Muir Woods and Alcatrez

We took a tour of Muir Woods where we were able to see Redwoods. The Coast Redwoods are the tallest living things in the world. They can get over 200 feet tall and over 14 feet wide.













We saw a black tailed mule deer there.

Then, we went to a cool little town along the bay called Sausalito.






Then, we went to Alcatrez...







It was very interesting to hear about all of the escape attempts and such. You toured the former prison with your own headset with 4 former inmates and 4 former guards as your hosts. It was very well done. The most interesting thing to me was that when we got there, we thought that it wasn't such a bad place. You had a great view of the bay and San Francisco. That's what one of the inmates on the tape said was the worst part. You could see what you were missing in life. In fact, you were only 1 and 1/2 miles away from it, yet you could never taste it. From what I gathered, losing your freedom is the worst part about being in prison.

Chocolate Tasting at GMA

The chocolate tasting that we hosted for the leaders of Compassion International went extremely well! I didn't know how it would go. It was at 9:30 in the morning which is definitely not the best time. We think that it would be better at night. However, everyone loved it! There were a few people there who were planning on going home and hosting one. There was a young couple there just out of college that decided they were going to start having parties with a purpose in their community. Lots of people had some great ideas about it.

Also, there was a girl who was working at the coffee shop where we hosted the tasting. Brock felt like he needed to ask her something. He did. He asked her what she wanted to do with her life. She said that she wanted to be a nutritionist in Africa. Brock's question was, "Then why aren't you doing that?" She gave some reasons like she needs to go to school for it and doesn't have the money. The school that she wants to go to has been "processing" her application for over a year! Brock said that these are all tiny obstacles that shouldn't deter her from her dream. Nothing is impossible with God. It was a great encounter, and she said that she needed to hear that. Please pray for Mandy.

Then, we went to the place where all of the GMA festivities were going on. We plopped down on a bench in the middle of it for about 3 hours. We just sat there and everyone came to us. It was fun to visit with some old friends. What a great day!

Big Week

Pray for us this week. This is GMA week. Although we're not doing as much this year at GMA, we still have a big day tomorrow. We are hosting a chocolate tasting for some of the Compassion workers tomorrow morning. Then, we'll be around all of the GMA festivities. Tomorrow night, we have a dinner with the Compassion group.

Tuesday, we fly out to Witchita, KS. We are doing a Freedom Experience there Wednesday through Thursday. Since I'm going to be super busy, I'll post the rest of the San Francisco blogs over the next couple of days.

Expelled the Movie Weekend

We went to see the movie tonight and the 600 or so seat auditorium was about 80% full. That's very good! There were a few hecklers in the theater. At one point, police officers came in. Some people left during the film. However, most stayed for the entire documentary and everyone clapped at the end of it.

There was a group of students from a local high school who were passing out fliers to a follow-up debate that they are going to have on May 1st. A church in Louisiana rented out the whole theater tonight. Florida and a few other states are already trying to pass laws to allow more freedom for science educators. So, good things are already coming from this movie. Please, please, please support this film.

It's sorta cool that we are participating in getting the word out about this movie. You see, a long time ago, Brock came up with a t-shirt design. Since then, people have used it for bumper stickers and other such things. You may have even seen the t-shirt at some point. The t-shirt read "Darwin Lied" with "Genesis 1:1" underneath it. I wrote a one page paper about it to pass out to anyone who bought the shirt in order to educate them on the subject. It's cool how this is coming full circle.

Expelled the Movie

Go see "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" this weekend. It's important to see it opening weekend to let everyone know that we support the message of this film. "Expelled" is a documentary hosted by Ben Stein (you know the dry eyes guy and the guy who said, "Bueller, Bueller, Bueller..."). It exposes the no tolerance policy of creationism in the scientific world. It's very interesting, and every Christian should support this film.

Our group is going tonight to see it together. I hope that it's not sold out...well, actually I do!

