Things are back to normal now that we have returned from the Caribbean. It’s back to practicing and gearing up for another busy year.

We started out the month with our friends, Saved by Grace and the Chosen Ones in White Hall, IL. 15 year old Jonathan Lane attends the New Life Church there. For the last couple of years, he has been saving to go on a mission trip to Haiti. The three groups joined with the church to host a benefit concert to raise the remaining funds. Not only did the people come through with enough money, raising over $1400.00, but there was some excess money that Jonathan is going to donate to some other youth that are trying to go. Praise the Lord! It was a wonderful night of singing and fellowship.

I hope that everyone had a great Valentines Day. Leslie and I attended a banquet at our church and won the Newlywed Game. We had a great time even though there were a few embarrassing moments.

On Feb. 19, we had the great pleasure of going to the Methodist Village in Godfrey, IL. This is a very nice retirement community. Several of Claude’s grade school teachers are living at the village. We had a fun night of sharing with a wonderful group of seniors.

On Sunday the 22nd, we traveled to Taylorville, IL to sing for the folks at Faith Community Worship Center. The pastor is Rev. J. T. Kelly. Bro. Kelly is a long time friend of the group and played on several of the Gospel Four recordings. It was so much fun to sit around the table at lunch and hear some of the old Gospel Four stories. Pastor Kelly had just recently been in the hospital battling congestive heart failure. Please keep this great man in your prayers as he continues to serve the Lord.

That evening, we had the chance to go across town to sing for our good friend, Ken Manning at the Taylorville Christian Church. We have had the opportunity to work with Ken several times in the last few years but this was our first time to visit his home church. A good crowd showed up for a fun evening. Ken took us to Wendy’s after the concert and it was fun visiting with him. Ken has been very instrumental in introducing the Wanda Mountain Boys to the Christian churches in Central Illinois.

We are excited about an upcoming project. We are currently working on 10 great songs that will be part of a hymns recording. Many people ask us for the old songs when we sing and we have wanted to do this for a long time. We should start recording the vocals soon and hope for a summer release.

We also hope to announce soon the date for a live concert video taping. We along with the Chosen Ones will be recording a live concert dvd and cd. Keep watching for the dates. We would love to have each of you in the audience for this event.