As I was preparing two dozen sandwiches in our family's three-bedroom suite at the Kalahari Resort, the thought crossed my mind that I could document what Nationals week looks like from a mom's perspective. Why should the kids have all the fun recording their memories from such a monumental week? At the time, I was thinking that I would mainly focus on practical things: How do we feed everyone? How do we get people ready for various rounds of competition? What does it *really* look like for our family of eleven to attend the NBBC? You know, those "behind the scenes" type thing. I didn't realize that this would be the end of a long chapter for our family's participation in the NBBC.
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| NBBC Meal Prep Hack: make sandwiches ahead of time to grab on busy days. |
Our very first time going to NBBC was in 2015. Our oldest son Joshua was eight and our oldest daughter Hannah was seven. It was a long drive from Virginia to San Antonio, and it was a stressful week with six children. Whenever I met another mom with young children I asked questions. How are you feeding your family this week? How do you manage the long drive with young children? What does your day-to-day look like at home as you are helping children prepare for NBBC and also managing toddlers, babies, and the rest of life?
I distinctly remember meeting the *original* Mrs. Chew and asking her how she studied with her children. She said something that I could not fathom at the time: My sons study on their own now that they are older. !!! I could not imagine having children old enough to study on their own. When I saw the Senior competitors around I could not picture my own children being that age. But if you give it enough time kids have a tendency of growing up. And that is one of the things I kept thinking about this year as I heard of young adults who were aging out, moving onto college and new stages of life, and generally ceasing to be the little kids I remember from our early years.
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| The Chew Crew at NBBC 2015. |
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| The dining room table when we are doing school and Bible Bee. |
From my perspective as a mom, life has been very overwhelming in recent years. As we have added more children to our homeschool routine, more to the Bible Bee mix, and the age span has increased with older teens and preschoolers, it has been a challenge for my husband and I to keep up. In fact, we aren't keeping up most of the time. We are doing our best to be diligent each day, to be faithful in the little things, but I can't count the number of days my husband heard the long list of things that we did not get to that day—the things that fell through the cracks, the kids who were able to play more instead of getting their memorization done because I was caught up with other children, the household chores that were still needing attention. We were definitely at critical mass these past two years, and like every other season of life we were relying God's grace and strength each day.
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| Do anyone else's kids' MP cards look like this??? |
We also had many things that went *wrong* this fall. The summer was smoother, but after the Qualifying Test it felt like our family hit a brick wall. We experienced a car accident, major vehicle repairs (not associated with the car accident), and major home repairs. We also had a terrible illness go through our family during the month of October. Each of us was in bed for about a week and then another week or more of being extremely tired.
All throughout the summer and fall, I felt very stressed. I could see all of the things that we weren't doing or the things that weren't going well. I was managing some extra part-time work in addition to regular life, so I had much less time to prepare material for my younger kids, and less time in general to help the older ones. Our studying was not going how I had hoped that it would, and I knew something had to change in my attitude. During those weeks of our family being so sick, it felt as if the stress that had been winding up finally snapped. I finally let go of whatever I was hoping to accomplish with the kids, and we took things one day at a time. After that, I wasn't stressed at all. I was excited and just thankful that we had the time and opportunity to study together.
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| We tried to write down connections that we each found in our own studying. You can call them cross-references, if you like. ;) |
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| These cabinets serve as our pantry space, but they also provide a wonderful canvas to post things that we are studying for school and Bible Bee. Please don't pay too much attention to my spelling mistakes on the map of Asia Minor. Permanent marker does not leave much room for correcting mistakes! |
With so many contestants in our family in recent years, my husband and I have been unable to hear all of the kids recite their passages as much as they need. They pair up with each other with varying results. Last year, Joshua and Hannah heard each other recite every day. I don't think I heard either of them recite at all until Senior Semi-Finals. But this year, Joshua was juggling many hours of work and some other responsibilities, so he was not always available to recite with Hannah. During the last month before NBBC, I offered to make some time in my schedule to hear her, and I am so glad that I did! I didn't realize at the time, but those were the last weeks that I would hear her recite NBBC passages.
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| The customary photo with the last MP for each child to memorize. Sadly, I did not get photos of the oldest three kids this year. :( |
I don't have the time to go into what our days look like as we study for NBBC (perhaps in another post I can address that), but I will say that there is a lot of time spent hearing kids recite. It essentially becomes a part-time job to hear everyone, and even then they still have to recite for each other if they want to get the practice that they need. We try to study together when we can. It doesn't always work out very well because of the age differences, but it is a priority to make time for group study.
