OUCH! A Really Hard Good Day!

Yesterday was the Big Odyssey of the Mind Regional Tournament....

Our team was slated to compete at 8:45....so we had to be there to unload at 7:45.....

So it was an EARLY morning.

Everyone was there and dressed, except our beloved Sam.

His grandfather died last week and so they were in Virginia with family.

He was greatly missed!

But we all certainly understood and are so sorry for his family's loss.

The kids knocked the long term out of the ball park.

We knew from the moment they finished that they had done well....VERY well!

Then the waiting began!

We spent a lot of time hanging out with the team and their families. What a wonderful group of friends.  The kids were elated when our coach returned with our raw scores.  Mystica has had 2 of its four teams go onto states....and we knew from the kids score that states was a real possibility.  Their raw score was the highest of any of our teams ever.  So we were pumped.

All that was left was Spontaneous.

Well....Spontaneous you just never know how it will go.

When our kids went in they seemed pumped.

When they came out....they said it went okay....but they looked whipped.

We wouldn't find out until much later what had happened.

So.......

Sophie, Randy, Andrew and I left and went out for a BIG birthday lunch for Andrew.

It was FUN!

Then it was back to Chapel Hill High

Fun times with the team.

Games

Laughter!

Anticipation!

This is the team minus-Alex and Sam.

Alex was there for competition but left early because he was becoming a Boy Scout that same afternoon.

So this picture shows just part of the team.

This is one side of the gym

This is the other....

To give you an idea of the size of this competition.....this is 1 awards site....there were 4 award sites for this one competition.

The awards started right away. 

They listed the fifth, fourth, third, second....and we didn't hear our name.

The kids were so hopeful...

They wanted first....They wanted to go on to states....They were so hopeful....

The moment arrived.

AND.....

They didn't call our name.

What?

How could this be?

They not only didn't win....they didn't even place.

OUCH!

We were absolutely stunned.

Our kids were good.  No actually they were GREAT!

Something must have happened at spontaneous.  We just had no idea what.  The kids are told not to share about the problem because they use the same problem for all the teams so that it will be fair.  Coaches are not allowed in the room.  So we didn't know.

So on the way home.....I found out.

The Spontaneous Problem involved telling a story, which is not unusual....but it also involved reading a word off a card to include in the story. 

Yes reading in public.

While being timed.

A dyslexic child's nightmare.

NOOOOO!!!!!!

In all our years with Odyssey....we have NEVER had a problem that involved reading!

We hadn't even thought of or prepared Sophie for this possibility.

She said that she could read the words but that sometimes she would get stuck for a little while.

Getting stuck for a little while in Odyssey can be disastrous for a team score.

I was MAD.

I was SAD.

I don't understand why!

Our coach found out from another team member that Sophie's account of events was accurate, but that another child on the team also made some negative comments which affected the score.  I don't know if the comments were directed at Sophie, at the teams performance, or something else.  Sportsmanship is a major component of scoring.  The team member also said that the team as a whole had trouble keeping the story line.  So it wasn't all because of the reading....but still I can't help but wonder.

Anyway....

I kept myself together.  I tucked the kids in bed.  Then I locked myself in my room and I called my Mama and I cried like a baby.

It was an ugly cry.

I soul cleansing cry.

It hurt.  I wanted her to win.  I wanted her to be recognized. 

I had written this blog differently in my mind.

It was going to have her with a medal around her neck and a big smile on her sweet face....

Why can't she ever win?

Ever?

We did find out when we received their scoring that they had the highest score in the long term problem of all the teams in their category.  That was over 30 teams.  I think 32 but I don't have the program in front of me.  They also scored very high on Style.

They were however on the low end for their Spontaneous.....not the lowest....but definitely low.

So even though the Long Term was worth 200 points and they got all 200 and their style was worth 50 points and they got 42.....the Spontaneous was worth 100 and they only got 30-something....so they didn't win....anything.....

and the year is over.

I almost believed this....but it's not true. 

She did win. 

She started the year out not saying a word and not making eye contact with her coach.  She ended speaking LOUD and CLEAR to an auditorium full of people.  I sat on the back row and heard every. word. she. said.

She used a sewing machine and made a mermaid costume by herself. 

She spoke up and made peaceful suggestions to fighting team members.

She became so good at Spontaneous solutions that the coaches put her on all three of the Spontaneous teams.....she is the only new Odyssey member that got put on all three teams.

She made new friends.  She made memories.  She learned about Richart Structures.

She won!

Maybe not a medal....but oh so much more.

It also taught me an important lesson.

I need to teach her to speak up for herself when I am not there.

Odyssey is not testing their reading.

They would have made provisions for her....if they had known she had a disability.

So I am going to work with her on speaking up and telling people when she needs help.

I will not always be able to be her voice.

If we didn't have this experience.....I wouldn't have thought about it.  I wouldn't have known to prepare her.

I am reminded again of a quote from my Bible Study (Beth Moore "James, Mercy Triumphs"), "Sometimes we can know something is right, wonderful, and as it should be yet still be pierced by it.  We still feel the tearing away."

This experience is one of those times for me.

So it was a hard day....it was good....it was sad....it wasn't the script I wrote....

BUT

It is the script HE wrote.  So we will walk it.  Trust it.  Live it. 

He has a plan...and it is for Sophie's good.  His plan is for her good.  It is for her good.

That is the TRUTH!

Charein!

(Joy to You!)

(Also from my Beth Moore Study....it is gonna be a good one)

Kim