Last Saturday, William, my husband and I traveled to Jefferson City for the 2013 Missouri Scholastic Championship Chess Tournament.  William and Keisha started playing chess last summer and I am so proud of what they have accomplished during their first chess season.

Saturday was a long day and we had a rough start by oversleeping due to the alarm not going off.  I will just say I wasn’t the one who set the alarm. Despite waking up at 5:15 a.m., when were supposed to be at our designated take off spot at 5:00 a.m., we still were able to meet up with Lindbergh High School to trail them to Jefferson City.  Thankfully, I stayed calm when we rushed to get ready.

Once we were on the road, all was well.  Despite driving through rain nearly the entire way, the drive to Jefferson City was very smooth.

The hotel was full of over 600 children plus their parents, grandparents, coaches and friends.  Each conference room was overloaded with chess teams eagerly awaiting for the next round to begin.  The first round began at 10:30 a.m. and the final – sixth round began at 6:00 p.m.  The day was long and exciting.  The only stress I endured was due to my hotspot not working.  Between the second and the third round, I read the tournament paperwork which indicated 4 points (wins) are required for William’s age group in order to.  After the third round, William had 1 point (1 win and 2 losses).  William was filling a bit down but I told him to stay strong and give it his best shot.  And William did give it his best shot – he won the next 3 rounds; ending up with 4 points.  He won a tournament medal which is his third medal of this season.  I’m so proud of William for being a dedicated member of his chess team.  William and Keisha are currently teaching chess to their 3 year old brother Alexander.

I’m looking forward to adding this album to my Spotify playlists.

The verse from my YouVersion app hits the nail on the head this morning.

Proverbs 22:6 KJV

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

See it at YouVersion.com:

http://bible.us/1/pro.22.6.kjv

I had a horrible dream last night. We were in a helicopter on a tour ride. Suddenly, we had to take an emergency landing but there were

other helicopters flying in our way. The piloted diverted all but one and we hit the helicopter. The piloted yelled at everyone to jump out. Without hesitation, I jumped out into the water. Moments later, my husband and I rushed to find our children. The twins were up

and about but we couldn’t find Alexander. After a while we found Alexander under a piece of wreckage. He was alive but unconscious. We all survived but the pilot.

The dream was so vivid. I’m purposely leaving out the morbid details. I haven’t been able to recall any of my dreams in several weeks, so why all of sudden do I remember this one? Maybe somehow the intense dream is connected to my thoughts weighing heavily about Keisha.

My daughter is struggling with behavior issues and last night I was mentally drained. Her grades are fantastic – consistently on the honor roll with her twin brother, but emotionally she is on a roller coaster. We are trying to get her the help she needs.

Without going into the specifics, the only other thing I will say is although this is challenging for my family, I still have hope for my baby girl. I know we will get through this.

The picture is my peace lily at work. Last week she began to bloom and another flower is blooming this week. Peace and hope…

We had another great fellowship in bible study tonight. We talked about the importance of using your spiritual gifts to glorify God. Do you know what your spiritual gifts are?

In this picture you will see my bible study set up with my iPad, keyboard case, stylus, charger and study guide. I made a friendship bracelet and attached it to my stylus and case. I got tired of losing my stylus. I use the Notability app for all of my note taking at home, work and church.

I have been going to bible study for almost 2 years. I look forward to bible study every Monday night because of the spiritual food and knowledge. The lessons and discussions have challenged and assisted me during my walk with Christ.

This afternoon I had the pleasure of attending the 55th annual HAMBC Fellowship Tea. The program included the youth group members performing “This Little Light of Mine.”

The theme was Using Your Gifts to Serve, I Corinthians 12:4-11. I had a great time with my family, friends and church members.

Then a couple of months ago something drew me back in and I found myself playing FarmVille 2. A quest came about where if I played ChefVille, then I could get something extra in FarmVille. Since this moment, I have been playing ChefVille on a regular basis. I haven’t played FarmVille 2 in a couple of weeks.

In ChefVille, the timed quests can seem a bit much, but they are not required in order to progress in the game. I like how the game has so many items to create. I would prefer if I could get salt an pepper another way, but I understand the game creators want interaction with neighbors. I currently have over 330 stars and I’m trying to catch up with some of my Facebook friends with nearly 700 stars.

I recently discovered I could play ChefVille on my iPad with an app called Photon. This app is a web browser and allows me to play a game built which requires flash. I also can play flash videos onion the browser. Unfortunately, this discovery has increased the opportunities I can get distracted. I can now play wherever I have an Internet connection.

Adele is amazing. I love everything about her. Congratulations to Adele for a recent Grammy win and now an Oscar. The Skyfall song is great and fits the movie perfectly.

Immediately after watching her Oscar performance, I asked my husband to load the movie… and we are watching it now. Good night.

I am happy to be a witness to our church program this afternoon. Sixteen church members performed as a famous Black American. My family performed – William was Booker T. Washington, Keisha was Susan Rice and JT was Muhammad Ali. A lovely fellowship and program.

Last tournament of the season is today. Next, my children will participate in the state tournament in March.

My twins have grown a lot since they started playing chess last summer. They have developed great sportsmanship by shaking their opponents hands at the beginning and end of the matches. William and Keisha also are working hard with practicing chess daily. Maybe I should learn so I can play with them.

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