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| The average stack of MPs to hear each day. Not pictured: the stacks of passages that the kids recite for each other and for Mr. Chew. |
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| Hannah running some RA drills with the kids while I was feeling unwell. |
As the week of NBBC grew closer, I started updating my planning documents. A number of years ago I created a Google document with our packing lists. Each year I pull it up and make changes as needed. In the last two years I finally had the mental capacity to take some notes from the week—the foods we ate (including quantities), the schedule that worked to make sure everyone was ready when they needed to be, and even a note on my phone with photos of each of the kids' stage outfits and the girls' hairstyles. These documents help me immensely each year. One thing I took note of this year was our review schedule in the days that we are at the event.
I won't go into the details of our drive. It was long and the little kids were amazing, going for long stretches without getting out of the car. My husband decided to drive the longest stretch on the first day (about 13 hours, I think) so that our second day would be shorter. We did this on both legs of the trip and it worked out very well. It was nice to arrive in Sandusky early in the day. We picked up grocery orders and made some dinner before going to bed at a reasonable time. Coming home it also meant that we were able to unpack and even get all of our laundry done before the end of the day!
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| Loaded and ready for the LONG drive to Ohio! |
We didn't spend much time out and about on the first day. I had the privilege of tagging along with Hannah to have her senior portraits done. It was a special time and the photos were amazing! Back in the hotel, Mr. Chew was overseeing all of the review and recitation. He also took the kids down to packet pickup and helped Daniel walk around to complete the scavenger hunt. I spent the afternoon doing the girls' hair.
While I'm thinking of it, here is our menu from the week:
BREAKFAST—serve yourself (yogurt, fruit bars, freeze-dried oatmeal and eggs)LUNCH—sandwiches (which I made ahead), fruit, veggies, chips
DINNER—hamburgers and fries, chicken tenders and salad, freeze-dried meals, leftovers
We had a record number of contestants from our family this year. Eight out of our nine children qualified for NBBC. It was Joshua's final year and Susanna's very first year. Going to the Opening Ceremony with only one child and without a stroller or diaper bag felt very strange!
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| Rachel, Abby, Joshua, Hannah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Susanna, and Sarah ready for the Opening Ceremony. |
We tried to go to bed early the first night because we were assigned the first orals group. I don't know about other parents, but I never seem to sleep well at Nationals. I am excited and also have a million things that I need to prepare for the next morning. The first night I had four hours of sleep! Ugh...
I started waking up Sarah and Susanna just before 6:00 am on Orals morning. We got everyone ready and some of them had something to eat before heading down with my husband. Because we have always had children who are too young to sit in the orals rooms, we started alternating years. This year it was Mr. Chew's turn, which seemed fitting. He was the one who heard Joshua and Hannah in our very first year, and he was there to hear them in their last. Our youngest, Gabe, and I hung out and watched some of his favorite Bible videos.
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| Ready to GO! Note: If any NBB people happen to see this, can I plead for the Group B time slot? The kids love 7:00 am, but their dad and mom do not. Edited to Add: I must draw attention to Abby's facial expression. LOL! |
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| Praying together before heading to Orals. |
I don't remember the order of things, but we had a special breakfast that morning to celebrate having finished orals. We also went to an interview, where I was mostly distracted by how squirmy Gabe and Susanna were! I enjoyed hearing an interview with Mr. and Mrs. Chen and Theodore, and I also appreciated what my husband and older kids had to share.
Doing NBBC year in and year out takes a lot of commitment, and hearing the stories of other families and their dedication to God's Word is always encouraging. We don't have a special situation that enables us to have better attitudes, to want to study all of the time, or to even be any good at it. But we feel like the Lord wants us to persevere, so we have continued each year in faith. We make the sacrifices and prioritize studying and memorizing the Bible because it is THE NUMBER ONE goal in our parenting. We want our kids to know the Word. We want them to experience God's grace and power, and to witness His truth being worked out in their lives. It all begins with knowing what God reveals in the Bible about Himself and His purposes for creation. NBBC has played a huge part in our pursuit of the Word, and we are thankful!
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| Post-Orals breakfast. Can you see the relief? Edited to Add: Again, I must draw attention to Abby's expression. Truly priceless! |
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| Fishing to pass the time. |
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| Studying to pass the time. |
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| Reviewing to pass the time. |
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| Looking pretty cool while reviewing MPs to pass the time. |
The wait for Semi-Finals announcements always feels long. The kids reviewed their memory passages in case any of them were to advance. We played games and watched a movie. Mr. Chew and the boys went fishing (a favorite pastime). My very close friend and her daughter stopped by to visit for a while. We have been emailing for many years, since the girls were Primaries, and we hadn't seen each other in four years. It was so good to see each other in person!
