Thursday, May 31, 2007

Seconds From Death

This afternoon, Brock told me that he was stung by a wasp. This is a regular occurrence since they build a nest by our shop door every year. However, today was different. Talk about KINKS in the plan. Today, was the biggest one ever.

So about 45 minutes later, Brock starts running around the house like a madman. He jumped in the tub and started pouring hot water and vinegar all over his body. He called for some baking soda and the phone to call his mom. He complained that he was itching all over even inside his ears and eyes. He could not get his mom on the phone, but his dad answered his cell phone. I was sitting in the bathroom on the laptop googling all kinds of possibilities. Just as I was reading how life threatening bee or wasp sting allergic reactions are, I heard Brock's dad say, "You are having an allergic reaction to that sting, bud."

For some reason, I was exceptionally calm. I got Brock out of the tub and ready. Then, I called outside to our friend Lucas who was getting the fire pit ready for tonight. I said, "We are about to go to the emergency room. Want to come?" He decided to go.

Then, Brock drove himself to the walk-in clinic. (We decided that the walk-in clinic would be quicker and cheaper than the emergency room.) As we were driving there (it's a 25 minute drive) Brock was getting worse and worse. He wanted to drive because it would "keep his mind off of it." At this point, he had hives that turned into huge whelps all over his body. His eyelid was swelling up and his tongue began to swell. He could still breathe though.

We received instant attention as soon as Brock walked into the waiting area of the clinic shirtless with whelps all over him. A nurse came over and checked his breathing right out in the lobby. He was breathing fine. Then, they rushed him back to the "procedure" room and gave him two shots. Sure enough, the itching began to subside. The doctor then said that the next thing to swell was going to be his throat and when you throat closes up, you only have 70 seconds before you die. Praise the Lord that Brock lived today!!!

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Revival

I'm reading a book written by the pastor of the largest church in the world, David Cho. The book is about prayer. He claims that all revival begins with prayer. Revival in your church, within your community, and even personally all is instigated with MUCH prayer. However, you must sacrifice when it comes to praying. Mostly the
sacrifice is time. I've noticed that when I'm exceptionally busy, my prayer life suffers. Therefore, I'm trying to cut out things in order to get that time with the Lord. It's sorta like I was talking about yesterday only spiritually instead of physically. Do you really want revival? If you do, then you will be willing to pray passionately for it no matter what the cost. If you are not ready to make the sacrifice and put the time into it, then, you don't truly want revival.

I'd like you to pray with me about something. I'm praying for revival to break out this summer at the various camps that we are going to. Even if one person from every youth group had a fire lit inside of them, think of the impact. If a whole youth group experiences revival, they will take it back to their community and
church.

We are usually focused on evangelism, but at camps there is a lot of discipleship involved as well. I'm thinking of camps as a new way of evangelism. Of course, you will have many that are not saved come and get saved. However, I'm thinking of camps as a teaching ground that inspires believers to go home and be so into the Lord that it just spreads naturally and revival occurs! Please pray for revival with me!

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Do You Want to Get Well?

When I was back in the press room at the Dove Awards, I heard a doctor speaking. He is a naturalistic doctor. He said that when people come into his office, he asks them if they want to get well. Jesus asked the man at the pool of Bethesda if he wanted to get well (John 5:6). The truth is, some people don't.

There are so many natural ways to cure health problems. For example, I have had allergy issues for years. After cutting out dairy products and eating wheat sparingly, I rarely have a problem at all. However, when someone says that they have had trouble with sinuses lately and I suggest that they cut out dairy for a while, their response is, "I cannot live without my ice cream everyday." When I tell people that I have more energy, am less moody, and lost a couple of pants' sizes after cutting out sodas, they say that they cannot live without it!

Therefore, you have to make the choice. Do you want to get well or not? This doctor says that he doesn't help anyone unless they are willing to make a couple of sacrifices in order to get there. It's been well worth it to me!

