Christmas Decorations

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

Time Off of the Road

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

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

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

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

Scripture

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

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

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

Arenacross, Christmas Decorating, and Winter Wonder Slam

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

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

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

Princess Birthday Party Pics

Shannon and Steph decorating


I help decorate


Princess Emily sitting on her throne


We each painted one of her fingernails


Homemade pizza


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


Ice cream cake


Emily and Charmaine


Game time


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


Pin the tail on the donkey


Tricky pin the tail on the donkey


Pinata


Balloon popping game

Gumbo Night Pics

Gumbo


Yummy!


Fun Peeps


The girls


Nine books


Bonfire


Shannon and Emily


Crazy Jacob


Shannon and Steph follow Jacob's lead

Thanksgiving Pics

Lots of good food


Lots of good company


A nice walk


A band picture


Girls giggling


Lindsey and Shannon

Welcome to the World, Jack Jones

This is my new nephew. He was born yesterday afternoon in Bolivia. When I was talking to my sister on Skype, I asked her how much he weighed and his length. They weren't quite sure, because it was in kg and meters. That's funny! Everything went great though, and Kay looked great. The baby is cute! I can't wait to hold him!

The New DVD is Here!!

The new dvd is here and available now. Watch this preview of the intro to the video:

You can purchase it at the store at brockgill.com. Tell all of your friends about it!

Great Thanksgiving Weekend

Well, 11 bags of garbage, two turkeys, and seven pies later, we have finished cleaning up and almost everyone of the 21 guests are gone. Thursday, we had the traditional turkey lunch and dinner. We also took a walk and watched a movie. Some went on the zipline, too. After dinner, we played a couple of games.

Last night was our gumbo night. We also sat out at the bonfire. Tonight, we had a birthday party for our friend, Emily. It was a princess theme. We ate homemade pizza and played a few kid games after that. It was fun!

The only problem with the weekend was that I was rather sick. I knew that if I got more rest and ate better that I would feel much better, but I couldn't do either of those things. Oh well! I still had fun! Pictures to come...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent yesterday cooking and cleaning. I made something called a pumpkin crisp. It's basically pumpkin pie turned upside down. I also made buttermilk pies. I call them Texas pies here because people who have never heard of buttermilk pie won't try it just because of the name. They say, "I don't like buttermilk." In which I respond, "Nobody likes buttermilk. Just try it." Then, they love it! When these two items came out of the oven, we could not resist trying them out. They were all warm and smelled so good!

Today, I am making dressing, bean bundles, gravy, macaroni and cheese, and bread. People that come today are bringing more sides and desserts. There is no telling how much food we will have!

Many of our friends come from broken homes. None of our friends have families that live here. Therefore, many are stuck here for Thanksgiving. We started the tradition last year to have everyone over here for the weekend. People come and go all weekend long. It's a wonderful time. I think that we will have a dozen or so for lunch today. Then, more are coming tomorrow. I will keep you updated.

What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

A Change of Attitude

I must say that yesterday, as I was making my big grocery store run before Thanksgiving, I was not feeling very thankful. I prayed that the Lord would change my attitude. I simply felt like we were getting bullied by Satan because we were doing exactly what the Lord wants us to do. We've been bullied all year with some financial things and such that I cannot go into. Normally, I'm able to muster enough strength from the Lord to keep on keeping on, but after sleeping in a cold house for a few nights in a row, I was rather weak (read Sunday's blog to find out more about this).

I felt very alone in all of this. I was really drained and spent. That's not a good thing when you have 20 people coming over to your house. Plus, our heat still wasn't fixed. We have people staying with us all weekend. What would we do with no heat?

Finally, the heating guy came yesterday afternoon and said that he was going to fix it today by noon (that would be a miracle). The cost was (OUCH) $1,500. What can you do?

This morning, my Bible study was on the love of the Lord. One verse really stuck out to me. "I led them with the cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them." Hosea 11:4. It's so sweet how He takes care of His people. As I went out the door to run, I received a note from some friends. In it was a check for $1,500. A little later on, the heating guy called Brock and said that the heater was fixed (before noon, I might add). The Lord stepped in and saved the day! His love is great!

First Snow Sighting

The Splinter

The Joy of Life on the Road

We had shows back to back this weekend. Two on Friday in Kentucky and one on Saturday in Indiana. All of the shows went well, but they really tired us out. It's always very taxing when we have to drive.

