God's R.A.V.E.

Last week I was asked to come and speak at
God's R.A.V.E. It is a High School Bible
study held in San Diego and it stands for:

Righteous
Anointed
Victorious
Everlasting

Holly Carney leads the group and I was
introduced to her through a friend. Her
husband is NFL kicker, John Carney, who
kicked for the New Orleans Saints last
season. They had to fly out of town to
get his Super Bowl Champions Ring. I
look forward to meeting Holly in person
soon- she loves the Lord and is teaching
the Bible to these students.

I had to steal this picture off of Facebook:


Holly has been teaching on prayer and so I
spoke to them about "hearing from God" in
prayer. Prayer is a two-way communication.
The Bible tells us that children of God
know His voice. He speaks through His Word,
other people, and even to our hearts if
we are willing to take the time to listen.

If God speaks to us, it will ALWAYS line up
with Scripture. It will also ALWAYS bring
God glory if it is God speaking. God will
confirm His truths to us if we are seeking
Him. Seeking is the key- not just expecting
Him to get our attention over the busyness
in our lives (this is always a challenge for
me). We need to take the time to get by
ourselves and sit before the Lord. To worship
Him and to pray to Him and to hear Him. He
tells us: "Seek and you will FIND!" God is
always faithful.

God's R.A.V.E. (check it out on Facebook)
is held in an old barn. It was such a cool
setting.

The worship was great preparing our hearts
for the message.

The students are there to learn God's Word.
There is nothing more important in life to
know what the Bible teaches, and read it
yourself.

I took Cydney with me and we had a great talk
on our drive.

I was so blessed, I hope the students were blessed
by the message God put on my heart to share with
them.

Most importantly, I hope they learn to listen and
hear from the Lord.

ESPN for NPF

A couple weeks ago I was an analyst for
an NPF (pro fastpitch) Game:
Chicago Bandits vs USSSA Pride

It was a 5 game series and the televised
game was the 4th of the series. Chicago
won the series (3-2) but the Pride pulled
out a close win for the TV Game.

I will be doing the Championship Series
in Sulphur, LA in August and I'm looking
forward to it.

There were a lot of my teammates and
current USA Team athletes on these teams.

Jennie Finch up to bat on Friday night
(from the booth)

From the booth: Play by Play: Bernie Gunther

National Anthem (the stands were full)

Some of my notes (lots of notes to look at
when you do the games)

Jennie Finch being interviewed after the
game. She's always a class act.

The teams sign autographs after the games. Somehow
I was asked to give autographs too.

Former teammate, Kelly Kretschman, and current
USA Team member, Caitlin Lowe (2004 Olympian too)
with fans wearing their jerseys.

Me with Kelly (2004 Olympic Teammate, 2008 Olympian),
Caitlin Lowe, and Natasha Watley (2004 Olympic
Teammate and 2008 Olympian)

Jessica Mendoza (2004 Olympic Teammate,
2008 Olympian and new mom!)

Cat Osterman at dinner holding Caleb (Jessica's
baby boy)

Natasha, me and Andrea Duran (2008 Olympian)

All these USA athletes are currently in Venezuela
competing in the World Championships right now.
They are working hard to bring home the Gold
for the USA! It's so great that they can
play in the NPF and also represent our great
country. They are the best!

50 Years of Marriage!

This month my in-laws celebrated their

50th Wedding Anniversary!!!


I have been married for 11 1/2 yrs to
Tommy and it really gets better with
time!

We were able to celebrate with them
in Florida and I captured a few photos:


Cutting the cake

Having fun

All the grandkids

With three of their four boys



After dinner, Papa took Nana away in a
horse carriage!

Tommy must have learned from his dad:
the first date Tommy and I had was in
Charleston, South Carolina and Tommy
took me on a horse and carriage ride!


I am blessed to have a great family! I love
all my in-laws (parents, sisters/brothers).
I know a lot of families have drama, but
we don't. I wish we all lived closer! I
really enjoyed our time with them and the
boys loved playing with their cousins (Anna,
William and Robert).

I pray that Tommy and I will have 50+ years
of marriage together.

