LIFE ON THE ROAD

Interview

2011-11-03T07:58:00.000-05:00

I have never done an interview in my life until two weeks ago. I did two in one week. One was for a radio station in Virginia. Then, I did one online. Brock is definitely a natural at it and me not so much, but go here if you want to see it.

I Lost the First Dog I Never Owned

2011-10-14T08:18:00.001-05:00

I am not an animal person. I didn't grow up with any pets except for a couple of goldfish and two tiny turtles. However, my goldfish ate my sister's fish (I don't think we fed them often enough) and my cousin sat on my turtles killing them (she was a little on the chubby side). So, when a puppy came into our lives I was not especially excited. I was unloading our luggage in my bedroom last spring and there was a puppy...a dirty, nasty little puppy...in my room! A couple of weeks went by and the puppy tended to linger in our yard. Every time we drove up the driveway, the puppy was there to greet us. We found out that our neighbor, Barefoot Billy, had taken him in. He has a tender heart for animals. The problem is that he barely has the means to feed himself and his girlfriend, much less a puppy. The puppy was so skinny. Finally, I gave in and fed him. We taught him to stay on the front porch and not come in the house. He looked like a chocolate lab, so we named him "Caoni" after our favorite chocolate bar. We called him Cao for short. I told Brock he should call him Kay, since that's my sister's name and she had named her dog Haley (which happens to be Brock's sister's name...he always found it weird when they were calling for Haley). The puppy began to grow on me. He was such a good dog. He wasn't loud and obnoxious. He was so sweet and gentle yet full of energy! We had someone living with us at the time, so I had her feed Cao when we were gone. She moved out and we were going to be gone for the whole summer, so I was sure Cao would run away or starve. Then, a guy who was having a difficult time, Randy, moved into our house for the summer. He found a true friend in Cao (K.O. as he calls him which really corresponds with my sister's name..haha). After the summer, we came back and Cao was there waiting for us. Since nobody was living with us anymore I didn't know how we were going to keep the dog fed. A couple of days after we got home from the summer, Cao sat on the front porch all day with me. For some reason, I thought, "This is the last day I will see Cao." It was. He disappeared after that. I was sad, but I didn't know who was going to feed him while we were gone anyway. Brock said that it would be just like the Lord to bring Cao just for Randy's benefit. Go here to read what Randy says about the dog none of us ever owned. It's a touching story.

Prayer for Upcoming Shows

2011-09-23T07:21:00.003-05:00

Last week was awesome! We did a show in Baton Rouge, LA and Houston, TX. At one of the shows, an atheist came with her brother and gave her life to the Lord. The Lord broke that wall down in her life and drew her to Himself. At another show, a girl walked into the church from the neighborhood. She had never been to church before. She had been kicked out of school and had a reputation of being a troubled teen. She said that she knew that she was a sinner and was ready to surrender her life to the Lord. That girl was desperate for forgiveness and she received it the other night!I ask you, no I beg you to pray for our upcoming week. Tonight, we perform a date night in Missouri. Pray for marriages. Please take this time to pray for marriages all over Wentzville, MO where we will be tonight. Pray for your own marriage (present or future) and the marriages around you. Pray for marriages across this country. Satan is attacking married couples in a big way.Then, we drive to El Dorado, AR where we perform 4 nights at a big outreach there. We will be in the schools doing assemblies during the day and then perform at a big high school arena at night this Sunday through Wednesday. Please pray for the Lord to work in El Dorado, AR in a huge way. Pray for truth to resound and the Lord to turn darkness into light.

After the Break In

2011-09-14T01:40:00.000-05:00

It seems that when you pray, you begin with your agenda, but the longer you stay, the more the Lord's agenda comes out. My initial prayer after the break-in was that the guys would not drain our personal and business bank accounts. Since it happened Saturday night, I was not able to cancel my debit cards until Sunday morning and not the checks until Monday morning. So, I prayed continuously for the guys not to go and use the cards or the checks. When I pray, I picture everything. Using Carl's description, I would picture the guys and what they were doing. I pictured them going back to their poor houses and families. Somewhere along the way, I stopped praying about what they would do or not do and simply began praying for them. We had just been at that event with a room full of teenagers hoping for a bright future. I bet none of them would say that they wanted to be a thief when they grew up. No, theft is for desperate people. I had heard some of those desperate stories Saturday. If I had met that lady living on the street when she was 13 years old, I would have wanted to walk up and hand her my stuff. She was desperate! First thing Monday morning, we went to the bank to close our accounts. I nervously shifted in my seat waiting to hear all of the charges that had been wracked up on our accounts. There were 0 charges that came in that weekend! My prayers had been answered. Now, we just needed to see what the insurance would take care of. I had no idea if they would take care of anything. Brock called and they told him that they probably would not cover the business stuff but they would file it anyway. This was bad new since most of the stuff was business anyway. Later that day, I received a phone call from a bank in Atlanta. A guy had seen our checkbooks on the side of the road and picked them up. He turned them into a Regions bank there (he happened to work at a bank and knew this was what you are supposed to do when you find checkbooks). Through this guy, we found out where he found the checkbooks and had someone in Atlanta go look and see if he could find any of our other stuff. I waited anxiously to hear. Maybe I would get my bag back or my books! (I love books can you tell?) Unfortunately, he did not find anything. They literally threw our checkbooks out. I have no idea why except that is what I prayed for. Monday, we replaced most everything because we were going to a show on Wednesday. The good thing is that our computer began acting up on us at the show on Saturday. We were planning on possibly getting a new one Monday anyway. The only thing we could not replace was our introduction videos that we play at our shows. Then, it hit me! I accidentally left a copy of the videos at the show Saturday! I rarely do that. So, I will have them mail it to us. Tuesday morning, our insurance called us and said that they were going to take care of everything with a $1,000 deductible and $200 cash limit. This means that we are only out $1,400 which we would have paid on a new computer anyway. The Lord worked everything out.

The Best and Worst Day Part 2

2011-09-13T12:46:00.001-05:00

As we were coming out of Pappacito's, we saw some of our friends, Carl Cartee and his family, from home walking into the restaurant. We had not seen them in years and stopped to talk for a while. We found it so ironic that we were from the same town yet only tend to see each other on the road. Carl is a worship leader, so he and his wife travel as well.After visiting for a little while, we walked to our truck. We were parked in the lower parking lot right by the steps leading to the upper parking lot and restaurant. Brock clicked open the locks of the truck by his remote and I bounded down the stairs to the driver's side. I was anxious to get home and had already decided to drive us there since Brock was exhausted. I sat down behind the wheel of the truck and adjusted my seat. (I am 5'2" and Brock is 6'4"...much adjustment is needed.) Then, I went to program the gps to go home. "That's strange!" I said. I could not find the gps. Brock asked, "Do you think someone could have stolen it?" I looked in the backseat and my face grew very hot. Both of our bags were gone.When you travel, you carry everything with you in a bag. These bags have our "everything" in them. Passports, my camera, my wallet, my business and personal checkbooks, the ipad Brock got me for Christmas, Brock's laptop that we use to play our music for the show, the book that I was in the middle of (and I had just gotten to the good part), my Bible study book that I had just purchased at Women of Faith and had just begun, my overnight bag with all of my toilettries, priceless magic, magic tricks and dvd's Brock had just purchased from a conference from people from Europe and Canada that would be almost impossible to replace. The list just goes on and on. We called the police and waited a while for him to get there. In the meantime, we called the credit card companies and canceled my cards. Sometime during this, we saw that they had broken the lock on the door. We just had not noticed since we used the remote to open the door.

The police officer came up and we talked with him about everything that was taken and filed a report. Just as the officer was about to leave, the Cartees came down the stairs after eating their dinner. Brock asked Carl if he saw anything since he would have walked right by our truck to get up to the restaurant. He said, "Is this your truck?" He actually saw a guy sitting in the driver's seat of our truck and another guy sitting in a Chrysler right next to our truck. He was suspicious of them for some reason, but what was he to do? He didn't actually see him break into our truck and he had no idea it was our truck. He said that he double checked to see if his van was locked and escorted his family up to the restaurant. We stopped the cop from leaving and told him that we had an eye witness. Here was more irony that our friends were eye witnesses to the crime. We have had much theft in our day but never had we had a description of the thief. For some reason, this helped me. In the other cases (which you can read about here), our stuff was just gone! Now, I at least knew what had happened to a certain degree.Then, I realized something that made my skin crawl and my stomach churn. If the Cartees walked up on them and we were coming out of the restaurant at the same time, we would have walked up on them if we had not stopped to talk. I remembered how I ran up to the driver's door before Brock even reached the truck. I would have swung that door open coming eye to eye with the thief. I have no idea how desperate he would have been or what he would have done. He could have had a weapon or anything. Brock would have been walking to the other side of the truck only to come into contact with the accomplice in the car on the other side of the truck. Suddenly, having our stuff taken was not as big of a deal. God saved us from that one!

The Best and Worst Day

2011-09-12T17:33:00.000-05:00

Saturday was the best and worst day. We began our day early in the morning in Macon, GA. We performed at the Georgia Youth Summit's Back to School Bash. There were hundreds of students gathered from all over Georgia for this event. I heard some wonderful motivational speakers. It made me want to be a better person. I heard stories from some that had risen up from such a hard life. One lady was homeless at age 13. I heard a teen mom's story who was so desperate that she was preparing to end her life as well as the life of her baby...until she heard one of the speakers, Gabe Salazar. When we took the stage, I looked out at all of the beautiful teens and my heart went out to them. In a room of about 1,000, there was a lot of hurt. However, I know the God who is the ultimate healer. I could not go to each individual person and ask them what was on their heart, but the Holy Spirit could. I prayed for every student in their and their future. God alone holds their futures anyway. The conference was not religious at all, but I felt the Holy Spirit move in ways that I had never felt before. It really was incredible! It was held at a church's sport's center. The lighting guy there said that he felt God in the place as well. He had goose bumps all throughout the day. It was such a great event for us. We left there on a high and went to celebrate at Papacito's in Atlanta. That's when my day took a turn for the worst...