So, during the show on Friday night, Brock smashed his hand. It was swelling up as the night went on. I didn't notice anything during the show except I saw one flash of annoyance on Brock's face when he hit his hand. He continued on like nothing had happened. Then, even though his hand was still swollen a little yesterday, he decided to do his card manipulation in the show which requires much hand movement. Right before he went onstage, he got a HUGE splinter under his fingernail. It hurt him badly. The host and I were backstage holding our cell phones up to give him some light. Without tweezers, he couldn't get the splinter out. I had some tweezers out in the truck, but I wouldn't be able to get them in time. Brock just sucked it up and did that whole show with a 1/3 of an inch splinter lodged under his fingernail.

Then, on the way home, we had a flat tire on our trailer. We had a spare tire but no tire iron. For miles, we couldn't find any place that would be open that sold them. We finally spotted a Kmart and Brock slipped in the store at 9:59pm just before they closed. He got the tire iron and changed the flat.

That put us home even later, and we were extra tired. We were so ready to crawl into our bed and simply sleep. More bad news...our heat had broken over the weekend. It was 45 degrees in our house. We turned on a space heater in our bedroom and the electric blanket. It was still a very cold night. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep. This is how it goes sometimes. Videos from the weekend to come tomorrow.

Travis's Video

Our friend, Travis, is a talented actor in Hollywood. He just sent us this video that he made. It's funny!

Fireside

I sat by this fire all day long yesterday. I caught up on lots of people's blogs. I read and watched a little TV. I heated up some chili for lunch. Brock cooked me a delicious dinner of Chilean seabass, sweet potato fries, and some English peas. For dessert, he had some dark chocolate toffee using pastacio nuts. It was great! He even cleaned up all of the dishes.

Now, I'm ready to go back to work today. We are driving to Louisville, KY this afternoon in time for a meeting there. Then, tomorrow morning, we will perform at a Christian school. Then, we will have a show tomorrow night. On Saturday, we will drive to Indiana in time to do a show at a conference there at 2:30. After that show, we'll drive home. It's going to be a packed couple of days. Pray that all of the shows go well.

The Sabbath

"Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy." Exodus 20:8. What does this mean? If you read the rest of the commandment, it's mostly about rest. It talks about the Lord creating the Earth in 6 days and resting on the 7th. There are other scriptures talking about why you should take a Sabbath (Hebrews 4:9-11). All of the scriptures talking about the Sabbath talk about not working. It's really a day in which you shouldn't work, but rest.

During the gold rush, everyone wanted to get to California. There were two famous wagon trains that headed that way. One was led by a Christian who felt that it was important to stop every week and rest with a Sabbath day. The other leader just wanted to get there quicker than the others so that he could find all of the gold. Guess which one made it there first? The one who honored the Sabbath day and rested.

The Lord knows us. He created us. He knows that we need rest. I realized that quite often, we are working on Sunday. Therefore, it's not a Sabbath day for me. Recently, I've made a conscious effort to create one every week. Sometimes, I cut out something such as internet or phone just to be a little more still. Sometimes, I stay at home all day instead of getting into the hustle and bustle of the city. Other times, I hang out with friends part of the day. I also pray more. This simply comes naturally by the way. I've even been a little bored at times on these days. Maybe that's a good thing. We need to get bored sometimes. Then, it makes us appreciate going to work the next day. Even if you are able to go to church every Sunday, are you really taking a Sabbath? If you aren't, let me encourage you to be a little more intentional about it. I'm taking mine today.

Rewarding Food

Well, today is meetings and errands day. I have to do some work today. Plus, I'm running 7 1/2 miles for my marathon training. However, tomorrow, I'm taking my Sabbath...more on that tomorrow.

Have you noticed that we reward ourselves with food? After a long weekend of shows, we usually go to a restaurant that we like or get some chocolate or something (like Pappasitos yesterday). Do you think that this is a bad thing? I've heard that you shouldn't use food as a source of comfort, but what about reward? We're only "rewarding" ourselves once a week on average. Brock is rather strict on eating healthy the other days of the week. What do you think?

Shows in Loganville, GA

We performed here in Georgia Saturday night and last night. Also, Brock spoke at church yesterday morning. They all went really well. There were about 800 people total over the two nights and about 40 people gave their lives to Christ this weekend. That's wonderful! It went so well for me because I had Shannon and Lindsey with us to help. They are great!

