Project 365, Week 18

Yay for May! I had ordinary days, disappointing doctor visit days, days spent in both New York City and Washington DC. All is grace.

May 2

Monday after a perfect week in Florida was mildly painful but my in-office lunch date made it less so.

May 3

I drove into New York City for an early-morning appointment. The trip was as seamless as it gets and I thought, not for the first time, how much I've grown from having cancer. My I-Could-Never list has shrunk dramatically. For example, I can drive myself into the city without GPS, get myself parked in a garage and checked into my appointment. 

May 5

This rainy day matched my mood and I spent many hours telling myself a different story than the one my feelings were telling. I have to do this with some regularity.

May 5

Bright and early we loaded up the rented van and nine of us drove down to DC for the Regionals competition for Teen Bible Quiz...two teams, three chaperones. It was SUCH an easy group of kids who are all good friends.

We got checked into the hotel, checked into the event, played football in a parking lot and had dinner.

May 6

Being our first year, we really didn't know what to expect. The competition was intense! The kids held their heads high and never gave up and we learned so much that we couldn't have known without experiencing it first-hand. 

The day of quizzing ended early enough and there was a break in the rain, so we drove the 15 minutes into DC and walked around the National Mall.

May 7

We were up for breakfast and checkout and then another morning of quizzing.

There was an afternoon of awards and group activities planned, but we were anxious to start our drive home. As we headed out, the leader grabbed our group to hand out participation medals and encourage the kids on their first go-around with the regional competition. We discovered there are about 40 teams who go to Nationals...of those, we faced four of the top ten during Regionals. In other words, we faced several of the best teams in the country.

Back on the road. :)

Amy and I returned the rented van and the sunset was spectacular!

May 8

Mother's Day. We went to the first service and the kids stayed for the second to serve while Shaun took me out to breakfast. Both of those things were a gift.

We worked in the kitchen together to prepare our fondue evening, which is a favorite event.

I had recently put some guardrails and consequences in place for my teens and it didn't win me the popularity contest. I am a sinner, they are sinners...we are all in desperate need of God's unmerited favor. This day they did not 'rise up and call me blessed'. But we did get a nice picture. :)  Gosh, I love this crew.