Spontaneity

2011-08-23T10:12:00.003-05:00

During premarital counseling, Brock and I took a personality test. It wasn't your typical test, it simply would tell you if you were off the charts in a certain area. For example, if you are OCD, that would show up as being extremely high in the organization department. Everybody has an area that they are abnormal in...we all have our "things."

Our counselor began telling Brock that he was exceptionally high in one area only and that was spontaneity. He began to explain that if I were really planned and regimented, we would have a difficult time of it. However, I was off the charts in one area only too. That would be "spontaneity."

Twelve years later, spontaneity is still coming into play. Yesterday, we were driving our rental car to the Little Rock airport. We were discussing how much we were dreading the 4 hour layover in Chicago and checking in all of our luggage especially since one of our suitcases had broken on this trip. Brock said, "It would be quicker to drive home." We both looked at each other. "Do you want to?" Brock asked. "Yes!" I replied. I booked our rental car to Nashville and canceled our flight which left in an hour. (I love Southwest by the way. It's the only airline where I could get away with that!) We were home 3 hours before our flight landed!

Leaving for the Summer

2011-06-06T07:55:00.003-05:00

In 2 hours I will be heading to Florida for the summer. I have mixed feelings about this. I am ready to go. I've packed up everything and really prepared more than I usually do. However, I am not wanting to leave my house and friends.

Florida is not a bad place to go to work, though. All of our summers in the past have been very hectic. We usually have at least 2 shows a day. However, this summer we are performing one show a week at Big Stuf camp in Panama City. We will fly out of Panama City often to perform in other places such as Ohio, Texas, California, and Oklahoma.

In between the Big Stuf shows when we don't have to fly out, we are staying in Florida. Since it's so expensive to stay in Florida, we are camping on the beach! That's what I said...camping on the beach! I am so excited!!!

Top Shot Audition

2011-05-21T11:37:00.002-05:00

Watch Brock's audition for the show Top Shot on the History Channel.

Brock Gill Top Shot audition from David Altizer on Vimeo.

Do you think he has a shot?

On Wings Like Eagles

2011-05-05T08:01:00.000-05:00

When I was in DeRidder, LA setting up for our 14th show in a week and a half and feeling very weak, I prayed Isaiah 40:31. "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." This was not working at the time. In fact, I had a fever from sheer exhaustion and the show had not begun yet.

Somehow, I made it to showtime, probably because we had such good help there. When Brock begins giving the gospel, I always pray fervently backstage. On this night, I had no energy, so I tweeted a desperate prayer requests. Then, it happened! I was pacing around aimlessly backstage, and I stopped dead in my tracks. I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit like I had never felt before. I immediately began weeping. Then, I felt a strength entering my body. My steps literally felt lighter for the rest of the night! I will never forget that night backstage when the Lord truly renewed my strength in a supernatural way. He is my strength!

Show Attendance

2011-05-02T09:21:00.000-05:00

The Lord really blessed us with attendance at our shows this Spring. In Hampton, VA, the church sat 1,200 people. It was full. At intermission, Brock went over to the overflow and performed a few illusions there to give them something live. There were 500 people in the overflow!

In DeRidder, LA, the auditorium at the school where we performed the big night show sat 850 people. It was full within the first couple of minutes. The gym which was overflow seating with two huge screens showing a live feed of what was going on in the auditorium had close to 1,500 people in it. Wow! That was exciting! Brock rode his dirt bike while blindfolded off of the stage in the auditorium and down the hall into the gym and back around to the stage. There was so much energy in the place! It was awesome!

A Very Unusual School Show

2011-04-28T09:02:00.000-05:00

In Hampton, VA, we went to a school where they had never before allowed anyone like us to come. However, the principal was only going to send about 100 of the students to the assembly. That was fine with us. It was going to feel small considering we were in the auditorium that seated 850. We were okay with it though. Right before we began, one of the youth pastors said that it was an even smaller crowd. When Brock walked out onstage for his first illusion, he noticed that only the first 2 rows of the middle section were taken...35 people in that big auditorium.

Then, as Brock was onstage doing his first effect, one of the youth pastors came running up to me backstage. He nervously began, "I don't know what is up with this principal..." "What is it?" I interrupted. "Every single person in the audience is special needs and he needs to know that!" The guy said pointing his finger back at Brock onstage. "Yes, he does," I replied.

I went out onstage and informed Brock. He took it like a champ. He seemed to know exactly what to do. He could not change any of the show since he was already onstage and could not set up anything new. However, he adapted a few things. For example, he had me turn the music down. He did not touch the students that came onstage as volunteers even to put them in the right spot as he usually did. He allowed them to stand wherever they wished. The only thing that he did not know how to adapt was the envelops trick. This is where he gives three students an opportunity to choose an envelop. One has $100 in it. In the end, Brock always wins the $100. Of course, he gives them a consolation prize, and then he talks about making the right choices. He did not see how to do this with special needs students, so he gave one of them the money. They all ended up loving it and the principal was very pleased. She said to call her whenever they were offering another school assembly. In the future, she would let her whole school attend!

After it was over, I asked how Brock seemed to know what to do. We had never done a show exclusively for special needs people. He said that on the way to the school that day, he was reading his Magic magazine. He happened to be reading an article about how to do a magic show for special needs people. Wow! That was totally God!

Biggest Month Ever

2011-04-27T08:47:00.003-05:00

We just had the biggest month we have ever had in the last 12 years of doing this. We went to Hampton, VA where we did school shows and a big 2 hour show each night Monday-Wednesday of the first week. Then, we drove to Virginia Beach and performed that Thursday night. Then, we drove 7 hours to Charlotte, NC to perform the following night. We left early Saturday morning in order to hang out with our friend, Will Graham, at the Cove in Asheville, NC. We got tickets to tour the Biltmore Mansion there. Brock, me, and our intern, Andrea, were joking around as we first began the tour. Brock kept asking everyone where Walt Disney slept or where the Elvis albums were displayed (acting as if it was their house). After about an hour walking around the huge house, we were done! Our feet could not carry us any further. I think we would have enjoyed it more if we had done it on the front end of that week instead of at the end. However, we met up with Will after that and had a great time.

Then, we came home and had one day there. Monday we drove all day to DeRidder, LA. We did 3 school shows on Tuesday, 2 school shows on Wednesday, and a big 2 hour show Wednesday night. Then, we had a 6 day stretch where we did 7 shows in Florida, Texas, Missouri, and back to Texas. Whew! It's making me tired just thinking about it.

We were definitely pushed to our limits, but we made it! Now, we leave Friday to go on a two week vacation. I will tell you a few stories from this last big month...

Sabbatical from Blogging

2011-03-07T12:40:00.001-06:00

It was bound to happen. I have been blogging for the past 6 years. I need a break from it. I have found myself missing the 80's. Times were so much simpler then. I spent over 3 hours at the Apple store one day trying to fix problems with 2 computers, one ipad, and one iphone (I have the ipad and Brock the iphone). As I was sitting there watching the chaos around me, I began to realize how out of control it is.

Also, I wonder if anyone really cares where we did a show last night or what is my pensive thought at the time. Who knows how long this sabbatical will last. I just know that I need it. Thank you all for being faithful readers. I probably will keep posting on facebook and twitter. Talk to you later my friends...

What You Do is NOT Who You Are

2011-03-02T07:07:00.003-06:00

One of Brock's mentors told him one day that what he does is not who he is. This guy was a pastor. When he stopped being a pastor, he did not know what to do or who to be. His identity was so wrapped up in being a pastor that he did not even feel like himself anymore.

Brock was told to think of one word to describe him. It was funny because the first thing that popped into my head for Brock was...Christian illusionist and for me was Brock's assistant. Then, I realized that our identity was too wrapped up in what we do for a living.

After thinking about it for a few days, Brock and I both came up with a word. For Brock we thought of things like "unforgettable" and "out of the box." However, these concepts contribute to the one word that really describes him...unusual. That's the reason he thinks differently from others and why a waitress that waited on him once 2 years ago will remember him today.

The word to describe me is adventurous. I wake up everyday thinking about new things I can discover. I never read the same book twice or rarely watch a movie more than once. If I can have it my way, I would eat a new food every meal (even if I hate it, I still enjoy trying something new). I will try almost anything once. When I drive home from the store, sometimes I take another (longer) route just for the fun of it. If I am not going on an adventure of my own, I will read one of my fiction books. They take me on new adventures daily.

Think about a word to describe you. You are not a teacher, banker, or mother of little Johnny. That's what you do which you may do very well. But who are you?

Live is Alive

2011-02-22T16:35:00.002-06:00

"There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10. I was joining the party as I watched Ed Kowalczyk of the band Live perform last Tuesday night! Listening to their last couple of albums 10 or more years ago lead me to pray for the writer of the songs. They sounded like the author was so close to finding Jesus yet was still searching. Brock and I would pray for Ed Kowalczyk as we drove down the road listening to lyrics like "I don't need no proof when it comes to God and truth, I look at the sunset and I perceive."

Last year, Ed gave his life to the Lord. Yahoo! I cannot tell you what joy that brings to my soul! I've seen Live in concert years ago, but there was something so special about the concert I saw last week. I remember praying that entire concert so many years ago. This time, I was celebrating! I soaked up every word. Ed talked about how he loved singing these songs from this new perspective in Jesus. Every time I have seen Ed live he is always passionate, but this time there was something else as well...it was written all over his face and colored his every expression...JOY. Thank you Jesus for the joy only You can bring in our lives and thank you for drawing this man unto Yourself. Thanks for Your salvation!

Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T12:00:00.003-06:00

I had a great day with Brock yesterday. We went into town early afternoon so he could get a massage (his back is getting much better lately). Then, we sat on a blanket at the park in the exceptionally warm, beautiful sun and ate truffles from the Cocoa Tree and read our books. After that, we went to see a matinee movie. We had some time to kill before our dinner reservations, so we strolled through the bookstore and browsed a store specializing in olive oil. We tried all kinds of unique olive oil. When the waitress at the seafood restaurant asked us if we wanted any appetizers, we declined since we had just had some samples at the olive oil place. Dinner was great just as the whole day was.

I planned a lot of the day since I am the planner. However, Brock got the reservations. Also, Brock gave me the best present ever...quality time. He turned off his cell phone as soon as we began our date. That was amazing!

Compassionate Empathist

2011-02-12T17:15:00.003-06:00

I learned something about myself last week. I am a compassionate empath. I heard a speaker talk about three types of empathy. You can be a cognitive empath like counselors who can hear people's stresses all day and know their problems. However, when they go home, all of the complaints they have been hearing is put out of their minds. An emotional empath feels people's problems. A compassionate empath actually acts as if the problem is their own. That's how I am!

This explains so much. I am an extravert yet I need some time alone. I get drained when I pray hard for others. The biggest lightbulb that went off was how much I was not suited to be a social worker. The day one of my clients did not show up because she was hospitalized after trying to commit suicide the night before was the day I decided to seek another career. Luckily, Brock and I were about to get married and begin our new ministry together.

The speaker said that compassionate empaths are great at helping others, but they need to choose who and when to help. Otherwise, they feel obligated and end up resenting the ones they are helping because they give so much of themselves. I am processing what this means for me. I am trying to learn more about this and myself.

Crazy, Spontaneous Day

2011-02-04T08:36:00.003-06:00

Have you ever woken up one morning and thought, "I don't want to do anything I am supposed to do. Instead, I want to be crazy and rebellious!" This is how I felt yesterday. I was so itching to do something so out of the normal that I googled "Crazy and spontaneous things to do." I found a list of 105, but they were stupid. On the list were things like: "Get sent to jail," and "Get your heart broken." Those don't sound very crazy or spontaneous to me.

Then, I looked up to see if there was a wedding going on. (I have always wanted to crash a wedding.) However, they don't just announce weddings online. Plus, it was Thursday...not a big wedding day normally.

Then, it hit me! I did some more research and texted my friend who I was meeting shortly. We were planning on going to a coffee shop. I told her to wear her bathing suit under her clothes because I had a crazy idea. She didn't hesitate. She said that sounded good. I knew she'd be up for it.

I walked into a hotel that had an indoor hot tub. I was dressed like I would be headed down to the pool with sweats and t-shirt as well as flip flops (the the trip through the parking lot was rather cold considering it was 32 degrees). You must have a hotel key to get into the pool area, so my plan was to knock on the door and ask someone that was already in there to open it for me. However, I could see through the window that nobody was swimming. The heated pool and spacious whirlpool looked so inviting. I sat down near the pool entrance and the elevator. By this time, my friend had joined me. We were trying to device a plan to get in. The lobby was so dead this random Thursday. I watched as a few workers passed by, but nobody who looked like they would open the door for me without any questions.

We discussed whether I should just go to the desk and simply explain that I stay in this chain of hotels often (we are diamond members if that tells you how much we stay) and when I stay on bussiness, I usually don't get the time to take advantage of the hot tub. I was in a sneaky mood, though. This would be the easy way out if they even allowed it.

Just then, I saw a worker walk toward the pool. I jumped up and followed him. When he got to the door, he said, "Going in?" A nervous giggle slipped out as I said yes. Then, he held the door for me and that was it. We were in!

We had fun just hanging out together and talking while soaking in the hot tub. Next time, it's going to be difficult to go back to our normal coffee shop.

Feels Like a Week

2011-02-02T09:53:00.003-06:00

Late Sunday afternoon, we flew to Toronto, Canada. Our flight was delayed, so we did not get there until midnight. Then, our luggage was delayed because the door to get the luggage kept freezing (Canada is cold my friends, VERY cold). Therefore, we did not get to our hotel until after 1am.

Then, Monday morning, we got up and went with the Billy Graham crew (we were doing some shows for BGA) to Kitchener which was about an hour and a half drive. There we set up and performed at a school there. Right after that, we went to a prison for 14 to 18 year old guys. There Brock showed them some magic and shared the gospel. It was amazing. Those guys looked much older than teenagers. They were very hard. However, Brock told them about the Lord in a way that they could relate and understand. I just prayed for them the whole time. This was one of the coolest things we did while we were in Canada.

After we left the detention center, we went to a church to set up to do a banquet. This banquet was to kick off the year of ministry the BGA are going to be doing in Kitchener area. We will be a part of it next April by doing a big FX. I felt a little awkward at first. Banquets are a tough place to do a show, because everyone is a little stiff. However, Brock got them laughing and really encouraged them by sharing some from his heart. I think everyone there, including me, is excited about what is going to take place in this area for the next several months.

Tuesday morning, they picked us up bright and early to take us to perform at another school, see the venue for next year, lunch, and another school assembly that afternoon. Then it was onto the airport. We spent an hour waiting in line at customs and the rest of the night on planes. I got in my bed last night a little after midnight. When you have a schedule like that, it feels more like a week than just 2 days!

Putting Up the Christmas Tree

2011-01-29T17:13:00.004-06:00

It was January 1998 and I had just come back to school after the break. I looked at the wilting Christmas tree and sighed. It's great putting it up but not taking it down. My roommate and I had found a fun way to get rid of our Jack-o-lantern when the season was over. We would take it up to the top of an outdoor tall flight of stairs and drop it while yelling, "Smashing pumpkins!". Then, we watched it break into a hundred little pieces. What could I do with a tree?

Then, I got an idea! I called my friend who was always up for something crazy. "Want to blow up an old, dead Christmas tree?". He said with no hesitation, "Sure! Come on over." I did that with the tree. I watched as my friend lit the tree on fire. Wow, how that puppy burned! The flames were so high that we were afraid it was going to catch some surrounding trees on fire. Instead of getting nervous like some others watching were, this friend just began laughing. Then I started to laugh, and that was how the tradition of blowing up my Christmas tree began. I did it again today with that same friend...Brock Gill, and we still laughed.

A Rhythm

2011-01-25T16:18:00.002-06:00

We have sort of formed a rhythm of life. As I have said before, I know how to do life on the road. However, doing life at home is a different story. I never know what to do at home. Now, we have set up some sort of schedule when we are home. Here is our week:
Monday-Date Night
Tuesday-Mentoring Group and Errands
Wednesday-Small group
Thursday-Magic Night
Weekends-Usually out of town, but if not, we hang out with friends...go to the Cocoa Tree...stuff like that.

My favorite part about this routine is that it allows us to invest into people here at home. Brock and I form a stronger bond with Date Nights. When I run errands and Brock goes to his mentoring group on Tuesdays, we connect with people in our town. In our small group, we share prayer requests and laughs with each other. On magic night, we have some cool, young, aspiring magicians come to our house where we talk about shows and how to use our art to tell others the message of Jesus Christ. It's great!

Give Extravagantly, Live Frugally

2011-01-24T10:14:00.003-06:00

This is our New Years' Resolution or theme for the year or whatever you want to call it...GIVE EXTRAVAGANTLY, LIVE FRUGALLY. One way we plan to exorcise this plan is to camp all summer in Florida. That's right! We are buying a tent and pitching it wherever possible this summer in between our camp dates in Florida (not a bad place to camp by the way). This will save us so much money on hotels...especially in Florida in the summer. I am also excited about the adventure it's going to allow us to have. (One week into it, I might be singing a different tune...we'll see.)

Another way we are planning to save money is to take our vacation using our points that we have incurred from various hotel chains and airlines. I think we are going to Puerto Rico. The funny thing is that Brock and I have flight miles on different airlines, so we are going to have to fly there and back separately. That's okay though because it helps us stay on theme!

The giving extravagantly will just have to come to us spontaneously. We will give like we feel lead by the Lord like we always do, we just don't want to use the same motto while doing so. We don't want to pinch pennies when it comes to helping others out. I think you get what I am saying. So, now I have put it in writing and you all can keep me accountable.

Miami Pics

2011-01-22T10:21:00.000-06:00

We stayed in Miami the night before the cruise.

We ate at our place in Miami.

It's a Cuban restaurant.

For lunch, we had piella.

Cruise Pics

2011-01-20T10:05:00.003-06:00

Last week, we took some great people we have worked with on a cruise. It was fun!

Here is the crew. We all really bonded.

We went to Key West and ate chocolate covered key lime pies.

Yummy!

In Cozumel, some of us ate at a restaurant there.

Brock performed a close up show for our guests one night.

This was my favorite part of the boat. It was called "Serenity."

Almost Arrested

2011-01-17T11:11:00.001-06:00

Late last night, we were driving through the sticks of Virginia after our show trying to navigate through the dark, country roads. After getting lost for the third time, we were getting more and more impatient and just wanted to get to the hotel. We turned onto a two lane highway which seemed like it should be about 65 miles per hour road. We had not been on the road a minute when Brock got pulled over.

The police officer came up to the window and I observed him shaking. He was either really cold or very angry. Either way, he was serious when he said that Brock was going 72 in a 45. Then, he told Brock to come sit in his car. I have never had a police officer do that before.