Today, we are going to take our time driving home. Right now, Lindsey and Brock are still sleeping. After they wake up, we are going to Ikea. I love that store and never get to go. Also, we are eating lunch at Pappasitos. It sounds like a great day!

Found It

I finally got around to cleaning out our closet. I began replacing the summer clothes with winter clothes in our drawers. Also, I threw out so much stuff. As I was grabbing some of Brock's grubby clothes (they're old clothes that he works outside in or wears around the fire pit) out of a drawer in the closet, I heard a "ding!" I set the clothes down on the floor and looked in the drawer to see what had made that noise. It was Brock's wedding ring. He had "lost" it last Thanksgiving while he was chopping wood out by the fire pit. We'd looked all around the fire pit and just assumed that it was buried in the ground somewhere. Little did we know that it was buried in some clothes in our closet for the last year. I guess it was in one of the pockets or something. That was crazy!

A few days ago, I found a checkbook that I'd "lost" Christmas of 2005. We've since changed banks twice. Does anyone else do this sort of thing, or is it just us?

Today, we go to Atlanta to perform our first show of 3. We have a show tonight and tomorrow night as well as tomorrow morning. It's going to be a full weekend. Pray that the attendance is good and people's lives are changed by the Lord.

Hearing God

A couple of days ago, someone asked me how you know that God is speaking to you and that it's not your own desires that you are putting on God. That's a loaded question. It got me to thinking though. This is what I told her:

In Psalm 37, it says that if you "delight yourself in the Lord He will give you the desires of your heart." I think that the key to this verse is delighting yourself in Him. That way, His desires become your desires. Also, you get to know Him more. In Zephaniah 3:17, it says that "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." (That's my favorite verse by the way.) The deal is, He takes delight in us!!! He loves us so much that He takes delight in us and would love it if we took delight in Him.

When I began to pray, I was very young. I think that helped me a lot. I didn't ask what words to say or what to ask for. I simply talked with the Lord everyday after school. I mostly told Him my dreams. I would read His Word and ask lots of questions. Somehow along the way, I knew His voice. Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with the Lord. He already loved me more than I could ever imagine and already delighted in me. However, when I was in middle school, I began taking delight in Him. When I pray, I'm just talking with Him. It's a relationship where speaking and listening are key.

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him." Psalm 37:7. This is the hard part. His timing is not always our timing...His will is not always our will. Therefore, we must make sure that we are hearing God correctly. I think this comes with confirmation. If the Lord tells you that He wants you to go to Africa and someone out of the blue invites you to go to Africa, there's your answer. If His answer isn't that obvious, then walk through open doors until He closes one. Lots of my friends who are called to do Christian entertainment can tell you about waiting. They are working at Starbucks while working on their ministries as well. They are simply walking through every open door (opportunity) that comes along. They are waiting patiently (and sometimes not so patiently, because that's the way it is) for the Lord to allow them to quit Starbucks and do their ministry, calling, and everything full-time.

The other thing that you must check when you are searching God's will while making decisions in your life is if it's Biblical. For example, if you thought that the Lord wanted you to do something unethical, that's most likely your own desires that you are placing on the Lord. I would go to an outside source for this question such as your pastor or someone who is knowledgeable in the Scriptures. It's easy to read into scripture and make it mean whatever fits what you are thinking.

I do believe that the Lord speaks to us in some of the same ways, but differently as well. We are all different. Do any of you have anything to add? I'd like to hear how God speaks to you.

Not Your Normal Day

Today was a strange day. It was never just normal. I had a lot to do before we left town tomorrow. I did a lot of work online this morning. Then, I washed 6 loads of laundry. I never did get quite done with that. I went through a mountain of mail that had been piling up. With every progress I made today, it just pointed out how much work I need to do. For example, as I was doing laundry, I realized that I need to put away all of the summer clothes and pull the winter ones out. When I went to put a pot away, I saw how badly I need to clean out my cabinets. We've been so busy that everything at home has been neglected.

Just when I was about to throw my hands in the air and give up, Brock told me that we are leaving Saturday morning instead of tomorrow. Therefore, I went from being completely overwhelmed to feeling excited and calm (if you can experience those at the same time).

Then, later, I found out that a lady from my parent's church died. She was an older lady and had a full life. However, she read my blog faithfully. I used to think about her when I wrote, because I knew that she would read it and would be praying.

