that you feel blessed, loved, appreciated and special! Mom, I hope you have an incredible birthday!

57 years ago, a firecracker of a little girl was born. When she arrived, she brought so much joy to the world! Kelly Jo Morgan, as she was then known, is the oldest child of Danny and Betty Morgan. July 3, 1968 their life changed forever!

They raised her to be a lovely lady. Shortly after Mom turned 4 her parents were saved. Then, they instilled in her a love of God!

All these years later, we know her by many titles mom, sister and friend. I have personally witnessed her being a devoted wife, caregiver, and mother. 

Kelly Jo Boggs is my hero! She has walked through life with grace. Her favorite position is to be supporting someone else. Anyone that truly knows my mom knows that she is absolutely amazing!

She has dedicated her adult life to her family, ministry, and music! As someone who has had of front row seat, for most of it, I am in awe of her. I wanna be like my mommy when I grow up! 😀

I had a really hard time narrowing down the photos to use of Mom in this post. So I am going to share some more from my camera roll

Once again, I love you, Mama happy birthday! I hope you can feel my hug in this post! Sorry, not sorry for embarrassing you! You deserve all the extra shout, outs!

I will wrap up this post with re-posting a video Dad shared on our YouTube channel 2 years ago. 

Daddy, love, my mama, like no other! I could get by with a lot of things, but if he felt that I was disrespecting my mother that was another thing. He wanted her to be held in the highest regard! This is just one of the small proofs that we have of his love for her!

Odie

Picture Day Prep

 Hey Friends,

As we announced a couple of weeks ago, we are releasing a new music album. Part of the behind-the-scenes work that needed to be completed was photos for the album artwork. 

Our timelines were tight, and we did not have time to travel out of state to visit one of our great photographer friends. Mom and I ran the miles and tried to work the map every way we could, but we could not figure it out. Travel for the photos was not possible!

Thankfully, we had Google, and we found a photographer locally whose work looked really, really good! She is just a few miles down the road. Mom contacted her last week, and thankfully, she had an opening. We were also very grateful that she had a lovely studio. The weather was in the upper 90s all week. We already do not do well with outside photos, and the heat was another major factor.

Mom and I put our heads together and picked out our wardrobe for the photos. Then we had another question. What are we going to do with our hair?

We called in the experts, and they came running to our rescue! They can work miracles with hair, and they came bearing the tools of the trade to get the job done.

Thank you so much to Sis. Valerie Burris and Sis Emily Roberts! We were so thrilled that they were available! I know it took valuable time out of their busy schedules!

I have included a few pictures of the process! Mom and I both enjoyed getting pampered! We were thrilled with the outcome! I made mine last as long as possible! Then I hated to wash my hair!

Here is a selfie that I took with my beautiful mother, post photographs. 

Hopefully, we will get to see the pictures from the photographer soon. Now, we are waiting on an email from her.

Thank you again to our wonderful friends for rescuing us! It was great to get to spend some more time Valerie and Emily. We love you all so much!

There you have a sneak peek into our Picture Day Prep!

Odie

Recording Process In Pictures

 Hey Friends,

I hope you are having a wonderful Saturday! Thank you for stopping by to visit with us.

Mom and I traveled to Hendersonville, Tennessee, earlier this month. We were there for two days. The objective for the trip was to record a new music album. 

Ben Isaacs has been encouraging us to record in his studio. He felt it was a step we needed to take now. 

We started prepping the song list several months ago. We finalized it in mid-May. Then we were waiting for Ben. 

When he contacted Mom at the beginning of June, he said, “How soon can you record?” Our options were to record the next week or wait two months. Six days later, we were in the studio. 

I wrote about the recording here, here and here. We had a great time in the studio with Ben. 

Ben, we can not thank you enough for your help, encouragement and expertise! We would not be doing the recording without you. Thank you for believing in us! We love you so much!

Our part of the recording is done. As I mentioned previously, the band on tracking Day consisted of my mom, Kelly Jo, on Piano, Brandon Taulbee on bass and Greg Ritchie on drums and percussion. Ben Isaacs is the producer; he also engineered the vocals. Marcus Hyatt engineered on tracking Day.

Now, Ben has been working with a few more musicians to add some other instruments. Then the other vocals will be added.

We are anxious to hear the finished product and share it with you. I hope we have the project back by this fall. Pray we can finish all the behind-the-scenes stuff in a timely manner.

Mom and I tried our best to get pictures while recording. It was hard to get all of them that we would have liked because we were both just a little busy. I have shared a handful of these on the vocal and tracking posts. Today, let's put them all in one place.

Tracking Day

Lunch with the crew at Meyer’s Front Porch.

Vocal Day

Ben introduced us to Sam’s Place. Best chicken wings ever! I dream about them, they were so good. The wings had a dry rub seasoning and grilled. AMAZING!

Our vocal controls in the booth were labeled with Ben's nicknames for us!😂

That wraps up the pictures from this recording project. I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into the process!

Thanks for reading!

Odie