The Martins March 2025

Hey Friends,

Thank you for joining us. I hope you are having a great day. Welcome to April! There are no April Fools jokes here today. 

We are rewinding to Saturday, March 23rd. Mom and I traveled to Washington Courthouse, Ohio, not too far away.

We went to Heritage Church to see the Martins in concert. It has been years since I have seen the Martins live. I was thrilled to receive a notification about this concert in my area on the Bands In Town app! We were home and able to attend. 

It was an appreciation concert for Sunday school teachers and church workers in their fellowship. They honored several people. 

Then, it was time for the main event of the Martins. Thanks to Heritage for a great night of music! Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. 

The Martins have been family favorites for over thirty years, and their singing has always inspired us. 

The concert was incredible! I smiled all night and kept looking at Mom, saying, "Wow!"

The Martins are a sibling trio: Joyce, Jonathan and Judy. They were all there and came out to sing. After the first song, we were told that Jonathan did not have enough voice to sing the entire concert. They had reinforcements waiting in the wings. Judy’s son Jake Hess the III was there. 

Jake did a fabulous job filling in for his Uncle Jonathan. This was the first time he sang live with the Martins.

He was nervous but was having a great time. His Mama,  Judy and Aunt Joyce were so proud and thrilled to be singing with Jake! It was fantastic to witness this night in The Martin’s history!

Here are my pictures from the evening. I hope you enjoy the concert virtually!

Jake also sang two song he has co-written. Both songs have been recorded and released by others. Turns out Mom and I already knew both songs. We did not know he was one of the writers. 

It was a wonderful night of laughter, music and tears! I felt like it was much needed for both Mom and me! Thank you to Joyce, Jonathan, Judy and Jake for a fantastic concert!

See you tomorrow!

Odie

Weekend Wrap Up 3/24/25

Hey Friends,

Can you believe the pace at which we are zooming through March? To me, it seems like the month just began yesterday, and now we are in the last week of it.

We had a fabulous weekend full of family, friends, fun and church! I think that’s an excellent recipe for a wonderful weekend! 

Let’s rewind to Thursday. We met our wonderful family/friends, Pastor E.J., Sis. Lacey, Reese, Carter, Hudson and Stella Lamb for lunch. 

Most of you will not be surprised at our lunch of choice. Yes, we went to Acapulco, which was as good as ever! The fellowship was even better! We love this family so dearly. I always leave feeling refreshed when we spend time with them! They have a way of cheering me up!

It was the first day of spring, but the weather did not get the notification. It was quite cold. I even saw a few snowflakes! That did not stop me from enjoying a free ice cream to celebrate the first day of spring at our local Dairy Queen. We enjoyed it from me inside of our heated car with the heated seats on! It sure tasted good

As I mentioned in Yesterday’s Sunday Sanity post, we went to our home church at DRPC. bro. Andrew Blevins preached, and it was great to be in service with our church family!

On Friday, I was not hitting on all eight cylinders; my head was throbbing. I chose to spend the day at home resting. Mom went to visit some of our family that evening, and she did not take any pictures. 

Saturday morning we visited with some more of our family. It was great to see all of them! Thankfully, I felt much better. 

Saturday night found us a little less than an hour away. I found that the Martins were going to be in concert. We have always enjoyed the Martins music for many many years. They were just as good as ever! I will share more about that in a later post. 

Sunday morning we were back at DRPC. Our Pastor taught a wonderful Sunday school lesson. 

I snapped a few photos during service. I could not pass up an opportunity to document my cousin Katie behind the Bible stand. 😂

The kids choir. 

Then we were blessed to hear Bro. J.R. Alexander preach. It was great to have Bro. J.R. And Sis. Teresa home visiting. 

Sunday evening, we were in service at The Anchor of Hope in Lebanon, Ohio.

we love our friends at The Anchor so much! 

A few months ago, Pastor E.J. Lamb asked us to come and sing and Uncle Danny Morgan to preach. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful service! Uncle Danny preached really really good! Mom and I were blessed to be part of the service!

I will wrap up this post with my pictures from Sunday night. See you all tomorrow!

Odie

Odie’s 2025 Vacation Day 5

 Hey Friends,

I hope you are having a great Wednesday. We have been enjoying a week at home. I did have a little porch time yesterday! That is my first time sitting on my glider this year and enjoying the sunshine.

While I was outside, I was going through pictures on my phone. I realized I have not finished sharing my vacation photos from this year. I am behind!

Therefore, today, we have day five of the 2025 vacation. This is day three of the Singing At Sea cruise. Wednesday was a port day. We spent some time at Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic. 

It was a beautiful day to enjoy the island for a little while. Then, we found our way back on the ship and enjoyed some deck time. Next on the agenda was music, dinner music, friends, ice cream and you get my point.

Hopefully, you will enjoy seeing some of our vacation pictures. All of these were captured on either my iPhone or Nicole's. FYI, Blogger has taken to posting the pictures in random order. It drives me crazy when I work so hard to try to get them in chronological order.

The Singing At Sea cruise by Templeton Tours is a blast, and I am looking forward to next year! I cannot say it enough, Thanks again to my dear friend Nicole for being a great travel companion!

Without further ado, I will leave you with pictures from Wednesday, January 29, 2025. Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow!

Odie