Thursday, October 30, 2008

Show in Hampton, VA

Yesterday started out as one of those days that just wasn't the best. We had to get up before the sun rose in order to catch an early flight. We had to bring even more luggage than normal because we are doing 4 shows in a row. When we got to Virginia, we couldn't find a place to eat. It was just the disadvantages of travel taking its toll.

However, when we got to the church, the day was totally redeemed. Everything went extra smoothly. Brock was even able to take a little nap across 10 chairs that he'd formed into a bed. Then, the show was great! The place was packed out. The people at this church were very warm and welcoming. Also, I could tell that the show was prayed over.

Lots of people in the audience had never gone to church before. In fact, many people who gave their lives to Christ last night had never heard of Jesus before. (I didn't know that even happened in the USA, but apparently it's beginning to.) There was a whole family who was saved. A girl who was involved in homosexuality and drugs gave her life to Christ last night. A few guys who went from saying, "When is the f***ing prayer going to end?" last Wednesday to giving their lives to Jesus last night.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Lunch in Bed

Every time we come in really late at night like we did Saturday night, we usually stay in bed through lunch the following day. However, we didn't get a chance to do that Sunday, because we were preparing for the party. So, we took our morning of leisure Monday. We woke up sometime during the morning, but we just laid in the bed and watched TV and ate breakfast and lunch.

Finally, at about 1pm, we got up and began to clean up. That's the worst part about having a party...cleaning it up. It only took a couple of hours. Then, we went over to our friends' house and ate leftover gumbo. It was great!

Yesterday was back to work. Today, we are flying to Virginia for a show. Pray that the show goes well.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

More About the Party

Then, Mark began to tell about the situation in Haiti. They are so poor there. It breaks my heart that people are starving. The average person there makes 60 cents a day. With the skyrocketing gas prices, it costs 60 cents for a cup of rice. Therefore, a man can work all day long and only have enough money to buy one cup of rice to feed his family for the day. Mothers are feeding their babies mud pies just so that they will have something in their bellies and fall asleep. It's such a sad situation, but Hands and Feet are trying to break the cycle by having an orphanage where they are fed, loved, and taught about Jesus. Right now, they have 36 children in the orphanage. However, the hurricanes came through and wiped out most of the property.

After Mark shared, we gathered around him and his wife, Aegis, and prayed for them. That was a wonderful time as well.

After that, Lindsey performed some fire eating stuff right there by the bonfire. It was great!

Then, we went on a hayride. We piled people into the back of our truck and on our flatbed trailer and drove them through the woods. Brock made a couple of scary stops. I cannot even explain how it was scary, but it wasn't cheesy scary like people jumping out from the woods with a mask. It was more like "The Ring" scary like seeing a figure of a woman getting closer and closer and closer to our stopped vehicle. It was so fun!!!

We broke a couple of records with this party. One is that we had more people than ever come...35 people. Also, we raised over $1,200 Sunday night for Hands and Feet.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Spooky Party

We had our party with a purpose last night. We had only fire to light the backyard. Tiki torches were lit around the patio. Near the patio, we had two tables decked out with all of the fixings for gumbo and chili, as well as drinks and stuff to roast hot dogs and make smoores. Candles were sporadically placed on the tables. Near the tables was a small fire with cast iron pots of gumbo and chili warming over them.

Everyone came in at different times and ate and sat by the fire pit. After a little while, we sent people into the barn that we had transformed into a bizarre theater. There, Brock did a spooky magic show. It was fun for Brock to do material that he would never do in his usual show. Our theme last night was voodoo because it's the national religion of Haiti. The difference is, many Haitians actually believes in the stuff.

After that, we all gathered around the fire and Mark Stuart spoke. He's a great speaker. He first told us about when he met Brock several years ago. He said that Brock was 19 years old and a freshman in college when Audio Adrenaline came into town. Mark was a little upset because his car had just been broken into and the stereo stolen. He said that he had mentioned it to Brock when they were hanging out. Later that day, Brock showed up with his own car stereo and insisted that Mark have it. Mark's point was that Brock has always been generous.

More about the party tomorrow...

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Show in Litchfield, IL

Yesterday morning, we drove to IL, set up, did a show, and drove home. It was a 6 hour drive, so this was a big day. We left at 7:30am and got home at 4am. We haven't done that in years. The show went really well. We had a few problems with the breakers throwing. The show was in a high school gym. We've had a lot of experience with breakers being thrown in gyms. Brock took it in stride. He simply made a joke out of it. Lots of people were saved. The people putting on the event thought that they had plenty of counselors but needed more. That's a good problem to have.

We drove all the way home in order to get here with no problems for the party tonight. We still have a few things to set up, but we've prepared most of the food and have everything ready to simply move outside.

