God is good. So, so good.

So, I thought since I've got the time (and perhaps a small amount of my brain), I thought I'd update y'all on the tournament. I'm kind of tired and have to get up at 6 tomorrow, so excuse the...oh, how do you say it? Un-glamorous, quickly typed update. :P So if I say anything weird, attribute it to the lateness of the hour and lack of a fully functional brain. heehee....

Wednesday went much better than I was expecting. You have no idea how much of a blessing it is to be in a church you are familiar with! The church we are competing at is 2 minutes away from my house. So if we've forgotten something, we can just go home and get it....we can go home for lunch. Oh, it's lovely. I've also halfway grown up in this church since I was around 4 or 5. I've never actually attended, but I've done so many activities there, that I know my way around quite well. :D

My first IO round was pretty good. I had Mrs. C for my judge, and she has the brightest eyes and the most encouraging smile. It was extremely comforting. You have no idea how much your judges impact your speech. Seriously, they can almost make or break it. I'm slowly learning to be immune to that and ignore it more - one guy looked like he was falling asleep. I even got a ballot back with FLOWERS drawn on it.

Anyway, the rest of the rounds went pretty well also.

Today was nearly uneventful. The morning was a bit stressful, because we had last minute duo practices that weren't going so well. But I got to sleep in since my round didn't start until 2pm. :D It's so weird, though, I'm so much more tired when I have less to do. I only had to give 2 speeches ALL DAY. So I'm really tired. (isn't that odd?) Tomorrow should be much better, since I'm giving 4. I guess it's that adrenaline rush - speech energy that keeps you going.

God has blessed me in so many ways this year - He has always faithfully brought me through the stressful night-before-tournament work, through rounds, weird judges, memory slips, and odd audience mishaps. I have made some of the best friends I could ever ask for. And hey - He's brought regionals practically to my door. What an awesome God we serve.

Thanks SO much for all your prayers. It means a lot to me. I'm having a fabulous time and I LOVE speech. It's a great tournament. And there's still 2 lovely days left. :)

While we're on the subject of prayers, my friend Brenna is in Illinois right now, at Summit, for National Bible Quizzing, and I know she would really appreciate your prayers. I think she's flying home tomorrow.

Signing off!
-Hannah
PS - tomorrow's rounds are at 8:00am and 4:00pm :)