After Brock left, I looked at Andrea, our intern, and said, "I hope he does not get arrested." She thought it was funny how calm I was. She said that I sounded like it would be more of a nuisance than a crisis. After all of the experiences I have had with Brock over the years, I have learned not to freak out. I begin thinking what to do next when something crazy happens (which is rather often). I was already thinking about bailing Brock out and postponing our flights.

Andrea said, "Brock's a nice guy. He probably won't get arrested. However, 20 mph over is considered reckless driving." I looked back to the car and Brock was sitting in the front seat talking with the officer. That was somehow comforting to me. If he was not sitting in the back, he would not get arrested would he? On "Cops," they always put people in the back seat when they haul them off to jail.

After a while, Andrea and I began talking about other things. Then, Brock got out of the car and came back to the driver's seat of our rental car. It's crazy to think that I was relieved that he had a speeding ticket!

Cruise

2011-01-13T09:55:00.000-06:00

Right now, we are on a cruise to Cozumel and Key West with some youth leaders and pastors. It's a thank you to some that we have worked with. I will tell you all about it when we get back!

Galveston

2011-01-11T09:51:00.000-06:00

My family went to Galveston for a few days.

We went to a festival of lights

Gifts

2011-01-10T09:30:00.000-06:00

I saw this ball and chain from Alcatrez and thought of Brock. He collects old locks and chains like Houdini would have used. This was from Alcatrez! I told mom about it and she said to get it for her to give to Brock. I sneaked it in the backseat of the truck the whole way to Texas. It was very heavy. Little did I know, Brock hid an ipad for me in the backseat! I think we were both so worried about the other one finding what we hid that we did not notice what was being hidden from us! It was comical.

Mom accidentally opened the frame that said "Papa" and dad opened the one that said "Nana"

Christmas with my Family

2011-01-08T09:13:00.002-06:00

My sister and her family were in from Bolivia for a visit.

This is Maya. I got to meet her for the first time.

She gave great kisses!

She is a little doll

This is Jack with his papa.

They got really close.

Jack also loved mom's ipad. Actually, anything technology...

Me and my sister, Kay

This is Kay, Trent, and Maya

At the Gills for Christmas

2011-01-05T12:43:00.002-06:00

There is always plenty of food at the Gills...and it's so good!

Here is Brock's brother, Russ, and his wife, Renetta.

The Gill guys

A Memorable Bible Study Time

2011-01-01T09:06:00.002-06:00

My family and I are spending this week in Galveston. Even though it is not swimming weather, I still spend a lot of time on the beach. Thursday, I walked or ran on the beach from morning until late afternoon. Yesterday, I took my camping chair down on the sand and plopped down to do my Bible study.

I am doing a Beth Moore Bible study on the life of Paul. Yesterday, I was on the part when Paul is on the sea and a violent storm comes up. Fittingly, the waters looked very rough. She began talking about going through storms in our lives and using metaphors with waves and the ocean. There I sat with a live illustration.

I began to pray that the Lord would bring us out of the storms we have been going through this year and bring on the healing in 2011. As I prayed, I felt that peace. Not only peace, but the clouds parted ever so slightly and sun beamed down on a small slice of the beach right where I was sitting. It seemed like the Lord did that just for me! This demonstration gave me much hope, and I will remember that Bible study time forever.

Looking Forward to 2011

2010-12-31T09:21:00.001-06:00

Every year I get my pictures developed. Usually, I look them over and have fond memories. This year, I actually had some bad memories. Spending most of the year sick and not knowing it tainted everything. I remember everything was dull. After Brock broke his back, he has lived with a dull pain every since. Well, at first it wasn't dull. Now, it is. That affects his energy level and response to life as well. We have had a painful year literally.

I am already looking forward to 2011. I know it's going to be a much better year. I know that it's normal to think positively every New Year, but I am exceptionally optimistic about 2011. It's going to be great! I am all better. Brock is getting there. We enjoy traveling and doing shows where we tell the gospel. We love our friends and family. Life is great! Think good thoughts about 2011.

Rough Time

2010-12-30T09:37:00.000-06:00

The last few days have been rough! We got to my parents' house Saturday afternoon. After we had been there for half an hour, Brock broke out in hives...bad! I gave him 2 benedrylls and assumed he would be a little hung over, but better in the morning. He had even more hives. He was miserable. Hives also make you stressed. Brock handles stress really well. Normally he is so easy going. However, it's a different story when he has hives. His eyes are big and full of worry...not a sight I am used to seeing. So, Sunday afternoon, I took Brock to an emergency clinic to get a steroid shot. The shot helped clear up the hives but gave him hiccups for 12 hours Monday.

To add to that, as we were driving around Houston with my parents Monday (while Brock was battling with hiccups), we lost all power and brakes. Brock was barely able to pull over in a parking lot. He used an incline to stop. He called AAA and mom called my sister, Kay. She and her family were in the car ahead of us going to a restaurant for lunch. We quickly realized that her cell phone was in her purse in our truck. So, my parents and I began walking the mile to the restaurant while Brock waited for the tow truck. Before we could walk the mile, my brother-in-law skyped us from the restaurant and he was able to come pick us up. However, dad and I had to ride in the back of the truck. It was crazy! We were being slung around and it smelled like trash back there. (He had just taken the trash that morning using that truck.) I cannot tell you how hungry we all were. It was 2 o'clock by then. It was a mess!

Finally AAA came, and our friend let us borrow his car until the next day when our truck was fixed. Brock's hiccups would stop for a few minutes after he tried another hiccup remedy, but it would start up again shortly all day Monday. Finally, late that night, they stopped for good. Tuesday, his esophagus was so sore from the hiccuping the day before. Tuesday night, he broke out in hives again, but after taking some Zertec, he quickly rid of them. Wow! We will remember this Christmas!

Private Jokes

2010-12-29T09:32:00.000-06:00

You know how you joke about something with others that are in on it? We had a joke with all of the people we spent time with over the last couple of weeks. At Brian and Stephanie's, Brock let Ryder steer the truck on their little neighborhood rode. Ryder, age 5, would steer the truck right into the ditch. It made him nervous, but Brock let him keep steering. When Ryder saw a curve coming up, he took his hands off the wheel and adamantly said, "I'm not playing this game anymore!" That was our joke the entire time. Every now and then, someone would randomly say it. How funny!

At Brock's parents, we watched all kinds of funny youtube videos. Our favorite were Antoine, Latarion, and the injured bad kid. We quoted them often. Once, I put them all together and said, "I stole my grandmama's car cause I was mad at my mama, and you know what he did? He kicked him in the penis, so hide your kids. Hide your wife!"

At my parents' I saw this youtube video of a boy who got books for Christmas. He said, "What the heck is this?" Then, he threw down the books and said, "Books? Who wants books?" The reason I really took note of this was because I got my nieces and nephews books for Christmas. To my defense, they are Dr. Suess and I got them a stuffed animal that goes with it. That was our joke!

Time with Friends

2010-12-28T09:14:00.002-06:00

We stopped by our friends house, Marcus and Rachel and their boys, in Birmingham for lunch last week on our way to Louisiana.Brock got "stuck" in the chair.

Then, Brock did magic for the family.

He also did magic for the neighborhood kids.

Then, we stayed with our friends, Brian and Stephanie, and their kids.

Mattie loved the seaweed salad. She is adventurous!

Me and Mattie

Mattie "driving" the truck around the parking lot.

Ryder sporting my sunglasses and Brock's hat.

Ryder on his skateboard.

Ryder and little Audrie.

Christmas Party at Gypsyland

2010-12-24T11:24:00.003-06:00

Andrea, Sherri, and I made a Gingerbread house as decoration for the party.

We had a very cajun Christmas with gumbo as our main course.

We had our traditional white elephant gift exchange.

Some tried the bed of nails for the first time.

Lindsey the Dancer performed a killer magic routine.

Holiday Fun

2010-12-23T13:21:00.000-06:00

Brock's been having some young magicians over every week to pour into them. It's fun!

We went to a Christmas party at the Elrods.

There, we hosted a chocolate tasting.

We also went to the Cocoa Tree where 15 others met up with us.

There's John, Sherri, and Lindsey the Dancer.

Me and my friend, Carrie.

There's Carrie and Lindsey the fire eater (we had 3 Lindseys there that night).

Katie and Stephanie.

Brock talking with Robbie.

And many others.

Yummy!

A few of us being silly at an antique store in downtown Franklin.

The rainy Dickens on the Square in Franklin.

Snow at our house!

From Florida to Montana

2010-12-22T12:47:00.003-06:00

Back in early November, we did shows in Florida and Montana the same week. This is what we saw in Florida

We ate lots of seafood.

These are stone crabs which they are famous for in this area of Florida (around Clearwater Beach).

Then, in Montana, it was snowing! What a switch!

I had a wonderful steak with blackberry sauce in Montana. It was amazing! They know how to do steak there!

The Star of Bethleham

2010-12-21T09:06:00.003-06:00

I watched a very interesting video last night. It's about the Star of Bethleham. Rick Larson did a ton of research using modern technology to find out about the star that guided the wisemen. Some of the most interesting things I learned was that the wisemen could have possibly come from Daniel's influence. There were good magi (from the east) and bad magi (from the west). They are described as magi from the east which were the good ones influenced by Daniel. (Magi comes from magician. Daniel was considered to be a magician. In fact, Brock has read about Daniel in some of his historical magic books.)

Also, the stars told the story about the conception, birth, and death of Christ. It's so complicated to talk about here but you should research this website. It's amazing!