Monday, May 28, 2007

Going Postal

I was in the post office last Thursday. I had to get a gift in the mail for my brother-in-law since his birthday is this week and we were leaving town Friday. I had the gift and the card with me. I had written the address on the envelope of the birthday card. I explored tons of options for the packaging in which I was going to mail this gift. I looked at several envelops even stuffing the gift inside it to see if it would fit. I tried several different sizes and assortments of packages. After trying different things, I'd place the packages back on the shelf with all of the other ones like it.

I decided on one particular padded envelop. After placing the gift inside, I reached for the card only to find that it was missing. I looked over at all of the envelops and realized that I must have left it in one of the ones I had tried earlier. Let me tell you! With so many errands to do before I left town and so little time to do it, this was irritating me beyond end! This gave a new meaning to the saying "going postal!" Maybe it was actually the original meaning of postal. (Who knows where that saying came from? I can imagine after my experience!)

I quickly began looking through every single envelop. There had to be at least 100 of them. There was no card! I even looked in some of them twice thinking that I'd missed it because it was white. At one point, I sat on the floor in order to sit as I tediously went through every one. I'm sure the people waiting in line appreciated the comedic entertainment while doing such a mundane procedure like waiting your turn to mail something or get a passport.

After going through every single envelop on the shelf with no success, I remembered that I tried one box. I took the box off of the shelf and there it was. I turned around to the line (just in case anyone was watching) and victoriously through my fist with the card in it in the air! I spent 45 minutes in the post office, but I got the task done.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Another Great Night!

Last night was another great show! We perform the late show, so it's late at night after a long day for most. Plus, there are a few other shows going on at the same time. Therefore, I'm always worried that not many people will show up, but they do! We had a really big room last night, and it ended up to be standing room only.

The crowd was so great! They had a great sense of humor and got even the subtle comedic comments that Brock would say. Therefore, we all laughed a lot! After I got a nap yesterday and felt refreshed last night, I had a great time at Spirit West Coast.

We leave this morning for Baja, Mexico! I hope that it's sunny. It hasn't been here in San Diego.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Times in Spirit West Coast

It's been fun being here. There are so many Christian artists here. Also, the Team Faith guys are here (they are our freestyle motocross team for FX). In fact, last night, we were able to use one of the guys' motorcycle to do the blindfolded motorcycle ride through the audience. That's not usually something we can do when we fly because we cannot get a dirt bike on the plane. I don't know why???

The show went really well and the crowd was great! With so much going on, you never know how many people will show up. The only thing about it is that we perform at the late night show which begins at 10:30pm. Therefore, I woke up at 6am Central time and performed at 12:30am Central time last night. I cannot sleep in to save my life, so I was awake at 7am this morning after not going to bed until after 1am Pacific time. It's confusing! All I am saying is that I'm tired!!!

Friday, May 25, 2007

Off to California

We are headed to California! We are performing at Spirit West Coast. It is a wonderful festival where lots of Christian artists come together and perform. The festival will be held at Del Mar which is just outside of San Diego. We have two late shows tonight and tomorrow night. Pray that many become followers of Jesus. Also, pray for the whole festival to go smoothly. Pray for safety. With thousands of people attending, a lot could happen.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Kinks

Yesterday was a fairly good day. I washed and folded 11 loads of laundry. If any of you know me, you know that I actually enjoy doing the laundry. It's my closet that is a complete disaster zone that I cannot find a will to clean. Anyhow, I did laundry, read, and watched a couple of movies.

However, a kink was thrown in my day when the air conditioner decided not to work. I didn't discover it until it was really hot at about 5pm. I looked to see if any breakers were thrown. After that, I was at a loss. I couldn't call anyone because it was after 5.

Therefore, today, I'm going to have to get that worked on. It's tough because right now, I have only 3 days home until we leave for the summer. I have just enough time to get everything done. Everybody knows that there are always "kinks" in the plan. Pray that I'll be able to get everything done and that there will be no more kinks!

