The Winter Family Tournament

Yikes! I can't believe how long its been since I last updated. It does make me feel loved to know that the updates have been missed, though. :-) Well, here goes:

My entire family was able to make it to the Winter Family Tournament in Lexington, KY this year. For those of you who don't know, The Family Tournament is a youth and family-centered event for the COG's (Churches of God[Sabbatarian believers(those who keep the Sabbath on Saturday and observe the Old Testament Holy Days)]).

This year, the Tournament began with a Friday night Youth Service - one which I was fairly involved in. I got to be a back-up singer with the worship band (an interesting experience), and also participate in a choral Scripture reading. Overall, the Service went very well. A couple friends of mine put most of it together, and they did a great job. Another friend of mine, Jon, read a children's story, Daniel in the lion's den, that was absolutely fabulous; not because of the story, but because of frank curiosity of children he was reading to. Each them - and they were young children - were seated in a semi-circle around him as he read the story, and it provided for one of the most entertaining things I've ever seen. As Jon read, the children would, in child-like fashion, break into the story about every 5 seconds with a new question. *laughs* And to top it off, they had to roar like a lion every time Jon used the word "lion" in the story. Now, that may not sound funny, but it had the audience nearly rolling on the floor with laughter at some points. The children became very proficient at roaring by the end of the evening.

Saturday was a pleasant, restful day of seminars and church services. That evening, the first Family Dance was held. Almost everyone got involved and seemed to have a wonderful time. It was at this dance that we first met a girl, named Courtney, who turns out to be a delightful creature. She loves to dance, is very outgoing and energetic... and when you combine those together, you get a perseverant young woman who loves to drag people onto the dance floor. *LOL* This year, it seems, she chose my siblings to shower her attentions on. (She's a beautiful thing, too.) So, for all 4 hours of the dance, she made plea after plea with my brothers and sisters to go out and dance with her. After the first hour, Courtney was able to get Sarah (my energetic, Sanguine sister) and Johnna (my cutie-pie of a 5-year-old sister) to go out with her nearly every dance, and me only now and then. (I wasn't in the mood to dance until well into the night.) But, my brothers took a little longer to persuade - actually, they only got out with her once. *laughs* They're stubborn boys, what can I say? Anyway, those who didn't dance took the opportunity to talk, and all had a good time.

Well, since I've spent so much on the first part of the Tournament I'll try to sum up the rest. Sunday morning (Christmas), I went with a large group to help serve lunch at the Salvation Army; a unique experience that I'm glad of. Much time Sunday and Monday was spent at the KBA (Kentucky Basketball Academy), where all of the sports were being held. Dodge ball was a blast! There were also basketball and volleyball games going on, but I never joined in. (The KBA houses 5 full-size basketball courts, so there was plenty of room for all of these games.) The gymnastics center next the the KBA was open on Monday, and was one of my favorite parts of the week. Monday night there was another Family Dance - but the dance floor totaled a tiny-weeny 10 sq. ft., which made it very interesting for anyone actually wishing to dance. (It was held in the bar area of the Marriot [where everyone was staying for the weekend] - I know, I know - "Family Dance" and "bar" sound rather mutually exclusive, but it truly did work out OK.) Still, we managed to have a good time on our last night together. Tuesday morning we packed up and drove back home to Illinois (a six hour drive). *sigh* I loved seeing friends and family, but it was good to get home....

Overall, the Tournament was a smashing success - and my family can't wait to get back together with everyone next year.