4-H Invitational Championship -  New Mexico
July 11-13, 2003
By Teresa Garner

We're home! Like Dorothy said ---- "There's no place like home!". The closer we came to Port Lavaca - the faster Dale drove. Fifteen hours straight - we left Raton 6 am and arrived home at 9 PM. I drove the first 9 hrs and then turned it over to Dale. TS Claudette had a lot to do with our speed to get home. Just before we arrived home - Dale received 3/10ths of an inch of rain so we are having to wait for the ground to dry before he can start cutting his grain. This is after he had already received almost 4" earlier in the week. Even though we don't want to wish bad luck on anyone - we hope Mexico receives the storm. Then to add insult to injury - we found that our A/C drain became plugged while we were gone and we have wet carpet. Nothing too bad - just enough for us to say (&^^*@&! - if you know what I mean.

But let me get to what you all want to hear about. We had a great trip and completely enjoyed the tournament. Our A teams did it again and brought the trophy home. The Recurve Team consisted of Andrea Garner, Ashley Page, Clint Johnson, and Matt Sheehan. Here are the results for Andrea.

FITA - 3rd Place Individual
- 2nd Place Team

Field - 3rd Place Individual
- 2nd Place Team

3D - 11th Place Individual
- 1st Place Team

Over-all - 3rd Place Individual
- 2nd Place Team

We are extremely proud of her - and the team. The compound team had some pretty tough competition. The compound team consisted of Mitchell Bludau, Ben Meith, James Page, and Hunter Hood. James did place 10th in the FITA with everyone else behind him several spots. They unfortunately did not place in the top ten after that.

One comment Andrea had made after the FITA round was - "Where is Mr. Stonebraker and his magnifier when you need him?" She did not like a couple of the judges calls but she was polite.

On our way to New Mexico - we took our time and went up to Oklahoma City. I know it sounds crazy but since we were not able to make the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Raton - Why not? We went to the site of the Oklahoma City Bombing and went threw the Memorial. If you have not seen this - it is worth the extra time. It was a real eye opener and it really showed Andrea on how quickly our lives can change. When we see these things on TV, we know they are real but without being at the actual site - they really don't effect our everyday lives. As parents - we know how it does effect our lives but to our children - it seems to be someone else's problem at the time. It all became very real for Andrea and she seems to be seeing things a lot differently since then.

When we stopped for the night - we ate dinner at an Italian Restaurant. The owner talked with us and after we told him what we had done that afternoon, he told us that he always tries to create a "moment" everyday. We must of looked at him like he was crazy because he explained. Here's his explanation. Today - everyone runs around not taking real time to enjoy what is around them. We are either on the phone - both in our cars and in our homes; we go from meeting to meeting; place to place etc but we don't take time to stop - really have a good conversation with the people around us - we act like we don't have time to "smell the roses". He stated that when he goes home - which about a hour drive from his restaurant - he takes a different route each night so he can create a "moment" that day. He will go into a corner store he has never been in or he will walk through a park or what ever seems to attract his attention that day. His explanation was so wonderful that we have made our own "moments" ever since.

We have several rolls of film to show all of you and stories to share. Hope to see you all real soon.

Teresa

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