Congrats Mom and Dad! And a Huge Thank You
also! We LOVE you!

Disney World: Part 1

We were so blessed to be able to have a
family vacation with Tommy's whole family
(minus his oldest brother who couldn't
make it). My In-Laws completely took
care of all of our families from the
first detail to the last!!! We also
celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary
with them (pictures coming soon).

Besides the heat, everything else was
great. We went to all four Disney Parks:
Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios
and the Magic Kingdom. We swam and went
down the slide at the pool. We ATE a
ton, had LOTS of desserts, and laughed
often! Here are some pictures from the
first couple days of our trip:


At the airport:

Brielle updates from her blog

You can check it out at any time at
www.briellemurray.com .

I am copying what was on her site so
you can pray specifically! Thank you for your
prayers!

(Wed night)
Dear Family and Friends,
It is now 10:30 PM and Lisa and Jim just walked
in from the doctor consult with a smile on their
face. As they walked into our waiting room, we
were in prayer, and listening to “What Faith Can
Do” by Kutless. Lisa walked in and said, “That’s
my Song”! They said that the neurosurgeon informed
them that he feels they have successfully removed
the tumors with a clean margins ! The area around
the removal is free of cancerous cells. They had
to remove part of her jaw bone because the tumor
had invaded that area, but he feels the surgery
went as well as they could have hoped. They were
able to take a nerve from the ankle area to replace
the nerve they had to remove from the right side of
her face. In time, the hope is that the nerve will
eventually repair itself (in approximately 12 months).
It may be that long until Brielle will be able to
move her facial muscles. They were able to retrieve
fat from her upper leg to help fill the space that
the tumor left behind, as well as using a muscle in
her neck. They are beginning a very long and
intensive reconstructive phase of the surgery so
continue to pray that this phase is as promising
as the previous phase. Pray for Dr. Kim’s strength
and guidance as he delicately connects the blood
vessels back together. I marvel at the way we are
continually given hope for this precious girl.

Our God is a Healing God, and we praise Him for
hearing all our prayers, and being faithful to
bring peace and comfort in the midst of this trial.

(Thur morning)12:20am
We left the hospital just a few minutes ago,
and as Sally and I were driving into our
driveway at home Heidi called to say that
Brielle woke up in severe pain and wanted
to talk. She tried to pull the tubes from
her mouth, and became very afraid and confused.
Apparently the doctor on call who can administer
more pain medication is not available for another
15 minutes. For any of you who are still awake,
PLEASE PRAY for Brielle’s pain to subside and
for her anxiety and fear to be released. Pray
for Jim and Lisa as they are very emotional in
seeing their daughter in this state. Pray
against the attacks of the enemy, who does not
want God to receive all the glory and honor for
Brielle’s healing.

6am Thursday:
Just spoke with Heidi, who spent the night next
to Brielle. B finally received pain medication
at 2:00 AM, and was able to get some rest, but
woke every hour, in pain. There was much
confusion with the night staff over her meds.
Pray that Brielle will receive proper attention
and proper medication today, and be free from
pain. On a positive note, yesterday, the
entire staff at UCI was wonderful, and we
praise God for each and every person that
was attending to Brielle’s care.

Thank you

Please pray for BRIELLE

I have written about Brielle before and about
how God had healed her tumors (she is only
12), but now she is heading into surgery
tomorrow (Wednesday) and the surgery is
expected to last 20 hours. Please lift
up the Murray Family and little Brielle.

To read about Brielle and the latest, urgent
prayer requests, click HERE.

Tune in Saturday to ESPN2 @ 2pm for Pro Softball!

Softball is in the air as the Women's College
World Series was just completed and now
it's time for the Pro Softball Players to
take the field!

I will be commentating on ESPN2 at 2pm
Pacific (5pm Eastern) on Saturday, June
12, and this is a match-up you don't want
to miss!

The very BEST softball players in the WORLD
will be competing! Many Olympians will be
on the field and some of my former teammates
will be competing!

It will not disappoint you!

The game is between:


with Cat Osterman on the mound



and




with Jennie Finch on the mound!


Hope you're able to check it out!

