hoagie orders taken here

we've just returned from pennsylvania, & we're flying to seattle tomorrow for time with family + seattle/vancouver shows. recent music travels have taken our family to three out of four corners of the u.s. (josh to all four), in the span of a month & a half (by the time we return from the northwest). it's been a bit more challenging with a baby, but really fun, too. i like starting heron's life out with family adventures. it's building her into such a social, adventurous, adaptable individual (though i suppose she's a bit genetically pre-disposed to this, too!).

in pennsylvania josh played in lancaster, philly, and grantham (messiah college). on the way to his first show we stopped for the night in roanoke, virginia, to visit josh's aunt ineke & uncle neil, cousins stephen & eric salo. what a joy it was to reconnect with them! with three sisters, josh looked to his cousin stephen as a brother.

: with the salos in roanoke :

onward we trekked in our little family chariot. lancaster was a welcoming city. the becker family hosted us in their tall historic rowhouse. homemade pizza & blue moon were waiting for us in a place alight with people. the lancaster community was warm & lively, & we were thankful to be able to stay the night & visit the becker's church & home group the next day.

: tom & becky are some of the coolest parents i know :

: josh & tom at senorita burrita, where josh played music with their daughter katie :

: here's how we do merch now :

: heron is a hit wherever she goes :

i must confess that as we were in lancaster, pa, home of the innocence mission (who are friends with the beckers), i was expecting to see don or karen enter the venue every time the door opened. maybe next time... at the end of our stay tom said, "if i would've known you were such fans i would've dragged them out of the house! they're such homebodies!"

next stop: philly, a city i love, a first for josh. again we were hosted by lovely people, our friends jay and aimee (we stayed with aimee). jay & aimee both live a few blocks from circle of hope, a church we've wanted to visit for a long time. we were so warmly welcomed by folks there. i made new girl friends.

: jay & aimee :

we had several free days in philly. we hung out with jay, aimee, & made new friends, too. we were also able to get together for dinner with sammy, my childhood friend from peru. he & josh really hit it off, as i suspected they would...

toward the end of our philly stay our friends jay & jess kirkpatrick, & their son kian, joined us from indiana for two of josh's shows. jay accompanied josh on banjo, melodica, bass, slide guitar, & accordian at the circle of hope & messiah college shows. we had just enough time together in philly to grab a cheesesteak on south street before we caravaned to the next show.



by the end of our trip josh & jess & kian were all feeling sick. since this post is feeling extremely missionary-newsletter-ish, i'll end with some prayer requests...

1) please pray for kian, jess, & josh as they continue to recover, & for me as i seem to be coming down with something, too! we have a day of travel tomorrow, three rest days, & then four straight days of shows to get through.

2) please pray for my mom, as thanksgiving day is also my dad's birthday. she will be with some of her siblings in new jersey for the holiday, but away from me & jeff.

part 2 : the photos

: josh playing at "the compound" surf + skate shop, sarasota :

all of the jedidiah-sponsored shows were at surf shops. josh also played at a calvary chapel church, at the tommy tant memorial surf competition, & on the bay in key biscayne/miami.

: mike doyle & cheyne cottrell :

the calvary chapel in ft. lauderdale was so big that it had its own restaurant. it was really cool, though, & we enjoyed hanging out there.

: russell brownley :

: heron's new best friend patrick & his curls :

: sushi on the lincoln promenade in miami :

: heron in the ergo :

this baby carrier saved our lives on this trip (we can wear her on our front, back, or side). heron hung out here for several hours at a time, allowing me to perform my nightly merch duties!

: josh playing on the bay, with miami in the background :

: baby in paradise :

heron & i would wake up early in the mornings & head to the beach! under the palm trees & in the shade, of course!

: in st. augustine--we fell in love with this city :

as always, more photos over here...

Jedidiah HOPE Collection Tour : part 1

we are back from florida for a mere 3 days before we hit the road again for pennsylvania (we leave tomorrow!). it is now undeniably autumn in north carolina. i'm in love with the fall, but after a childhood in the jungle, i could easily live in the tropics year-round. florida sun was good for the soul.

our travels had us zigzagging across the state. up to this point heron has hated being confined to the car, so we were a little nervous about a long roadtrip with her. but this trip was blessed. besides a tearful drive from NC to our first stop in FL, she fell asleep every single time we got in the car. every day we traveled 2-6 hours to get to the next city/venue, so some days she napped a total of 5 1/2 hours in the car! it was encouraging to us to know that we can travel like this as a family, as it's such a part of our lifestyle. heron did amazingly well with all of the changing places & faces & routines that each day brought. & she fast became a favorite member of our tour team!

josh, heron & i had the pleasure of touring with kahana (marketing for jedidiah, a clothing company that sponsors josh along with other musicians, surfers, activists, & visual artists), russell (dear friend & filmmaker), & patrick (visual artist). also cheyne cottrell & will tant, pro surfers, joined us at various stops. we were all touring in support of jedidiah's HOPE collection, clothing that profits 10 humanitarian projects worldwide. we had an amazing time with these guys & are glad to be a part of this "family". over the years we have found deep community on the road, most often with other travelers. so it was a real treat to re-connect with mike doyle, russell brownley, matt katsolis, & brittney diggs from last year's (3-week-long RV) Walking On Water tour, & to run into maleah & matt duncan in st. augustine.

here's a mini-film russell made of the tour:

Hope Collection Tour: Teaser 2 from Jedidiah Clothing on Vimeo.

a visit to HEART

in between flagler beach & sarasota we stopped through lake wales for a visit to Hunger Education And Resources Training, the educational farm i lived on in fall '96, my junior year of college. i've been telling josh about this for years, & at times we've even considered studying there again. plus, i had to introduce heron to the animals there. during my semester at HEART we learned how to drill wells, set up irrigation systems, repair small engines, raise crops in a small amount of space, raise rabbits, chickens, & goats (& slaughter them for food), etc. survival training at its finest!

: heron visits the bunnies :

(my bunny "pixie" is long gone...)

: and the goats :

hello from florida!

the sun has set, & we're relaxing indoors tonight. we've been in flagler beach since friday. josh played two shows at the tommy tant memorial surf festival on saturday. the longer set, outside in the town square, drew fans from 6 hours away in georgia. brad, tiago, and rey, from braddigan, joined josh for his set. yesterday was rainy & we were stuck inside (though it was just what we needed!), so we decided to stay in flagler beach one more day & night so we could have one free day IN THE SUN! today really felt like vacation. our hosts for the festival, the tants, have put us up in the most amazing resort, & it's really been a blessing to us. today we had so much fun as a family--it was heron's first swimming pool experience. here are some pictures from the start of our florida tour:


tomorrow we head to sarasota, & then on down the state with a show every night. but first! we're stopping through HEART, the farm i lived on for a semester during college. it happens to be right on our way, so we can stop through & say hello to the goats, rabbits, & tilapia! it's been 12 years since i lived there, but i've always wanted to share it with josh.