Mo-photoThis past weekend, I took our three girls and two other friends from our Speech and Debate club to Springfield, MO for ‘The Heart of the Ozarks’ tournament.  It was a well run event, and our girls learned a lot!  This was Brenna’s first tournament, since she had the flu during our local event.  She did great learning the in’s and out’s of how a tournament works, was able to compete in all her events, and got some great feedback – esp. on her Open Oratory speech on LEGO’s.  I think she was encouraged, and is looking forward to the next tournament.  Amanda ‘broke to finals’ in both of her events, and got a 4th place in her Interp.  Charissa broke to Semi-finals in two events, and received a ‘green check mark’ (top 40%) in her Open Oratory.  This was not as an impressive event as far as trophies and awards, but the feedback from all her speeches was great and she is learning more and more at every competition.   She has qualified for Nationals in at least 3 events now.  The Stoa organization (0ur national group) has just announced that Nationals will be in California, though, so we are praying about our involvement.

While we were at this event, Eric was in Michigan.  We were all a bit jealous about his time with our dear Michigan friends, but this was a combined trip for his role at FamilyLife and a missions conference at Cornerstone EP Church.  He was able to have quite a few meetings with ministry donors, but take the weekend to be a part of this church event.  What a blessing to share what God is doing at FamilyLife with our friends up North!

Eric is due back tonight, and I have warned him that he has three girls who have been saving up words and stories to share with him!  I expect it to be at least Sunday before I am able to get a word in, ha!  Thank you for your prayers for us through all these travels!  The girls and I have one last tournament March 12-15 in Texas.  Then we will really need to decide if we are investing in Nationals this year.  Please pray for wisdom as we weigh the pros and cons of this event – it is a huge honor even to qualify!