It was just one of those days that was up and down...not just even paced like normal.

Soles4Souls

What actually happened was that I needed some shoes with a little more support while I'm working. I'm on my feet all day, and my normal shoes were making my hips hurt after a long day of working. They are fine on a normal day, but I needed some work shoes that are still cool. I found the perfect shoes for 70% off. I found out that they only had one pair left. They happened to be exactly my size. This was such a blessing. Then, I saw the Soles4Souls collection in the mall and knew that giving my other shoes up was the perfect thank you.

Fall

Here are some pictures that I took around our house:

The Phoenician in Scotsdale, AZ

Here are some pictures I took of the resort we performed at this weekend:

Luis Palau

The show Friday night was great! We performed at a banquet for some of the Luis Palau supporters. It was all adults and they loved it! After it was over, some of the people came by and talked with us. It was so encouraging.

Luis is such a sweet man...a people person. We've met two of his sons, Andrew and Kevin. Andrew has been doing some speaking like Luis. He's such a great guy like his dad. Kevin is more on the administrative side of the ministry...he pretty much run things. He doesn't have one ounce of pride and is very sharp. They are all very genuine people, and I'm impressed with them.

The Good and the Bad

Yesterday was a bad day on the road. We didn't sleep well Wednesday night. Then, as we were making our 6 hour drive home, we had a mishap at the gas station. The pump was broken and fuel shot up 8 feet or so and all over our truck and Brock. We also had a car accident. It was only a fender bender and our truck wasn't damamged at all, but it was still rough.

Today has been a great day on the road. We are in Scottsdale, AZ and the weather rocks. Also, our show is at a really nice resort. Too bad we are only staying one night!

This is how life is on the road...unpredictable.

Show in Brandon, MS

We had problem after problem during set up last night. However, the show went great! The place was packed out. They had to bring in 150 extra chairs and about 75 people were standing along the back. Lots of people made decisions for Christ.

We are driving back home right now. Then, we are going to see the comedian Maria Bamford tonight. Tomorrow, we fly out to Arizona to do a show.

The Snake

The snake didn't bite Brock, but it sure tried! Pray for our show tonight in Mississippi.

Pics from our Last Trip

Brock sleeping on his makeshift bed.


Brock's going into one of our favorite restaurants.


The most delicious white chocolate bread pudding ever!

Too Much Luggage

Shows in Orlando, FL

We've been so busy. We did 3 shows within 15 hours at this conference in Florida. It went really well, though. I love going to Florida.

We took a dip in the pool at our hotel on Halloween! Also, we got to eat at my second favorite restaurant, the Columbia. It's Cuban food, and it's fabulous. They have this yellow rice that's incredible and their dishes have so much flavor. The best part is dessert...white chocolate bread pudding. It's the best bread pudding I've ever had! In fact, it's one of the best desserts I've ever had. We ate at the Columbia on Thursday AND Saturday. I don't know when we'll be back that way.

We are so tired. It's good that we gain an hour today, because we need it! We got home last night at about 11pm which is midnight Eastern Time. We've had many early mornings and late nights. I'm looking forward to resting for the next couple of days.

Show in Hampton, VA

Yesterday started out as one of those days that just wasn't the best. We had to get up before the sun rose in order to catch an early flight. We had to bring even more luggage than normal because we are doing 4 shows in a row. When we got to Virginia, we couldn't find a place to eat. It was just the disadvantages of travel taking its toll.

However, when we got to the church, the day was totally redeemed. Everything went extra smoothly. Brock was even able to take a little nap across 10 chairs that he'd formed into a bed. Then, the show was great! The place was packed out. The people at this church were very warm and welcoming. Also, I could tell that the show was prayed over.

Lots of people in the audience had never gone to church before. In fact, many people who gave their lives to Christ last night had never heard of Jesus before. (I didn't know that even happened in the USA, but apparently it's beginning to.) There was a whole family who was saved. A girl who was involved in homosexuality and drugs gave her life to Christ last night. A few guys who went from saying, "When is the f***ing prayer going to end?" last Wednesday to giving their lives to Jesus last night.

Lunch in Bed

Every time we come in really late at night like we did Saturday night, we usually stay in bed through lunch the following day. However, we didn't get a chance to do that Sunday, because we were preparing for the party. So, we took our morning of leisure Monday. We woke up sometime during the morning, but we just laid in the bed and watched TV and ate breakfast and lunch.

