Saturday, February 28, 2009

Sick


Yes it is 4 in the morning, and yes I am very sick. My throat is killing me. I keep having these coughing fits. Last night during the show, I held in a cough for so long during the message that when that part was over, I went into a coughing fit for like 5 straight minutes. I had to keep doing stuff though to keep the show going. If I were doing any other job, I'd call in sick right now and rightfully so. However, with this job, the plane tickets are bought and the show must go on. Please pray that I feel better. We still have 5 more shows to do in 3 different states this week.

We do everything we can to stay healthy. We try to eat right and take probiotics everyday. We haven't been really sick in a few years until now. Brock was sick last week and me now. We've just had some tough travel times and a gruesome schedule along with training for a marathon.

I will tell you this, though. Last night at our show in Durham, NC, I heard a girl talking to her mom or somebody like that after the show on her phone. She was telling her that she had just given her life to Jesus. It was cool that I caught that as I was walking around tearing down our gear. She ran to call her mom.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Rendezvous


Yesterday, we went to Rendezvous in Memphis, TN on our way home. We keep hearing about it, so we decided to try it. We came through at about 1pm and they didn't officially open until 4:30. However, they serve ribs all day long, so we all got some ribs. I'm not a huge rib fan except for the Gill Family Kitchen (that's my father-in-law's ribs...ooh, they are so good). The ribs at Rendezvous weren't my favorite, but I'm not a big barbecue fan anyway. Brock loved them, though.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Show in Brandon, MS

Yesterday was a busy day. We did 2 school assemblies and a two hour show last night. Also, my body is fighting off a sinus infection, so it isn't quite up to par. It's fighting it off as of now, though.

It was all worth it. So many people came from the schools...many were unchurched. So many of them turned their life over to Jesus. One of the ladies on staff at the church that hosted it (even though the event was in the high school) said that it was so cool to see so many people giving their lives to Christ and knowing exactly what they are doing. They would ask them what they were feeling just to make sure that they understood what this commitment was all about. So many people were ready to take the plunge! They thanked Brock for presenting such a clear message about the gospel of Jesus.

I want to thank all of you for praying. I've said this before, but whenever we perform on Wednesday nights, the Lord seems to really move in a mighty way. That's because of the churches that are gathered praying for us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Busy Schedule

We leave today to drive to Brandon, MS. Then, we do schools shows in the morning as well as a show tomorrow night. On Thursday, we'll drive home. Friday morning, we fly to Durham, NC and do a show that night. Saturday, we drive to Charlotte, NC to do a show that night. Sunday morning, we fly out really early in the morning to New Orleans. Then, we drive an hour or so to Covington, LA in order to do a 20 minute show that morning. We do a full show that night. Monday, we fly home. Tuesday, we run 6 miles. Wednesday morning, we fly to Lincoln, NE to perform there. Then, we fly home Thursday of next week. Oh, it makes me tired just writing it all out. Please pray that we make it!

Monday, February 23, 2009

17 Miles


We ran 17 miles yesterday. It was so difficult. One thing is that we've been so busy that we've only been able to run twice a week instead of 3 times a week (Brock couldn't even do that last week because he felt so badly). Also, we were just rather tired in general, and it was so cold.

I've learned a lot training for this marathon. Because we've ran in the rain, sleet, and snow, I've learned to stick it out no matter what. Even when I don't want to do something like run several miles in the snow, I do it anyway. This is building my character.

Plus, it's great training in life. For example, I ran 17 miles yesterday, so Monday, when I run 6 miles, it will be a piece of cake. That's the same way it is in our life right now. We have a really busy schedule plus we're training for this marathon. Therefore, when we have a really busy schedule again but aren't training for the marathon, it will be so much easier.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

New York Chocolate Shops

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At Marie Belle's, we didn't try anything because we had so much to get to. We did buy a chocolate bar, though. They had a chocolate bar in the back, but it had mostly cakes and such and sandwiches.

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Kee's was a little closet with a couple of cases of truffles. The smoked salt truffle I ate in this picture was one of the best truffles I've ever had. It was so good!