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

A Day to Myself

Do you ever just need a day to yourself? Well, tomorrow, I'm planning on taking one. Brock and a few people in the office are going to Kentucky to do a rally for the FX that we will do there in the fall. I'm going to stay back here and work on getting ready to go for the summer. That means that I'll be doing laundry mostly.

Usually when I get a day alone, I'm too lonely by the end of the day. By about 6pm, I miss people. By the time I'm ready to go to bed, I'm extremely lonely. Tomorrow, it will work out good because Brock will be in sometime tomorrow night. I will have the day to myself, but I don't have to sleep alone.

I rented a couple of movies and I picked up some food to cook. I plan on doing some yoga and spending some time on my front porch with a book. What do you do if you have a day alone?

Fun Weekend

I had a fun weekend! It began with me flying all day Thursday. I had a three hour layover in Atlanta that I was not looking forward to. After I found something to eat and sat down near my gate, I get a call from Gin who is part of the quatro crew as well as my best friend from college. She said that she just figured out that we were on the same flight to Gainsville, FL from Atlanta. I asked her if she had left yet. She said that she was already in Atlanta. "I am too!" was my reply. When she asked where I was, I looked up and saw D-28. She said that she was at D-29, and in that instant, she began walking by me. I put down the phone and yelled her name. It was fun to hang out with her and fly together. We were assigned to seats on the same row on the plane.

Thursday night, we stayed with Amber. Friday, we went to Busch Gardens. I was impressed by the food and some of the shows. Amber and I rode the new roller coaster, the Shiekra. It went straight down for what seemed like forever! I loved it, but it was too much for Amber.

Saturday and Sunday, we stayed on the beach and just hung out and talked. One night, we stayed up until 2am playing cards and went to a movie another night. It was great!

Monday, May 21, 2007

Quatro Trip

There were four of us hence the name quatro. We were inseparable while we were working at Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina the summer of '98. After that summer, we got together almost every year because one of us was getting married. After we were all married, we decided that we needed to still find a way to get together every year. Therefore, we began the annual quatro trip.

We are all four from different states: Me from Tennessee, of course, Gin is from Texas, Biz is from Alabama (Enterprise, AL actually), and Amber is from Florida. A couple of years ago, we went to Alabama to visit Biz. Last year, everyone came to my house. This year, we are going to Florida to see Amber.

It's such a great time to get together. As women, we need time to not have to worry about taking care of someone else every now and then. I told one of my friends that I was ready to be selfish! One of the girls who has two little kids is probably more ready than me for this vacation, but I'm really ready!

I'm actually on the trip right now and Brock has been posting my prewritten blogs. I get in tonight and will let you know how it went tomorrow!

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Psalm 23

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside the still waters, He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Enterprise, Alabama

Here are some pictures from the school that was hit by the tornado in Enterprise, AL. Pictures don't do it justice, but maybe you can see why I couldn't believe that only 8 people died in that place. You will see that in some places, there are still papers on the board whereas the very next wall was ripped to pieces.


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Friday, May 18, 2007

What Would I Do in a Crisis?

I've been thinking about what I'd do in a crisis situation. I guess after seeing the school that the tornado hit in Enterprise, AL and hearing about the shooting at Virginia Tech the very next week made me think. Would I be one of the ones locking up the door or getting people into the hallways? Or would I be frozen? Would I be scared or instantly in motion?

I know that Brock would immediately begin acting and leading. That's how he is. Whenever we are doing a show, I am a very quick thinker. I think 8 years of experience has helped me. However, when it comes to life and death, I'm not sure how I would react. I know from only a couple of instances, that I have either frozen up or started to get mad. Either one of these is not very good. I'm not a screamer for sure. I don't naturally scream. What do you think that you would do in a crisis?

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Pictures from Stephanie's Party

Remember when I told you about how we dressed up like Halloween for our friend, Stephanie's birthday? Here are pictures of us all dressed up and eating at the Cheesecake Factory:


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Wednesday, May 16, 2007

We Found It!