Finally, at about 1pm, we got up and began to clean up. That's the worst part about having a party...cleaning it up. It only took a couple of hours. Then, we went over to our friends' house and ate leftover gumbo. It was great!

Yesterday was back to work. Today, we are flying to Virginia for a show. Pray that the show goes well.

More About the Party

Then, Mark began to tell about the situation in Haiti. They are so poor there. It breaks my heart that people are starving. The average person there makes 60 cents a day. With the skyrocketing gas prices, it costs 60 cents for a cup of rice. Therefore, a man can work all day long and only have enough money to buy one cup of rice to feed his family for the day. Mothers are feeding their babies mud pies just so that they will have something in their bellies and fall asleep. It's such a sad situation, but Hands and Feet are trying to break the cycle by having an orphanage where they are fed, loved, and taught about Jesus. Right now, they have 36 children in the orphanage. However, the hurricanes came through and wiped out most of the property.

After Mark shared, we gathered around him and his wife, Aegis, and prayed for them. That was a wonderful time as well.

After that, Lindsey performed some fire eating stuff right there by the bonfire. It was great!

Then, we went on a hayride. We piled people into the back of our truck and on our flatbed trailer and drove them through the woods. Brock made a couple of scary stops. I cannot even explain how it was scary, but it wasn't cheesy scary like people jumping out from the woods with a mask. It was more like "The Ring" scary like seeing a figure of a woman getting closer and closer and closer to our stopped vehicle. It was so fun!!!

We broke a couple of records with this party. One is that we had more people than ever come...35 people. Also, we raised over $1,200 Sunday night for Hands and Feet.

Spooky Party

We had our party with a purpose last night. We had only fire to light the backyard. Tiki torches were lit around the patio. Near the patio, we had two tables decked out with all of the fixings for gumbo and chili, as well as drinks and stuff to roast hot dogs and make smoores. Candles were sporadically placed on the tables. Near the tables was a small fire with cast iron pots of gumbo and chili warming over them.

Everyone came in at different times and ate and sat by the fire pit. After a little while, we sent people into the barn that we had transformed into a bizarre theater. There, Brock did a spooky magic show. It was fun for Brock to do material that he would never do in his usual show. Our theme last night was voodoo because it's the national religion of Haiti. The difference is, many Haitians actually believes in the stuff.

After that, we all gathered around the fire and Mark Stuart spoke. He's a great speaker. He first told us about when he met Brock several years ago. He said that Brock was 19 years old and a freshman in college when Audio Adrenaline came into town. Mark was a little upset because his car had just been broken into and the stereo stolen. He said that he had mentioned it to Brock when they were hanging out. Later that day, Brock showed up with his own car stereo and insisted that Mark have it. Mark's point was that Brock has always been generous.

More about the party tomorrow...

Show in Litchfield, IL

Yesterday morning, we drove to IL, set up, did a show, and drove home. It was a 6 hour drive, so this was a big day. We left at 7:30am and got home at 4am. We haven't done that in years. The show went really well. We had a few problems with the breakers throwing. The show was in a high school gym. We've had a lot of experience with breakers being thrown in gyms. Brock took it in stride. He simply made a joke out of it. Lots of people were saved. The people putting on the event thought that they had plenty of counselors but needed more. That's a good problem to have.

We drove all the way home in order to get here with no problems for the party tonight. We still have a few things to set up, but we've prepared most of the food and have everything ready to simply move outside.

Friday, I made the big grocery store trip for the party. I got everything on my list to make chili and gumbo except gumbo file (pronounced fee-lay and not like a file you would put in a filing cabinet). We called everywhere...Publix, 3 more Kroger (where I usually buy it). One of the managers at Kroger told me that they don't get it anymore and that it's discontinued. This was bad news! We have all these people coming over and we cannot make the signature dish for the night. We finally found a little country store here that had one more bottle. If that didn't work, we had a cajun friend on standby who was going to give us his. It was crazy!!!

Pray that the party goes well, and that lots of money is raised for the Haiti orphanage.

Preparing for a Party

Last night, we went out with some people that we don't normally go out with. It was really fun! They are some great peeps.

We have been preparing all week for the party that we are going to have this Sunday night. Since we are doing a show in Illinois tomorrow night and won't be getting in until Sunday sometime, we need to do everything now.

