Summit 08

Pictures

2008-05-13T18:11:00.000-07:00

I now have some pictures up on my site:

http://www.freewebs.com/olsonmusic

Enjoy!

(And I'll write about Summit when I can - I have a HUGE Spanish project due that's been taking a ton of time...)

Summit '08

2008-05-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

Hi all! (Whoever it is who actually reads this...) I didn't forget to start writing about Summit, but I have been busy with Awana ending, and studying for the SAT which I take tomorrow. I will write about my experience at Summit, but it will not be this week. Summit was absolutely AMAZING though!!! HAve a great day, and I'm praying for you!!!

More practice

2008-04-05T08:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had another quiz practice. It went O.K. Elizabeth, who is joining us for quizzing, was able to come this time. We have never quizzed together, so it was good to practice with her. We basically just went over random things and practiced with the buzzer.
We practiced our skit some more, and although I'd like to say it's coming along, it's sort of at a stand still. After the run-through we realized some things needed changing, so I have to finish that up before Monday. Then we have to finish memorizing it.
This weekend is going to be very busy. I'm playing my Summit piano piece at church tomorrow and am actually pretty nervous. I usually don't get too nervous playing at church, but maybe it's because this piece is a lot harder than most things I play. Also, even though I have memorized it, the whole flow of the piece isn't coming along easily.
Summit it only 3 weeks away, and we still have a lot to do!!!

Practice

2008-04-02T13:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon and evening we had a Summit meeting, and practice for Bible Quizzing & a fine arts skit that I wrote. Overall, practice went pretty well. We took a quiz that one of our regional coaches made up, then our Summit coach (my mom) asked us questions. The skit practice was hilarious, and we had a great time working out all the kinks. We were laughing almost the entire time because someone would make a funny face or do something weird. Whenever we tried to be serious it became funnier than before! Needless to say, I'm glad that we have another practice on Friday. I guess we will have to see how that goes... :-)

It's less than a month away!!!!

2008-03-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that Summit is now less than a month away! I am very excited!!! We have been studying and practicing for months, and it's almost here! Yay!!!
Here are some pics from our Quizzing & Games regional meet.

2008-03-04T14:13:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm awake today AND have some time to write all about our regional meet. yay!
First was quiz. This year I did not feel like I studied as much as I should have, even though I know I did. I did not feel prepared, but for some reason it didn't matter. Our church had two teams-on the one was 1 sophomore guy & girl and 2 junior girls (who didn't study at all) and on the other (my team) was all girls, a freshman, sophomore, and me (junior). We were going to have a senior guy, but he bailed on us. Oh well, he's the one that missed out. Overall, the quiz went really well. Trek went first and our church had 3 out of 9 teams. They all did well, and our three teams answered 11 out of 16 speed questions. I'd say that's pretty good. The journey quiz had 6 teams. Two of the teams were from one of the churches (Immanuel Baptist) that made it to platinum last year, so the competition was hard. Our team answered 2 questions right, and the only other teams that answered questions right were the 2 from Immanuel Baptist. We answered 3 wrong in multiple choice, and two of which was because one of our girls thought she knew it and put the wrong one up. That irked me because I knew the right answer and she wouldn't listen. Doesn't matter though, we had fun. Third place was really good considering the competition.

Second was games. They were very interesting because we only had 2 teams this year. Last year we had six teams and I don't know where they all dissapeared to! :-) Anyway, we were supposed to have 3, but one dropped out. Since we only had two, all of the running races were run on a four-way circle. It wasn't that bad, but different. We basically lost almost every game, but had a great time! The girl's team (i was in teh middle) didn't do too bad. Team basketball went ok, but our bounce passes were terrible (for some reason we've always had trouble with the idea of 'getting low' and not bouncing it too high-no one listens to the fact that it needs to be done in order to shave off seconds!) Well, our relays went really good (i was in the sprint relay) and the marathon team actually won due to a DQ for the other team. They knocked it over sometime while the girl was running three laps because our church all started to yell "Howie! Howie!..." as Howard ran the four laps by himself. It was fun! Suzi & I did 3-legged, and were pretty good. We were very close to winning. Our girl's tug team held their ground for a long time. We were waiting over a minute before either team moved. The opposing team pulled it out in the end. The guy's team is another story. They were practically dragged on the floor as the other team went for their beanbag. Bean Bag grab (yes, we still do this in our area-we don't do bb bonanza) was good competition. We had at least 4 battles for the middle bag, and ended up gaining a lot of points. The sprint races & the girl's marathon race were close, but our guy was tagged out in the 5th lap of the marathon. Agility (Me & Katie's favorite)- I was extremly close to winning, and Katie would have won had she not DQ on the last pin. Balloon relay-both were close. We held on, but there wasn't much we could do when you are running against a whole team who seems to all be on a track team. We had a ton of fun though, and that's what matters!!!

I hope that this gives you a glance into what we did on Saturday. I also hope it wasn't too boring. If it was, go read Marcelo's blog on their games team. It's much more interesting and exciting. :-) Have a great day!