Back in Jesus' day, most people slept on the roof because it was quieter and cooler. What did they look at while laying in bed at night...the stars. Therefore the Lord communicated to them through the stars. In Psalm 19:1-4, it says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." Also, Paul says in Romans 10:17-18, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. But I ask: Did they [the Jews] not hear? Of course they did: 'Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.'" He was referring back to Psalms which is talking about the stars. I am not doing it justice, but all I know is that our Lord is so symbolic. Also, He amazes me more and more each day!

Visiting Family in Florida

2010-12-14T20:47:00.003-06:00

I had breakfast with mom, Aunt June, and my cousin, Kelly.

Grandma making her famous biscuits!

Look at the size of that cuban sandwich!

We had lunch with Aunt Gail, mom, and grandma.

My aunt and uncle and cousins' family after our show.

Me with Grandma and mom after our show.

Grandma, Brock, and me after our show.

Marine Life at Atlantis

2010-12-12T21:59:00.005-06:00

Brock's favorite part about Atlantis was the sharks.They had a HUGE (maybe 15 feet long) saw shark.

A hammerhead

Brock touched one of these nurse sharks. As he did, another shark came at him! I took a picture of the sign the next day. Usually nurse sharks are not aggressive, but this may be the place they feed them or something.

Lots of stingrays

And a ten foot wingspan manaray.

They had a huge aquarium. This is funny looking.

The electric eels look eerie.

Dolphin Cay at Atlantis

2010-12-10T21:01:00.001-06:00

Brock swam with the dolphins at Dolphin Cay.

Pics from Atlantis

2010-12-09T20:50:00.003-06:00

We went to Atlantis in the Bahamas for a few days in November. It was awesome! These pictures tell the story the best...

This is one of the best restaurants we have ever eaten at!

This is where we ate every morning.

The portions here were enormous!

Worship with Service

2010-12-07T07:33:00.000-06:00

I have always heard people talking about how acts of service are a form of worship. I have never really understood what that meant until the Seven Significant Acts of Service. This has been my expression of worship all month. I have done acts of service before naturally. However, I have never been this intentional about it. Also, I have never really thought about it being worship. I have usually thought about it along the lines of obedience to the Lord. This has been a special time with the Lord. Maybe that's why He asked me to do it. It has given me such joy! It's so strange how serving others can do so much for you. I really think I am getting more out of this deal than the people I am serving.

The other day, we were talking about heaven and such. My friend said, "We can only worship in our lack while we are here." I began to think about that. It's so true. In heaven, we will be whole. We will not lack at all. It will be easy to worship there. Here on this messed up planet, we have plenty of lack. That definitely applies to the Seven Significant Acts of Service. I won't be able to hold my friend's hand when she hears the results of her blood test up there. I won't be able to donate to Soles4Souls up there. No more hanging out with friends who come from disfunctional homes on holidays. There will be no more need for that. I encourage you to try worshiping the Lord with acts of service to others. Worship Him here while you can worship in your lack.

Seven Significant Acts of Service

2010-12-06T06:52:00.003-06:00

As you know, I have been doing at least one good thing for someone else everyday while I am home this month. (If you don't know what I am talking about, stop and read this.) Brock has affectionately termed it Seven Significant Acts of Service for a week. He's got the "significant" part right. It's been so cool to see what the Lord has put in my lap daily. For example, I have been able to rebook someone's honeymoon the day of due to a washed passport not allowing them to go on their planned one. I have been to the doctor with someone while getting some serious blood tests done. Also, I have been able to set up a new couple's whole bed for them.

That last one was very special. On our date night, Brock and I snuck into our friends' new house while they were on their honeymoon. We'd recently purchased a new mattress, so we gave them our king sized mattress. We bought them their bedding that they had registered for and went inside and set it all up. Now, when they get home, at least their bed is going to be ready. It was fun doing all of that together at the end of our date. That is going to be a memorable date night for us.

It has been some significant stuff. The part that Brock was not right about was the "seven" a week. The Lord has been giving me 3 or 4 acts of service a day. The other day, after helping my pregnant friend move her stuff into her apartment, I thought, "These acts of service are making me tired." Actually, that only lasted a little while. Do you know how you get this burst of adrenaline when you help someone? I have had that high everyday since I began this Seven Significant Acts of Service. I wonder what the Lord has planned for this week!

A Wedding

2010-12-04T07:55:00.001-06:00

Last Saturday, we went to a wedding. Our great friends, Jacob and Kayla got married.

This was when she walked in.

Brock was the best man.

The Day After Thanksgiving

2010-12-02T07:46:00.004-06:00

We went out the next day to chop down a little tree for Christmas.

Sherri and Lindsey the Dancer helped us.

Here is our little Charlie Brown tree.

Of course we hung stockings.

And my door decoration.

I just stuck some Christmas paper cups over some lights and added a couple of ribbons.

This is the nativity set my parents had since I can remember. My sister and I used to have to take turns (alternating days) rearranging the ceramic pieces. Lindsey and Sherri arranged them. They took their time and had a blast doing it. I guess some things are still fun to do as adults.

I added new table decorations this year.

Then, we had some others join us for turkey gumbo and more youtube videos.

Thanksgiving Pics and Videos

2010-11-30T17:44:00.002-06:00

Thanksgiving Day

2010-11-28T07:44:00.002-06:00

My day began at 7am when my alarm went off. Brock and I groggily got out of bed, threw on some clothes, and went out to the porch. There was our cajun microwave. It's a wooden box with turkey in it and a steel cover with fire on top. Brock and I flipped the turkey over to allow it to cook the remainder 6 hours on the other side (12 in all).

At about 1pm, several friends came over (12 of us in all) and we had a spread of food. Then, we went on our traditional walk. After that, we came back and some rode the zipline. It was 74 degrees on Thanksgiving day. That was unusual but a great time to play outside.

We then settled around the tv and watched utube videos for 3 hours. Sometime in the midst of it, we ate dessert and went for round 2 of the feast. Also, 2 more people came to join us. What did you do for Thanksgiving?

Home Sweet Home

2010-11-24T07:53:00.002-06:00

I am so glad to be home. That's an understatement. Brock and I have been on the road rather solid this fall...really since July. We are never home...until now. We are here until Christmas. It feels so sweet to be here. Of course I have so many things to catch up on. The mail alone is going to be a 3 hour task. Then, there are the projects that I need to do in order to organize the chaos that's been the last several months. However, this week, I intend to only do 2 things...clean and cook. Then, I will just chill out and eat.

I hope to blog more and keep up with some of you on facebook more. I intend to spend quality time with people home that I have neglected. When I am on the road, I have tunnel vision. The only thing I focus on is the next show or destination. It's like home and everyone there does not exist at the time.

In fact, I have made a decision. While I am home, I am going to do something nice for someone every day. It could be a big thing like giving newlyweds a bed (that happened) or just calling someone on the phone to check up on them (which is a sacrifice cause I am not a phone talker). Anyway, I am going to allow the Lord to show me everyday how he wants me to help others. If you want me to do something nice for you, you better hope I haven't done anything that day because it's only one a day! I'm just kidding.

Mistaken Identity

2010-11-22T09:34:00.005-06:00

Last weekend was the big Youth Specialties Conference in Nashville. Brock and I were walking around the exhibit hall and a guy stopped us to get a picture taken with Brock. He talked about how he loves his show, especially the ping pong balls trick. Then, after a few minutes another guy asked if he could take a picture with Brock. He said that the kids in his youth group would love him if he got a picture. After I had taken the picture with Brock, the guy said, "By the way, I love the Hurricane album. We used 'Dare You to Move' in one of our videos." I immediately realized that he thought Brock was actually John Foreman, the lead singer of Switchfoot. Brock hears this a lot. However, we didn't know what to say. We had already taken the picture and he was so stoked to show it to his youth group. Brock gave him a high five and we moved on. It was funny! Do you see the resemblance?

Show in Titusville, FL

2010-11-17T12:01:00.001-06:00

We performed 3 times on Halloween at a church in Titusville, FL. They had a festival that afternoon before our show. During the festival, Brock was allowed to use one of the catapults to launch a pumpkin. He had a blast doing it. See for yourself...

Fall Fun

2010-11-16T11:50:00.000-06:00

We had some friends come over to our house to have a bonfire.

Then, we all went to Miller's Thrillers Haunted Woods. It was really fun! We made sure the guys were in the front and back and all of us girls were in the middle. I loved to scream and jump and cling to Brock's arm. At one point, there was a car sitting in the path. Brock had already gone through the car and the rest of us were contemplating if we really wanted to go through it. Just then, a ghost poked her head out of the car at us and then went back in. To me, the scariest part is when they make their first appearance. Since she had already done that, I was okay with going through the vehicle even though I knew she was in there. Everyone else chickened out. They went over the hood of the car. I guess they didn't have the same philosophy about the scariest moment as I do!

Brock Gill on Hulu

2010-11-15T11:31:00.000-06:00

Go here to watch our show on Hulu. Make sure you watch the first episode first and go in order.

Missoula, MT

2010-11-14T11:23:00.003-06:00

At 4:30am yesterday was when I started my day. I woke up, got ready, and went to the airport to fly to Missoula, MT. I had checked on the weather and the high was going to be 35 degrees in Montana. After being in Florida all week, I knew this was going to be a difficult adjustment. I brought coats and gloves to prepare as much as possible. What I wasn't prepared for was snow when we got there. It was snowing!

The show was at a church in Missoula. They set up 700 chairs or so. As people kept entering, they began bringing in more and more chairs. We packed 800 chairs in a room that usually seats about 500. It was awesome! Most of our shows lately have had an average of 1,100 people. We feel so blessed to have so many coming out to see us. It makes it such a better show to perform to a packed house!

