Meet Me in St. Louis

This Thursday my family and I will be traveling up to St. Louis. On Friday evening and all day Saturday Adelaide and I will be participating with 8 other students from our district in a National Teen Bible Quiz Competition.
However, before the 'work' starts we get to play some. On Friday morning we will drive into St. Louis and stop at the Arch for a traditional picture. This year though, several of our group will be going up into the Arch. (I will too!!) After our visit there we will grab something for lunch and head over to the St. Louis City Museum.  If you are interested in see exactly what it looks like, I have included a link to the website. ( http://explorestlouis.com/visit-explore/see-do/see-do-member/?mid=29&gclid=CLjSgIjM2awCFcNeTAodC3r2rQ) Last year our group visited here and really enjoyed it!! It is a super cool place!!

After our afternoon excursions we will head to Ferguson Church of the Nazarene and after a brief devotional we will start quizzing. On Friday evening alone we will have 10 quiz matches (roughly 3 hours), ending around 11 pm. It is going to be a long day. On top of that we have to be back at the church the next morning around 8 Am. Saturday we will quiz 6 rounds in a tournament and following that have the awards ceremony.
My family and I would greatly appreciate your prayers for us this weekend!

So Much To Be Thankful For

As you know this last Thursday was Thanksgiving, a day on which we are reminded to be thankful for all that we have. A tradition of my family's is to go around the table and say one thing that we are thankful for. Most years I say something generic like friends, family or even food but this year when it was my turn I was completely honest, SLEEP! This school semester has been extremely tiring for me. Every morning when I wake up I long for the moment when I can crawl back into bed and curl up under my warm, cozy comforters.

 However, as the weekend rolled on I began to reflect more and more on what I have and all that I should be grateful for. There are so many people in the world and in the United States that spent thanksgiving without a warm house, good food or friends and family to be with. We are such a blessed people.

This year my family decided to stay home and share the weekend together, relaxing! On Wednesday night our dear friend Lori Wilkerson drove down to visit and share the weekend with us. We were so excited!! We spent Thursday and Friday playing games, watching movies, shopping, eating, taking pictures and hanging out. We had so much fun!!

Below I have included some of the pictures that Elsie took at our photo shoot!!