Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Whirlwind

Wow! It's been a whirlwind the last few days. We woke up at 5am Sunday morning in order to catch a flight to Atlanta. Then, we drove an hour and a half to Macon, GA where we performed for the GA Youth Evangelism Conference that night. It went really well. I was a little anxious that day because we hadn't done a show in so long, plus we were doing the bullet catch, plus there were over 7,000 people there.

Then, we drove to a hotel at the Atlanta airport after our show. We woke up at 4am the next day in order to catch another flight. This time, we flew to St. Louis, MO. Then, we drove 2 hours to Springfield, IL where we performed at 1:30pm and again at 6pm. The next morning, we woke up early again and performed at 9:30am. These shows were really fun! My favorite part was yesterday morning when, basically, our community put on a show. Stephanie Smith performed her rock set. Brock helped her out with something onstage. Then, Lindsey performed as I played her music to go with her fire eating. After her set, she ran back to the sound board and played our music for us. Jacob was helping put all of our props onstage including our dirtbike. It was just great!

Last night, we flew to Lynchburg, VA where we will perform one more time tonight. Whew! Then, we get to go home!!! I love doing shows, but I'm very worn out right now.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

5 Shows in 4 Days in 3 States

I am stuffed with shrimp, ribs, red beans and rice, and turkey with all of the fixings. I'm not even going to go into how many desserts I had this week. It was a great time with family and food. I will tell you about the gifts later.

Today, we leave for Atlanta. Basically, we are doing 5 shows in 4 days in 3 states. It's going to be a crazy time! Pray that everything goes well and we make all of our shows. We have some tight flight schedules. Also, pray that we have enough strength to last.

Friday, December 26, 2008

The Season of Giving

One of our friends whom came to our last party with a purpose decided to give to Hands and Feet this year instead of giving out gifts. She said that everyone in her and her husband's family already have so much stuff. I know another girl whose family decided to give to charities instead of exchanging gifts.

Also, I know 3 people whom are having parties with a purpose this month. Two couples are having it as a Christmas party. Another girl is having people bring money to support a cause to her birthday party instead of gifts for her (see Joy's blog a couple of days ago to read about this). I've heard that one of our friend's parents have begun having parties with a purpose.

Stephanie Smith just went to El Salvador to meet her Compassion child. I watched her excitedly make her child a gift before she left. Somehow, I have the feeling that this will be her favorite gift she gives this year.

All of these people have participated in parties with a purpose. I know that I've learned a lot this year about giving. Brock has always been a natural giver. It doesn't come as naturally to me. However, giving parties does. Isn't it cool to see how the Lord inspires a community and uses all of their individual gifts for a bigger cause? I'm just so excited that the spirit of giving is catching on even more!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Christmas Plans

We flew into Houston Sunday night. My parents picked us up. We are staying here with them until Christmas morning. Then, we will drive over to Brock's parents' house in Louisiana. It's only a couple hour drive. We will stay there for a few days. It's going to be great spending some time with family. Neither one of us will have our sisters there, but that's okay. We will miss them and their family. What are your plans for Christmas?

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Stephanie Smith

Speaking of good Christmas gifts...Stephanie Smith's cd comes out today!!! Go and get it! Watch her video. It's fun!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Gift Ideas


Of course, I like our new dvd. It's fun and great for someone whom you want to share the gospel with. This is a good pre-evangelistic tool. The portion with the gospel is very short, but it might open up some conversation. www.brockgill.com


This book is great! It's written by the chocolatier from the Cocoa Tree. Not only does it have some very interesting facts about chocolate and some interesting stories about friendships, but it has some great recipes including her famous mayan hot chocolate. If you ever wished that you could have the Cocoa Tree right in your own house, you can now! www.thecocoatree.com


This is a new book out by Randy Elrod. It has his beautiful water color prints as well as some very inspiring quotes. This is a great book! www.randyelrod.typepad.com

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

We had four Christmas parties to go to this week. Last night was our last one. It was an ugly Christmas sweater party. (You know those really gaudy sweaters from the 80's? That's what we were going for.) It was fun. We took two shirts, one red and one green, and buttoned them together and taped it up the back for Brock. Here is a video and some pics.