Yay!!!

2008-03-01T17:48:00.000-08:00

I will tell you the details of today's regional meet later, but right now I'm too tired to go into detail. We sent two quiz teams, and my team won 3rd place out of six. Yay!!! I have to say, I sorta do like speed quizzing first. Games-unfortunately we only had 2 teams competing this year because one dropped out. For running events we ran a four-way circle. It was ok. We came in second, but we had an awesome time! I'll tell you more after I've had some sleep. :-)

2008-02-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's games practice was good. The rest of the team showed up, and most of them actually practiced. :) We were able to go through most of the games. On the girl's side, basketball needs work, I think we found our 3-legged team, and we shaved off 3 seconds on balloon relay. Pretty good practice. The guys were doing well on balloon relay, but I'm not sure on the others. I think we found our tug team as well. Overall it was a good practice. We'll see how the next one goes.

Well...

2008-02-16T15:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's quiz practice was interesting. We only had quizzing because today was the T&T Bible Quiz meet, and our coaches are also T&T coaches. Also, our head coach lost his job yesterday. We don't know much information, or how this will effect us as a team, but knowing him he will still be at the meet. Anyway, without an adult actually leading practice it was a bit crazy. We each took turns asking questions, but being that only 3 of us have actually studied...well I think you can guess how practice went. Please pray for our coach, thanks. Have a great day!

Amazing!

2008-02-09T15:23:00.000-08:00

O.K., last night's practice was totally a God-thing! I'm excited for the potential of the team!
First, quiz practice started out a little dissapointing. We have two teams (8 quizzers), but only 4 were there for practice. One was sick, and 2 were on a church retreat. The other one blew us off and I know that because his dad is one of our coaches. I was really dissapointed in him... The first practice is a bit different than the others because not many people have studied yet. Other than that, practice went well.
Games-well, most of the Trek team was there, but because of church retreats this weekend the varisty team only had 7 people there. There was 3 guys and 4 girls. Since we had such a small group, we just practiced with the jr. highers. I felt that the whole night went extremely well. Everyone was able to get to know each other's strengths and we bonded together as a team (well, the people that were there anyway). We all stayed focused and were able to go through a ton of games and time trials. Despite what some people think, you can have fun even though you're focused on a task. Thankfully, all went well. Now I'm just worried about the next practice, cuz the people who don't focus will be there...but I guess I'll just have to rely on God. A good foundation will stand (see Luke 6:46-49 for a story about this), and I think that's what we have. I just hope it stays.

Getting closer...

2008-02-05T09:44:00.000-08:00

We now have our airline tickets. The prices were fairly high, then dropped pretty low-so we bought them on a great deal. We're glad we waited and jumped at the chance, cuz now the prices are back up.
Not a lot has been going on other than putting details together. I have decided to enter a public speaking entry as well as a piano solo entry. We'll see how it goes, but I'm excited!
As far as quiz goes, we have just about finished writing questions. Study time goes up a notch as our regional meet is March 1st.

Michigan?

2008-01-30T15:09:00.000-08:00

We now have a girl, Alysha, joining our quiz team. She is a Senior from Michigan. Yes, Michigan. In Chicago, we met her and her team through one of Michigan's Awana Missionaries- the Pycrafts. (They used to be my mom's youth leaders when she was in highschool.) No one else from their area is going, and it solved our hotel room situation as well. It's amazing how God worked things out.

Oh no!!!

2008-01-08T17:03:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas and New Years, Haley found out that they are now moving to Indiana. Most likely, the move will take place the same week as Summt. If everything works out, she possibly will still be able to come to Summit. Unfotunately, her mom probably will not be going.
Other than that, everyone else is still going, so we still have enough for a full quiz team.

Waiting

2007-12-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

The title truly describes what we are doing. As I have said in previous posts, we will hopefully have a quiz team. We have 5 girls and 2 leaders potentially. Haley still has to talk with her one teacher, and Suzanne is basically going. Most of us, if not all, will be on the New York games team that 2 of us played on last year. I'm excited! Still waiting for final answers though...

Still waiting...but excited!!!

2007-12-04T14:35:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited! I know I can't get my hopes up too much, but it's too exciting not to! Last night I missed Awana because of a Christmas concert that I was playing in with the homeschool band. When I got home, I asked my mom how the night went-specifically if anyone talked about Summit details, etc. She said that one of the girls was still thinking about coming, and was leaning towards it more that her band trip-yay! Also, she said that the other girl who's dad basically said no up front, is now 90% coming!!! Yay!!!! So unless people back out, we have a quiz team (and I won't be the only one who studied either! haha) !!!!!! God works things out in amazing ways!!!!

We've started!

