I have never been the best communicator. My younger sister is so much better than me in a good way (as I shall explain later), although it used to be that she was just loud an obnoxious. I don’t say that to poke fun at her but rather to tell everyone how wonderful she has become. I couldn’t ask for a cooler sister...and I have two of them!

This weekend was one of the most fun ones I have had in a really long time. Wednesday evening, we went to AWANA. Because it was Valentine’s Day (also known as “Single’s Awareness Day—S.A.D.), we played “Honey If You Love Me”. That was quite a game...

If you’ve never played it before, here’s the general idea: Everyone sits in a circle, and one person (It) stays in the center. He or she goes up to someone in the circle and says to them, “Honey, if you love me, will you smile?” The other person is not allowed to smile and has to say, “Honey, I love you but I just can’t smile.” The two most fun parts of this game were when we got some really giggly girl who just couldn’t keep a straight face or when It was able to crack the shell of a really stern person.

Pastor Greg did a Q&A session again, talking about losing salvation. He pointed out an important fact that had taken him a while to get: There is a difference between the Old and New Testament, and that difference (with regards to this issue of salvation) is that the Holy Spirit is with us forever once we are truly saved and accept Christ as our savior. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came and went, but now He stays for good. That’s pretty cool.

Thursday morning, Esther and I frantically finished our case, changing it from a Harms-Solvency format to a Comparative-Advantage format. That was kind of interesting, but I think it made it SOOOO much better. We actually enjoyed running our case and going Affirmative at the Peak Debate Qualifier.

Thursday afternoon we rushed over to where we normally have club and helped set up everything. It was hard work, but I really enjoyed hanging out with two girls who are now better friends than ever. We started acting really silly after supper, putting tape with writing on it on our foreheads, showing off our piano-playing skills, etc. The rest of the kids (Zach, Hillary, Lydia, Kenny, Caroline, Lizzie, and Lauren) did swing-dancing, but I promised myself a while back that I would only dance with one person, who wasn’t there, but who had originally taught me how to swing-dance.

Friday morning we were up bright and early (is 4:30 considered early? It is to me...) and were at the building to set up any last-minute things and to greet people. Our debates were as follows:

Round 1 – Affirmative against Blackburn / Campbell (win)

Round 2 – Negative against Ford / Weber (loss)

Round 3 – Affirmative against Green / Liddiard (loss)

Round 4 – Negative against Groeneveldt / Liddiard (win)

Round 5 –Affirmative against Anderson / Dasher (loss)

Saturday morning, after about three inches of snow, I drove us into Peak. It actually wasn’t that slick on the roads, and Mom had her eyes closed, so things were pretty uneventful. J We had one final debate before breaks were announced...Esther and I went Negative against Dasher / Fryberger and actually won, even though their inherency was from the night before!

Lydia and Hillary made it to out-rounds, which wasn’t surprising, but I had hoped we might break that far. Austin asked me if I was disappointed that we didn’t break, and I said that I wasn’t because I was tired, but when he asked me again, I admitted that it was a little disappointing. However, I think the Larson / Malenke and Tschappler / Tschappler teams can definitely break at the Rocky Mountain Classic.

I watched Lydia and Hillary’s first out-round debate at octos, which was Affirmative against Ford / Yeates, and they did pretty well. Although I thought the Negative side did a really good job, the judges thought Lydia and Hillary had won, which I was totally cool with. After octo’s, Lydia and Hillary broke *again*! My friend and I decided to go watch Green / Liddard (Affirmative) vs. Byrnes / Carlson (Negative)...that was a FULL room, and I hope never to be in the type of Cross-Examination I witnessed between the two teams.

Lydia and Hillary just wouldn’t stop, and they made it to semi-finals and were Negative against Ford / Weber. They did an excellent job, and I was pretty sure they had won. During the break for tab to calculate everything for finals, we had supper. When they announced breaks, Lydia and Hillary had done it again: They went into the final round of Peak Debate Qualifier, going Affirmative against our own club-mates, the Enos / Favero team. Wow...

While Lydia and Hillary didn’t win the final round, they did an incredible job, and I was so proud of my *little* sister. She is an incredible speaker, and I believe she will have a huge impact on the people around her as a result. God truly blessed this tournament, and I really enjoyed it for several reasons:

1) Esther and I actually won three of our six debates.

2) We got wonderful experience going against three incredible teams that are all at least in their 3rd years.

3) I got first speaker against the Anderson / Dasher team, a feat that I never thought was possible.

4) My *little* sister made it to finals!

5) I got to spend time with a totally wonderful person during the out-round debates.