I didn't get to bed until midnight, but it was well worth the long day. I like Missoula!

Florida Shows

2010-11-11T05:58:00.003-06:00

I have had a great time here in Florida and the Bahamas. I had wonderful quality time with Brock and some of my family as well as my Lord. There is something about being on the beach looking out at the vast sea that makes you feel closer to Him in some way.

Our shows here have been great! We did every one of them inside the church auditorium. This has worked well. We transform the stage to our show so that when they enter the room, they think that this is different from the normal church service. Also, the great part about it is that the ones who do become followers of Christ know where to go the next Sunday when they want to go to church to learn more about the Lord.

Another great thing is that we have been hearing this often when we go into the churches..."In all my years of ministry, Brock gave the clearest gospel message I have ever heard." We had a guy who has a PHD in evangelism or something come to the show this week. He said that Brock's presentation of the gospel was so complete and he was very impressed. Of course, we all know that the Lord is the one who speaks through Brock. At the time when Brock begins to give the message of Jesus, I begin to pray for everyone out in the audience. The Lord's presence is thick in the room. Do you know what the Lord usually says to me at that time? He says, "Let's talk about you." Here I am thinking it's my job to pray for everyone else, and all the Lord cares about is me and my heart. It's so mind boggling that in a crowd of 1,100 people (like last night), He is saying the same thing to everyone in there..."Let's talk about you." He is so personal and loving. What a privilege it is to serve our God.

Time in the Bahamas and with Family

2010-11-08T11:49:00.003-06:00

We had a great week last week. We went to Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas. Everyday, it called for rain, and everyday, it was beautiful. We observed all kinds of marine life such as sharks and mantarays. Brock swam with the dolphins while I watched and took lots of pictures. We ate some wonderful cuisine. It was just amazing!

Last weekend, we flew back into Orlando where my mom who was visiting from Texas picked us up. We spent the weekend with my grandma, mom, and aunts. Last night, we performed in Plant City, FL. It was a fun show! It was especially fun for me because some of my family came to watch.

I cannot wait to show you some pictures, but that will have to come later. Please pray for our show in Clearwater, FL tonight and Wednesday night in Tampa.

Time with the Parents

2010-11-03T10:11:00.000-05:00

We ate at Lupe Tortilla. Yummy! Aren't my parents cute?

Mom and me in the pumpkins.

We watched Brock's dad referee a high school football game.

Brock and his mom watching in the stands.

Pics from Las Vegas

2010-10-31T22:27:00.003-05:00

Vegas at sunrise.

This was where I was sitting when I met Maya.

One of our favorite places...the Creperie in Paris.

Inside the NY, NY

Inside the Venetian.

Some of the new area called City Center.

There were lots of these tornado things inside the City Center...very cool.

This is made of tons of jelly beans.

One of the best shows I've ever seen!

Now that's a big chair!

The Butterfly Circus

2010-10-29T15:13:00.001-05:00

I watched a very inspiring short film last night. Go here to watch the Butterfly Circus. You won't be sorry.

Giving What I Am Asked

2010-10-26T05:23:00.000-05:00

The way I handle giving to the poor is that I give them whatever they ask for if I am capable. Therefore, if someone walks up to me and asks me for $.50 for bus fee or a couple of bucks for a burger, I give it to them, no more and no less. I consider that if someone comes into my life and asks me specifically for something, that’s the Lord who placed them in my life. Do they use the money on alcohol after I leave the picture? I don’t know. However, I can only hope not. Ever since I decided to do this, every single person who has come up to me has not just asked me for money. They have been specific about the amount. Also, I have always seemed to have the money on me.

The first morning in Vegas, I awoke very early due to the time change. I decided to go out on the strip and find a place to do my Bible study. At 7am, the strip was very lonely. The only people on the strip were joggers and those few who are still up from the night before. I found a park bench along the sidewalk just outside of NY, NY that was quiet. I had barely sat down when I heard, “Excuse me.” I looked up to see a young, thin African American woman in her 20’s approaching me. I knew she was talking to me since I was the only other person in the vicinity. I began to wonder what she was going to ask me for. She was well dressed with a bubbly voice, so I did not suspect her to be homeless. A couple of bucks would not cut it for this girl. I happened to have about $70 in my pocket just in case I needed a cab or something…sort of a safety measure. Well, this was going to be a test of my faith, because I usually don’t carry this amount of cash. What did this girl need? Did she lose all of her money gambling, and need a bus ticket back home to who knows where? Was she robbed and need a cab back to her hotel? Cabs were expensive in this town. All that I had on me was my Bible, wallet, and a little water left in a water bottle I was sipping on.

The girl walked over and sat down next to me on the bench. She introduced herself as Maya. That’s my niece’s name, so it was easy for me to remember. Maya was smoking a cigarette and began telling me what happened last night. She had a fight with her boyfriend and snuck out of her hotel room. She does not normally drink, but was so mad that she drank all night and was still drunk. She doesn’t normally smoke either, but she was trying to get rid of the alcohol smell. Her boyfriend was coming to pick her up shortly and they were leaving town. She said, “I am so drunk right now, and I don’t want him to know. Could I have a sip of your water? I won’t put my mouth on the bottle.” This was what she wanted? I gave her the water and wished her well, praying for her on and off for the rest of the trip. Most of the time, I give a dollar or two. This day, I shared my water with a girl named Maya.

Trip to Las Vegas

2010-10-25T05:27:00.000-05:00

We go to Las Vegas every now and then to be inspired for our show. It is the live show capitol of the world. We watch all kinds of shows and learn from them. Brock attends magic conferences there as well. This was the case last week. We went to Vegas in order for Brock to attend a conference. I went to see several shows. This was what my day looked like. I would wake up, go running for 30 minutes on the strip, go jump in the pool at the hotel, get ready back in the room, go walk 30 minutes to see a show, walk another 30 minutes to meet Brock at some attraction on the strip after his conference, walk another 30 minutes back to our hotel. I figure I spent at least 2 hours a day just walking. Most of it I did alone.

I know this sounds strange, but I tend to feel close to the Lord in Vegas. Maybe it’s because every worldly temptation is at your fingertips there. Instead of luring me into the temptations, it makes me run the other way toward the Lord. I pray the entire time I am walking. Talk about prayer walking, the Vegas strip is the ultimate place to do it. Everyone seems to have a story there. They are desperate for money and decided to put it all on black. They are young and trying to have “a little fun.” They are there on a business trip and are trying to move up in the company. They are getting married and decide to elope to Vegas instead of being married in a church in front of friends and family. There are so many stories, so many lives, so many prayer needs. Sometimes I find out their story, other times I don’t. Next post, I will tell you the story of a girl I met while I was there.

Conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Gary Chapman

2010-10-21T01:19:00.003-05:00

Gary Chapman, the author of "The Five Love Languages," and his wife were on the cruise. We really connected with them, because Brock reminded them so much of their son. We were all waiting for the bus to take us to the airport when the bus broke down. This is the conversation we had with Gary Chapman and his wife:
Brock: "We could hitchhike."
Mrs. Chapman: "Does anyone pick up hitchhikers anymore?"
Brock: "I do every now and then."
Mrs. Chapman: "That doesn't surprise me because it sounds just like my son. One time, I called him when he lived in Michigan by himself and a guy named George answered. When my son got on the phone, I asked him, 'Who is George?' He said, 'Mom, it's 9 degrees here and George is one of my street friends. I could not leave him out in this cold weather.'"
Me: "Brock had a homeless man stay with him in his dorm room when he was in college."
Brock: "Only for a semester."
All four of us laughed.

Cruise Pics

2010-10-19T01:13:00.001-05:00

Grandeur of the Seas by Royal Caribbean is the boat we were on.

Brock playing in the water in Cozumel.

Paradise

The midnight buffet

Coco Cay island in the Bahamas

Cruise

2010-10-17T10:53:00.000-05:00

The guys who put on Christian cruises asked if we could come and help out with one. We said, "Sure!" So, last Monday, we flew into Cozumel, Mexico and jumped on the ship. It was a fun cruise. We did not have to do a show, we simply had to make sure everyone was doing well and try to answer their questions.

About 350 people on the cruise were attending a conference for marriage counselors, and these were the people who we were helping out. The speakers there were Gary Chapman, Gary Smalley, Dan Seimore, and others. I sat in on some of the sessions and found it interesting.

The first night, they had a reception for the leaders of the conference. We all got there right after dinner. They had some food present, but we were all so full from dinner. There really was not anything to do, so we were sorta sitting in a circle looking at each other. Then, Gary Chapman's wife, who is funny, said, "Who are these two? We don't know them," pointing at us. Roy, the leader of the cruise introduced us and asked if Brock could show the group something. He brought that party to life with some card tricks and other bonding stuff. It was fun! I will show you pictures from the cruise later.

Fun in San Antonio

2010-10-13T01:41:00.001-05:00

We ate some wonderful barbecue at Rudy's.

Brock went riding motorcycles with some guys through the mountains.

While Lindsey and I went to the River Walk.

Lindsey ate true Tex Mex for the first time.

Chick-Fil-A show

2010-10-12T09:06:00.000-05:00

We performed at a show put on by Chick-Fil-A. It made me realize how unique our life is. This was part of our act:The guy who popped out is Chick-Fil-A executive Bubba Cathy.

Some break dancers came to perform at the show as well. They did not know that they had to wear cow costumes while they danced until they got to the venue. That really through them for a loop! How could they break dance with a heavy cow costume on? It was interesting.

