I am overflowing with happiness right now. So many good things have happened in the past little while. My family has really been blessed with the Lord's tender mercies.
We have been extremely busy the past couple of weeks. It seems the end of the school year is always crazy as everybody tries to fit in the last few activities before school ends and the kids go all summer crazy.
Proud mama moment- Okay, so this isn't how I intended this post to go, but this is the direction I am taking it now. :-) Amber entered a photography contest. She was so excited to take pictures. We went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. She started out taking pictures with my cell phone until Cori arrived with a camera. She was totally comfortable with the camera. She loved it. She found things to take pictures of that I probably would have passed by. I looked through her photos and wondered how she captured such beautiful pictures and how we would ever choose which ones to enter. I had decided I would pay the entry fee for her but that meant I was not willing to do an unlimited amount of pictures. I decided to let her enter two pictures. I almost forgot to email her pictures in. It was about 11 p.m. the night of the deadline. I was just getting into bed and I turned to John and said "Oh no, I forgot to enter Amber's pictures for her." So John woke up Amber so she could sign the application. We had a few hiccups in getting both pictures posted. I guess both pictures did not post to the email correctly. But the lady was really good to work with and allowed us to try to submit it the next day. Then the pictures were posted on Facebook on Thanksgiving Point's website. They forgot to post one of Amber's pictures. So we had that minor hiccup. I didn't exactly understand how judging was going to work, but I knew she needed to get votes on Facebook. So I shared her pictures, my brother shared her pictures, and a few other people shared her pictures. I was a little disappointed when one of the other pictures had 118 votes and Amber had 40 votes. It was a good thing the pictures with the most votes then went to a panel of judges. From there the judges decided which photograph most embodied the vision of Thanksgiving Point. I thought judging was June 5th, but it was May 27th. I didn't check results until June 1st. I scrolled down to the youth category and didn't see her name. I was disappointed. I was just starting to tell John that I guess she didn't win at the same time I was scrolling back up. As I scrolled back up I saw her name. I not only saw it once, but there was her name twice. She won the first and second place prizes in her age category. Yay! I was so excited. I didn't think both pictures would win. But there it was in black and white.
So guess what we get to do for a year? Yep, we get to go to Thanksgiving Point for free. One of the prizes is an annual family pass. We get discounts to events and get into the museums and the gardens for free! I am so excited. We now have something to do this summer. Yay, yay, yay! Now here's my new challenge- Feed Amber's passion for photography without breaking the bank. My hesitation is that she is only 10. At the same time she has consistently shown she has talent for photography. She is happy behind a camera. Photography is quickly becoming the art form she prefers.
A couple of years ago Amber was really struggling with self esteem. She was having problems with friends, she was starting to dislike school, and she was starting to think she wasn't good at anything. She hated trying anything new because she didn't want to fail. That fear of failure was very real. As much as I hated seeing it in her, I understood it. There have been many times I have been stymied by this same fear. It seems my daughter is exactly like me in that respect.
So I tried to find things that I thought would help her self esteem. We put her in soccer so she could learn something new, get exercise, and hopefully find it was easy enough to succeed. For a minute it worked. She was excited to start something new. But then somebody made fun of her. She got scared of the ball hitting her in the face. Then all of sudden every little thing bothered her. She wasn't enjoying soccer. My dad decided to implement an incentive program. She would get money for every time she kicked the ball and for every goal she made. She never did make a goal but she made bank on kicking the ball. Still she didn't enjoy it. I was always stressed trying to get her ready for her games. She hated going to practice. She was not good at soccer. I think I put her in soccer because it was something I had enjoyed when I was young and I didn't really consider her when that is what we decided to use as her confidence booster. I started to really lose her. I didn't understand her. I could not figure out what she liked. We had tried dance and she hated it.
But she had started using a camera in 1st grade and entering pictures into the Reflections contest at school. She started winning at the school level but her pictures never went any further than that. When the opportunity came up for the photography contest at Thanksgiving Point came up I hesitated to tell her. But I talked with Cori and decided we would take Amber to the Tulip Festival and she could use Cori's camera. We headed off to the Tulip Festival. Cori wasn't there yet, so Amber started off taking pictures with my cell phone. Finally Cori got there with her camera. Amber just took off. She was snapping pictures constantly. She was taking pictures of things I didn't think were picture worthy. But I quickly learned to keep my mouth shut and just let her be. She was perfectly comfortable with the camera. She loved having it around her neck. She was a natural.
Then it came time to sort through the pictures. I was amazed at the beautiful photographs Amber captured. Then it came time to decide which pictures to submit. I definitely had my favorites which weren't always Amber's favorites. We narrowed it down to two pictures. But then I put off submitting the application. I thought we had a lot of time. Finally the deadline was here and it was 11 p.m. I had just climbed into bed. Then I thought, "Oh no, I forgot to submit her pictures." I didn't want to tell her I failed to submit her pictures so John found the application, printed it out, and woke up Amber long enough for her to sign the application. Then we emailed the application and the photo to the contest coordinator. We got it in on time. I think we got the pictures in by 11:30 p.m.
Then it was the waiting game. She had to get enough likes on Facebook so she could advance to the next round of judging with the actual judges. She had to get enough of the popular vote. So I shared her picture with my friends. My brother shared her picture and two or three other people shared her picture. I started to get discouraged when one of the other photos received more than 100 likes and Amber's had about 40. Ugh. I wanted to see her win but I didn't think she stood a chance at this point. I am so glad people liked her photo though. She did advance to the next round. From there it was up to the judges. Judging was on Memorial Day, but I failed to check the results until June 1st. I scrolled to the wrong division and didn't see her name. It wasn't until I scrolled back up that I happened to see her name. Both pictures won prizes. She won first place for one picture and second place for the other. I was so excited to see that.
The best part is that I now know what we get to do this summer. As part of the prize package she will be getting a family pass to Thanksgiving Point. We will get discounts and free admission to everything at Thanksgiving Point. This means we may not have to go to the Dinosaur museum on the really crazy busy days. We can go when we want to go and when I feel well enough to take the kids. We can also go any time throughout the year. Yay, yay, yay! Way to go Amber!
Not only has she excelled in photography, but she has shown great talent in theatre. Her class had the opportunity this year to write and perform an opera. The Children's theatre program at Utah State University helped them put together the opera. She practiced the songs at home, getting mad at her siblings for singing along. Then it came time to divvy out parts. She started getting discouraged because she didn't think she would get a major part even though she knew all the songs by heart. The day came to divvy up parts. She came home and said, "Guess what, I get to be the ghost!" Yep, that was one of the biggest parts. She was so excited. I was excited for her. She was always talking about her costume and what she was going to do. It was so fun to see her face light up every time she talked about the opera.
It came time for the performance. I wanted to enjoy the opera so I found a babysitter for two of the boys. The baby was easy to take with me. Amber wanted my grandparents to come and both sets did come. She was so excited to perform for people, especially those she knows. She did an amazing job. She was a good ghost of the clock. I think she has found something else she loves. She loves theatre. I need to find some classes or something so we can feed her interests.
I am so glad we have finally found something she likes. She has started to blossom under the opportunities. I have finally found something she is passionate about. I just need to foster this passion now. I welcome any suggestions on how to foster passion for photography and theatre without breaking the bank.
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