Massachusetts National Open 2015

God finds a way to bless us outside of typical "success".  At the Mass Open, I didn't break to semifinals in a single speech (out of three I was doing) and I did not win a single one of my debate rounds.  But I had a terrific time.  Debate rounds didn't need to involve jokes to be fun.  I found ways to be a blessing in my Apologetics speeches.  And my friends were blessings to me.

 

Light before we left

Arriving at Gordon (early for Sam's campus tour- he's been accepted there!)

Emma <3

 I got to see Praise!! :)

 The chapel at Gordon College

 President Lindsey speaking to us before the Awards Ceremony

Unlonely

Have you ever been aggressively unlonely?  In the past few weeks I've been keeping up conversations with my five bestest friends.  Emails with two, Google chat with one, letters with two.  If I had one more person to talk to it would be overwhelming to try to respond to everyone.  But as it is I have no excuse to feel isolated or unwanted, as if such a feeling were even possible with this amount of communication with people who like me and care about me.
I don't know what the opposite of lonely is, but I'm feeling it.

Granite State Qualifier 2015

The second tournament of my third year in NCFCA was a blast!  It was my first time doing debate and also my first time breaking to semifinals in a prepared speech (Persuasive).  A few highlights...

 

Loaded up in the van with tons of stuff.

 Emma <3

I have weird friends.

Having a good time :)

My sweet friend Cathy

Semis!  My speech advocates more use of cursive.

A group of debaters with a 3-year-old in their midst

There was a little bit of snow on the ground.