Bible Bee 2016

For the last couple of years Dad and Mom have been local hosts for Bible Bee! Rachel has been so good in helping things get organized...just one of the perks of having an organizer in the family:) The Bible Bee has been such a blessing in my (Elizabeth's) life!! When our family first heard about the Bible Bee, it sounded like such a good idea!! We really didn't know what we were getting ourselves into though. Our first year doing Bible Bee, found us kids very discouraged...there was no way that we could memorize all those verses! As a year or two went by, Rachel and I decided to try again. There were 800 verses that we had to memorize. Every morning we woke up at 5:00 to memorize our 10 verses for the day, and to complete that day's study of a specific book that everyone else was also studying: I never qualified for Nationals, but Rachel qualified her last year, as did Matthew. Bible Bee has changed quite a bit. Now there are fewer verses to memorize during the summer, which I think is wise. With so many verses if you are not careful you can fall into the danger of getting a lot of head knowledge and not a lot of heart knowledge...it would be better to memorize 5 verses and apply them to your life then to memorize 500 verses and get all puffed up with the knowledge that you are so smart!! I am thankful though for the privilege of spending time in God's Word...Bible Bee really helped me learn how to study the Bible, not just read it. It's really weird now not doing Bible Bee( I've not done it for 4 years actually:) This year found my family doing Bible Bee again...after hours of studying Caleb, Marie, JoAnna, and Esther took their knowledge test...days later we found out that Esther had qualified for Nationals, San Antonio here we come again:) Esther will be competing against 119 or so other Primary contestants from around the States, though Esther will not be able to finish memorizing all the verses, it has been such an encouragement to me to watch her study and to listen to her recite as I quiz her. There have been the mornings where it's been rough, I will admit that, and I have had to bite my tongue and ask God for patience:)
We didn't have a huge group of people in our area participating in Bible Bee. It was fun to gather together with those who were and encourage each other and do practice quizzes, short bible studies, singing, skits, ect. Our last meeting was one of celebration, as we had a fun meal, a practice quiz, shared our favorite verses, had a short Bible study, pictures and an award ceremony. Below our several pictures from that day!!

The Whole Bible Bee crew: from l to r.  Front, Esther, JoAnnan and Erin. Back, Marie, Ivan, David, Caleb and Hannah.

Participating in a mock oral Bible knowledge quiz. 

Recite John 15:4-5!! Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in you the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing.

JoAnna receiving her prize and certificate.

"Well done, Son!!"

"Congratulations Marie!!"

"And Esther, I have something to tell you...You qualified for Nationals...so you will be making a little trip to San Antonio in November!!"

James 1:22-25

22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 

If you have an encouraging word for Esther as she perseveres in memorizing and studying please leave a comment below...I know that she would really appreciate that :)
To close with, here is a picture of the place that we are heading to in just a couple of weeks. I know that this picture is a little bit blurry, but you get a little idea of where we are going.