Invitation in San Antonio

2010-10-11T04:38:00.003-05:00

I will remember last night forever! Brock had just given the crowd of 1,700 a beautiful invitation to follow Christ. He asked the ones who wanted to do that to exit the building to talk with some people from the church about it. The room in which the people were going to was backstage, so they had to walk right past me to get there. They began pouring out of the room! As they stood to receive Jesus into their lives, the people remaining in the audience began clapping, and cheering, and shouting for joy! It took a whole 5 minutes for everyone to file out, and the crowd continued to clap and cheer the entire time. I feel like I got a glimpse of what goes on in heaven when someone surrenders their life over to the Lord.

I could not stop the tears. It had been a big week...15 shows and travel back and forth to Texas. I was very tired, but all of that was forgotten as I watched the Lord changing people's lives right there in front of my eyes!

Castle Hills First Baptist Church has been so amazing this week! They were so helpful and I could feel the prayers. We all linked arms together and reached out to this community in the San Antonio area to show God's love to them. It was a sight to see. I will share testimonies with you later.

A Desparate Woman, Salesclerk, and a Veteran

2010-10-09T09:29:00.000-05:00

Thursday, I was feeling rather rough. With every move, pain shot up through my back. We did 3 school shows and were beat. We drove over to Guitar Center to pick up something for the show. I decided to walk to the store in the next parking lot while Brock went into Guitar Center. As I walked, a lady came running up to me. "Can you help me?" she asked. She told me her story about how her car had broken down and it was in the shop but she needed money to get a ride home. She was short around $10. I listened to her, and gave her $10. I didn't know if I believed her story, but something I heard from Andy Stanley has given me clear vision for this sort of thing. He said that if you are able, you should give whatever anyone asks of you. (He said a lot more than that, and explained it more thoroughly and eloquently but I don't have time to go into it. Go here if you want to listen to the message.) That freed me up. I am not as discerning as Brock, so when he is not with me, I cannot tell if someone is taking advantage of me or not. I guess I don't mind if they do. Of course, I invited her to the show. I don't think she came though.

Then, I went into the store I had my eye on...World Market. They have great chocolate from all over the World! As I was checking out, the cashier began talking with me. He asked me where I was from and what I was doing here. I told him about our show and invited him to come. He told me that he was from Germany and loved magic. However, he was not religious. I told him that it was okay. He could still come. I don't know if he did or not since I told him he might want to sit in the back and duck out when it came time for the message (of course I was hoping he would not leave but stay and hear it).

Later that evening, Brock and I went down to the hot tub at our hotel. I thought it would help loosen up my back (and Brock's for that matter). An 86 year old man came up to us and began chatting with us. We found out that he had survived 46 missions in the Air Force during World War II. He had some fascinating stories. He came home after his service and ended up marrying a German girl. I meet some interesting people on the road!

Pics from Missouri and Iowa Trip

2010-10-08T21:13:00.000-05:00

A chocolate shop in Springfield, MO.

This is one of the best chocolate places we have ever been to. Their bars are amazing!

Indian restaurant we went to in Fairfield, IA.

The chocolate shop we went to in Fairfield, IA.

Some of the cars at the car show in IA.

Big Weekend in San Antonio

2010-10-07T20:55:00.004-05:00

Well, it's already begun. We are doing a big outreach here in San Antonio. The minute we got here, I pulled a muscle in my back trying to get our big suitcase out of the truck. I have strained a muscle in my back a couple times in the last month. However, it's never been as bad as last night. I think I am trying to compensate for Brock's back not being completely healed up yet. I've been lifting objects too heavy for me. Anyway, it made the 3 shows we did today very difficult. We have another 3 shows tomorrow.

Then, I was putting together our new backdrop and one of the poles flew up into my face! It hit my front tooth chipping it slightly. It's not very noticeable, but I can tell.

We have 7 more shows here, and I am excited about it. They had a really good prayer night about it Wednesday. Often, we experience opposition at big outreaches like this. Therefore, I consider having a rough day physically as evidence of the wonderful things God wants to do spiritually in this community. Pray that the Lord will protect us from Satan's attack and that He will do a mighty work here. I will tell you how all of the shows went later.

Pics from Graceland

2010-10-05T08:05:00.002-05:00

Elvis was a very interesting man. He has sold over a billion albums worldwide. That's amazing! We could only tour the first floor of his house. He never let any guests come upstairs. That was an area that was private. However, when he did come downstairs, he was decked out in the clothes he wore onstage and all of his chains. He entertained people at his home often. It sounds like he was always performing unless he was upstairs at Graceland.

Crazy Schedule

2010-10-01T09:23:00.002-05:00

Pray for all of our shows coming up this week. Here is the schedule:
Fri-drive 11 hours to TX
Sat-2 hour show in Colleyville, TX
Sun-2 am shows in Colleyville, TX then fly home
Mon-drive 4 hours to Knoxville, TN and perform a show for Chic-fil-a
Tues-drive 3 hours to Chattanooga, TN and perform another show for Chic-fil-a
Wed-Fly back to Dallas and drive to San Antonio, TX
Thurs-perform 3 school assemblies in San Antonio
Fri-perform 2 school assemblies and one big show that night
Sat-perform our first Date Night
Sun-perform twice in the am service and a big show that night in San Antonio

It's going to be a big week...15 shows!

Whoops!

2010-09-29T08:43:00.002-05:00

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!

The Light Bulb Comes On

2010-09-27T07:32:00.003-05:00

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!

Burly

2010-09-24T16:52:00.000-05:00

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!

A Randon Town in Iowa

2010-09-20T09:58:00.003-05:00

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.

Ragweed and a Computer Guy

2010-09-17T09:35:00.003-05:00

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.

Day Off

2010-09-16T13:31:00.002-05:00

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!

Shows and Flights

2010-09-15T12:39:00.002-05:00

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.

Pray for Shows

2010-09-13T00:54:00.000-05:00

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.

One in a Million Episode #3

2010-09-11T20:30:00.006-05:00

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

2010-09-11T08:29:00.001-05:00

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?

One in a Million Episode

2010-09-10T10:07:00.004-05:00

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!

Labor Day 2000

2010-09-08T07:45:00.003-05:00

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:We 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.

A Quick Answer to Prayer

2010-09-06T09:18:00.006-05:00

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!

Shows in High Springs, FL

2010-09-03T10:16:00.002-05:00

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!

Wilson County Fair

2010-09-01T05:58:00.005-05:00

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:

Of course I had to ride the tilt-a-whirl.

Anjelah Johnson

2010-08-30T08:18:00.003-05:00

I went to an Anjelah Johnson show last night. Did you know she is a Christian? She is so funny! My jaws were hurting from laughing so much when I left.

Pray for us this week. We fly to Jacksonville, FL today. Then, we have two school assemblies and a show each night for the next two days. It's going to be a busy schedule. From there we fly to Kansas City to perform and speak at Rock the Light festival.

Shows in High Point, NC

2010-08-28T09:25:00.003-05:00

We performed at a Christian school in High Point, NC yesterday morning. There were 1300 students present. It was great!

Then, last night we did a show in a big church as a part of their performing arts series. This includes 4 ticketed events a year. All of the proceeds go to local ministries. It's a really cool thing.

During the show last night, Brock's mic went out again! Then, Brock went to the handheld mic. It did not work at all either. What was going on??? Brock simply did some funny facial expressions and a spontaneous mime routine. It was hilarious! The mic came back on after a couple of minutes.

I found out that their sound system just timed out for a minute. They said that it had never happened before! That's twice in one week! It did not matter though. Brock was so funny with it that some thought he had planned it to mess with the sound guys. It was a great day in North Carolina!

My Nightmare Came True

2010-08-26T07:12:00.002-05:00

Last night, we were in the process of doing a show in Pleasant Grove, AL (the one near Birmingham...did you know that there are 9 Pleasant Groves in AL?). A guy ran up to me backstage and said, "John said to give this to Brock now." He handed me a battery for Brock's mic. This has happened a few times in my 11 years of doing this where the battery has gone out during a show. However, I knew that John usually put a fresh one in for each show.

I ran onstage and changed the battery discreetly. Then, Brock says, "Can you bring me another battery, because this one is not working either." I ran back onstage and retrieved 4 more new batteries, all of which did not work. It was like a three stooges act. None of them worked! That did not make any sense. They were brand new batteries.

Then, Brock went to a handheld mic, and used it while John figured out Brock's headset. Then, the handheld mic went out. So, Brock went to the other handheld mic, and it went out! It felt like one of my anxiety dreams where the whole crowd is just waiting, and I am the only one who can fix the problem. It's as if the whole audience is waiting on me. Of course, Brock just turned it into a comedy act. Between our three stooges act with the trying so many batteries, and Brock's jokes, the crowd was laughing through the whole incident. (That's not how it goes in my dreams. Nobody is laughing in those nightmares.)

After going through 5 new batteries and two backup mics, I knew that Satan was behind this. I began praying furiously. I even left the show in order to call a couple of people to pray. We got Brock's mic up and running after what seemed like hours, but it was only minutes. Then, when Brock gave everyone a chance to respond to the gospel, so many responded. What a night!

Results from Doctor Visit

2010-08-24T08:28:00.003-05:00

I anxiously sat in the small doctor's office waiting room. It was 10 till 3 and my appointment was for 2:30. I know that appointments are rarely on time, but I was so ready to hear my iron count. Everything the doctor had told me the last visit was running through my head. She had said that my iron count was good, so she did not think that we needed to investigate my anemia any further. She told me to keep taking the iron pills as I had been. That would be 3 times a day, and that was 2 months ago. I had weened myself down to 2 pills and then 1 a day. I didn't know if that was okay or not. What if my iron count was low because I was only taking it once a day? If that was the case, then I still had a big problem, because I should not have to take 3 iron pills a day.

