Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Whoops!

The other night at a show, Brock actually fell flat on his face onstage! In his defense, the stage was very dodgy. It was low to the ground and in several, uneven pieces. Previously, just by moving around on the stage, the pieces began to separate. Plus, the lighting was not too great downstage. He went out into the audience, and when he came back onstage, he just missed it all together and fell face down. In all of his 13 years of doing shows, he has never done that.

Me, on the other hand, that's a different story. I am so clumsy that we've actually began counting how many times I say, "Whoops!" in a day. It's about an average of 10 to 20 depending on how tired I am. I usually don't fall onstage, because I am very intentional with every step. However, I am slamming into things backstage all night. Brock said that every now and then he can hear a bang or an "Ugh!" going on back there. I have a bruises often.

Last night, we were filming a promo for our new show called "Date Night," (more about that later) and I was getting something from our trailer. Time was ticking away, people were on their way, the video guys were already setting up, and I had to just get one thing from the trailer. This is the time when I get sloppy. The gear I needed was under a few poles. I tried lifting the poles with one hand, while I lifted the prop with the other. The prop was stuck and a pole or two came crushing down right on my face! Big whoops! I dropped everything and let the guys go get it. I went to the bathroom and discovered that I had a cut in between my eyes and a goose egg forming on my head. Of course this would happen the night we were filming! Whoops!

Monday, September 27, 2010

The Light Bulb Comes On

I recently read an article on sleep. It told the importance of sleep and some of the things sleep accomplishes for the mind. It addressed the reason you wake up in the morning and that light bulb comes on! You pop up out of bed and think, "Oh! This is how to fix that problem!" Studies show that you dream about a problem you had in your day. Your subconscious does not have the limits you have in your conscious such as physics and logic. Therefore, your subconscious tends to find the answer better by not being so constricted in thought.

The other night, we had a friend over helping us install a chandelier we had purchased at the flee market. When we finally had it all hung and ready, I put the light bulbs in. Every one worked except one. I changed out the bulb hoping it was a blown bulb. It was not. The guys took off the covering over the wiring part to look and see if it was still wired up. However, they did not have a voltage meter to know, and the wiring looked good.

Brock and I both went to bed a little frustrated, because we did not know how much of a pain it would be to fix that one light. When I woke up the next morning, I had an idea! I walked into the dining room and placed the bulb in the slot without the covering on. It worked! You see, the covering was too big not allowing the bulb to screw in enough. Since I was the one to screw in all of the light bulbs, it came to me in my subconscious that the one particular bulb did not screw in as well as the others. Maybe the study is true!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Burly

Every time we go into an event, I find one guy that will really help me out. It's the type of person that has a "can do" personality. In Springfield, MO last week, that person was Burly. Burly is a wiry older man who uses a bicycle as transportation. He has been a dishwasher at Red Lobster for 24 years. When he is not working or sleeping, he is at the church. Therefore, when we came to set up, Burly was there! He was so eager to help, so I put him to work fetching things for us and such.

Brock gave him one of our shirts which he proudly wore the next day. After the show the second night, a few of us decided to go to Andre's frozen custard, a famous place in Springfield. As we were caravaning over there, the cars in front of us began to slow down. I wondered why there would be traffic a 10pm at night. Then, I saw what the hold up was all about. It was Burly. He was riding his bike over to Andre's on the side of the road. He was a fast rider, but there was no way he could make it there by the time we were finished. Our friend, Brad, pulled over and picked him up throwing his bike in the back. It was about a 10 minute drive! Good ole Burly was so eager to hang out that he was going to peddle all the way there!

Burly gave us a wooden spool that he had carved. It was amazing! It took him an hour and a half to carve it with a pocket knife! Now, we have something to remember Burly by. I love that guy!