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Vosges was a very cool place with lots of different kinds of chocolate. We tried one of her signature truffles which had some Indian spices in it. It was good and strange all at the same time. We sat at the chocolate bar and tried all three of the hot chocolates. One was regular. One was mayan hot chocolate (with cinnamon and chili pepper in it). One was a white chocolate with lavender and lemon. It was very good. It tasted like a liquid cookie. If you are the kind who likes to dip your cookies in milk, you would love this hot chocolate! In my opinion, Vosges is more weird than it is good. However, it's an experience. Where else are you going to taste chocolate with bacon in it?

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Jaques is a very big place. In fact, you can see them making the chocolate right there. They told us that the cookies are voted the best in the city, so we tried them. The chocolate chip cookie was very good. There was quality chocolate in the cookie I could tell, but it wasn't the best I've ever had. We bought a couple of chocolate bars. We'll see how those taste!

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When we walked into Teuscher, I thought that I would hate it because of the decor. It looked like a grandma had decorated it. It had all these gaudy fake flowers everywhere with bright green walls. It was not at all the cool facade like all of the other chocolate shops. However, the girl that waited on us really took her time with us and even gave us 3 extra truffles for free. The truffles were wonderful...really good chocolate.

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La Maison was right there in Rockefeller Center. It was very high end stuff. We tried a couple of their truffles. The mint truffle was incredible! She said that the mint was imported from somewhere and was the best mint in the world. It was very good!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Day in New York City


We had a wonderful day yesterday in New York City. It took us a while to get there. We drove from Montclair, NJ to Newark and stopped by our hotel unloading all of our luggage. Then, we drove the rental car to the airport and dropped it off. We then took a train (like a monorail) to the train station. We took an Amtrak train over to Penn Station in NYC. Then, we had to get on the subway to go down to Soho (downtown Manhattan). That took a while. I've got to tell you that I thought that I knew everything there is to know about travel, but trains and subways I know nothing about. One time, I tried to get through the door for the subway and I didn't go quickly enough. The door shut me out and I couldn't reuse my ticket. Brock had already gone through, so here we are on opposite sides of the gate. I didn't know what to do until I saw a local push open the emergency exit in order to get a bunch of boxes that wouldn't go through the gate. I simply slipped in after he got all of his stuff through.

Yesterday afternoon, we went to 6 different chocolate shops in Soho and Rockefeller Center. (I will tell you more about them tomorrow.) These shops were recommended to us by the chocolatier at the Cocoa Tree.

After that, we went and ate at a wonderful Turkish place in the theater district. You can get any kind of food that you want in the city. In fact, we had our gps and as Brock pulled up all of the international food around where we were standing, I pictured the gps just exploding, because there was too much!

When we came out of the restaurant, the wind had picked up and for the first time that day, it was miserably cold. So, we took a petty cab (a guy pulling us on a bicycle) to go and see a broadway show. When we came out of the show, it was so late, so we decided to take a cab back to Newark. What a great day!!!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day


Since we were working on Valentine's Day, we decided to celebrate it today. Since we did a show last night in New Jersey only a few minutes away from New York City, we decided to spend it in the city! I will post about it.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Crazy Arm in OK

We took this video while we were in Oklahoma last week:

Pray for our show tonight at Montclair State University.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Goodbye Texas


Well, our stay in Texas has been fun! We got to hang out with my parents and Tyler and Leslieann and Todd and many friends from the band Inhabited. Also, we ate so much food. Texas has great food! We ate at Pappasito's and Lupe's Tortilla twice. Plus, we went to this market and purchased a lot of interesting chocolate. We also had the best gellato I've ever had. Brock said it was the best ice cream we've had since Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco.

Today, we are in Montclair, NJ. We are performing several times here at Montclair State University to promote our show tomorrow night. Pray that it all goes well.

