Our shoot is history

What a weekend it was for our family!!!!!!!! It would be impossible to do it justice in one post so I imagine that I'll keep writing about it for awhile yet, as things come to mind. First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who prayed for us to have good weather. It didn't exactly turn out as we planned but the weather only dimmed our enthusiasm for a few hours on Saturday. The Lord brought inside blessings to our fellowship, after the shoot on Sabbath, that would not have happened had the weather been lovely so that we could play together outside. I'm sure that it could safely be said that He "Knew what He was doing." :)

I'm going to make this very brief as I've gotten weary trying to figure out this computer right now. I want to show this picture, though, as it is of Andrew receiving his Rifleman badge from his "Best friend," Jonathan who reached the Rifleman rank in May. Andrew was the only one of the 12 shooters who shot to the level of the "Rifleman" requirements this weekend. One must keep in mind, though, that this was his second Appleseed Shoot.

Here are the results for the rest of our family's shooting. Cora and Jacob both qualified as "MARKSMEN," which is the first level of recognition with the Appleseed program. Robert and I both qualified as "SHARPSHOOTERS" which is the second level. Andrew persevered until well after the shoot bosses left and made the prize rank of RIFLEMAN!!! I am so proud of him!!!

Andrew has been saying for weeks, "I AM going to shoot at the Rifleman level at our shoot!" He just plain old made up his mind. Little things like rain; and a new rifle to try to figure out which kept jamming on him; and Alex and Kyle leaving did not dissuade him from his goal.

Alex could see this and printed the name, ANDREW, on the back of a rifleman badge before he left. He then handed it to Jonathan to give to Andrew WHEN Andrew made a score of 210 or better on his Army Qualification Test (AQT). Andrew scored 211 about 5:30 yesterday afternoon. He's been walking tall ever since!!!!!!!

There's just something about setting a goal for yourself; working as hard as you can to achieve it; and then walking away with the prize PLUS the knowledge that you didn't quit until you succeeded. Andrew is the winner that he studied about last year in school when we listened to the tape series, THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WINNING. I think I'll keep listening to it myself when I have a spare minute. :) Maybe I'll work up the courage to say, like Andrew did since August, "Next shoot, I'M GOING TO MAKE RIFLEMAN!!!!!!!!!!" In the meantime, my main focus is in thinking this one thought over and over, "NEXT MONTH AFTER I TEST, I'M GOING TO BE A CERTIFIED BODYTALK PRACTITIONER." Now to the work which will make it happen. :)

More later,

Dawn--the Sharp Shooter