What a BLESSING:)

I know that this is a past thing and I've briefly mentioned it in an earlier blog entry, but I always want to remember just how great the Lord has blessed me. Back in September 2008 I noticed that Dr. Pepper had a Scholarship Sweepstakes going on, and even though I entered it thinking that I had nothing to loose and that something like me winning this thing would never happen... well, after entering their Sweepstakes, during the second week in November I get a phone call, and yes, it was this guy from Dr. Pepper telling me that I was 1 of 6 contestants selected for a chance at winning a $100,000 Scholarship during the half-time show. The event would then fall during the SEC Championship game on December 6, 2008 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. I was shocked with the news, yet very excited. He told me that I would be guaranteed a $5,000 Scholarship just by going through with the half-time show. I thought that this was too good to be true, and when I told my parents about it they told me that I shouldn't go through with it... mainly because they thought that it was probably one of those gimmick things. After Dr. Pepper sent me papers telling me exactly what to expect I knew then that this was no gimmick, and that I would be preparing myself for a trip to Atlanta come December 4th-7th.

Well, after talking with this man several times during the weeks to follow I had to turn in a lot of paper work, and if I didn't get it in to them by the deadline then I would have to forfeit my spot. Shoot, I was on the ball with this one. I turned everything in just has I was supposed to. During the week of Thanksgiving my dad set me up a barrel in our back yard, which was a great target for practicing. I really didn't get to practice has much as I would have liked due to my full-time job and full-time semester in College.

The week that I was to leave I had to keep busy. I needed to make sure that I didn't leave my store (that I help manage) in a mess, and that the walls were very appealing to our customers. This game really didn't fall at the right time for me because my full-time semester in College was coming to an end, in fact Wednesday the 3rd was our last day. All my finals would fall on the Monday after I returned home from Atlanta, so yeah, that was not a good thing. I had 3 A's and a B before finals, and after the finals I ended up with just an A and 3 B's (I was highly upset with myself on that one). But back to my testimony.

Time flew within this time and before I knew it, it was time for my sister-in-law and I to fly out of Savannah to Atlanta for an all expense paid trip. Dr. Pepper seriously treated us WONDERFULLY the entire trip. As a matter of fact, my sister-in-law's word for that weekend was "highfalutin." Once our plane arrived in Atlanta we had to look for a man holding a Dr. Pepper sign (has he would assist us getting our baggage). Once we found our bag we then awaited our ride to the hotel, which was one of those airport limos-Can we say NICE?! Dr. Pepper had us staying in the Omni Inn Hotel right there in Downtown Atlanta.

I felt like a celebrity the entire weekend I must say. When we arrived at the Hotel, before I could open my own door, there was two ladies awaiting to assist me into the Hotel. These ladies were part of the Dr. Pepper Public Relations team, and they were by far the nicest people I have ever met (they all were). They started walking me through the Hotel up to the lobby to check in, and gave me almost everything I would need for the weekend. Before my sister-in-law and I departed these ladies we were told to meet in the lobby at 5:30. While we were waiting we just chilled in our room. When my sister-in-law and I thought that it couldn't get any better there we heard a knock on the door. It was a bellboy bringing us "house warming" gifts (I guess you can call it that). I got a SEC Championship rolling cooler, a Dr. Pepper sweater blanket, two collectible Dr. Pepper glasses, a Dr. Pepper hoodie, and a super nice Dr. Pepper messenger bag. Not soon after we headed down to the lobby where we would meet and introduce ourselves to a man with the Dr. Pepper PR team, the other contestant, the alternate, and their guests. Altogether there was 9 of us. We then all headed out together for the contestant dinner at Ruth's Cris Steakhouse. The restaurant was awesome, and was actually very elegant looking (not to mention, it was quiet pricey too).

The next day, which was Friday, Dr. Pepper had a nice little agenda for us. We were going to be busy pretty much the entire day, and yes, busy being treated like royalty.:) That morning my sister-in-law and I order room service (something that neither one of us ever did). Dr. Pepper gave us each a $25 card for breakfast. Later we meet down in the Conference area of the Hotel for a contestant meeting at 12pm. At the meeting they provided us with lunch, and we discussed more in detail what the rest of the day would look like. They gave us Dr. Pepper jerseys and an official football (just like the one we would be using at the game). We met a few more people with Dr. Pepper, and the girls that would be our personal team Dr. Pepper cheerleaders, oh and not to mention, we met our hired photographers that would follow us around and snap all kinds of shots. See what I mean-felt like a walking celebrity!:) I'm telling you, they had me on cloud nine that entire weekend; it was AWESOME! After the meeting we would all then leave together and shuttle over to the Georgia Dome where we would take part in a Pre-game tie breaker.