All of these thoughts were running through my mind, and then I heard someone behind the counter say, "She was supposed to be here at 2 and it's almost 3!" I was the only one sitting in the waiting room, so I figured maybe somebody forgot to show up for their appointment. Then, the receptionist looked at me and said, "Your appointment for the ultra sound was at 2 o'clock." I told her that nobody had told me that. I had even called Friday to make sure about the time to come in and they reassured me that I needed to come in at 2:30. The receptionist said to quickly run down to room 203 and they would try to squeeze me in. I jumped up and grabbed my stuff and went down to another doctor's office waiting room.

When I got up to their desk, the lady there was none too pleased with me for missing my appointment. She mumbled something about how they would have to try and fit me into their very busy schedule. (I think she may have been the voice I heard on the speaker phone behind the desk earlier.)

I sat down thinking, "Oh no! If I am late, what if the doctor cannot see me and I don't get my iron count?" I had heard someone say that my doctor's office closed at 4pm. They quickly called me to the back. When I got back there, the lady doing my ultra sound was so sweet that I just broke down in tears. (Isn't it crazy that you break down when someone is really nice to you?) I had not realized how anxious I was about this appointment. So many unanswered questions were to be known at this doctor visit. She asked me what was wrong. I wanted to say, "Do you know what it's like wondering if you may pass out at any minute? Always evaluating if you are anemic or just tired from you crazy, scheduled lifestyle?" Every little thing had sent me on a frantic worry over the last couple of months. One time, my feet were cold and Brock asked me if I thought I was anemic. I had heard that Brittany Murphy's official cause of death was anemia. Could that have been me? Was I close to death?

But I did not say any of that. Instead, I just said, "I just want to find out what is wrong with me." She continued with the ultra sound (they can give you those even if you are not pregnant) and said, "Everything looks good here!" I didn't really know what that meant. The last time, they didn't really tell me what was wrong. They just said there was a lot of blood in my ovaries or something. I was instructed to go back upstairs to my doctor's office.

As I sat in the waiting room for another half of an hour, I became more and more worried. I continued to cry silent tears. I could not stop them. I had waited 2 months to find out if I was okay or not, I could not wait any longer! It was like my psyche had had enough! I called Brock and asked him to come from the nearby coffee shop, where he was waiting for me to get done, into the doctor's office with me. He said that he was on his way.

At one point, one of the nurses had pity on my and told me to come back to a room. She probably figured that I could at least cry in private. I was just texting Brock when he came back into the room. I was so glad to see him. He was concerned at why I was so upset. I told him that I guess it had been building up for the last 2 months, or really 2 and a half months, since I had gone into the hospital. I felt much better when Brock was there. He had been my rock these last couple of months.

Finally, at a quarter till 4, my doctor came in to see me. She met Brock and spoke to us about a few things. Her sweetness put me at ease. I began to tell her how anxious I was to know my iron count. She took me out to another room and took my blood herself. While she was taking my blood, she told me that my last ultra sound showed that I had a small polyp in my ovary as well as blood. That's where the bleeding was coming from. This time, the polyp and the blood was gone. That means that the bleeding has stopped and I don't even need to have surgery to remove the polyp. My body got rid of it on its own. I did bleed in order to get it out which was a problem a few months ago, but it's all over with now.

She walked over to another counter doing whatever she did to see about my hemoglobin (iron count). My hemoglobin should be between 13 and 15. When I went into the hospital, it was at a 5. Then, the blood transfusion brought it up to a 10. When I went to see this doctor last time, I was at a 13.5 which was great! But I was worried that I may have dropped down again. That morning, I had prayed that it would be as high as a 14.7. Now, the doctor looked at me and said, "You are at 15! Your iron count it higher than mine."

An incredible relief filled my mind and then settled throughout my body. My shoulders relaxed and my head came down as I said a quiet "Thank you" to the Lord. We went back into the room and told Brock the good news. I think the doctor could tell how relieved we were because she looked at both of us and said, "What happened to you when you went to the hospital was very rare. It was traumatic for both of you, but you can rest assured that it will probably never, ever happen to you again." These words were so comforting. I had not realized how stressed I had been.

We went to the Cocoa Tree to celebrate that I was normal! It felt so good to be normal again. Last night, I was exhausted from the emotional day. I fell asleep on the couch before 10pm. Then, I climbed into bed at 11 and went back to sleep and slept like a baby for the first time in months.

Thank you all for the prayer and support. I want you to know that it's over with. This chapter of my life has been closed. I am healed!!!

Big Doctor Visit

2010-08-23T09:35:00.003-05:00

This is the big day. I am going to the doctor and seeing if I am anemic. I really don't know. It's hard to tell sometimes. We have a grueling schedule at times, so I get tired often. Therefore, I am not sure if I am anemic or not. I hope not. At any rate, I will find out today at my appointment at 2:30. Pray that I am completely healthy. I will let you know how it goes later...

Sick Days

2010-08-21T08:06:00.002-05:00

I have been in bed (well, actually on the couch) sick for the last few days. Thursday Brock was sick, so I was taking care of the laundry and such, but then, I started to feel worse and worse. Brock began feeling better and I was very sick yesterday. It worked out because I was able to take care of him while he was sick, and he was able to take care of me while I was sick.

He cooked for me last night. He took everything we had and cooked it on the grill. We had a feast! Grilled chicken, grilled asparagus, grilled sweet potatoes, grilled corn on the cob, and for dessert grilled peaches. Wow! It was good. It was so sweet that he cooked for me in his own way. Even though my appetite was not as good as usual, I still appreciated all the effort he put into it.

We have a girl living with us whom is a massage therapist. After dinner, she rubbed my neck where it had been really tender since I had been sick. With food in my belly and fluids clearing out of my throat, I was feeling much better. Last night, I slept through the night and am feeling much better today. I am getting a little stir crazy, though!

Pics from San Antonio

2010-08-18T09:20:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I whine about what I do, because we travel so much. However, traveling has its benefits. Here are some pictures from the time we spent on the river walk in San Antonio, TX...

We road the boat along the river.

And we ate some great Mexican food!

Altering Dreams

2010-08-17T03:51:00.000-05:00

The scene from my dream was playing over and over in my head as I stumbled into the dark bathroom yesterday in the wee hours of the morning. I saw one of my friends laying on a stretcher as the paramedics carried her out. All of us watching didn't say anything, but we knew what had happened. She had killed herself. As I sat in the restroom, even in my groggy state, I knew that she would not do that in real life.

As I layed back in bed, I glanced at the clock...5:45am, way too early to get up. I turned over and went back to sleep. Then, I was sitting in a van with my friend, the one whom died in the previous dream, sitting beside me. I looked over at her surprised and said, "I thought you had died!" She looked at me and smiled, "No, I just passed out. They think I got too hot or something."

All of this I remembered when I woke up 3 hours later. Did I actually go back and change the ending of my dream? That's so crazy! I guess that I was so disturbed by the first dream that I had to alter it. The mind is a powerful thing.

Karen Kingsbury Series

2010-08-16T01:58:00.000-05:00

I began reading a series called the Redemption Series by Karen Kingsbury several years ago. I fell in love with the Baxter family that the books were centered around. Then, she wrote another 5 book series that were about the same family. After that, she wrote a 4 book series about people connected to the family and living in the same town. Today, I began the 4th book in the 4th series of books all related to the same characters. This means that this is my 18th and possibly final book in a series of series of books. I don't want it to end. (Karen, if you happen to read this, maybe you would consider another series?)

Karen Kingsbury does a great job of introducing new characters in each book, but still developing and bringing in the old characters the readers have grown to love. Then, all of the characters come together in a miraculous way. Every book has a good beginning and ending, yet she keeps you hanging for the next one. She is a very talented author. Her picture is on the back of every book. That's all Brock sees is the back of the book. One day he commented, "I feel like you've been reading that same book for years!"

Middle of the Night Text

2010-08-13T08:18:00.003-05:00

I woke up with a start knowing that something was wrong. I checked the time and it was 3:45am. Why was I nervous? Did I hear something? Did I have a bad dream? Just then, I got a text. Who would be texting me in the middle of the night?

It was Mandee (the one next to me in the picture). Cristi (the other one in the picture) was 7 months pregnant. However, she had some complications in her pregnancy. Now, Mandee was telling me that Cristi's water broke and they were on the way to the hospital. I thought, "No! It's too early!" Mandee wanted me to pray which is what I did.

This was a week ago Sunday. Cristi ended up having baby Sam later that day. He was 4 pounds and some ounces. Please pray for Sam. He is still in the hospital since he was so premature. Also, pray for Cristi. She is exhausted.

It's crazy that I woke up before the text came through. Do you think that was woman's intuition or the Holy Spirit or what? I do and always will have a special connection to these two wonderful gals. They are special friends.

Car Troubles

2010-08-12T08:50:00.002-05:00

Last Wednesday, we had a show in Nashville. However, we also had meetings all day and the trailer was all packed a ready to go to Oklahoma the next day. Therefore, Brock and I had the black truck while John drove the silver truck and trailer to the show. He needed to stop by the tire shop and get a new tire on the way. The trailer had a blow out on the way home from New Orleans, and we replaced the flat tire with the spare.

On his way to the tire shop, another trailer tire went out. John took off the flat tire and drove the trailer slowly to the tire shop on 3 wheels. He now needed to replace 2 flat tires.

Later on that night after we did the show, we came out and there was a flat on our black truck. We tried to get the tire off, but one of the lug nuts had stripped. We were so tired and had to get up so early the next morning that we left it there.

While we were gone, we got a friend to fix the tire. Last night, we stopped by the grocery store on our way to pick up the black truck. When we came out, the silver truck would not start. So, we got a ride to our other truck and Brock's going to get the silver truck worked on today. What a nuisance!