Monday, February 16, 2009

March 11 is Global Food Crisis Day

Here is the radio spot Brock did for the upcoming Global Food Crisis Day:

We may have a chocolate tasting hosted by Brock on brockgill.tv that night to raise money for this effort. Maybe some of you would want to join alongside us at your home or church. You could order a chocolate tasting kit from us or get your own chocolate from your local store. Lindt is a good chocolate. They have many different flavors added to the chocolate. You don't have to buy too much when you have a chocolate tasting, either. Each person only tastes a little from each bar.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Show in The Woodlands, TX


The show last night went great! Brock does this one trick where he begins by saying, "Do you like card tricks?" After the volunteer responds with a "yes," he says, "Then, do one." Usually the girl onstage simply looks at Brock like she doesn't know what to do. From that point on, Brock takes over and does the trick. Last night, for the first time in 12 years, the girl onstage actually took the cards from Brock and preceded to do a magic trick. It was hilarious!

Anyway, The Woodlands is an interesting place. They have city rules that you have to have so many trees per acre. Also, all of the buildings must be green or brown and none of the signs can be too high. It's really a beautiful place. The birds love all the trees. I've never heard so many birds singing when I woke up this morning. I felt like Snow White!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Pics from Indiana University

Brock went to some fraternities to promote the show...
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and some sororities.
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Pray for us tonight. We are doing a show at a church in The Woodlands, TX.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Jeremy Lusk

As some of you may have heard, Jeremy Lusk, a freestyle motocross rider died this week. He was doing a backflip and landed wrong. The only good news is on the video below...

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Indiana University

The show went great last night! We heard that there could be a lot of opposition, so we didn't know what to expect. We were prepared for people walking out or heckling or cussing us out or whatever. When it came time for Brock to share his belief in Christ, you could have heard a pin drop. It went really well.

Someone from Campus Crusade (the organization that we were working with) said that it got exceptionally quiet during that time. I told him that it always does. One pastor termed it the "Holy Hush." We believe that it's a gift straight from the Lord. When Brock really gets into his message, there is an unnatural silence. I feel like it's supernatural. In our loud world today, I cherish that time of the Holy Hush. Every time, it gives me a pause and lets me talk with my Creator. You cannot help but acknowledge His presence during that time, because it is thick in the room.

Pray for the students at Indiana University. Pray that there is a change here on campus. Pray for the follow up from last night. Thanks for your prayers so far.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Bloomington, IN

The reason I'm so excited that we are going to be in Bloomington, IN for the next couple of days is because the book I'm reading by Karen Kingsbury takes place there. In fact, this is the third series of books that I've read that take place in this town. Now, I know that I won't be able to visit with the characters, because they are fiction. (Sometimes I have to remind myself that these people don't exist.) However, I'm such a visionary person that it will help me to see the town to know how to picture everything while the characters' lives play out in Bloomington. I know this sounds crazy. If you are a Karen Kingsbury fan, then you understand.

Today and tomorrow are going to be extra tough for us. Brock is doing a lot of street performances to encourage people to come to the show tomorrow night. All of this will take place at Indiana University where I hear has many atheists. I used to think that Satan really had his hand in our high schools. He does, but he's taken over our college campuses! Pray for us as we try and soften the hearts of the students to the gospel of Christ.

Monday, February 09, 2009

So Many Shows

Saturday, we drove from Ft Smith to Springdale, AR. Then, we set up for the Miracles for 6 1/2 hours. We did the show Sunday morning. The show went really well. Then, we loaded up and drove to Chandler, OK.

Today, we are doing three school assemblies and then driving to IN to do several shows. I am sitting at the sound board while Brock is speaking in the first assembly. Pray for us because we are tired and we have two more shows and a long drive ahead of us.

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Crazy Schedule

We are in Ft Smith, AR right now. Last night, at around 10:30, we did a show at a youth conference here. It went really well. The only problem is that I didn't get to sleep until about 2am. I slept until 9 this morning, though. That's pretty good.

Today, we will drive over to Springdale, AR and set up for the Miracles show that we are doing tomorrow morning. Then, after the show, we will drive to Chandler, OK where we will do 3 school assemblies beginning very early Monday morning. After the school shows, we will start to make a long drive to Indianapolis and begin doing little "mini" shows around Indiana University in order to promote the show on Wednesday night. We plan to be there at around noon on Tuesday and do several of these mini shows that day and the next morning.

