Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes

This weekend we traveled to the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine Texas for Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes.  This was our second year to be a part of Lads.  In years past our kids have participated in LTC.  They are pretty similar with a few differences, but the main concept is the same:  A year round Bible study program to encourage youth to become more involved in their congregation and to help develop church leadership skills.  They are awesome programs!  

Michael, Avery and I got a head start on Rod and Courtney.  I tried to nap while Michael was driving.  That didn't work out to well for me.  But Avery slept the whole way over.

And Avery insisted on pulling her Dora backpack/suitcase the whole way to the room, which made for a slow walk :)

The Gaylord is so BEAUTIFUL!!

Friday night the kids were awarded for their pre-convention events

The cheer squad

Jack was pooped out on us!

Courtney came over straight from work so she was still wearing her Sears "uniform"

I so enjoyed having this boy home for the last week.  And I think his sister did to although she would never admit it.

The girls scrapbook got a 2nd place ribbon.  I think they did a GREAT job on it!

After the Friday night awards, there was a short devo that we went to

And it has kind of became a tradition to stop at the Java Coast and get some ice cream after the awards ceremony each night before heading up to our rooms

Saturday morning I went to judge 6th grade girls speech so I was not able to go and listen to any of our girls. Even though I heard all of their speeches Wednesday night at church, I think it is so important to go and support them at the convention if possible.  I enjoyed listening to all nine of the 6th grade girls I judged but no one warned me about how difficult it would be.  I wanted them all to get a trophy!  I met a couple of really nice ladies who I judged with.  We exchanged our contact info so maybe we will stay in contact :)

Courtney won first place with her speech last year.  That meant she was in the Winner's Circle (with all other first place winners from prior years) speech category this year.  I thought Courtney did an excellent job with her speech considering she was sick all weekend with allergies, couldn't breath and was blowing her nose every 2 minutes.  She spoke on the Power of Words.  If  I can find a copy of it her speech I will post it on here.  She was in with some really tough competition and all of these girls were really good.  She may not have placed in the top 3 with the judges, but she placed #1 with this momma :)

We ate lunch with Lanny, Earl and Lenita at the Texas Station in the atrium

This was our third stay at the Gaylord and our first time with a room with a balcony overlooking the atrium.  It was nice!

Saturday afternoon all the youth competed in the Bible Bowl.  This year it was over the book of Proverbs.  Courtney did great and was one of the high scorers for 12th grade!!!  And her team which consisted of her, Hailey, Erin and Colton was a finalist team again this year!  Great job!

Blossom had four teams.  And I believe the other teams placed as finalists in their divisions too.  Awesome job!

Rod and Avery waiting for Bible Bowl to finish. Avery knows more about my phone that I do!

After Bible Bowl was song leading.  Courtney was on the fence about whether she wanted to compete in it this year or not. Even though she received a bronze trophy last year, she hated every minute of it.  She was in a HUGE room (the ballroom that has seats for the 1200 or so people that were there) and there were not many people in the room.  So of course she felt like she was singing solo.  She has no problem leading the younger kids in Bible class at church, but she doesn't like leading in front of adults.  Even though I tried to coerce into trying it again, we told her we would support her either way.  And she chose not to.  And that is perfectly okay with us.  Song leading is not for everyone.  Michael did it every year he participated in LTC, and even though he has and will do it in front of the congregation if asked, he would rather not.  Everyone has different talents.

Since Courtney did not participate in song leading I had the opportunity to judge 3rd grade girls lead songs and they were so precious! 

We had a break for supper, so we went over to Saltwater Willy's and the Phillips met up with us.  My family loves seafood so they were happy, happy happy!  And we all had a good time together!

There was a lot of food sharing going on.  Courtney ate fried alligator and she liked it.  Yuck!  She tried to try one of Tiffany's oysters but couldn't make herself do it.    

We went back to the hotel and got changed for the Saturday night awards.

Autumn received a trophy and was a very proud little girl!

The girls on stage getting their scrapbook award

Sunday morning we had an 8am worship service and heard several young men give some awesome speeches and lead us in songs.  It was a very encouraging and uplifting service!

We took a few pictures in the atrium before going up to our room to finish packing and head out.  

Could these two be any cuter holding hands??

I am so glad that Michael was able to be at Lads with us this year.

The Ray family photos

Love these two with all my heart!

I can't believe this year marks an end to my children being participants in LTC/Lads.  My babies are grown whether I want them to be or not!

Michel left the hotel and began his 9 hour trip to Tennessee.  Even though I would have loved for him to come back home with us for a couple of hours, it just made sense for him to head back to school from Dallas.  

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!