Thankful Thursday!

Wow, time has flown by since the last time that I did Thankful Thursday! I have so much to be thankful for!

A week ago last Wednesday I received a phone call from a producer at KMVT television. He told me that I had been selected from a drawing at McDonalds to be in the American Idol Finale. I was skeptical because I had never entered my name in a drawing. He went on to explain to me that someone had entered my name and I was invited to come to the KMVT studio on Friday morning at 6:20. He also told me that there were eight contestants in all and it would be a trivia contest. I told him thank you and hung up. I then started pondering if I wanted to go and take a risk of making a fool of myself on television.

That evening I prayed about it and the Lord reminded me, "Remember when about three or four weeks ago when you were watching American Idol and Ryan Seacrest advertised a contest for American Idol Finale tickets?" I did remember.

I was laying in my bed watching American Idol all alone. I saw the commercial and said, "Lord, I would like to win that!" And then I finished watching the show without ever thinking about it again until when the Lord reminded me. I then made a decision that if this was a way that the Lord was trying to bless me or give me the desires of my heart then I would do my part. I was at our prospective new church building with some friends and I told Sarah of what the Lord just reminded me of. She looked at me and kind of laughed. I get that a lot.

So Thursday I did some American Idol Trivia research and made myself up three study sheets. The whole time I was studying I was telling the Lord, "God, please help me not to look like a fool." I was nervous! Finally 4:30 in the morning came and I jumped up and reviewed my notes, jumped in the shower and got ready. I left our house at 5:15 am and drove to Twin Falls. I arrived in the television studio at 5:50 am and studied some more! Finally at about 6:15 I walked into the studio. I visited with a nice woman while I was watching Rise and Shine being shot live. Pretty soon I was shown to the room where the other contestants were waiting. There were four of us that showed up! We visited and I met three really nice people, well, four if you count Clarence's daughter. 

The producer came in and explained that they had decided against the trivia game because it appeared that the others were scared off by the idea of trivia. I whispered a word of thanks to the Lord. Then He said that they hadn't decided exactly how but they were going to give us a bag of American Idol Goodies and one bag would hold the winning ticket! He left and I told the Lord, "God, could you please just have them hand us the bags or draw a number? You know how I second guess myself so I want it totally out of my control." Soon the producer came back and said that they had mixed up the bags and they would just hand them directly to us at random. Thank You Lord!

It was time. We all lined up on the blue taped line in front of the cameras. Nick handed us the bags and then they counted to three. One, two, three...I opened my bag and felt around. A marker flew out and I kept digging and then I felt it...a big laminated ticket! I WON! They shoved a microphone in front of my face and I said, "I won! Thank You Jesus and Kaylin! I'm going to Hollywood!" I was so excited.

I had never gave that whispered whim another thought but the Lord heard me. He arranged this whole event in order to bless me! It was my sweet daughter-in-love that had entered my name into McDonalds! She later told me, "I was standing there waiting and saw the box and thought I will enter mom!" Thank You Jesus! I am so blessed.

The KMVT staff was so awesome. They told me that I had "great energy." Smile. I know the source of my "great energy." I should also thanks to the Kyle family and Fox 14 for sponsoring the trip.  I am so grateful. My husband and I will be going to Hollywood in May!

Thank You Jesus!

Shanin