The Miracles Show in Bentonville, AR

This show that we did last night was so complicated that we rehearsed for two days a couple of weeks ago. Then, we got into the building the night before our show and began to set up. Well, we didn't get finished setting up until 10 minutes before the show began last night.

At one point during our setup, I texted a few people to pray for us at 6pm last night (that's when the show began). I received texts back immediately telling me that people were praying. Then, I received a text from one of my girls at home and she said, "Funny you should ask. A group of us are planning to get together and pray for you tonight at 6pm." Then, I felt very encouraged.

The show went so well for a new show. Thirty minutes before the show began, we were throwing breakers and equipment was breaking. I thought, "Oh no! This is going to be like the first few Freedom Experiences!" They were close to disasters, but it wasn't. In fact, everything went very smoothly and I know that it's because of prayer.

This show is very different for us. It's not as high in energy, and it's a little more serious throughout. However, we talk about Jesus the entire time. The focus is on Him the entire show. There is something so special about that.

I was so tired last night that I slept in my clothes! I haven't done that since I was a kid! We all worked so hard. I feel like the Lord is telling me that He's pleased with all of the hard work and our obedience. That's a wonderful feeling that I wouldn't trade for the world!

Pray for the New Miracles Show

Pray for us tonight. We are performing our first Miracles show in Bentonville, AR. I feel a lot of pressure to make this show great because we are representing the Miracles of Jesus! Wow! There's a lot of technical stuff involved in this show as well. However, we have our friends, Brad and Kyle, to help us. Plus, we've seen a lot of opposition for this show. We need your prayers. I feel like the Lord wants to do something big!

Chocolate, Chocolate, and More Chocolate

We toured this chocolate factory. That was interesting.


This was our favorite chocolate place that we went to...


it had over 350 different chocolate bars in one store.


The owner at this place talked with us for a long time. He was fun and interesting. We gave him one of our dvd's and he popped it into the store dvd player while we were there.


This place let us try some cool truffles and we bought some single origin chocolates from all over the world.


This guy is a famous chocolatier in San Francisco.

















In all we went to 11 chocolate shops. It was fun!!!

San Francisco

We had a wonderful time in San Francisco. The weather was great! It was bright and sunny, 70's and 80's degrees (that's warm for that area of California). The people are very diverse. We ate at the best Indian restaurant I've ever eaten at. It was so good that we ate there twice!

Videos from the Party

Chaos Birthday Extravaganza

I'll show you pictures and tell you about San Francisco just as soon as I have the time to upload the pics. We just got home last night. Now, we are getting ready for church. We are going to the early service because we're going to have a birthday party for our friend this afternoon. I think that the party is going to include nap time, because with the time change and getting home so late, I'm so tired.

This party (like all of our birthday parties) is going to be crazy! Stephanie's birthday is Tuesday. However, we are going to celebrate it today. We are going to a friend's house for appetizers after church. Then, at some point, Brock is going to blow an air horn. Then, we are all going to run to our cars and drive to another friend's house for lunch. Steph is going to be very confused at this point because everyone is going to know what to do except her. Then, we're taking her to Starbucks and our house for cake and ice cream. Also, at each location, she's going to have to put on something crazy like a wig, birthday tiera, and a tutu. It's going to be fun!

The Gift of Hospitality

A little over a year ago, I took a spiritual gifts test with my girls. Included in the top few gifts of mine was the gift of hospitality. I thought, "How can this be used?" I knew that back in Bible times, people would stay at others' homes as they were passing through town. That doesn't happen too often now. Then, I thought that maybe it meant making people feel comfortable no matter where you were...even if it wasn't in your home. Either way, I asked the Lord to use and develop this gift.

The last couple of weeks I've really seen how the Lord has done this very thing. We had our second Party with a Purpose on Easter. Then, we had a band of three guys, a "road manager," 3 different girls on two separate occasions stay at our house within the last couple of weeks. Plus, I hosted a chocolate tasting.