Yesterday, Brock worked outside since the party will be centered around the bonfire. Today, we are going to cook a lot of the food. I am going to make a run to the grocery store. Brock's making a ton of gumbo and chili today. Then, we will warm it up over the fire on Sunday night. We've got some other things planned that may make it our best party yet.

We are raising money for Hands and Feet. You may have heard that this orphanage in Haiti was hit by four hurricanes this year leaving thousands of dollars in damage. If you want more information about Hands and Feet go to www.handsandfeetproject.org.

Quiet Week

We are in town all week until Saturday. The funny thing is, a lot of our friends are out of town. Therefore, we don't have anyone to hang out with. Brock didn't go to his mentoring group the other day because it was canceled due to people being out of town. I did my long run in training for the marathon yesterday. I went to my friends' house to shower like I normally do, but they were all gone. So sad.

It sorta feels like when we first moved here 6 years ago. We had a couple of friends, but they were out of town most of the time and we were out of town the other times. So, Brock and I would stroll through the mall for no reason. Anybody ever done that when they moved somewhere new?

We are such people persons that when we did meet someone we liked, we'd get their number and try to hang out as often as we could. It takes a lot of effort to develop friendships when you travel as much as we do. We'd get to know people and then leave for the summer. However, we finally found a group of friends whom we keep up with even when we are on the road. I'm so glad that a week like this is very rare now.

Children of the Corn

Actually, I've never even seen that movie. We went to a corn maze last weekend. It was really fun! At first, we were disappointed that we didn't bring a flashlight. Then, we realized that it was more fun without one. There were these guys who were dressed in all black sneaking through the corn scaring people. Brock would sneak up on them and scare them!

Of course, Brock brought the air horn and would blow it every now and then making us all freeze. One time, he blew it right by one of the guys dressed in black and yelled, "Ha! I found you!!!" It was a lot of fun with our group!

Keyless Rental Car

Show in Holland, MI

We were in Holland, MI last night which is about 30 miles outside of Grand Rapids, MI. It's a little colder here than at home but not much yet. The show went well. Lots of people became followers of Jesus which is what we like to see.

It was difficult for me, because I realized how much I use my back at these shows. We have 4 50 pound cases. It was okay for me to roll them, but picking them up like I usually do was out of the question. I normally pour the 50 pounds of broken glass out for the glass walk, but I had to get one of the volunteers to do it instead. Since I had full mobility in my back, I had to make a conscious effort not to pick up anything the wrong way or anything too heavy so as not to injure it again.

The other thing is that I simply run around and do a lot before, during, and after the show. Therefore, I didn't pick up anything heavy, but at the end of the night, my back was still killing me. It's better this morning, though. I'm going to baby it a little more this week, and maybe it will be completely healed by Saturday when we hit the road rather hard.

Flying to Michigan

My back is feeling much better. I'm just being really careful not to lift anything too heavy. This is difficult today since we are flying to Michigan with 5 suitcases...4 of them weighing 50 pounds. Pray for the show in Michigan tonight.

Back Muscle

I don't know if I strained my back muscle or what, but yesterday, I was rather laid up. I've only had a pulled muscle once. It was in my lower back. That was awful! If I moved my big toe, shrilling pain would shoot up my whole body.

That was not the case with this muscle. It was just really tight and sensitive. Brock took really good care of me, though. He massaged it a few times throughout the day. This really loosened it up. He cooked lunch and dinner for me.

It was strange to have to put everything on hold. I had some washing to do, but bending over wasn't a good idea, so I put it off. At one point, I emptied the dishwasher with a little help from Brock just because I had to have the kitchen clean. After doing that little bit, I was wiped out!

I feel much better today, though! It just feels a little tight back there. I'm going to try to take it easy today, but I think that I can do a few things if I'm careful.

In a Rush

Yesterday, we got up and got ready to run. Then, Brock was doing some work on the computer, and I was working around the house when my sister called on Skype. I hadn't talked with her for a while, so it was great! We talked for about an hour. I ran out the door to do my 30 minute run. By the time I came back, we only had 20 minutes before we had to leave in order for Brock to get to a lunch meeting.

Therefore, I rushed my workout. Now, I feel like I'm paying for it. I think that I might have strained a muscle in my back. I can still move and breath fine, but it's so tender back there. I had Brock sorta push on it last night, and it was just too tender. Any suggestions nurses or doctors out there? Do you think that it's strained or what? It's definitely a muscle on the upper right side of my back kinda in between my shoulder blades and backbone. It's sore, but I can still function with my day.