Monday, September 20, 2010

A Randon Town in Iowa

On our 12 hour drive home from Des Moines, we stopped at this little town in Iowa for lunch at an Indian restaurant there. Since the restaurant did not open for a few minutes, we began walking around the quaint downtown. A car show was set up around the town square. I was excited to see a 1931 Ford because I just read in my Francine Rivers book about the lady driving her first car in 1929. Now, I could picture what she was driving better. I liked that. Brock always enjoys car shows, so it was a great way to pass the time. Also, it gave us a chance to walk around and stretch our legs a little.

While walking around, I noticed a place called the Chocolate Cafe. That interested me. I walked up hoping it was open on Sunday. The door indicated that it would open at noon. Therefore, after we ate, we came back by the chocolate place. We opened the door, but nobody was there. The lights were out, and nobody present, but the door was unlocked. This was so strange. I saw some chocolate that I wanted to try, but what should I do?

I went out of the store and back in a few times ringing the bell extra loudly hoping someone would come in the back. Nobody came. I did not want to go behind the counter, but there was some chocolate displayed on a table in the store. I chose a few pieces of chocolate and left cash on the counter. I rounded up when it came to taxes, so I was more than fair. Brock still teases that I stole the chocolate. I totally could have, but I didn't!

We had a great time in Fairfield, IA yesterday.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Ragweed and a Computer Guy

Our shows in Missouri have gone well. The only problem is that my sinuses are killing me. The ragweed in Missouri and Kansas this year is unbearable! I slept half of the day yesterday and felt much better. This morning, I woke up with a stuffy head again. We have one more show here tonight and then we are off to Des Moines, IA. I hope the ragweed isn't bad there. I'm not sure how much more I can take of it.

The Lord provided for us on the road again. We were having computer trouble such as our calendars were not updating and such, which is very important stuff. If we don't know what is on the calendar, I will not know to purchase a plane ticket and we may miss a show. It could be disastrous. We tried to get help with it when we were at home, but the few people that we knew could do it were too busy. (Computer stuff is an area where we are idiots and have little patience with.)

So, we had no choice but to go back on the road again, and live with not having an updated calendar. Then, Wednesday night, our credit card machine quit working again. I was about to pull my hair out when I met a computer guy who worked for the church. This guy spent several hours yesterday afternoon getting things back on track for us on our computers. Thank God for again bringing us the right person at the right time in a random part of the country.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Day Off

We had one day off this week (besides the driving 6 hours) on Tuesday. We decided to sleep in that morning. Then, we had an early lunch at Rendezvous. They are not open for lunch, but many still come. They don't offer their full menu like they do for dinner, but they are smoking ribs anyway, so that's what you can get at lunch. That's what they are known for anyway. (The ribs are great, but not as good as Roger Gill's!)

Then, we went to Graceland to see Elvis' place. Brock had never been, and I had not been since I was young. It was interesting. I took loads of pictures which I will post soon.

After that, we began our drive. It was nice with just the two of us. There is not an interstate to take us from Memphis to Springfield, Missouri, so we were on highways the whole way. We were going right through the heart of many towns. When we came to Jonesboro, AR, Brock said, "Home of Lindsey Little." I said, "What? I didn't know we were going here! I just got her tweet that she is home!" Lindsey is our missionary friend who has been overseas doing missions since the beginning of the year. I quickly called her. We realized she was at her house about five minutes away from where we were. We got to her house about 3 and left there at 8:30 after eating dinner with her and talking for hours. It was a fun day on the road!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Shows and Flights

The shows in Texas Sunday morning went well. Then, we hopped on an oversold flight from Houston to Atlanta where we would change planes to get to Memphis at 10:20pm. There were so many people on the flight that they could not fit all of the luggage in the storage bins above our seats. They had to check the last 50 passengers bags. That took so long that we were late leaving the gate. When we got to Atlanta, we had 19 minutes to get from our row 25 out of the plane and from the first terminal to the last terminal to catch our next flight. I already knew we were going to miss that flight. Panic began to rise in me because this was the last flight out and we had a show in Memphis at 9:40am!

