I honestly don't know where to begin. I have had 13 1/2 hours of sleep in the past 3 1/2 days. When I put it like that, it doesn't actually seem that bad, but I think that maybe it is...
I think the last time I kept such a busy schedule at Celebrate Life was my senior year of high school! This week/weekend was so much fun, and I am blessed to be a part of the lives of so many amazing teenagers!
Some highlights...
I have a new ONU sweatshirt. It was cold and rainy, and I finally gave in and bought one, because I decided that it would be cheaper than going to the hospital for pneumonia. It wasn't much cheaper, but a little bit...
I have come close to perfecting a very pleasant tone of voice that helps people to understand how very important it is that they change my daughter's talent event schedule to coordinate with her quiz schedule... Or maybe my reputation proceeds me... I'm going to choose to go with the nice tone of voice theory...
We had 23 people from our local church who participated in this event, and I had the opportunity to have real conversations with many of them. Most of the others, I managed to at least wave at as I ran by in my new hoodie, all tied up around my face...
Our student worship arts team had the opportunity to perform on a college stage and to be judged by excellent musicians. They received a rating of "good" for their effort, which wasn't as well as they did at District Celebrate Life, but was pretty decent considering two of the three vocalists had throat and voice issues going on. Mostly, I am proud of them for working together as a team and making significant progress over the past several months. A 15 minute performance can go well or not, but building relationships and learning how to worship God, in community, cannot be judged by a score sheet. These guys are winners in my book, hands down!
We had one student who played soccer and several students who earned ratings of good, excellent, and superior in vocal talent, art, and speech. Grace received a perfect score on her original piano composition, which she played and sang. Seth received a superior on his sculpture.
The MI District Bible Quizzing B team (Daniel, Cassie, Hannah, Abby, and Kyle) took 3rd place in their division. Our A team (Grace, Amber, Kaitlyn, Seth, and Dominic) took second place in their division. The final round came down to the last question, and Seth made a great jump, securing the chance for the win, but it just didn't go our way this time. Seth worked as a real team player (per normal), and I couldn't be more proud of him if I tried! He ended up placing 18th in the preliminary rounds, putting him just outside of the top 16 quiz-off. Grace, Amber, and Kaitlyn all quizzed in the top 16.
Grace finished 6th, individually, missing the A Team for Q by just 2 points. I am struggling a little bit with this, because my intuition was telling me to tell her to sit on the last few questions, and if I had gone with that instinct, she would not have made a second error in the round, which cost her 10 points. But coaching at this level is not easy, and we all make mistakes... I'm not going to say there weren't any tears, and quite frankly, I think it's OK for a 12 year old who has worked hard all year long to memorize the entire books of Romans and James to feel a little disappointed at this outcome. But what I can't get over is how quickly she recovered and moved on with a good attitude. Grace spoke, during testimony time, about the importance of not only knowing what Scripture says for the sake of competition but for the sake of living a Christian life. I told her earlier in the week that your true character comes out much more clearly when you lose than when you win. Her character shines, and I am so blessed to be her Mom. I am thankful, everyday, that my kids love Jesus and want to follow him. I can't think of anything that matters more. If you don't think that I was the one crying, while she was talking (happy tears), then you don't know me very well. She comes by the tears honestly...
I have to admit, though, that there were some more tears for me, and if anybody thinks that was about Grace's score and final placement, they don't know me either. Actually, what happened was that another quizzer, one whom I have seen growing in leaps and bounds, as a person, over the past two seasons, and one for whom I pray often, came up to me and spoke some words that caused me to feel a little overwhelmed at how amazing these teenagers really are. I love what God is doing in their lives.
And then, as if that wasn't enough crying for the day, I felt compelled to cry when another teenager gave her testimony about quizzing, because she is someone who meant an awful lot to Grace in her first season (and this season, as well)...
And I might also have cried when I realized that Grace was on the phone with yet another quizzer, hundreds of miles away, who was speaking encouragement and helping Grace through her disappointment!
This is why I love Teen Bible Quizzing.
Well, we finally got all of the teens home safely and picked up our little ones at Grandma's house. I should probably try for a couple more hours of sleep tonight.
L.
No comments:
Post a Comment