Well boys…it’s here! The week we all love to see coming, the National Quartet Convention in Louisville, KY starting Monday September 8th and going through the following Saturday. If you are planning to attend be sure and come on over to booth 816-717 near to the entrance of Freedom Hall. You’ll find a smattering of us from time to time all week long. We’ll be having a couch (actually my couch from home) in our booth, so at least come by and give it a test sit. After you’ve wandered the aisles for hours and hours, you’ll be liking our couch big time! Don’t forget that we sing on Friday afternoon during the showcase spectacular from 12:00 to 1:00.

As many of you already know, we had a VERY interesting weekend last weekend. Do I sense a look of bewilderment? Do you NOT know?? Well….this should be fun. Let me start with the “good” stuff and progress from there. Friday night Darrell pulled a major fast one over on his lovely bride Tammie…he (and several friends) put together a complete surprise party that caught her totally off guard (nice one D!!). She turned 40 this past Saturday and Darrell had been planning this for months. Couldn’t really talk about it last week because…well, it would have ruined the surprise….so….happy belated birthday from the Called Out Quartet website!

Saturday we all chilled and let D devote his total attention to Tam and her special day. Got up early (and I mean early…nothing lik an alarm going off at 3:00am to get you going) and headed from Nashville to Columbus, MS to enjoy a morning service at the Nazarene Church there in town. Seeing as how it was Labor Day weekend, the crowd was down a touch…but the spirit was unfettered. We had an awesome time and even joined the pastor, his wife, and a couple of friends from church at the local Mexican resturant there in town before departure. Had to be in Memphis by 5:00pm (which was about 3 hours away) so we couldn’t dilly-dally….but we did have a great time with the time we had.

Had an uneventful drive from Columbus to Memphis (had to call my mom once as we crossed over the Tallahatchie Bridge in Mississippi…which to some might ring a bell as it was featured in the Bobbie Gentry song “Ode To Billie Joe”…which I heard numerous times during my youth). Got to Hartland Heights Baptist in plenty of time, and even had time to enjoy some piano playing by Darrell and others there at the church before the service started. Had a great time there and got packed up and headed back towards home…things went awry from this point.

On the way home we stopped off at a Wendy’s (Scott’s favorite fast food destination) in Germantown, TN just outside of Memphis. Super nice area with lots of shopping, hotels, and resturants. Ran into a swarm of people and soon discovered (since we meet no strangers while traveling) that they were from New Orleans and were fleeing Hurricane Gustav. Talked to a couple of them while in line at Wendy’s and then took our food and was ready to be home. It was about 8:30 and we had a nice 3 hour drive or so ahead of us, so we were looking at a very reasonable (by typical standards) 11:30 or so arrival. I hopped into the drivers seat and asked Scott (the only one with me at the moment) who hid my laptop bag. He replied “don’t look at me” as he prepared to feed his face. When D got there I asked him to please give it back and he looked around and asked what I did with his…and the GPS. Ever had that sudden feeling that starts at your head…kind of feels like the blood is draining out of your body? Well I think we all shared it for a moment as Jess walked up and we quickly realized my briefcase (with a laptop), my suitcase, Jess’ briefcase (with a laptop) and Darrell’s suitcase were all gone…along with our GPS “Karen”. Someone had broken in and wiped us clean. Called the police, who, by the way, were not only great to work with…but had about 3 patrol cars there in no less than 2 minutes. Seems we were part of a select group who got broken into that night…the club consisted of about 50 cars and most were part of the crowd coming from New Orleans. We were there for about 2 more hours and then headed home, tail between our legs.

After worrying all day Monday (Labor Day) about how the insurance company would handle it…Tuesday rolled around and our agent took control. We haven’t gotten everything replaced yet, but thanks to Nationwide (the official insurance company of Called Out Quartet…always wanted to say something like that) we are well on the path to having it all taken care of. Props to Matt Hanley (our agent) here in Nashville…thanks for jumping on it and getting us back on track. Also got to thank the good Lord…He had a plan in all of this and we should never have doubted it for a second. He is truly good, and He is good 100% of the time.

Heading to the Harrodsburg, KY Sunday morning and Shephardsville, KY on Sunday night…which just so happens to be just a few miles from Louisville, KY…our week long destination! Good planning Scott and Barbara (our booking agent). Love it when things like that work out.

Hope you guys have an awesome weekend. Don’t forget to let us know about your plans for Gatlinburg. The mailbox was literally full of forms today and we picked up about 7 more rooms last weekend. Praise the good Lord for helping us out with this deal. One quick note…please be in prayer for Stephen Jewell, bass singer for Total Praise Quartet. They were scheduled to attend the Gatlinburg event, but had to bow out last week when it came to light that Stephen’s wife had some complications with her pregnancy. Please  pray for Stephen and his family…the good Lord knows all about the deal. We will still have Barbara Roach and her husband Jerry there, along with the Smith Family (a trio) and Heather Rice for your listening pleasure.

Talk at you soon…who knows,  an update or two from the convention floor (wi-fi willing)….

Von and the guys at CO4