Also, I left my phone at home. I never realized how dependent I am on my phone. I didn't know when Brock needed to be picked up from his meeting. I couldn't call my friends to see if they were home. It's crazy to think that only a few years ago, I didn't even have a cell phone that I'm so dependent on now!

Mayberry

Yesterday, we did what we normally do when we are home on Tuesdays. We went to meetings and ran errands. Actually, I run the errands while Brock is in meetings. He dislikes errands, and I dislike meetings. It works out well.

Brock's meetings and some of my errands are in downtown Franklin. I feel like it's Mayberry, because the downtown area is old. It even has a town square area. Plus, we run into people we know. I walk to the post office and the bank downtown. When we're done with our meetings, we walk down to the tea shop and visit one of our friends who works there. Sometimes, we go into Starbucks and visit another friend who works there. Yesterday, we went to our friend's office which is right downtown and hung out for a while.

It's just great! If we don't have anywhere else to go, we just go over to our friends' house that live in that area. Yesterday, one of my errands was to go to the grocery store. I took my groceries and put them in their fridge until we were ready to come home.

Revelation

I'm studying Revelation right now. I've read that book before, but I just sorta read through it and thought that it was weird. Now, I'm actually studying it. I've always been scared about the end of time here on this Earth and all of that stuff. I watched these movies when I was younger called "A Thief in the Night." I didn't understand Revelation, but if that movie was supposed to teach me more about it, I didn't want to know. It was scary!

However, what I'm learning is that the end of times is going to be a very glorious time for the Lord. It's going to be victorious for the Lord and for His followers. Sometimes, I think that people view Him now as a little weak. They think that He's a God of love and mercy Who is just somewhere up there and doesn't interfere too much with us done here. He is a loving and merciful God, but He's also just. He's holding back His wrath. Right now, Satan's kinda having free reign. Soon, whenever the end comes, the Lord will take back this Earth and punish those who've rejected His Son.

It is scary for those who don't believe. For the ones who do, it's our time of victory as well!

Girls Weekend

Brock was busy filming a dvd all weekend with a few guys. Therefore, I decided to go and stay with my friend, Lindsey, since her roommates were out of town. We watched several movies and made cookies. It was great!

Also, I got a pedicure. I like to get one of those after the summer, because I go barefoot a lot and wear sandals the rest of the time. I figure that an ultra cleaning of my feet is a good idea. There was a lady next to me whom was getting one with her daughter. The only problem was her daughter was 3 years old. I feel like that's a little young. I got my first pedicure in a salon when I was in my 20's. I bet that girl is going to be a real "princess."

Anyway, what did you do this weekend?

New DVD

This is the intro to our new dvd called "Alive Onstage." It officially comes out Dec. 1st. We have some pre-releases right now. After this intro, it goes into our new show. It's fun!

Anxiety Dream

I had another anxiety dream last night. I feel like I only have them when I'm about to get up in the morning and work. Today, a couple of guys are coming in from Texas to stay with us. One of the guys and Brock are working on filming a dvd that has some teaching on it. Anyway, they are going to be busy with that all weekend. The guys are staying here, so I'm going to cook and be hostess today.

I'm going to start to journal my dreams. Maybe if I can figure out what causes them, I can prevent them. I hate having them. It makes me wake up very tired. It makes me feel like I've been running all night.

Last night's dream involved some guy doing the show instead of Brock. He was doing a terrible job. Plus, I was playing all of the music from my phone (this isn't how I normally do it). Then, my phone broke all together, and I couldn't get it to play anything. I began running out to the truck to get our ipod which is our backup to the computer when I woke up. In these dreams, I'm using very logical solutions (such as getting our ipod for backup music) in an illogical dreamland (such as using my phone which doesn't even play songs to play the music instead of our laptop like we usually do).

"If It Ain't Broke, Don't Buy a New One"

My dad and I take that saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" to the 100th degree. It's mostly that we don't really think about buying new stuff. My dad has been using the same hairbrush since before he was married. They've been married for well over 30 years now. I'm not quite as bad as him, but I run along the same pattern.

