JV (trek) and Varsity (journey) quizzing

i guess TECHNICALLY the junior high and high school age groups have changed their names to "Trek" and "Journey".. however.. its so weird to call them that since i grew up and was IN JVs and Varsity.. anyway.. that's beside the point.. :)

this past weekend we traveled up to NY for the older kid's quizzing.. as it was a 5+ hour drive.. we decided to drive up the night before and stay overnight.. even though it was an added expense it was loads of fun and brought back memories of the one time that MY team (faith, gabe, nick, and myself) had to stay over night before a quiz.. good times.. anyway.. our group drove up in 3 vehicles.. the Parkers left about 2 hours before us.. then we left.. and the Peretics left about 2 hours after us.. the Parker's trip was uneventful.. however the roads got worse as time went on and this is what we were driving through 75% of the time.. daddy said it was the worst weather he had ever driven through.. and as the roads just continually got worse.. the Peretics never made it in until 1:30am.. ugh..

here's our van.. and the Parker's van.. there is a Chevy emblem.. and a license plate under all the nasty stuff on the front of our van.. everyone laughed and said it was just proof that Fords are better than Chevys any day.. lol

in the hotel we stayed in.. there was this little room nestled at the top of the stairs.. conveniently located in the middle of our set of rooms.. i have no idea what the purpose of this room was.. but we took over it for the night as we all hung out in there and the teams studied.. i must say.. we had to have been quite a sight.. hehe but it was a blast !

we woke up to a beautiful morning.. and everyone was ready to go..

the Friendship Baptist Church girls.. Ashley.. Rachel.. and Ellen..

the Friendship Baptist Church guys.. Matt.. Brandon.. Philip.. and Josh.. they had their "game-faces" on.. lol

and of course being the guys they are.. they were very photogenic.. and very willing to pose and be silly.. trying to kill off the nervousness of the quiz that was about to start..

haha brandon as darth vadar..

and they knew exactly how to make me happy.. when they challenged me to take a picture of them all jumping.. mwaha i got it :)

goooo north huntingdon ! why not get excited?

i really really really wished i had the fish-eye lense everyone always talks about for this shot.. i had to piece it together.. but my dad found this really crazy steep staircase that led up to the sound booth (which no one was using) and so i climbed up and took some pictures.. it was soo cool being up above everyone..

part of the FBC cheering section..

the JVs.. (trek) boys went first.. they were spectacular.. had a perfect score coming out of the multiple choice paddle round..

getting encouragement from the coach.. Mrs. Parker..

the famed "half-way" point picture..

the second half is always the most nerving and causes the most nail-biting.. the teams must buzz in and go up to the microphone to give their answer.. it is a fast paced stressful 20-minutes.. but the boys were fabulous !! brandon gave all the other teams a run for their money on the buzzer and our team probably was first on the buzzer 75% of the time.. anyway.. that is matt up at the mic..

brandon..

josh ! maybe its just his blue eyes.. but i think he's the cutest thing ever :) too bad he's only 13..

sweet shot i got of josh walking back to his seat..

okay so after the JVs (trek) got done.. then it was the Varsity's (journey) turn.. the pre-quizzing team photo..

their multiple choice round seemed to last forever and was very hard.. they missed 2 questions..

but they smiled thru it all..

the "half-point" photo after i gave them their pep talk.. i posed as their coach since mrs. miller (who did most of their practices) could not attend..

just like brandon.. ellen proved just as fast on the buzzer and only gave up a few chances for other teams to give answers.. i'm sure the announcer got tired of saying "number 9.. north huntingdon" hehe.. philip was the first one up..

and ashley.. its always a wonderful sign to see someone laughing while standing up at the mic in front of all those people.. :)

rachel..

ellen..

well.. the boys did fantastically and turned out a first place.. we were all so proud :)

and.. our varsity team also did fantastically and they also turned out in first place.. GOOO friendship baptist !! another year that we've taken first place in our region.. glad to see that they are holding up the high standard the nick, gabe, faith, & kara team set all those years.. :) (btw.. i'm the little short one at the end holding the plaque.. lol i hate how all these people are taller than me.. grr)

our winning varsity (journey) team ! and.. idk what was wrong with me.. i didn't get a winning photo of the JV (trek) team ! if you look in the background.. you can see them posing for someone.. don't know where my head was.. >.<

so.. after a very successful bible quiz.. we headed home.. unlike the drive up.. the roads were fine and we could actually see the beautiful mountains all around us.. as the sun was setting.. the sky was absolutely gorgeous.. even tho' i had a wicked headache and wasn't feeling well at all.. i did pull out my camera and snap some pictures.. i couldn't resist.. :)

soo a big congratulations goes out to all of the Friendship Baptist teams that competed this year.. altogether we brought home 5 more first place plaques to hang on our wall of fame and the kids proved that they had studied extremely hard..

but the main point of the whole thing isn't that we brought home 5 more plaques to hang on the wall downstairs.. or that all the kids got really awesome looking medals and ribbons.. but that the kids spent HOURS studying and memorizing God's Word.. and now it is hidden in their hearts and prayerfully it will stick with them forever..

it was incredible to me how.. the material that the Varsity did this year.. i did 4 years ago.. and it was cool to me how as the questions were being asked.. the verses and lessons came back to my memory even though i haven't really thought about that material in 4 years.. it was cool how it all came back to my memory..

God is true to His Word.. and it will not return void..