Then, we will drive back home on Thursday and fly out Friday to do shows in Texas and New Jersey. It's going to be a killer schedule for the next couple of weeks. Also, most of the shows are different than we normally do. This adds more stress. Please pray for strength and that the shows will go great!

Friday, February 06, 2009

This is Church

This is Lindsey's last post on her blog. I wanted you to read it. This is how I feel about our family dinners. Lindsey simply put it into words for me...

for the past few weeks i have, along with all of my friends, been traveling every weekend. stephanie is on winter jam, and emily is with her. brock and auny have been doing their thang. and then there's me and my arenacross. plus lindsey is so far away she's in tomorrow, and jacob has been traveling a little with brock and auny, but working hard here.

once a week we all get together, we have dinner we share what our lives have been like in the past week and then we spend time praying for each other. i'm still a bit in shock sometimes when my friends and i pray together. it's such a freedom i have never experienced. during our prayer this week i was just overwhelmed with a sense of belonging. i haven't been able to go to church for the past 2 months because i have been gone every weekend. we are able to get together though and share, love and be the church to each other.

oh and the food...it rocks too! :)

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Training for a Marathon

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Good Day

Thank you for your prayers. I was so busy on Monday that I didn't sit down all day until we were at family dinner. However, I felt really good and was able to get a lot done. I didn't know why until I remembered that I had asked you guys to pray. I really appreciate your prayers...it works!

We decided to take yesterday off since we don't know when we will be able to take one off again. We were supposed to have meetings yesterday, but they both canceled. It was a wonderful day. We began the day by watching the Supercross on tv. Matt from Eleventyseven and Jacob from our office had stayed the night Monday night. Then, Lindsey came over to watch the Supercross. After it was over, another Supercross came on. Since it was lunch time and we didn't want to leave, I pulled out food from our freezer and pantry. The 5 of us ate burgers that Brock had grilled and I had frozen, green beans, tomato bisque soup, and some leftover spaghetti. It was an interesting lunch, but it was fun!

Then, Brock and I went on a date...movie and dinner. We came home after dinner and relaxed by the fire. What a wonderful day.

Today, I am doing laundry and getting ready to head out tomorrow. Does anyone have a guess at how many loads of laundry I will have done this week?

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Family Dinner Last Night


Family dinner last night was great! We had one friend, Clay, stop by. He's out on tour with Micheal W. Smith as a guitar tech or something like that. He's always on tour. We call him and Lindsey Little nomads. They both just travel from place to place and come into Nashville every now and then.

Speaking of Lindsey Little, she skyped us from New Zealand. She gave us two presents...flowers (it's summer there) and a kiwi. She had to pretend to give it to us. She also showed us the proper way to eat a kiwi.

After we had finished the gumbo, all prayed together, and Clay had left (of course, he had to go 50 other places because he is only in town a couple of days), Matt from Eleventyseven came by. We played banana grams (that's a very fun game that we play every week). It was great!

Monday, February 02, 2009

Super Bowl Party and Busy Schedule

The Super Bowl party "live" went well. Our friends, Rod and Susan, hosted it. I couldn't have done it without them. They were great! We had the camera turned on at around kick off and had it pointed to all of us watching the game. Rod and Susan have a little girl, Anna. She was the star of the show before halftime. Rod's parents and others were tuning in to see Anna. One of our friends, Jacob, made a sign that said, "Hi mama," because she was watching. It was fun!

The only problem was that we had run 14 miles before the party began. We were tired and our heads hurt. Brock did a good job of keeping his energy up and hanging out. I was dead!

The past few weekends have been good shows, but it's been late nights and early mornings. As I've told you before, I don't do well without much sleep. This month is going to be our busiest yet. We are home for a few days, but we have meetings and such every single day. Then, we leave on Thursday and are out for over two weeks. We come home for a couple of days and then, it's out again for the rest of the month. On top of that, we are training for the marathon. I'm doing okay. I simply just don't want to burn out. Pray that I'll get enough rest on the road and the little bit that we are home.

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Super Bowl Halftime

During the halftime tonight at the Super Bowl, tune in to www.brockgill.tv to watch Brock's halftime show. It's going to be fun!