I've had my same phone for 3 years now. It's been great! Every year, Brock asks me if I want a new phone. We've even gone into the store to look at other phones before. However, even though mine is all nicked up because I've dropped it umpteen times, it's still in great shape. The front screen is shorting out. So, it is sorta broken. We went to Verizon yesterday, and I still didn't get another phone.

I did get some new clothes, though. Every now and then, Brock tells me that I need to update my clothes. A couple of years ago, I was still wearing jeans that I wore in college. I listen to him when it comes to updating clothes because I know that living in a city like Nashville, I need to keep up. I still only buy clothes once or twice a year. I buy shoes way less. One time, Brock bought me some new sandals and threw away my old shoes on the spot just so that I wouldn't wear them anymore. Is this weird? My husband is saying that he will buy me something new and I'm not so eager to do that.

Marathon Training

Well, yesterday, I officially began training for the Music City Marathon. Of course, the marathon doesn't happen until April, but it takes a long time to train for it. Yesterday, I only had to do 3 miles. That's what I normally do anyway, so it didn't feel any different. However, I made my best time so far.

I've got it on my calendar for next year. Only if I'm injured will I not run in that marathon. I feel like since I'm running intervals (run 6 minutes and walk 1), I've cut down on the injuries and recoup time.

This means that next year, I will have almost completed my bucket list. One being to run a marathon. Since we are planning on going to Hawaii for our 10th wedding anniversary, that will complete my goal of going to all 50 states. What is on your bucket list?

Feeling Lazy

I stayed home all day on Saturday. Yesterday, we went to church and hung out with our friends all day just talking and stuff. It was a great couple of days.

I've also been sleeping for 10 hours a night. Part of it is that I'm tired, but the other part is that our propane that controls our heat is turned off. We just found that out on Saturday. The gas people weren't working this weekend, so we haven't had any heat. It's been great weather during the day, but at night and in the morning, it's really cold...down in the 40's at times. So, we've had the electric blanket and a space heater in our bedroom. Normally, when I wake up in the mornings, I go into the living room and read my Bible or watch TV or get online or whatever. The last few mornings, I literally didn't want to get out of bed because it was too cold everywhere else. Hopefully, we'll get the gas fixed today.

Stressful Day

I'm glad I had that carefree day Wednesday, because yesterday was anything but. We get up early in the morning again to catch an early flight to Spokane, Washington. It is a 45 minute drive from Post Falls, ID where we were to perform last night.

We flew United which I said that I would never do again after the last time. However, my choices were limited when flying from Nashville to Spokane. We get there on time, and everyone boards the plane. Then, they tell us that the flight attendance's head set wasn't working. Because of "safety" reasons, she has to have that headset working. They had us deplane. After about 30 minutes of waiting, we realize that we are going to miss our connecting flight in Denver, so we called United. The line was too long at the gate because there was another United plane right next door that was also broken down (this is why I don't fly United anymore). They couldn't help us on the phone, so Brock went out past security and back to the front desk. I stayed at the gate just in case something happened. By this time, our flight had been canceled.

As I was standing in line at the gate, American Airlines called me about a problem with another flight that we are taking later this month. I took care of it while Brock was trying to get us to Idaho in time for our show.

Our part of the show began at 9pm. The only flight we could find got us to Spokane at 7:15pm. This meant that we couldn't even have a hiccup or else we'd miss the show. If we landed on time, we could grab our bags and rental car and be there by 8:30 hopefully. When we took off from Denver, we taxied on the runway for about 20 extra minutes! There was nothing I could do, but I knew that there was a chance that we'd miss the show all together. Despite the slow takeoff, we still get there at 7:15. We had our bags and were in the rental car by 7:35. We get into the venue at 8:17 and we went onstage right at 9pm. Woo! We made it! It was a great show, too! Over 200 people gave their lives to the Lord. That made the stress totally worth it!

Carefree Day

Yesterday, Brock had meetings all day in town. I ran errands and did some work on the computer. I got everything done so that I could simply rest today before we fly to Idaho tomorrow to do a show.

Rest I did. I slept 9 hours and then I took an hour long nap. I did run 3 miles today, though. In fact, I ran it in my fastest time yet.

The weather was so perfect...mid 70's and not a cloud in the sky. This weather makes everything seem okay. The whole world could be falling apart (which it sorta is) and on a day like today, everything is "sunny." Maybe I'm exceptionally effected by the weather, but I didn't have a care in the world today. Does good weather put you in a good mood, too?