Amongst all of the busyness of GMA week, guess what we found? We found our camera that we thought was stolen at the airport. It was in one of those bags that we checked 50,000 times and didn't find it.

Brock was in the middle of a TV interview. He was making a light bulb brake and Mark Hall from Casting Crowns was with him. I reached down to get our new camera which was just like the old one only without a case. I got the camera out only it had a case just like the old one. I wondered if Brock had bought a case for it and I didn't know, or could this be the one that we "lost"? I quickly opened it and checked. It was all of our old pictures!

We were able to take back the new camera because we had only had it for a few days and now we have all of our old pictures! It was great! I'll try to put up some new pictures for you.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Stress

Today, as I was driving to the dentist, my vision began to blur. I thought that maybe I had looked at something too bright. Thinking that everything would be fine when I went into the dentist office, I didn't panic too badly. However, it got progressively worse. I could barely fill out the form they had given me. I've never had any vision problems, so I thought that it was something much more serious. I was convinced that I had a tumor in my brain laying on my nerve connected to my retina until my eye twitched. My eye always twitches when I'm stressed. I've never had blurred vision before, but I told myself that it was just stress. I breathed in and out very deeply several times (I'm sure the people in the dentist office thought that I was crazy). Then, it went away after lasting about 15 minutes proving my theory that it was stress related.

I don't know how to handle all of the pressure that we are under. I used to always be on edge feeling like I could explode at the next person within a close proximity. At times, I did just that. I finally gained control of my emotions where I don't do that anymore. Now, I must be internalizing it because it's affecting me physically.

Most of you know that I have an ulcer that flares up every now and then (not very much lately because I watch what I eat). I also grind my teeth at night. The dentist told me today that I'm just killing my teeth at night. So, how do you control what you are doing while you are sleeping? How do you handle stress? I need a few pointers.

A Little Piece Missing in My Brain

I think that everyone has one part of their brain that doesn't work correctly...it's almost as if it is missing. Mine is the part that tells me to gather everything I brought with me and take it home. I am always leaving stuff. We have to drive back to the restaurant and get my camera or whatever. I used to lose my purse at least once a year. Then, I got one of those wallets that attach to your keys. That way, whenever it was time to drive away, I couldn't get very far without keys. When I went to get my keys, there was my wallet! That helped because I was really tired of replacing my driver's license and credit cards every year or so.

After marrying Brock, I don't even carry anything anymore except my phone which I strap to my clothes with a "phone purse". He carries our keys, wallet, camera, etc. The funny thing is, when we get up to leave, I automatically ask Brock is he has everything. For some reason, I cannot do that for myself.

Saturday night, I brought a cookie cake and a little purse containing only matches and candles for the cake. After dinner, I carried the empty cookie sheet all over town with us. I wanted to throw it off of the bridge so badly just to watch it fall. Whenever the big boat drove under us, I was glad I didn't because that could have hurt someone! Everyone in my group thought it was so funny that I was carrying around a cookie sheet and we made reference to it all night. When we got in the car later, I realized that I had left the purse with the matches and candles in it at the restaurant. I remembered the cookie sheet that I was willing to chunk in the river, but forgot my purse! We drove back to the restaurant and got it. It was still there, but the matches and candles were cleaned out! Remember the cookie sheet that I carried all over downtown Nashville? It didn't make it home. I set it down when we played in the fountain only a block away from the car. I forgot to pick it back up! I remembered it up until about 30 yards from the car!

Do you have any missing piece in your brain or is it just me?

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Birthday Tattoo

My friend's birthday is next week. However, she is going to be out of town, so we celebrated it last night. Do you know what we got her? We all bought her a tattoo. It was fun! She got a small tattoo on her foot. She'd been wanting to get one. She even had what she wanted all drawn up. We surprised her with it though. It was perfect because she had just received a pedicure that day because she's going to be in a wedding next weekend. So, her feet looked so pretty as she cringed while getting her new tattoo.