It's exciting to see the Lord use you in different ways. I especially like it when He uses the gifts that come naturally to us. Who knew that He could use such a fun gift for His glory? What are your spiritual gifts? You don't have to feel like you're bragging. The Lord is the one put them in you!

Beat Up

I feel like Satan has been beating up on us lately. I cannot go into a lot of details, but it's the little things. For example, Brock broke out into hives for almost a week. Our travel has been horrendous. Everything just hasn't been smooth lately.

However, I read this scripture this week: "But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." Hebrews 10:39. This made me feel strong! I realized that I was beginning to shrink back and feel defeated. This is exactly what Satan wants. This is his tactic. You see, we were beginning a lot of new things over the last couple of months...Parties with a Purpose, Chocolate Tastings, The Miracles Show. Satan wants to stop us before we really begin. It's not going to happen! We will not shrink back!

Beware! These are graphic pictures...actually they are just nasty. I wanted you to understand that this was not just a little rash. He had these hives all over his body at times. Poor guy! He was itching so badly.

Show in Davis, CA

We performed at the University of California in Davis last night. It went so well! The place was packed, and we all laughed all night together. College students are some of the best audiences because they really get Brock's sense of humor. Also, college campuses are a spiritual battleground. I could feel the opposition yesterday. However, the Lord conquered on the UC campus last night!

Some pictures of Brock doing an illusion on campus yesterday afternoon to promote the show last night...









Davis is the bicycle capitol! They were everywhere! The bike lane was started here.

I'm so excited!!! Today, we are going to go into San Francisco and explore for the next couple of days. I think that it's the only big city that we haven't been to in the US. I'll tell you all about it later!

Long Day

Yesterday was a long day literally. It began at 6:30am central time. I got up early in order to catch a flight at 10:15. (Can you believe that a flight leaving at midmorning still means that you must get up at the crack of dawn?) Of course our flight was delayed. Plus, it went to Philadelphia to get to San Francisco.

When we got off of the plane in Philadelphia, we heard them announce "Last call for San Francisco." That was our flight and it was a terminal away. We both took off running. I don't know if it's because we just got off of a plane and were depleted of oxygen or what, but we were both gasping for air when we reached the gate. Our lungs were burning. (Any medical people out there know if this can happen?? We're both runners so we are not that out of shape.) However, we made it to our gate and on the plane. All of our luggage made it too, except one bag. It happens to be the most important one for the show tonight. I hope that it gets here today.

We finally pulled out of the airport at 6pm pacific time starving. That's 8pm central time and we hadn't had time to get lunch in Philly. Where did we go??? A chocolate shop! San Francisco is known for its chocolate and this place, called Chocolate Covered, was closing at 7:30. There was a lady behind the counter named Paley. She was on the phone when we got there and looked like a hippy in her 40's or so. The place was small but lined with tons of chocolate. Brock had talked to the owner on the phone earlier and he told him that he had over 350 different chocolate bars!

Paley got off the phone and said, "Don't mind me. I was just doing a dog rescue." Brock told her that she could go back to it if it was an emergency. To that she replied that it wasn't an emergency and she did it all the time. Then, she preceded to tell us about so much chocolate and let us taste a lot of it. We tried all kinds of chocolate. The weirdest ones we tried were one called "spicy chicken" (there wasn't really chicken in it), a bacon chocolate bar (it smelled and tasted just like bacon), and a pepper chocolate bar (it tasted just like cracked peppercorn). We also tried other kinds of chocolate that we'd never tasted. My favorite was a cinnamon bar. The whole experience was amazing!

Then, we grabbed dinner at a Yucatan place that was wonderful! We then, drove a little over an hour to Davis, CA where our show is tonight. I got to bed at about 10pm. That's a good time. What a long day, but I'm glad we are here! Pray for our show tonight. It's at the University of California here in Davis.

