You all know by now that Theresa and I had our friends from Ukraine visit us for three weeks.  We had a great time with them.  Part of our trip included the cowboy state of Oklahoma!  We spent two days with our friends Joe and Sandy Nemecek on their J&S Ranch.  What a great time we all had.  Joe, LeAnna, Raven, and I took a horseback ride across the “Fruited Plains”.  This was LeAnna’s first time on a horse and she was pretty nervous but I did manage to catch this picture of her with a “Smile”. LeAnna had many “First time” experiences including, first trip to the U.S.A., first roller coaster ride, first commercial airplane ride, first time to record in Nashville, TN,  first time to go fishing, first ride on a four wheeler, just to name a few.  She emailed us yesterday and said it was the happiest three weeks of her life.  Everyone loved LeAnna.  I’ll tell you more about Roma and Roza in the future!

My wife Theresa celebrates her birthday today.  I won’t tell her age here but I will admit she is quite a bit younger than I am.  Picture is of us last night when I took her out for dinner.  Everyone knows Theresa is a BIG part of my work and ministry.  By the way, how old do you think she is?

At church last Wednesday night, My friend from Ukraine and I are trying to see how far it is from Ohio to Kiev, Ukraine.  It is somewhere around 6,000 miles.  Maybe some of you can tell me how far it actually is.  We are guessing.  Anyway, it is a long way.  I have made this trip two different times to sing there in orphanages and prisons.  Many of you heard Roma play his guitar and sing while here in the states and you will agree that he is a talented guy.  I will miss Roma when they leave tomorrow, but I am thankful for the time we have had together.  I plan to return to Ukraine in 2009.

We have just finished our 3 week tour with the singers from Ukraine.  How many of you have seen us at one of the 9 concerts we did?  Leave a comment and let us hear from you.  We have really enjoyed this time with Roma, Roza, and LeAnna.  They will be returning to Ukraine tomorrow.  Pray for them as they make this journey.  Theresa and I are sad to see them go but they have to return to their work and ministries in Kiev, Ukraine.  LeAnna and Roma made a guest appearance on my upcoming album to be released in Sept. The album is not named at this time, but will feature a new song my sister “Geniece Spencer Ingold” and I wrote.  The song is “When He Comes” and  features LeAnna Gorianska and I singing about our hearing about and finding Jesus as our Savior although our stories are so different. LeAnna can’t speak english but learned this song in english for the album. You will love this song.

From time to time I want to tell you all about true friends that I have.  The Bible says if you want to have friends, show yourself friendly!  It works!  Bill Stone and his wife Ramona, from Winchester, Ohio are true friends.  He has went with me as far as Winnepeg, Manitoba to help me get to my concerts when Theresa wasn’t able to go, We’ve fished together in the Bahamas twice, Bear hunted in Minnesota, deer hunted many times, and I’ve even went golfing with him in Florida although I don’t golf.  I took this picture of Bill a couple years ago.  They have always supported my ministry here at home and my work over seas.  I appreciate them.  Many of my best days hunting have been with Bill and other friends on his farm, not to mention I took my best buck there too!