Friday, I made the big grocery store trip for the party. I got everything on my list to make chili and gumbo except gumbo file (pronounced fee-lay and not like a file you would put in a filing cabinet). We called everywhere...Publix, 3 more Kroger (where I usually buy it). One of the managers at Kroger told me that they don't get it anymore and that it's discontinued. This was bad news! We have all these people coming over and we cannot make the signature dish for the night. We finally found a little country store here that had one more bottle. If that didn't work, we had a cajun friend on standby who was going to give us his. It was crazy!!!

Pray that the party goes well, and that lots of money is raised for the Haiti orphanage.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Preparing for a Party

Last night, we went out with some people that we don't normally go out with. It was really fun! They are some great peeps.

We have been preparing all week for the party that we are going to have this Sunday night. Since we are doing a show in Illinois tomorrow night and won't be getting in until Sunday sometime, we need to do everything now.

Yesterday, Brock worked outside since the party will be centered around the bonfire. Today, we are going to cook a lot of the food. I am going to make a run to the grocery store. Brock's making a ton of gumbo and chili today. Then, we will warm it up over the fire on Sunday night. We've got some other things planned that may make it our best party yet.

We are raising money for Hands and Feet. You may have heard that this orphanage in Haiti was hit by four hurricanes this year leaving thousands of dollars in damage. If you want more information about Hands and Feet go to www.handsandfeetproject.org.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Quiet Week

We are in town all week until Saturday. The funny thing is, a lot of our friends are out of town. Therefore, we don't have anyone to hang out with. Brock didn't go to his mentoring group the other day because it was canceled due to people being out of town. I did my long run in training for the marathon yesterday. I went to my friends' house to shower like I normally do, but they were all gone. So sad.

It sorta feels like when we first moved here 6 years ago. We had a couple of friends, but they were out of town most of the time and we were out of town the other times. So, Brock and I would stroll through the mall for no reason. Anybody ever done that when they moved somewhere new?

We are such people persons that when we did meet someone we liked, we'd get their number and try to hang out as often as we could. It takes a lot of effort to develop friendships when you travel as much as we do. We'd get to know people and then leave for the summer. However, we finally found a group of friends whom we keep up with even when we are on the road. I'm so glad that a week like this is very rare now.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Children of the Corn

Photobucket

Actually, I've never even seen that movie. We went to a corn maze last weekend. It was really fun! At first, we were disappointed that we didn't bring a flashlight. Then, we realized that it was more fun without one. There were these guys who were dressed in all black sneaking through the corn scaring people. Brock would sneak up on them and scare them!

Of course, Brock brought the air horn and would blow it every now and then making us all freeze. One time, he blew it right by one of the guys dressed in black and yelled, "Ha! I found you!!!" It was a lot of fun with our group!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Keyless Rental Car

Monday, October 20, 2008

Show in Holland, MI

We were in Holland, MI last night which is about 30 miles outside of Grand Rapids, MI. It's a little colder here than at home but not much yet. The show went well. Lots of people became followers of Jesus which is what we like to see.

It was difficult for me, because I realized how much I use my back at these shows. We have 4 50 pound cases. It was okay for me to roll them, but picking them up like I usually do was out of the question. I normally pour the 50 pounds of broken glass out for the glass walk, but I had to get one of the volunteers to do it instead. Since I had full mobility in my back, I had to make a conscious effort not to pick up anything the wrong way or anything too heavy so as not to injure it again.

The other thing is that I simply run around and do a lot before, during, and after the show. Therefore, I didn't pick up anything heavy, but at the end of the night, my back was still killing me. It's better this morning, though. I'm going to baby it a little more this week, and maybe it will be completely healed by Saturday when we hit the road rather hard.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Flying to Michigan

My back is feeling much better. I'm just being really careful not to lift anything too heavy. This is difficult today since we are flying to Michigan with 5 suitcases...4 of them weighing 50 pounds. Pray for the show in Michigan tonight.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Back Muscle

I don't know if I strained my back muscle or what, but yesterday, I was rather laid up. I've only had a pulled muscle once. It was in my lower back. That was awful! If I moved my big toe, shrilling pain would shoot up my whole body.

That was not the case with this muscle. It was just really tight and sensitive. Brock took really good care of me, though. He massaged it a few times throughout the day. This really loosened it up. He cooked lunch and dinner for me.

It was strange to have to put everything on hold. I had some washing to do, but bending over wasn't a good idea, so I put it off. At one point, I emptied the dishwasher with a little help from Brock just because I had to have the kitchen clean. After doing that little bit, I was wiped out!