Rain, Rain Go Away

It rained all week last week...from Sunday through Saturday. It got a little depressing. I was extra tired and unmotivated. I didn't realize how much weather affected me until I moved away from Florida. In Florida, it rains a little almost everyday, but it's rarely overcast. It will be bright and sunny yet raining. I remember after living in Texas for a little while, I asked someone what was going on because it had been overcast for a week. His reply was that it was just winter. Ugh!

However, the rain went away and Sunday and Monday were beautiful! It was the perfect temperature and sunny. After having such a nasty week, all of us really appreciated this good weather. We went to the park Sunday afternoon, and it was packed with runners and families with strollers and dogs. I'll tell you that the cloudy times really make you appreciate the clear days!

Chocolate Tasting Party

The chocolate tasting went well Saturday. Only 20 people showed up as opposed to 60 that committed to it, but that was okay. Twenty people were easier on my nerves. Out of 20 people (a few of them being children), 4 Compassion kids were sponsored. That's successful! I learned a lot during this tasting. Here are some pictures:

Hosting a Chocolate Tasting

Please pray for me today!!! I'm hosting a chocolate tasting for the women at a church in Murfreesburo, TN. There are going to be 60 women there! I feel confident about the actual chocolate tasting, but I'm not too sure about speaking about Compassion after that. Brock usually does that part. Please pray that my passion comes out and that I don't get too nervous.

This is the plan: Everyone will congregate around four different tables (approximately 15 at each one). I will lead everyone through the tasting on the mic. Then, everyone will sit down in the center of the room as I share about my experience with Compassion International. After that, the women can mingle around. We will have two chocolate fountains set up, a table with Compassion children that you can sponsor, and a table where you can actually buy the chocolate bars that we used in the tasting AND a chocolate tasting kit (yes, we have those ready now).

Please pray that despite me and my fumbling words, that lots of Compassion children get sponsored. I am so passionate about this! I saw how much it can change their lives. Now, in my head, I add the number of Compassion children that are sponsored to the number of people that get saved at our show. That's how strongly I feel about it. I believe that this program is another way that the Lord is getting the gospel out to other parts of the world. We can each be a missionary to one child.

Pics from our Girl Weekend

All of us in the cabin


Us being bears


Kyla's laughing


Emily's thinking about what we are going to do next, no doubt


Amy is animated as she tells a story


Heather tried on one of the other girl's hair extensions to see how she would look with longer hair


Lindsey's telling a story


Stephanie's laughing


We talked...


and laughed


Of course, this kind of stuff was everywhere with girls!


We all rode together in Steph's van


Of course lot's of singing was going on...


even the driver!

Give Me a Break

First of all, Brock's hives are gone. They began to flare up again at around 5pm like they'd been doing for the past few days. We went and got him some cortisone cream. I don't know if it was the cream or your prayers or maybe both. One thing is that we've noticed that prayers often get answered on Wednesday nights because churches are having their prayer services.

Today, I didn't feel like being productive. You know those days when you just feel like being irresponsible and lazy? That was today for me. I ate badly and had lots of chocolate. I didn't work out. I didn't get much work done. I basically just gave myself a break today.

I realized that I was very tired. I didn't know how much the weekend took out of me. Then, we worked really hard on rehearsing this new show for the last two days. Also, I woke up at 6:20am this morning in order to take the Eleventyseven boys to the airport. Long story short, I took a 2 and 1/2 hour nap. Wow! I was tired!

Need of Prayer

I'm sorry that I didn't blog yesterday, but let me fill you in on what is going on. We were so busy working on our new show. We are going to take the "Miracles of Jesus" to the stage. It's going so awesome.