We hurried off of the plane and began running. I looked at the monitor to see if our flight was still at E30. It was, but something on the monitor gave me some hope. That flight had been delayed 15 minutes. We still had to run to the tram. While we were helplessly riding the tram, I was checking the time constantly. We ran to the gate and were the absolute last people to get on the plane. We barely made it before the door closed, but we did not have time to do dinner. Oh well! We made it to Memphis!

After getting to our hotel at 11:30, we slept as much as we could before our big day. Monday morning, we left our hotel at 8:15 and got back at 10:30pm after setting up and performing 3 shows. Wow! We were tired, but the shows went well.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Pray for Shows

This is our schedule this week:
Sunday: Two shows in the morning in Humble, TX, then fly to Memphis that night
Monday: Two school assemblies and a show at night in Memphis, TN
Tuesday: Drive 6 and a half hours to Missouri
Wednesday: Show in Springfield, MO
Thursday: Show in Springfield, MO
Friday: Show in Republic, MO then drive a couple of hours toward IA
Saturday: Drive the remaining 5 hours to Des Moines, IA and perform that night there
Sunday: Drive 12 hours home

I would ask that you would pray for protection, provision, and power as we head out on this crazy week just the two of us. Please add to that a supernatural peace.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

One in a Million Episode #3

How many one in a million episodes can a person have in a week??? As Brock was getting on the plane this morning in Denver, he stopped right inside the door to wait on other passengers to move the line ahead. As he did, he rested his arm on a ledge there. Then, when the line moved, he moved with it and took his seat.

Before the plane left the gate, a flight attendant came over the intercom and said, "Someone has taken one of the flight attendant's cell phones. If you have taken it, please return it." Then, all 4 of the flight attendants went down the aisle looking at everyone trying to find the "stolen" phone. After coming over the intercom a couple more times about it, Brock said he felt as if he were back in grade school. Then, the lead flight attendant came over to Brock and said loudly and with much accusation, "Did you take my cell phone?" Brock looked at her in shock and began to say that he did not do it, but she turned and stomped off. So, then, Brock had to fly 2 hours with everyone thinking he had stolen this ladies cell phone. She thought that Brock had taken it from the ledge where he had rested his arm earlier.

When he was exiting the plane, the flight attendant who had accused Brock of stealing her cell phone, was telling everyone goodbye until Brock came up. Then, she turned her back on him. Brock said, "Did you ever find your cell phone?" She said no and he asked if she thought he had stolen it. "I know you did," she snapped. She told Brock that she had his name and was going to file charges with the police. Brock then said that she could search him right then and there. She would not do that. Brock asked her if they could discuss this. To which she said no and turned her back on him again. Brock said, "I want to speak to a supervisor." She said that there was one on the floor out of the plane. Then, Brock stuck his head in the cockpit and told the pilot that he needed to see a supervisor. Again, the pilot said there is one out on the floor. Brock said, "I am not leaving this plane until I speak to a supervisor."

They called a couple into the plane. Then, Brock offered them to search him again. The supervisors did not do that. They were actually very apologetic. They took down his complaint and told him to email corporate about it. I think they were worried about a lawsuit. That woman behaved so unprofessionally. Brock never raised his voice or got angry. He just didn't want his reputation to be tarnished by being accused of theft when he was completely innocent. The thing is, she probably found her phone later in her purse or something. It was just crazy! I'm elite status with this airline, but I am beginning to wonder if I should use a different one.

One in a Million Episode #2


Yesterday, I was at my parents house in Houston and I get a call from Brock. He was in Denver meeting with a friend before his show that night. Brock's first words to me were, "We lead a crazy life." That's when I sat down, because I was about to get a one in a million story again (read yesterday's post to learn more about this).

As he and his friend, Ryan, were walking in downtown Denver, a motorcycle cop comes buzzing by and hit this guy that was running. The motorcycle crashed and the police officer went running after the guy. He grabbed his shirt, but the shirt tore, so the guy was able to continue running.

He ran straight to where Brock and Ryan were walking. Brock, who had seen what was going down, pushed the guy up against the glass of a storefront. Then, the motorcycle cop came and tried to wrestle the guy to the ground, but he kept almost getting away. Brock pushed the guy onto the ground and planted his knee in his back and put all of his weight on the guy (just like he'd seen in the cop shows). By then, more policemen came onto the scene and were able to apprehend the culprit.