This year we had three kids advance to Semi-Finals. I was sitting next to seven-year-old Susanna and she was wired! She was kicking her legs very fast and very hard, just buzzing with excitement. To hear her name called as the very first Primary Semi-Finalist, and to see her race up onstage was so fun! She and Sarah and Gabe (our youngest three kids) play Bible Bee year-round. They call each other up onstage (the fireplace) and do their best imitations of E.Z. Having her name called by E.Z. for REAL was like a dream come true for her.
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| Can we just acknowledge how adorable the Primaries are? |
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| Senior Semi-Finalists THEN. NBBC 2017. |
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| Senior Semi-Finalists NOW. NBBC 2025. |
There was definitely disappointment for some of our kids, but I think we are all learning that it is just part of competition. You never know how things will go or what the Lord wants for you each year. There are things to learn when we succeed and things to learn when we don't. Either way, there is opportunity to learn to trust God more and to be sanctified by His Spirit working in us. Over the years, I have seen time and time again situations when I thought one of our kids should have advanced and instead they were disappointed. It stings in the moment, but in the long-run it can actually develop character...if we allow God to do that!
It was my turn to stay for Semi-Finals training, and Mr. Chew was the one leading "the walk of shame." I actually debated with myself about including this, because I don't want it to be taken the wrong way. Years ago, Joshua jokingly dubbed the walk back to the hotel room from Semi-Finalist announcements "the walk of shame." Obviously, there is no shame in not advancing, but the name stuck because we found it funny!
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| Behind the scenes of Hannah's senior portraits. Check out Lauren Olivia Creations! She did a phenomenal job! |
As a word of comfort to parents of kids who do get very upset about not advancing...we understand! Our kids get it, too! We aren't dealing with the disappointment perfectly all of the time (or even most of the time), but we are encouraging our kids to remember why we work so hard at Bible Bee—it isn't for the earthly success. And, as I said before, disappointment is often the grounds for greater growth than success. There is a time for tears and the emotions that come along with feeling let down, and then there is the opportunity to trust the Lord and to keep trucking along through the week, asking the Lord to give us a good attitude. It's all part of learning and growing!
The night before Semi-Finals, Susanna went to sleep after crying about being afraid of going on stage. Our eight-year-old daughter Sarah also fell asleep crying because she was disappointed she missed the opportunity to be in Semi-Finals. My husband and I said to each other that the Lord obviously knows what each of them needed to be pushed to trust Him more. It can look like success is all sunshine and roses, but it is also a testing ground. When we are in an uncomfortable situation, where is our hope? Is it in ourselves? Or is it in God? Both failure and success can reveal this.
I went to bed feeling emotional. Would Susanna be okay in the morning? I didn't know...and I didn't sleep very well as a result. It turns out that I have the same lessons to learn as the kids! LOL!
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| Susanna warming up before Primary Semi-Finals. |
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| I think this was the last time I heard Hannah recite her NBBC memory passages. |
The morning of Semi-Finals I woke Susanna up around 6:00 am. This is early, but I made a note that if we have kids advance in Primaries again, we need to be up earlier. It takes a bit of time to wake up. Susanna mentioned how tired she was and how she wanted to keep sleeping. She got dressed and I fixed her hair while she at breakfast. We reviewed a handful of passages (most of which she selected herself), but in hindsight there are others we needed to warmup on. Oh, well...
It was really fun to see her walk out on stage, especially knowing that the Lord gave her the courage to do what she was afraid of! She told me that night before bed that Angel Martinez prayed for her that first time she went out to recite. So neat! She made it past round one, but made a mistake in round two. I knew her mistake and I could tell that she knew it. We were very proud of her for staying calm and finishing her passage well. She did a great job and she even had fun!
We went back to our rooms to help Hannah and Abby get ready for Senior Semi-Finals. Mr. Chew heard Abby recite and I listened to Hannah. I also braided a lot of hair! This is really how I spend the week at Nationals—fixing the girls' hair! This year I had a couple of new tools in my arsenal. If you need to tame flyaways, check out hair mascara (if that is what it's called!), combined with a bit of hair oil it is magic!
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| These girls have all grown so much since they met in 2017! |
I am always nervous during Semi-Finals. I want the kids to do well, but you just never know how it will go. I was on the edge of my seat for the Primaries until Susanna made her mistake. Then I wasn't nervous at all. Why? Because I knew the results! So much of feeling nervous is not knowing what will happen. And so much of feeling nervous about not knowing what will happen is not fully trusting the Lord. It does always come down to that.