I feel much better today, though! It just feels a little tight back there. I'm going to try to take it easy today, but I think that I can do a few things if I'm careful.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

In a Rush

Yesterday, we got up and got ready to run. Then, Brock was doing some work on the computer, and I was working around the house when my sister called on Skype. I hadn't talked with her for a while, so it was great! We talked for about an hour. I ran out the door to do my 30 minute run. By the time I came back, we only had 20 minutes before we had to leave in order for Brock to get to a lunch meeting.

Therefore, I rushed my workout. Now, I feel like I'm paying for it. I think that I might have strained a muscle in my back. I can still move and breath fine, but it's so tender back there. I had Brock sorta push on it last night, and it was just too tender. Any suggestions nurses or doctors out there? Do you think that it's strained or what? It's definitely a muscle on the upper right side of my back kinda in between my shoulder blades and backbone. It's sore, but I can still function with my day.

Also, I left my phone at home. I never realized how dependent I am on my phone. I didn't know when Brock needed to be picked up from his meeting. I couldn't call my friends to see if they were home. It's crazy to think that only a few years ago, I didn't even have a cell phone that I'm so dependent on now!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Mayberry

Yesterday, we did what we normally do when we are home on Tuesdays. We went to meetings and ran errands. Actually, I run the errands while Brock is in meetings. He dislikes errands, and I dislike meetings. It works out well.

Brock's meetings and some of my errands are in downtown Franklin. I feel like it's Mayberry, because the downtown area is old. It even has a town square area. Plus, we run into people we know. I walk to the post office and the bank downtown. When we're done with our meetings, we walk down to the tea shop and visit one of our friends who works there. Sometimes, we go into Starbucks and visit another friend who works there. Yesterday, we went to our friend's office which is right downtown and hung out for a while.

It's just great! If we don't have anywhere else to go, we just go over to our friends' house that live in that area. Yesterday, one of my errands was to go to the grocery store. I took my groceries and put them in their fridge until we were ready to come home.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Revelation

I'm studying Revelation right now. I've read that book before, but I just sorta read through it and thought that it was weird. Now, I'm actually studying it. I've always been scared about the end of time here on this Earth and all of that stuff. I watched these movies when I was younger called "A Thief in the Night." I didn't understand Revelation, but if that movie was supposed to teach me more about it, I didn't want to know. It was scary!

However, what I'm learning is that the end of times is going to be a very glorious time for the Lord. It's going to be victorious for the Lord and for His followers. Sometimes, I think that people view Him now as a little weak. They think that He's a God of love and mercy Who is just somewhere up there and doesn't interfere too much with us done here. He is a loving and merciful God, but He's also just. He's holding back His wrath. Right now, Satan's kinda having free reign. Soon, whenever the end comes, the Lord will take back this Earth and punish those who've rejected His Son.

It is scary for those who don't believe. For the ones who do, it's our time of victory as well!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Girls Weekend

Brock was busy filming a dvd all weekend with a few guys. Therefore, I decided to go and stay with my friend, Lindsey, since her roommates were out of town. We watched several movies and made cookies. It was great!

Also, I got a pedicure. I like to get one of those after the summer, because I go barefoot a lot and wear sandals the rest of the time. I figure that an ultra cleaning of my feet is a good idea. There was a lady next to me whom was getting one with her daughter. The only problem was her daughter was 3 years old. I feel like that's a little young. I got my first pedicure in a salon when I was in my 20's. I bet that girl is going to be a real "princess."

Anyway, what did you do this weekend?

Friday, October 10, 2008

New DVD

This is the intro to our new dvd called "Alive Onstage." It officially comes out Dec. 1st. We have some pre-releases right now. After this intro, it goes into our new show. It's fun!

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Anxiety Dream

I had another anxiety dream last night. I feel like I only have them when I'm about to get up in the morning and work. Today, a couple of guys are coming in from Texas to stay with us. One of the guys and Brock are working on filming a dvd that has some teaching on it. Anyway, they are going to be busy with that all weekend. The guys are staying here, so I'm going to cook and be hostess today.

I'm going to start to journal my dreams. Maybe if I can figure out what causes them, I can prevent them. I hate having them. It makes me wake up very tired. It makes me feel like I've been running all night.

Last night's dream involved some guy doing the show instead of Brock. He was doing a terrible job. Plus, I was playing all of the music from my phone (this isn't how I normally do it). Then, my phone broke all together, and I couldn't get it to play anything. I began running out to the truck to get our ipod which is our backup to the computer when I woke up. In these dreams, I'm using very logical solutions (such as getting our ipod for backup music) in an illogical dreamland (such as using my phone which doesn't even play songs to play the music instead of our laptop like we usually do).

