My Entry into Treasure You

1.1.14

     The next morning, Alex slept later than I had seen him sleep in years. He had gotten up at his regular time, spent a little time in the living room, and then given in to the sleepiness and climbed back in bed. Meanwhile, I had slept through his normal wakeup time but woken up right about the time he snuck back under the covers.
      I decided the time was right to finish up my entry into the Treasure You contest, but I'm going to tell you right now I was having a hard time not talking myself out of it.
      "This is dumb. There's no point in me entering this thing. Kate is going to win it and tell her story about Piper. She's a counselor, for heaven's sake, and she's so much better spoken than I am. She's two years out of her loss and has a much better perspective. She already has her hope baby in her arms. I'm just in the middle of my pain. I would never use the word "overcomer" when it came to Kaitlyn."
       All these thoughts were running through my head the whole time. I felt silly. Completely silly. And I didn't feel like I was writing well at all. But at the same time, I knew that I had felt something that morning when I heard Pat announce the contest on the news. I felt like that message had been for me, but then the conversation with Kate had confused me.
       When I was in high school, we talked a lot about hearing God's voice and being directed by the Holy Spirit. We had learned that when you're in doubt or if you don't know for sure what God has asked you to do, go with the last clear thing you heard. So, I continued on with my application, having no clue what was going to come out of it.
       The application was legit. I had to put down my social security number, the name and phone number of my manager, and have two letters of reference. I had asked Mallie to do one letter, and the other would come from Jenny. Both of them asked me what I wanted them to write about, but (thinking once again that it didn't really matter because somebody else was winning this thing) I told them, "I don't know just write about how you know me and that I'm not a psycho killer or something. I think its just to say that I am who I say I am."

   

      Well... Okay. That was pretty strongly written. Maybe something would come out of this after all. Then came Jenny's letter. 

         These people are crazy for loving me. But let's go with it. Finally, I had to write a few essays and include a picture (again, what is the point? Surely somebody else further out from their grief was going to get this thing).

        And here's the picture I decided to send in with it:

      This was one of the ones from our Christmas session with Lindsey. Isn't my husband just a hunk? I'm so lucky to get to call him mine. 

       I finished all of the application, but I ended up not submitting it until the following Sunday. It was due by the latest on Monday at 5, but I figured what the heck if we're doing this out of obedience then let's make sure that we do it right and not miss the deadline.