I feel so smart!!!

Well, after very little sleep all weekend and a nice long nap this afternoon, I'm ready to tell my tale. It was a great weekend. First of all, I've been going to these events for so long that I know alot of the event staff and other youth leaders and kids and seeing them here each year is like a family reunion of sorts.(lots of hugging. Not unlike a ringer get to-gether) A couple of guys that were in the youth group (now almost done with college) came out for the day. Had dinner Saturday night with my two good friends who live right her in Rockford, but with our busy lives and so on, it gets hard to see them very often. It was nice to visit and get re-aquainted with them. And my trek....was......fantastic. Oh my gosh..I just feel so good about it. Thank you all who were praying for me. It worked!!! I had some other prayers for me as well right before the treks were to begin. I was really nervous and scared about the whole thing right up until I started. 10 minutes before the trek was to start I was still trying to decide which clips to use and all that. I had the LOTR Trivial pursuit game set up in the room and as kids and adults started coming in, we played a round of the game. It was a fun way to stay on topic while people were still ariving. Well, the chairs in the room began to fill up and people started sitting on the floor. And still they came. The room I was assigned to was a meeting room in the hotel. It had a big conference table in the middle of the room, (which was too bad because it meant there wasn't as much space in the room) I'm guessing there ended up being about 50-60 people in the room and they were packed wall to wall. Still a bit nervous but glad to see people were interested in the topic, I began. I started each session the same way even though the topic was slightly different. I started by reading Tolkien's quote from the forward of "Fellowship" about how he dislikes allegory. I made it very clear up front that I was not trying to say that Tolkien himself "meant" any of the things I was going to be talking about, except in the way that he was a Christian himself and his Christianity came though in his writing. Then I had some LOTR trading card boxes that I had filled with Andes Mints. I passed them around and offered one to every person there. I said this was a symbol of what this trek was all about. That LOTR was full of little "goodies" if you just look, but that it should in no way replace the real "meal" found in the scripture. With those two intro's I would then show a clip or read a section of the book and start the talk. The first session was all about finding ourselves in the characters of LOTR, the second about finding Christ and the third about redemption, hope and mercy in LOTR. It actually became hard sometimes to keep the conversations in the topic. Sometimes folks would start getting into something that really belonged in one of the other sessions and I would have to say..."ah...that's for the next session" There was some good participation and no one seemed bored. I had some new thoughts, some things I hadn't thought of before and some new insights from the kids and the adults. After the sessions, I would usually have one or two adults or kids come up to me and tell me how much they enjoyed it and sometimes offer suggestions or further insights. I even had one lady from a church ask if I would be interested in giving this talk at their church sometime? I gave her my e-mail addy so we'll see what happens with that. I had many unsolicited compliments including the guy in charge of the whole event who said he had heard that my trek "rocked" He was approached by and adult leader who said it was really good ::squeeee::I was so relieved and pleased and proud of myself when it was all over. And I had a really good feeling of accomplishment and in a way validation. Some of you may know about some of my past "issues" with our youth leader over the whole LOTR thing (too much to explain now). It was really cool to be able to look at him and say (not in words, but just with a look) "See, all my time reading the books and going to the movies and talking online with people has paid off! and I have not traded my faith for my love of LOTR"

I'm off

Well...I'm off in a few minutes for a weekend with over 1000 teenagers. It's hard for me to decide who is more fun High Schoolers or Ringers. There are many similarities I've found. I think the thing that draws me to both though is their ability to "play"High School kids can play because they haven't been told not to yet and ringers can play because they've rediscovered (in some cases) that they can. I love that. Oh and can I ask for some prayer coverage for my trek tomorrow? I'm really quite nervous about it. I'm not a good teacher, my words tend to get muddled. Please pray for me that God will give me the right words to say to help these kids see the beauty that is LOTR and more importantly, the Gospel. Also, if you could a more frivolous request....I'm considering dressing in full hobbit garb for the trek. I'm beginning to get cold feet though. I have lots of people encouraging me to do it, but I'm just not sure. I'll let you know when I get back what I end up doing. LOL!! Should be funny if I do. Have a great weekend everyone!!

And now for something completely positive....

Went to Tori's play tonight. Anything goes. Can I just gush for a while about my daughter? She was soooo cute. Well...when I could see her that is. She was only chorus (I know, there are no small parts only small actors) and most of the time I couldn't see her where she was on stage. But when I could see her she looked absolutely radiant!! She looked so comfortable up there and she was having so much fun!! Her and I are going in a week to try out for the summer musicals at the local community theatre. The one's we're trying out for are "Showboat" and "Suessical the musical" I really, really hope she gets a part. I don't even care all that much if I do or not, though it would be great, but I really want her to get a part. This is her second play in High School. It's so cute, they let the kids write their own bio's for the program and both this play and the last one she lists the people she's thankful for. She always puts her family first (this is me beaming with pride) and she'll put some of her friends, but she also always includes Sean as one of the people she's thankful for. Last time she listed him as one of her inspirations. I think I need to take both programs and send them to him. He needs to know how much of an inspiration he has been to her. She is so determined. One of her goals in life is to one day work on a film with him. :-) I think she could do it. Remember at the Oscars when Charlize Theron was thanking her mother for being there for her and believing in her. I had tears in my eyes watching that, because I could totally see Tori up there someday saying something similar. I'm just so proud of her. I hope she can overcome the strikes against her and really make this happen. I wish I knew what to do to help her.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!!

Don't forget to wear your green today everyone!!! (or you might get a pinch. ;-) I've been listening to the Bards all night here at work. In fact Marc put up a new MP3 music magazine with all kinds of great MP3's for your downloading pleasure. http://www.celticmp3s.com/magazine/St_Patricks_Celtic_Music.shtmlHave a green great day everyone!!

Gaaahhhh!!! and World Without Sundays*

Ok, so I spent the better part of yesterday trying to get a handle on my thoughts for this trek I'm leading this weekend. I'm having trouble, I have to tell you. I'm so schiztophrenic about it! I can't decide how to organize it. I started out wanting to go one way and as I work on it, I'm thinking I should go differently. I'm just not sure. My mind's a whirl with many thoughtsAll good and none real badthe only real problem isthey don't make any senseThey whirl around like leaves in the wind"there goes one" "and there another"I'm standing in the midst of themgrasping and grabbingtrying to herd the ideasinto the corral of my mindHowever, on a positive note....World Without Sunday's is playing in Rockford!! My home town. They're playing at a local club here called Kryptonite. I've only been there once, but it's right nearby. They're doing an accoustic set on March 30th and then another on April 3rd. Now I wish I had heard them in LA so I'd know if I want to go see them here.

Procrastination

I'm really a chronic procrastinator. I have one week to get ready for the class thing I'm leading at the youth conference I'm going to. I'm doing it on LOTR and I have three sessions to prepare for. arrrghh!!So, that's what I'll be doing today....Hey, today is Goal Monday, right? Hmm...ok, so my goal for this week is to get the trek ready for Saturday. Whooo Hooo...go me!!

Party Girl!!

Ok, I just had a totally random thought...I watched Elijah on Jay Leno tonight and he talked about going to the "fan" party and staying there all night. Jay had assumed that he would have been to many parties but he didn't. LOL!! It just occured to me that I went to more Oscar Parties than Elijah Wood on Oscar night! ROFL!! Ok, it's 1:30am I'm alone at work and I'm a little goofy tonight. ::shrug::