Saturday, December 20, 2008

Hustle and Bustle

Yesterday was wild! Brock had a couple of meetings in Nashville. So, I ran some errands that I needed to do before we go out of town. First off, we have our big duelly truck, because someone is borrowing our other vehicle. Try driving a big truck with an extra long bed in and out of parking lots and traffic. It's not easy. Yesterday was the worst day for this. The traffic was crazy and every parking lot was full. People in this area are usually very nice when you try to change lanes or something. All you have to do is put your blinker on, and someone lets you in. Not yesterday. People were rather mean yesterday.

I finally found a parking spot at the FedEx. I had to place half of the t-shirts from one box into another one to ship them to our next show. I did this on the tailgate of our truck with cars whizzing by me in the crowded parking lot. It was crazy!

We were supposed to go out to dinner with some friends last night. She called and asked if we wanted to go to their house instead. She had some leftover pizza that she had shipped from Gino's East in Chicago(that's my favorite pizza place in the world)! It was a perfect night away from all of the hustle and bustle and just hanging out with good friends.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Sabbath Month

You know how Sunday afternoon naps are the best? It's because it's on your Sabbath. Sundays just seem like they are more restful (unless you are working on Sundays). Anyway, I feel like I'm having a Sabbath month right now. I'm sleeping 9 hours a night every night. I usually only sleep about 7 unless I'm really tired out from the road. Granted I've been training for the marathon, so I've been running quite a bit (that makes you sleep like a baby). However, even on the nights that I haven't run, I'm still sleeping so well.

We've had an easier year on the road. Our schedule has not been quite as demanding, but it's still been hectic just not quite as hectic as other years. We've had some problems this year to deal with though that I cannot go into. This has made life more difficult. Plus, I've taken on more responsibility since Shannon has moved to Atlanta. All of this added to my weariness.

Plus, we're doing more ministry at home such as parties with a purpose and chocolate tasting kits. Anyway, I'm very grateful for this Sabbath time.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Fun Day

Yesterday was a fun day! Lindsey, the fire-eater, Stephanie Smith the Gotee artist, and Lucas from Outcast bmx all came over to work on different projects. Lindsey ended up really helping me get ready for our upcoming trips. Lucas built a bed in Steph's van for her upcoming tour (Winter Jam). Brock helped with all of the projects plus did his own. We were in our shop with the music going. It was fun!

After they had left. We got ready and went on our Christmas date. We don't usually get each other anything for Christmas because we are buying for other people and both of our birthdays are in January. However, most of the time, we go out somewhere special on a Christmas date. Last night, we went to a restaurant in downtown Franklin that we've never tried. Then, we went to Target and split up. We each got each other a gift for $20. It was great!

This tradition started years ago when we got stranded in Missouri on our way home for Christmas because our truck broke down. We could only go places that we could walk. Well, there happened to be a Walmart across the street and an Applebee's next door. We went into Walmart, got each other gifts for $20, ran across the street, and ate at Applebee's where we presented our gifts. That's a fun memory.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Pics from the Christmas Party









Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Meet Your Neighbor Week

Our party was great! We had 20 people over and we ate, laughed, exchanged white elephant gifts, and played games.

When it came time to talk about the purpose of the party, Brock showed the video on my blog yesterday. Then, he talked about how we need to be more active in sharing our faith. He said that we normally give toward missions in other countries at our parties with a purpose, but there is something to be said in giving right where you are. Missions starts right next door. He told everyone to keep there $10 this time and spend it on doing something for their neighbor. How many of us don't even know our neighbors?

At that point, we had our neighbors, Billy and Jenny come over. Brock called him and told him that we had something for him. It took them a while to come over. I realized why when they got here. They were dressing up for us. It was so sweet. Jenny had a broach on her sweater and Billy had his best jeans on. We gave them a basket full of gifts and food. It was wonderful.