Here I am now at the Georgia Dome walking through the tunnel that leads up to the field. Making that transition from concrete to the grassy-soft turf, and standing there on the field taking it all in was quiet over-whelming (even though the stadium was empty). To the left of us as we entered the stadium sitting at the goal line was the giant Dr. Pepper can replica (our targets), and at the five yard line was two things with five footballs in each. Not long after our arrival at the Georgia Dome it was time to do some warming up. They gave us the opportunity to practice throwing into that target. It was cool just seeing how advanced this target was compared to the one that I practice throwing through at my house. Afterwards, we then was timed and did our actual tie breaker. Now, the whole concept to this is to throw ten footballs into this Dr. Pepper can replica within thirty seconds. Whoever is more successful in the actual game then wins the Scholarship (no strings attached). So, now that you know the concept here is how the tie breaker went. The other contestant and I squared off. I threw 8 out of 9 footballs in successfully, and she threw 3 out of 10 footballs in successfully. In the event that one of us didn't go through during the game on Saturday the other contestant squared off with our alternate. The first time they tied, and the second time the alternate got 5 out of 10 and the other contestant got 4 out of 10. Therefore, they result back to the contestants first throw-off against me since the alternate beat her. They did this tie breaker Friday in the event of a tie in Saturday's half-time show. If there would have been a tie on Saturday we would have done a tie breaker on TV, but that time we would only be given five footballs. If we tied the second time then I would have won because they would then result back to the Friday tie breaker. Once the tie breaker was over they wouldn't let us throw through the target anymore, so the other contestant, the alternate, and myself formed a triangle and practiced throwing the football to each other while we waited on the CBS commentators to arrive. When they arrived the other contestant and I went over to meet them. They took us through a trial run of how we would come and go during the actual game. Since I won the tie breaker earlier, during our "interview" I was the center of attention. They acted as if I had already won the Scholarship.

The next event of the evening was Fanfare. Fanfare was awesome. Some random people that my sister-in-law and I talked to told us that a lot of people go to Fanfare rather than the game. I'm not too sure why they think Fanfare is better, but to each is own... I guess they just haven't been to a real Championship game because the game was lots of fun. After Fanfare we went back to the Hotel, and later that evening we met up with the other contestant and her boyfriend. We walked from the Hotel through Centennial Park to the Welcome Reception hosted by Dr. Pepper at the Georgia Aquarium. The Welcome Reception was awesome!

It's Saturday, the BIG DAY! Today I have the chance to win a $100,000 Dr. Pepper Scholarship. It's by far the best feeling someone could ever have, and I'm fortunate to be the one experiencing something with such high value. That morning my sister-in-law and I went down to Centennial Park and practiced throwing the football. We practiced for quiet some time before heading back up to the room. A little after 11am that day we headed off to a Pre-game party where the other contestant and I would be introduced in front of the other guests as the one's taking part in the televised half-time show. We all departed at 3pm and headed over to the Georgia Dome.

When we arrived at the Georgia Dome the PR crew showed us to our seats, which were quiet appealing. They had us seating round the 20 yard line about 25 seats up from the field. The game like I said was lots of fun watching the Alabama Crimson Tide play the Florida Gators. I'm not a fan of either team, but during that game I was all about some ROLL TIDE. I acquired all kinds of fans during the game before we went down to the field, in fact we left our seats at the end of the first quarter and watched the second quarter of the game down on the field. At the half-time break Bama was on top. The whole process from the teams exiting the field to the Dr. Pepper setup crew bringing in all the supplies needed for the event went pretty fast. Standing in the middle of the field all of the Nation and Canada got their first look at us as the CBS Sports Commentator interviews us before the throw-off. As we get into position she begins to count us down, and there we went. The other contestant was throwing her balls quicker than I was as she ran out before I did. There was about five seconds remaining and the score was 5 to 5, and then I grabbed my last ball and threw with two seconds remaining...3-2-1... it went in! Unaware that I won, I awaited on the official to motion the winner and he motioned right. I had WON! I went over and hugged the other contestant and then we headed over to where Mrs. Wolfson was standing. They brought out my check and presented it to me a live TV.

The Lord is so AMAZING!! He truly did BLESS me on December 6, 2008. I had won a $100,000 Scholarship. Many people said afterwards that I was lucky, but I was the first to correct them, "No, I AM blessed!" The Lord definitely does have bigger and better plans for me, and I am very grateful for His unconditional love for me!

**This may come has a shocker because everyone knows me as this quiet-shy girl, but--I won that Scholarship in front of 75,892 fans that day in the Georgia Dome, and I wasn't nervous at all. I used to HATE getting up in front of people like that, but being down there in the center of attention... it didn't bother me one bit!** Thank you God for this incredible opportunity, and for blessing me! I now believe that good things DO happen for good people.