2007-11-27T20:42:00.000-08:00

Last night we had our first official Summit meeting. After club we (those that went last year and 2 other girls) discussed our 'plan of atttack' regarding transportation, Summit events, sightseeing, and tons of other things. We split up jobs between the 3 of us who know that we are going to find places to eat, shop, sight-see, etc. We have also started working on t-shirt designs-who knows what they'll look like as of last night!!! Haha. So far it looks like we will have 3-5 girls going to quiz, and we will all be doing some sort of fine arts as well. The games team I was on last year also just e-mailed us today. It looks like they will need more girls again. Hopefully it will work out. They were such a fun group, just like many other groups from Summit!!!!! There is a lot more excitement this year, now that there's more than just me talking about Summit!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T20:27:00.000-08:00

OK, so this has nothing to do with Summit, but I wanted to post it anyway.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!!!

not doing much

2007-11-20T14:56:00.000-08:00

Well, my mom and I have started getting things ready for Summit. Two girls from our group have relatives that live in Flordia, and we are trying to connect with them. Last year we took a couple days for sight seeing and stayed at my Aunt & Uncle's house. We are trying to do the same thing this year, only at another person's relatives-I don't have any in Flordia. That's really all that is happening with Summit right now. There is another girl that's interested in going, but somehow I don't think she will do quizzing. We seem to not have many people who like it, for some reason and I don't have a clue as to why that is.

Encouraged

2007-11-13T14:17:00.000-08:00

We finally played a couple of the games last night-yay! I hope the same focus that was there will stay throughtout the year.
I was encouraged by how many questions the hard-core quizzers (2 of us) have made for practice. We have gone through over half the book, and it looks like we will finish it before the end of the year. In our group this is a goal that hasn't been finished until almost quiz day, because it has fallen only one or two quizzers. Big accomplishment for us. Summit- here we come! haha

Frustrated

2007-11-11T12:35:00.000-08:00

With almost everybody I know starting to at least PLAY the Awana games. I'm feeling a bit behind. We haven't even started playing them like we have in the past. Ok, so even though I can't play them right now (I partily dislocated my shoulder recently), I still think we should be. I already know how to play all of them, and unlike most, I focus during the practices that we have. Most people know I am competitive, but I also like to have fun. In my mind playing the Awana games is fun, when other people are focusing and not purposefully breaking the rules, etc. It's frustrating because the other people complain about not doing that well at regionals, and I know that it's because they didn't focus and practice when we had practice. If you've read this far, thanks for 'listening' . That's enough for now.

Title

2007-11-06T17:18:00.000-08:00

Since I seem to be the last one to post the reason behind my title....
On almost all of my e-mails or letters during the past couple years, I have used this signature instead of "In Christ" "Sincerly" or whatever else you may choose. I thought of this during a time in my life when I knew that God was calling me into some sort of ministry. Since we are to be servants for Christ, the word 'serving' seemed appropriate, and it is not capitalized because we are in NO way as Awesome or Powerful as our Master and Creator-Jesus Christ. Christ is our 'King' , I think that is clear enough. There arre also many different ways, great and small that we can serve God. Therefore, thoughout my life no matter how little or big the task, I want to be known as a person who is truly "serving the King".

Harvest

2007-10-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

Today was great! Our church does a "Hallelujah Harvest" at one of our Awana leader's harvest shop, to celebrate what God has done for us. Everything is free, since God's gift to us - salvation-is free. All that happens is because of volunteers that help and give up thier time to run the moon jump, hay rides, pumpkin bowling, and all the other things. Many Chirstians come, but a lot of them bring friends or neighbors who aren't saved. It's a great opportunity to spread the Word of God.
I was thinking. We (including me) will give up our time to help with an event like this because it's fun, to further the Kingdom; but we won't give up two seconds to say hello to a new person we see at church because we need to talk with our friends about something. Or, to help with another outreach, missions-type event because we don't think it will be fun to do. I challenge you- don't give up an opportunity serve someone, no matter how little or big the task, God will shine through you! I'm reminded of the team at Summit who gave up their free day to work at the Denver Mission. I thought that was so awesome! They took an opportunity and made it happen. In those few hours that they were there I know they made a big difference, and had many opportunities to share what God can do!
Think about it. Jesus Christ gave up His life that we might live. Shouldn't we be able to give up a few minutes of our life that someone else might live?

Randomness...

2007-10-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

The 'About Me' section isn't big enough to know all about me, so I thought I'd make this post 'More about me'.

I'm 17 and a Junior in High school. My Birthday is September 19.

Favorites:
Christian Artist- Steven Curtis Chapman
Color- Blue
Awana Games- Balloon Relay, 3-legged Race, Agility Race
Sparky Games-Safari, Balloon Pop-Pop
Bible Verse- Romans 8:38-39
Worship Song- Shout To The Lord
Foods- Tacos, green peppers, pineapple
Room decoration- picture frames (w/ pics of friends)
Things I do in my spare time- play piano, draw, read, & e-mail,
Sports teams- Bears, Bulls, Cubs, Colts

Hope this helps you get to know me a bit better!

Don't know what I'm doing...

2007-10-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!
This is my first ever blog, so I'm just figuring everything out. I plan to post something new at least every week, and I hope to have my site up in the next week or two. Have a great day and I hope you'll join me on my quest for ways to serve!

serving the King,
Heather