Remember how I said that nothing was falling into place last week? For example, we couldn't find a place to rehearse and such. Well, we finally found a place to rehearse the show on Monday and Tuesday. Well, Brad and Kyle are going with us to these shows to help with road managing and production. We really wanted Brad and Kyle here with us as we rehearsed. Since they live in Atlanta, that's not very easy. Brad said that they couldn't make it last week. Kyle happened to be coming to Nashville this week in order to go to Japan with Eleventyseven. Somehow (I think that we all know how), he got the dates mixed up and came here a day to early. That day happened to be Monday while we were rehearsing our show. I'm telling you right now that this was the Lord's timing because we couldn't have done it without Kyle. Now, we feel so good about this show and know that it's going to be great!

One of the reasons that I know this is going to be good is because there is a lot of opposition to this show. One thing that I really need you to pray about is that Brock has broken out into hives the last couple of days. Actually, they were both days that we were rehearsing our new show. The last time this happened (breaking out into hives for no apparent reason) was when we first began the Freedom Experience. Ladies and gentlemen, this is no coincidence. Please pray for Brock. We've given him benedryl, baking soda baths, and natural vitamins. It's not involving his respiratory system like it did at the beginning of last summer when he almost died from that wasp sting, but he's got really huge, itchy whelps. We don't know what to do short of going to the hospital. Just pray that they go away today!

Weekend in a Cabin

We had such a great time! We stayed in a cabin out in the mountains of Tennessee. We sat in the hot tub and talked. We sat in the living room and talked. We rode in the van and talked (and sang). We watched a few chick flicks. The thing we did the most was eat! Brock made us a turkey before we left. I cannot tell you how much those girls loved that turkey! We had tons of snacks and such.

Yesterday, we stopped by an outlet mall. It was cool, but I wasn't in the mood to shop (I rarely am). However, I enjoyed hanging out with some of the girls while they shopped. Then, we ate at Mimi's Cafe. It was so good! We were so stuffed from the weekend that we couldn't eat any dinner last night.

I'll tell you the girls that were there:
Kyla: Fun, friendly, and knows everybody. At one point, she saw a truck with a trailer pulling a jeep that had been mudding pass us on the highway. She said, "Who are you people and where do you get all that fun?!?"
Amy: She has been a road manager for years. Now, she works in the music industry and is going to law school. She's such a quick wit and sort of the protector of the group.
Heather: She grew up overseas. She's a fashion designer and so cute! She has the most energy out of anyone of us.
Stephanie: She is a Gotee artist and sings all the time. As Kyla says, "She's kind of a loud girl." She's not really loud in volume, she just is always singing to herself or making sound effects of some sort.
Lindsey: She is so funny! She definitely lives in the moment. Her phone went off in the middle of the night to which she commented, "I thought that I had left my phone at home." There were only a couple of things left in the van, one item being a single car key (not on a key chain or anything). Without even asking, I knew that it was Lindsey's.
Emily: She is our fearless leader. We say that she is a walking oxymoron. She is very serious, yet she is the first one to laugh. She's a great leader and is always giving of herself.

Tomorrow, I'll try to post pictures.

Girls' Weekend

I'm so excited! My village (Bible study group consisting of 9 girls) piled into a van and went to Gatlinburg, TN yesterday morning. Gatlinburg is a really touristy place, but we stayed in a cabin, and it wasn't a lengthy drive. I'd go to Podunk, Kansas if it meant time with my girls. I just love them. We will be coming back this evening. I'll tell you all about it when we get back!

I think that it's healthy to get away with the girls (or if you're a guy, the guys). Brock is the kind of person that can be around people 24-7, and he is...ME. I get alone time every day because I wake up much earlier than him. However, when he does get a little alone time, he enjoys it. That's why I wanted him to go out to California. He's got some buddies who go dirt bike riding together. Anyway, girl and guy time has always been good for us.

