Whirlwind

What a whirlwind these last two days have been!

Friday morning we left the house at 6:15 am to meet a friend of ours and go to the airport. We all flew to Amarillo to help evaluate at the West TX district fine arts. Friday afternoon we hung out for a little while at First A/G with our friend Bill and several old friends that we haven't seen in forever. We had lunch at a great BBQ place that looked like a big red barn...oh my goodness, it was good! Then we got checked into the hotel and took a glorious nap, which was needed because I have a tendency to either stay up waaayyyy late or not go to bed at all the night before a trip. That night we went to a pre-Fine arts service where we had worship and some presentations by H-Town Master's Commission. It was really great. We were introduced and given the opportunity to push Ready Now. We wrapped up the night by going to the Cracker Barrel with about 20 other people. Most of them were either people we had grown up going to camp with or people from Masters. It was a lot of fun.

This morning we got up and ready for the day. We had to check out of the hotel when we left for the church. (Silly side note~I had put all my items in my rolling bag and finished getting dressed to leave. I went back to my suitcase, set it upright on the floor, and watched all my belongings fall out all over the floor...silly me, I forgot to zip up my suitcase!) Anyway, we got to the church and did our evaluating-thing. As usual, I got to evaluate female vocal solo. Not only that, but I got to evaluate with two other girls that I used to compete with years ago. It was cool to see where they are now and how they reacted to the participants.

My niece actually participated in fine arts this year for the first time ever. She did a human video solo...which shocked me because I never knew she was interested in that. She received a superior rating, which does not allow her to go to nationals, but she was so excited to even get a superior. I'm so proud of her for stepping up on her own and having the guts to do what she has never done before with no training from anyone. I asked my friend Bill, who judges human video at district and national level, to honestly tell me how she did. (I had asked for a replacement to be able to watch her perform, but wasn't able to get one.) He said that it was obvious that it was her first experience and the video was a little weak, but he gave her a passing score. (Another side note~Knowing Bill was judging human video, and being my friend, I did not tell him who my neice was, so him giving her a passing score had nothing to do with her being my neice.)

It amazes me how many talented students we have not only in the North TX district, but also West TX, and all over the nation who are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ! I have come away from this weekend tired but refreshed and excited for the upcoming North TX fine arts and nationals. By the way, we finally got our business cards in. We were able to pass them out this weekend for the first time ever! Below is what the front looks like. I started to put the back on here, too, but I didn't want it to show my address and phone number. This picture isn't very good quality because I took it on my cell phone, but you get the idea. The small print is our vision statement: "Developing students' talents through Fine Arts for the purpose of ministry and outreach".





We got back home this evening, and I can't believe I'm still up...not for long though...it's beddy-bye time....