I want to encourage you to meet your neighbors this week. If you already know them, do something for them that lets them know that you care about them. Stephanie and Brian, you are off the hook because you already baked goodies and took them to your neighbors. What a great idea! If you do end up doing something for your neighbor, comment on this blog about it or email me. I want to know whats going on. Lets make a difference in the peoples' lives around us. Lets make people ask why we even care about them.

Monday, December 15, 2008

How Much Do You Hate?

This video is very powerful. I want you to watch this and tell me what you think. This guy's name is Penn from the magic duo Penn & Teller. We've been praying for him for years. He's a lot like Brock. He does illusions and he has a message. The only difference is that Brock's message is Jesus. Penn promotes atheism. Listen and learn...

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Yesterday

Yesterday, I baked goodies for our Christmas party. We are having a party with a purpose tonight. I will show you pics and fill you in on how that went later.

Brock is so funny. Life is never simple with him. I think because he is not your average guy. He goes to motocross races and does illusions for a living. Anyway, yesterday, he had a friend that needed to borrow our big truck and trailer. Well, the trailer had all of the bike ramps for Outcast bmx team in it. So, he needed to go to a friend's house, drop all of the ramps in his garage. Then, he would give the trailer to the guy who needed it.

Nothing ever goes according to plan. He went to connect the truck to the trailer. The truck was stuck in the snow and mud. So, he got our other truck to pull it out. The only problem was that telephone line was down right where he needed to pull the truck out. He couldn't avoid the line, so he plowed into it breaking one of the lines and breaking off the truck antenna in the process. Many neighbors had come over to see all of the commotion on a Saturday. By the time he left, it was 30 minutes after he had planned to be at his friend's house to drop off the ramps, and he still had a 30 minute drive and no lunch yet.

However, he takes it all in stride. He got it all done. It was just not exactly as he planned.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Winter Wonderland






Yesterday morning, I woke up to a winter wonderland. Brock slept in because he'd stayed up the longest working on the fire. I went into the dining room (it has the most windows) and planted myself in a chair. I then finished my book while watching the snow melt from the trees. What a wonderful winter day!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Not an Expected Day


Yesterday, I decided that I was going to do it! I was going to tackle the closet in the office. This was the closet that I stuffed all of the boxes that I didn't want to unpack in over three years ago when we moved in. In the meantime, a friend of ours from Alabama was going to drive up and meet with Brock. Plus, he was going to work on a project in the shop as well. Somewhere during the day, we were going to run. That night, we were going to go on a date.

Well, the guy couldn't drive up from AL because it was flooding down there. It rained the entire day eliminating the option of running and working outside. So, we both ended up cleaning out the closet. This proved to be a much bigger project than I anticipated. It took hours instead of minutes, plus, I couldn't have done it without Brock's help.

It ended up being fun because we found all sorts of keepsakes. We found pictures of both of us as children. We found our wedding video. Also, there were several things from the beginning of our ministry. It gave me that nostalgic feeling where you feel warm and grateful with a tinge of sadness for days gone by all at the same time.

Then, after we were finally done, Brock went outside to take something to the shop. We discovered that it was snowing hard. We bundled up and headed out for our date as planned. Since we have a 4 wheel drive, a little snow cannot stop us. However, on our way out, some kind of cable was laying over our driveway. We couldn't clear it. So, we turned around and went back inside. I didn't have much food in the fridge, so we had to resort to the pantry and freezer. Brock ate some butternut squash soup and a hamburger patty that he'd grilled and I froze. I had grits, scrambled eggs, and turkey bacon all mixed up in one bowl.