We didn't catch Abby's mistake in the first round, but my husband did tell me that the passage she was asked was the ONE passage she was hoping she would not get. She had a lot of fun this year working on improving her recitation style, and Numbers 28 was probably the most boring passage she could think of. Again, God knows these things and I think He does have a sense of humor.
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| Susanna, 7, and Sarah, 8. |
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| Plank challenge. |
We could tell which clicker questions Hannah got right by watching her facial expressions. We were pretty certain that she was partly guessing on some, based on her reactions. For his part, Mr. Chew knew many of the answers. For mine...let's just say that the kids surpass my Bible knowledge by a long shot! We were super excited for Hannah and each of the other Senior Finalists. We have seen most of those kids grow up over the years and it was amazing to see them all together.
Finals day included taking the younger four kids down to cheer on their friends in Primary Finals, Mr. Chew hearing Hannah recite some passages, wrangling wiry little kids, boys going fishing, watching Rachel recite with the other Perfect Oralists before Junior Finals, trying to feed the masses, and...you guessed it! Fixing Hannah's hair. :) I am pretty biased, but I think she looked stunning!
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| All grown up! |
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| They really do grow up fast! |
Watching Hannah come out on stage for her first passage I was thinking back to her very first time advancing to Semi-Finals. She was a little eight-year-old on a massive stage, and I had no idea how she would do under the pressure. Like so many things, she breezed through (seemingly). I cried, unashamedly, each time she recited, not because I knew (or even thought) it was her last time to recite on the NBBC stage, but because I was marveling at how the Lord has worked in her life, especially during this Bible Bee season. You can read her recap to know more of that story, but having a sideline view through it all, and remembering how we started this Bible Bee journey ten years ago had me pretty emotional.
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| Ten years of Bible Bee. |
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| Primary Semi-Finalists NBBC 2016. |
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| Part of the Chew Crew waiting for Senior Finals. Apparently we cheered so loudly that our friends heard us on the livestream. :) |
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| Joshua, 18, and Gabe, 5. Where does the time go??? |
Throughout the season, and particularly during the week at NBBC, Mr. Chew and I had been praying that we and our kids would be carried along by the Spirit. I didn't imagine that it would end up with Hannah winning, and that wasn't ever the main point. The reason we have stuck with Bible Bee is because we see how God grows us and our children year in and year out. We see His Word in action—sharper than any two-edged sword, sanctifying us by His Truth.
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| NBBC 2016. |
There are so many points in time when I have wondered if we should be pushing so hard in Bible Bee. Maybe it isn't worth it. Maybe we can grow this much without having to give up so many things, or face so many bad days. (And we have A LOT of bad days!) But each year, we show up to Nationals and we leave feeling like we need to keep pushing. We can't give up. We really must persevere. It isn't for success. It isn't for competition. It is because Bible Bee gives us the motivation to prioritize the study and memorization of God's Word in a way that we want to, but never would if not for the "pressure" of the competition. That pressure is not about placements, it is about making sure that we are putting God and His Word as our top priority, without other activities or pursuits getting in the way.
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| Primaries then (NBBC 2017), and Seniors now (NBBC 2025). |
That is our goal in raising our family, and the Lord has chosen to use the National Bible Bee as the vehicle for that to happen.
My husband and I had a sense that the 2025 Bible Bee season was the end of something old and the beginning of something new. We had no idea that it would be the end of what feels like the first part of our journey. Ten years, eleven competitions, countless hours studying together and hearing our kids recite passages...it has not been pleasant all of the time. It has not been easy. It has stretched each of us immensely. We have seen great growth come out of these years dedicated to preparing for NBBC. It has been worth it.
What will next year look like? I don't know, but I am excited to see what God does! (Edited to Add: We will certainly miss having Joshua and Hannah to study with us, but we are also excited to see where God leads them in a new stage of their lives.)
The morning we left Sandusky, our van would not start. A couple of Joshua's friends came with a jumpstart battery, but not before Mr. Rice gave us a jump. Thank you, Mr. Rice!
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| Friends. :) |
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| The post-NBBC nap. |
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| What the back of our van looks like on the Bible Bee trip. |
Our trip home was quiet. It always is. The kids are exhausted and typically sleep most of the time. If they aren't sleeping, they are processing the week and the year that led up to it. We measure our years in Bible Bee time now. As we drove home through the Peppermint Forest, Gumdrop Mountains, and the Molasses Swamp, we finally made it back to the Candy Castle here in Sugar Candy Land, Texas. We are grateful that the Lord enabled us one more year.
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| Getting some Dutch Blitz in as we manage the PBBWS. |
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