Brock still had adrenaline coursing through his veins as he told me the story. Ryan said that it all happened so quickly that he did not quite know what was going on until it was over. Have you ever had a one in a million episode?

Friday, September 10, 2010

One in a Million Episode

Wednesday was a crazy day. I was trying to get everything ready to go for the next week and a half. I flew out yesterday to Houston to see my parents. Brock flew out this morning to Colorado to do a show tonight. Then, Brock will be flying here Saturday to meet up with me and perform at a church in Houston Sunday morning. Sunday night, we will fly to Memphis because we have shows there beginning Monday morning. Someone will be driving our truck to Memphis. Then, we will drive to Missouri Tuesday in order to perform 3 shows there Wednesday thru Friday. Saturday, we will drive from Springfield, MO to Des Moines, IA in order to perform there that night. Sunday, we will make the 12 hour drive home.

I know...it makes my head spin to think about it. So, I was having to get the truck ready and packed for the trip next week plus get all of our fly stuff in order. The truck was in the shop and we still had some of our stuff that had gone to Rock the Light in another location. All of this was throwing a kink in my plans and making it seem impossible to get it all done Wednesday. However, we knew we would get the truck back by 6 o'clock Wednesday evening. My plan was to get the truck and the rest of our stuff and quickly pack it all up that night.

As I was packing our clothes (which is not an easy task at this time of year...shorts or pants?...both), Brock came into the bedroom laughing saying, "We lead a crazy life." When he said that, I sighed and waited to hear what had happened. When Brock says that, it means that the chances of something like this to happen are about one in a million, but they happened to us. Those one in a million episodes seem to happen often to us.

Come to find out, our truck was on the lift at the shop. This had never happened to them before, but the lift broke. It fell rather quickly at first but then slowed down a bit, because it was in a bind. The mechanic that was under it was able to get out (thank God) and some other mechanics were able to get some jacks up under it to keep it from falling all the way down. They told Brock that the truck had a dent in it, which they would fix, but the door still closed. The only problem was that they could not get it off of the lift. It was stuck on there. They were scratching their heads trying to figure it out.

My plans were all halted at that point. Luckily, they were able to get 2 tow trucks in and maneuver it down by about 6 o'clock. The dent was not bad at all. I think the mechanics were more freaked out than we were. They saw it all go down. Plus, they probably have those one in a million happenings once in their lives. We were able to get our truck and get all packed up that night!

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Labor Day 2000

You know those days you remember forever? Of course, you remember significant days like your wedding day or graduation day, but I'm talking about those seemingly average days that somehow lock in your memory never to be forgotten. That's how Labor Day 2000 is for me.

We were living in Conroe, TX (near Houston) and decided to drive to Katy Mills mall that day. Our friend owned a magic shop there. We would go see him and hang out at the mall. The only problem was that it was about an hour drive from our house. Our car at the time was a car that we had bought for under $1,000 and had been previously used in the art car parade. This is what it looked like when we bought it:PhotobucketWe had taken the balls off, but now the silicone that was sticking the balls to the car remained making it look like a polka-dotted furry mess. We definitely got some looks as we drove that thing to the mall!

However, that was not our biggest problem. The biggest problem was that the car did not have air conditioning. Labor Day 2000 was a record breaking high there in Houston (record breaking high in Houston is really bad). It was 110 degrees! You add humidity to that and I cannot even describe what it felt like...maybe an oven. It felt like an oven inside our Celebrity, furry mess of a car. We had the windows rolled down, but it kept bringing hot air in. It was like we had the heat on in 110 degree weather. So, we rolled the windows up. It was not much better, but the air was too hot to let it blow through the car. You would think that some air was better than nothing, but this air was miserable!

I'm beginning to sweat just thinking about it. When we got to the mall, we were drenched in sweat. It was before lunch when we got there, but we vowed to not get back into that car until after sundown. We stayed at that mall all day until it closed. We were just soaking up the air conditioning!