Then, we went out to eat and had a cookie cake. After that, we walked on the famous walking bridge (it's a huge bridge in downtown Nashville overlooking the water and the city that is only for pedestrians). A huge cruise boat came under us. We were waiving and yelling at the people on the boat. Some of the boat occupants actually took pictures of us! Our friend, Shane, said, "There aren't enough lifeboats. I did the math! I hope this is not like Titanic!" It was so funny. Then, we headed back to our cars and Brock and I played in the fountain. It was cold!

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Uneventful Day

I finally washed clothes yesterday. We were at the bottom of the barrel. We stayed home all day and it felt good. We were going to build a fire outside last night, but it began to pour yesterday afternoon. It was cool. Brock and I sat on the front porch and watched the storm come in.

It was a very uneventful day for a change. I liked it! After the Dove Awards, Brock's brother's wedding, and doing the big crane escape within a couple of weeks' time, I was ready for some normalcy.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Pictures from the Wedding


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Finished

I have blisters all over my feet and I'm tired, but it was worth it. Yesterday, we had a big event in Georgia. We did a big stunt outside and then performed a show inside. The worship center where we performed was at least half of a mile from the place where we did our stunt. Therefore, I walked to and from those locations half a dozen times. Most of the time, I was carrying stuff. It was tiresome.

The stunt went extremely well. Everyone loved it! It was so big. The show inside was good as well. So, it was worth all of the planning and stress of it all. Now, it's done, and we are going to take the weekend off! Today is the day I can breathe again.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Quality Time

We had a wonderful day together. We slept in and had a leisure morning. At around noon, we rode the motorcycle into town. It was gorgeous weather. We ate at a wonderful Persian restaurant. Then, we went to the Cocoa Tree and Brock had them set up a special deal that had my favorite stuff to dip in chocolate. It was a fondue feast. Bethany had it all arranged very pretty with a little card that read "Happy Anniversary."

We came home and have been on the back deck ever since. We watched the sun set. After the sun went down, Brock made a fire in our outdoor fireplace. It was perfect.

I'm blogging tonight because tomorrow is a big day. We leave early in the morning in order to drive to Dacula, GA. We perform the crane illusion which we have only done once before and that was for the Discovery Channel show. Then, we do a full show. Pray that everything goes well. It's a lot of pressure on us.

8 Years

Today is our 8 year wedding anniversary. Brock and I were talking the other day about some of our friends who are in the dating scene. It's difficult. We decided that the only way guys learn how to date is from the movies. They portray the absolute wrong way of doing it. The movies say to get the girl by romance. However, usually, movies end when they get together. Therefore, they show you how to get the girl, but not how to keep her. You cannot keep the girl with romance. She'll just expect more and more, and he'll get frustrated and bored.

Brock stated that a better way to do it is to become friends with someone to see if you are compatible. Then, instead of buying her flowers or kissing her (that can come later), you start to take care of her. If that goes well, then, tell her how you feel.

We did it this way by accident. We were best friends who shared everything with each other. We hung out with lots of friends or just the two of us. We also talked about the type of person we wanted to marry. If I had car trouble or something, I knew that Brock would take care of it. Then, one day a light bulb turned on in both of our hearts and minds. We realized that we were in love. Our relationship feels so strong because it's built on friendship and not some fickle romance.

What do you think about dating?

Monday, May 07, 2007

The Wedding Pictures

The wedding photographing went great! I was nervous about it because the nice, digital camera that I was borrowing to use for the majority of the pictures had a broken flash. Therefore, I couldn't use it for any of the inside pictures. Fortunately, the wedding and the pictures following were outside.

The pictures that we looked at on the laptop last night were so great! I was excited! The bride is very photogenic and the wedding took place in a garden, so that helped a lot. However, I have a new respect for wedding photographers. It's much harder than you think. I took over 500 pictures in less than 4 hours. Plus, everyone loves the pictures when they see them, but they don't like actually posing for them. It went extremely well, though. Brock helped me out a lot.