Conference Call with Ben Stein

This was crazy! I heard it all go down because Brock had his phone on speaker phone. I'll let Brock explain it:

yesterday i had a conference call with ben stein and the producers of "expelled: no intelligence allowed". we were all to call in and listen to the answers to questions that we emailed to them. i asked a question about something that happened at a recent screening of the film in minneapolis. they spent about 15 minutes responding with explanations. apparently richard dawkins and pz meyers, who are atheists/darwinists who are in the film, snuck into a pre screening. it was private and not intended for just anyone to attend. pz was asked to leave the film but dawkins was allowed to stay. anyway, we heard the full story of what happened there as well as other stories of the attacks that have come from these men. after a while the producers decided to move to another question. at that moment we heard a voice say, "lets not move on...lets keep talking about this". we were like, who the heck is this? and he said,"this is pz meyers...the guy you are talking about". we were all in shock. apparently pz meyers overheard the password and was able to hack into the conference call. he was listening the entire time. he then began to attack the producers calling them liars and it got really heated. i couldnt believe what i was hearing. after a while they convinced him to hang up because this was the wrong time and place to have a shoutfest. he finally hung up the phone and the call continued. it was recorded and will soon be up on www.getexpelled.com. if you read about this in the news you may hear a story that is partially true. i heard it all. i even recorded most of it. im telling you that ben stein and the producers handled this conflict like champs. they were patient and calm and very tactful and wise. these guys are not out to get anybody. they have made a very provocative film that exposes the lack of freedom of speech and freedom of inquiry . they are opening up dialogue about darwinism and proving that it is not a fact that everyone believes in. in fact it is not a fact at all. there is no evidence for it.
there is much controversy about this film. there are many lies and smear tactics being implored to discredit this film. dont listen to it. hear for yourself the truth. see for yourself on april 18 when this film comes to theaters. go see expelled: no intelligence allowed


One thing that is shocking me is how emotional these people are. PZ Myers was very heated and saying everyone was lying. Even on the film, most of the Darwinists sound very hostile. I simply pictured scientists as being a little more factual and less defensive. You will see when you watch the film.

Feeling the Prayers

I actually felt your prayers yesterday. At first, nothing really changed about my circumstances...I simply felt better and more at peace. My time with the Lord was really good. Every time that you spend with the Lord is good, but you know how sometimes you feel Him more than others? That was yesterday morning for me.

Later, things began to fall into place. We found a place to rehearse our show on Monday and Tuesday (these are better days to rehearse anyway).

Brock was trying to figure out how to get out to L.A. in May. He has some business that he needs to do. Plus, he has friends out there. He was talking to one of those friends on the phone, and they were discussing a weekend to go. They both decided that the weekend of the 16th was the best time for him to go. Therefore, we started thinking about plane tickets. They are so expensive right now...just like fuel. A few minutes later, our office emailed us asking if Brock wanted to do a show out in L.A. on the 18th. Brock said, "Yes!"

Thanks for the prayers.

Overwhelmed

That's what I am right now. Although we aren't doing a show until April 9th, we have a lot going on between now and then. We must complete projects like finishing our dvd, a new photo shoot, and rehearsing our new Miracles show. Plus, I'm doing a chocolate tasting on April 5th and getting chocolate tasting kits ready. I enjoy doing shows because I know exactly what to do and how long it will take. When the show is over...it's over. All that needs to be done is pack up and leave. I don't enjoy doing projects like this. It's not familiar. Nobody quite knows how to do it. It seems like you're never done.

Also, nothing is going smoothly right now. Nothing is coming together well. You know how our travel has been horrendous lately? Well, that's how everything is with our ministry right now. We thought that we had a trailer to use to take to our Miracle shows and that fell through. We decided to rent a trailer for the time being. We thought that we had a place to rehearse our show and two places fell through. So, now we have a trailer full of equipment but nowhere to take it to rehearse.

Plus, there is a lot of other things that I cannot talk about with our ministry. Satan has always attacked us financially, but now, he's just getting more ruthless. I also have some personal family health issues that are going on. I'm simply overwhelmed right now. Please pray. I need some things to go right and smoothly or I'm going to explode!