General Conference

Chance was asked if he would like to sing in General Conference with a group of children from our area. What an awesome opportunity! They chose eight kids from our ward to participate, with approximately 350 children altogether. However, the immediate problem we foresaw was a conflict with football. To play football, you must dedicate yourself to practices every day, with games every Saturday. General Conference practices were every Sunday, with a few practices on Saturdays. Chance wanted to participate in the choir, but was torn between missing games on Saturdays. Shawn and I ensured that Chance made this decision himself, because we did NOT want to be responsible for him being miserable on the days where the choir practices conflicted with football! We completely removed ourselves from the decision making process, as we did not care either way, and actually wanted him to be able to play football because we knew how much he loved it. We reassured him that we truly did not care what he decided, and that we would be happy with either choice. After careful consideration, Chance decided he would be willing to miss a few football games in order to have this amazing opportunity. After making the decision to be part of the choir, we received the choir schedule. It turned out that Chance would be able to play in every game with the exception of his last one, which was the same day as the conference performance. It turns out he made a great decision. Chance has not complained once about attending the practices, which last two hours each and require the kids to sit completely still and sing. The kids were told not to be nervous, because there were only about 7 million people who would be listening to them!! Augh!! I attended the dress rehearsal at the Conference Center and took a few pictures.

Emma Longhurst * Amanda Turner * Allison Lippert * Mikell Manning

Oskar Petersen * Anderson Clements * Seth Adams * Streamer Redd

We were offered one ticket per family through the choir to see the performance. We decided to stay home and watch conference on TV with Hannah and West. An attorney I work with, Steve Bednar, offered us some of Elder David Bednar's conference tickets because Elder Bednar is speaking in the same session as the children's choir, but Steve was then later told that the tickets could only be used by Elder Bednar's family members. The tickets were on the 7th row of the conference center, which probably would have been the only place we could have sat and actually had a good view of Chance! Another attorney I worked with who was called to the Seventy, Elder LeGrand R. Curtis, Jr., is speaking in the same session.

I am watching the conference session right now from the comfort of my own home. I am feeling so emotional as I see the children sing! I have seen Chance's cute little face a few times. The kids look and sound absolutely beautiful. I am so proud of all of them, and I hope Chance will remember this experience throughout his life.