Busy Week = Exhaustion

On Tuesday I was exhausted! I did not feel
well and I just needed to lay down! As I thought
about the past week, I guess I could understand why
I was feeling sooooo tired!

I had spent 4 days in Florida the past weekend
to be an Analyst (Color Commentator) for ESPN
and College Softball Super Regionals.

I got home on Monday at 2pm and headed straight
to my sister-in-law's Grandma's house to hang
out while the kids swam all day.

Tuesday I met with my girlfriends from God's
Call and the women who put together the retreat
we spoke at in San Clemente in May.

We were debriefing about how it went and had
lunch in San Juan Capistrano. Feedback was
good and we hope to do more in the future with
Shoreline (possibly workshops).

Wednesday, I took Jake and my neice, Taylor,
to the end of the year fieldtrip for River
Springs Charter School to Castle Park. We hung
out with my friend, Miriam, and her kids,
Bailey and Jacob.




Jake and Taylor didn't want to go on
the log ride because they didn't want
to get wet.


We got soaked!

The kids had a great time!

That night we went to church and it was an
amazing service! It was communion and the worship
led us to the throne of God! So many people
were being moved and touched by God. I was
so blessed that night.

Thursday morning I left the house at 7am (normally
just waking up or tossing in bed at this time) with
Jake and I went to speak at a college class for
nursing at Mt. Sac Jr. College. The mom of a
girl I coached in softball is in the class and
asked if I could come and share and motivate and
encourage them as they are preparing finals and
trying to get into nursing school.

Then I took Jake to his classes out in Riverside.
That evening we went to feed the homeless with
my family and a friend, Robert. We took them
pizza and they loved it! We shared God's Word
and fed them.

The next morning I shared a devotional at Jake's
homeschool Friday school classes. Jake was
excited to show the medals to his friends.


Friday night I went to the Women's Event at our
church called "New Beauty: Redefining your
Perspective". It was so good! It was all about
what I studied in the church study this spring
called "Beauty by the Book". Proverbs talks
about the Proverbs 31 Woman who is godly but
also talks about the Immoral Woman who is all
about talking and dressing to get what she
wants. It was awesome to have women of all
ages and young girls listening to these truths
from God's Word. We can all get attention from
guys, but only true beauty can get their hearts.
The fear (reverence) of the Lord is what it takes
to have true beauty. If you love God, the way
you talk and the way you dress will line up with
what the Bible teaches.

From there, I ran to a 10:30pm soccer game, and then
stayed for a 2nd game at 11:15pm. Yep, I played
soccer til midnight! I know, that's why I'm tired!

The next morning (Sat), I drove up to the mountains
with my girlfriends for a retreat. Our Bible
study group planned this getaway, and some girls
stayed 2 nights, but 5 of us stay on Sat night
only.

We talked a lot the 24 hours we were there!
We also went to an awesome pizza place in
Big Bear, Paoli's and walked around the
shops there.

On the drive to Big Bear some girls were
feeling sick, so we pulled over to get
some fresh air (and of course we had to
snap a picture!)

Chanel led worship

We all shared our testimonies, and Michelle
shared about how her story is like that of
a pearl: something beautiful is formed out
of adversity. I got a picture of Leandra
finding her pearl!

She gave each of us a pearl, but we had to
"get it out".

On Sunday morning we watched our final video for
our Beth Moore study, "Stepping Up" about Psalms
of Ascent.

Then we climbed part of the mountain and prayed
together. It was powerful! I love my Bible
study girls. I loved this time with them.

When we came home that afternoon, I had to get
the house cleaned because that night I was
meeting with the group of girls who planned
"Heart of a Princess". We talked all about
what we liked/would change/responses/etc.
We are excited to see if God opens the door
to another opportunity to speak to HS girls
in the future.

Then Monday night we went to Jake's Promotion
with Western Christian! Man, I'm tired just
writing about that crazy week!

I do find it interesting that in that final
Beth video she talked about us not being so
busy that we aren't able to do what God
really wants us to do. As God is opening
many new doors right now, I need to make
sure and drop some things that are good
but not "best". I am in prayer about this!