Anyway, Brock kept the fire going and we had a great evening at home. This wasn't the day that I intended, but it was even better. At around 11pm when we were ready to call it a night, the electricity went out. I made a pallet on the floor while Brock collected enough wood off of the porch to last us through the night. We kept the fire going. I fully expected to wake up cold, but I never did. The power came back on sometime during the night, and we slept all night long warm and cozy by the fire.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Christmas Decorations

I have decorated for Christmas very simply for the last few years. My favorite decoration is the little ceramic nativity scene that my mom gave me. I used to love rearranging it daily during the Christmas season when I was a kid. This year, I decided to bring more attention to it by draping lights around it. Then, I draped the lights around the door. I had a few lights left over. What happened to be a few feet away where the string of lights led to? A cross. Talk about symbolism! The birth of Christ led to the cross which is exactly where the lights led. Plus, the lights go around the door. Jesus is the door to salvation. I am really excited about these decorations!
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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Time Off of the Road

We have some time off of the road this month. What do we do when we have some time off? Well, this month we've worked some like going to meetings and answering emails. We are also organizing our lives. For example, we cleaned out our shop and our big rig. Those were huge jobs.

Also, we've been training for the marathon. Last week, we ran 9 miles in 35 degree weather. That was tough.

On a fun note, we've been hanging out with friends and going to Christmas parties. We've had at least one night at home each week where we experiment with food. Last week, we made mayan hot chocolate. This week, we cooked some venison (our neighbor gave us some deer meat). We've also had a date night and plan to have another one this week. It's been fun!

The main thing is that we've been away from doing live shows for two weeks and we have another couple of weeks until we do another one. Although I love doing shows, they are a lot of pressure. It's nice for things to be lower key for a while.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Scripture

I've been flip flopping back and forth between Women of Faith Bible Study Series and John MacArthur's Bible Study Series for my personal Bible study. The Women of Faith is more topical whereas the John MacArthur is on books of the Bible. They've been really great!

One of the main things that I've noticed is that a verse will stick out to me during my study. Then, later on that day, that same verse will come up again. Once the pastor spoke about it...the same scripture. Another time, one scripture passage stuck out to me, but one of my friends kept coming to mind when I read it. A couple of hours later, my friend's husband called Brock and asked if we would pray for her...the very person that came to mind earlier. I prayed that scripture over her all day.

Last week, my study asked that I memorize a certain verse. That day, I got my mom a Christmas present (I'm not going to reveal what it is because she reads this blog) and that same verse was written on it!

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Arenacross, Christmas Decorating, and Winter Wonder Slam

Brock went to an arenacross race in Mississippi this weekend. He won in his category! He is a champion! What did I do while he was away?

I completed my Christmas shopping most of which was online. I decorated our house for Christmas. I watched a cheesy Christmas movie on Lifetime. I did yoga (hoping I could stretch some from our long run). I took an epsom salt bath, and I went to the Winter Wonder Slam concert in Huntsville, AL with a couple of other girls.

The concert was so good! B Reith, Family Force 5, Reliant K, and Toby Mac performed. I really like every one of these groups. It was put together so well. They all seemed to have a good time. At the end, everyone came out and sang "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" together. We had backstage passes because Steph is one of the artists on Toby's label. When we went into the catering room to see one of her friends, it was a little awkward to say the least. I'm usually more at home backstage than anywhere else, but when we walked in, everyone stopped and stared. I, then, realized that there weren't any girls on this tour. So much for just blending in and hanging out a little backstage. We quickly went back out to our seats (we had good seats anyway). Steph went backstage some later, but I stayed out and really enjoyed the concert!

Friday, December 05, 2008

Princess Birthday Party Pics

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Shannon and Steph decorating

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I help decorate

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Princess Emily sitting on her throne

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We each painted one of her fingernails

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Homemade pizza

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This is what happens when you invite boys to a princess party

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Ice cream cake

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Emily and Charmaine

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Game time

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Brock, me, Jacob, Stephanie, Emily, and Lindsey


Pin the tail on the donkey


Tricky pin the tail on the donkey


Pinata


Balloon popping game

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Gumbo Night Pics

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Gumbo

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Yummy!

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Fun Peeps

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The girls

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Nine books

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Bonfire

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Shannon and Emily

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Crazy Jacob

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Shannon and Steph follow Jacob's lead

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Thanksgiving Pics

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Lots of good food

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Lots of good company

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A nice walk

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A band picture

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Girls giggling

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Lindsey and Shannon