Finally, we got back into our hideous car. It was dark out, so our car didn't attract as much attention. We rolled down the windows and began the drive home. I remember the air flowing through the car seemed so cool. It was not that cold, but compared to earlier, it was chilly! I was just enjoying the "cool" air and thinking about how funny it was when we entered the mall dripping with sweat. Then, one of our favorite songs, "Sweet Child of Mine" came on the radio. Brock and I looked at each other and smiled. I turned the radio up full blast and we sang out as loud as we could! At that moment, the air felt cool, we had a good song on the radio, and we were happy. Good times.

Monday, September 06, 2010

A Quick Answer to Prayer

Saturday, we had just finished performing at a side stage at Rock the Light. We had performed on the main stage the night before. During that set, our mic went out for good. Our other mic problems had been some freaky battery issue or it was the church's mic or system that had gone out. However, this time, it was our mic, and it was permanent. We have to get a new mic before we do our next show this Friday. I didn't know how we were going to get one in time, especially with today being a holiday.

I was thinking about the mic when Brock interrupted my thoughts by saying, "I need to lay down. I cannot breathe." He had not been this bad since right after his accident. Plus, it's been over 3 months. The doctor said that it would take 8 weeks to heal. It's been way longer, and Brock is still not 100%. At that moment, I could feel my anxiety rising up. How could I get Brock in to see a chiropractor before we left again for shows? Everything felt like it was resting on my shoulders right then. I guess seeing Brock so weak he was about to pass out made me feel like I needed to do something. What could I do? We needed to talk to a doctor. We needed help. I whispered one of those whiny prayers that went something like this..."I don't know what to do, please step in here!"

In the meantime, I was walking Brock to the closest building so that he could sit down or lay down or do whatever to catch his breath. Someone grabbed the door to go into the same building. He turned and said, "Hi!" It was Dr. J, the chiropractor that sometimes is backstage at Christian events. He had adjusted us before. Brock told him that he needed his help right then. Dr. J had his table all set up in the room we were walking into. Relief flooded through my head and began to settle in my heart. The Lord knew when enough was enough. He stepped in just about the time I was about to lose it.

Then, our mic issue; Our mic is very rare. It's the only one that stays on Brock's head while he is doing crazy stunts and such. However, nobody knows where to get a new one of these specialized mics. No sound guy has ever even seen one, except the sound guy at Rock the Light this weekend. He actually helped make the mic. He took it apart and looked at it for me. He told me that he probably soldered the wires inside of that exact mic. He could not fix it, but he has one at his house which we are going to buy. On Labor Day weekend, while every doctor's office and sound equipment store is closed, the Lord brought the two guys that we needed service from to us in nowhere, Kansas!

Friday, September 03, 2010

Shows in High Springs, FL

We did 5 shows in two days this week. It was tiresome but worth it! We performed 3 school assemblies and 2 big shows each night. The second night, there was a line outside of the venue to get in. We squeezed in 603 people in the church that seats 450. Then, we had at least 30 people in the overflow room. It was an exciting night! The church we worked with in High Springs was wonderful. They worked hard and really cared about their community.

Now, we are at Brock's sister's house in Kansas City. I was just watching my niece and sister-in-law play Candy Land. Brock kept trying to "eat" the game pieces. My niece would giggle and say, "Noooo, you can't eat it." It's been a great morning and night last night. We had burnt ends at a local barbecue place here in town for dinner last night. It was yummy!

The only problem is that I strained a muscle in my back yesterday while I was throwing a bag up on the security belt. It's been bothering me ever since. Pray that it gets better. We have a show to do tonight at the Rock the Light Festival!

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Wilson County Fair

We went to the Wilson County Fair the other night. It was awesome! Dan Myer (one of the only sword swallowers in the world) went with us to see another sword swallower at the side show there. It was amazing! Here's some of the things we saw:
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PhotobucketOf course I had to ride the tilt-a-whirl.