Go to myspace.com/familyforce5 and watch the really real show #14. Family Force 5 filmed backstage at the Dove Awards and Brock as well as Bethany from the Cocoa Tree are on it.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Free Dessert

Friday night, we were eating at this wonderful mexican food restaurant. (The mexican food in Texas is like no other in my opinion.) I was telling Brock's parents about how it pays to be extra nice to people. At that point, Brock commented on how many times we get free dessert.

We had been especially nice to our server and sure enough, we got free dessert! Also, we booked the rehearsal dinner there for yesterday. Even though Brock's mom had heard that they couldn't do it due to Cinco de Mayo on the phone, Brock somehow managed to schedule a dinner there for yesterday. It saved his parents a few hundred dollars because the other restaurant in which they had planned to have the dinner was much more money. It was great!

Today is the day of the wedding. Pray for me this afternoon!

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Wedding Photographer

I feel great! I slept 11 hours last night. Of course, I woke up yesterday at 4:45am in order to catch a plane to Texas again. This time, we're in Dallas. Brock's brother is getting married tomorrow. I'm excited!

Pray for me though...I'm the photographer for the wedding. I've always enjoyed taking some candid shots at weddings. That's fun and there is little pressure. However, I've never been THE photographer. What if my camera stops working? What if the light isn't good? What if???? I brought four cameras just in case something happens with one of them. Two of them I borrowed, so I was trying to get used to a nice digital one in the airport yesterday. We were taking pictures of strangers walking by, a shelf area, very random stuff. I hope that I can do a good job!

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Ghosts in the Theater?

While we were at the school assembly yesterday, I noticed a note backstage that said, "Leave this light on to appease the ghosts of people of the theater in the past." I pointed it out to Brock. We thought that it was funny.

Then, during our next school assembly, the principal was using our mic and all of a sudden, it went out. We had already performed one assembly in the same room. Nobody had touched a thing. We got her a new mic. However, I was nervous about Brock's mic, so we checked it during his first illusion which didn't require speaking. It wasn't working either. We were able to scramble and get him another mic before anyone even noticed. After the show was over, we checked both mics and they were both working again. I asked the students as well as the teacher who was helping me what they thought. Everyone of them attributed the faulty mics to the ghost. The teacher's comment was, "She acts up sometimes."

I was beginning to get a little nervous. Then, when we set up later that night in another auditorium, we found a short in both of our cords to the mics as well as the laptop. I knew that there was a logical explanation! It was weird that after years of having these cords, they both shorted out on the same day.

Show in Portland, TX

Last night was an amazing night. I cannot even describe how awesome it was. I'll try...We were in a school auditorium that seats about 1,000. At about 6:30pm, the doors opened and people began pouring in. By 7pm, the place looked full and people were still coming through the doors. Some people were squeezing in two people in one seat. The energy level was way up. Brock was so funny! He plays off of the crowd so much. They were a really good crowd, so it was a great show. He said "Shannon likes nachos" last night and the night before during the show.

When Brock got to the message, I didn't know how it was going to go over. Most of the people attending were not from the churches but the schools. I thought that maybe lots of people would walk out or whatever. They all stayed and listened rather intently. Then, when Brock asked how many wanted to give their lives to this Jesus that he was talking about, so many people responded. It was overwhelming in a good way. What a night!

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Mallori's Birthday Party

Monday night, we had a going away party for a friend and celebrated our friend, Mallori's birthday. She turned 26, so we all brought her 26 of something. She's a very fun girl. You could tell by the presents she got. She received 26 lollipops, crayons, markers, chocolate covered strawberries, etc. It was great!

We kept it a surprise by a couple of our friends telling Mallori that only the three of them were going out for her birthday. When she came around the corner and saw all of us there, she began to cry.

Then, our friend that is leaving for over 2 months came for Mallori's birthday and was surprised when we gave him a care package. It was a loving night between friends.

Pray for us today. We are going out to do school assemblies here in Portland, TX. Then, we'll do a show tonight.