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

"If It Ain't Broke, Don't Buy a New One"

My dad and I take that saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" to the 100th degree. It's mostly that we don't really think about buying new stuff. My dad has been using the same hairbrush since before he was married. They've been married for well over 30 years now. I'm not quite as bad as him, but I run along the same pattern.

I've had my same phone for 3 years now. It's been great! Every year, Brock asks me if I want a new phone. We've even gone into the store to look at other phones before. However, even though mine is all nicked up because I've dropped it umpteen times, it's still in great shape. The front screen is shorting out. So, it is sorta broken. We went to Verizon yesterday, and I still didn't get another phone.

I did get some new clothes, though. Every now and then, Brock tells me that I need to update my clothes. A couple of years ago, I was still wearing jeans that I wore in college. I listen to him when it comes to updating clothes because I know that living in a city like Nashville, I need to keep up. I still only buy clothes once or twice a year. I buy shoes way less. One time, Brock bought me some new sandals and threw away my old shoes on the spot just so that I wouldn't wear them anymore. Is this weird? My husband is saying that he will buy me something new and I'm not so eager to do that.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Marathon Training

Well, yesterday, I officially began training for the Music City Marathon. Of course, the marathon doesn't happen until April, but it takes a long time to train for it. Yesterday, I only had to do 3 miles. That's what I normally do anyway, so it didn't feel any different. However, I made my best time so far.

I've got it on my calendar for next year. Only if I'm injured will I not run in that marathon. I feel like since I'm running intervals (run 6 minutes and walk 1), I've cut down on the injuries and recoup time.

This means that next year, I will have almost completed my bucket list. One being to run a marathon. Since we are planning on going to Hawaii for our 10th wedding anniversary, that will complete my goal of going to all 50 states. What is on your bucket list?

Monday, October 06, 2008

Feeling Lazy

I stayed home all day on Saturday. Yesterday, we went to church and hung out with our friends all day just talking and stuff. It was a great couple of days.

I've also been sleeping for 10 hours a night. Part of it is that I'm tired, but the other part is that our propane that controls our heat is turned off. We just found that out on Saturday. The gas people weren't working this weekend, so we haven't had any heat. It's been great weather during the day, but at night and in the morning, it's really cold...down in the 40's at times. So, we've had the electric blanket and a space heater in our bedroom. Normally, when I wake up in the mornings, I go into the living room and read my Bible or watch TV or get online or whatever. The last few mornings, I literally didn't want to get out of bed because it was too cold everywhere else. Hopefully, we'll get the gas fixed today.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Stressful Day

I'm glad I had that carefree day Wednesday, because yesterday was anything but. We get up early in the morning again to catch an early flight to Spokane, Washington. It is a 45 minute drive from Post Falls, ID where we were to perform last night.

We flew United which I said that I would never do again after the last time. However, my choices were limited when flying from Nashville to Spokane. We get there on time, and everyone boards the plane. Then, they tell us that the flight attendance's head set wasn't working. Because of "safety" reasons, she has to have that headset working. They had us deplane. After about 30 minutes of waiting, we realize that we are going to miss our connecting flight in Denver, so we called United. The line was too long at the gate because there was another United plane right next door that was also broken down (this is why I don't fly United anymore). They couldn't help us on the phone, so Brock went out past security and back to the front desk. I stayed at the gate just in case something happened. By this time, our flight had been canceled.

As I was standing in line at the gate, American Airlines called me about a problem with another flight that we are taking later this month. I took care of it while Brock was trying to get us to Idaho in time for our show.

Our part of the show began at 9pm. The only flight we could find got us to Spokane at 7:15pm. This meant that we couldn't even have a hiccup or else we'd miss the show. If we landed on time, we could grab our bags and rental car and be there by 8:30 hopefully. When we took off from Denver, we taxied on the runway for about 20 extra minutes! There was nothing I could do, but I knew that there was a chance that we'd miss the show all together. Despite the slow takeoff, we still get there at 7:15. We had our bags and were in the rental car by 7:35. We get into the venue at 8:17 and we went onstage right at 9pm. Woo! We made it! It was a great show, too! Over 200 people gave their lives to the Lord. That made the stress totally worth it!

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Carefree Day

Yesterday, Brock had meetings all day in town. I ran errands and did some work on the computer. I got everything done so that I could simply rest today before we fly to Idaho tomorrow to do a show.

Rest I did. I slept 9 hours and then I took an hour long nap. I did run 3 miles today, though. In fact, I ran it in my fastest time yet.

The weather was so perfect...mid 70's and not a cloud in the sky. This weather makes everything seem okay. The whole world could be falling apart (which it sorta is) and on a day like today, everything is "sunny." Maybe I'm exceptionally effected by the weather, but I didn't have a care in the world today. Does good weather put you in a good mood, too?