The Rest of Tournament Week!

With the speech and debate tournament behind us, we are slowly getting back in to normal mode (at least I like to say that;  it's really not very true and some of us are still a wee bit grumpety. ).  These tournaments take a lot out of us, that's for sure.  Lots of late nights, early mornings, nervous stomachs, hard work, and socializing. But we have some great friends there, and the boys really had a good week. Now it's time for a little break before our next tournament at the end of this month!

Sammy, and Another Cool Friend, Enjoying a Break

Danny and His Friend Rae, From South Dakota

Nervous??

Joey, Watching Somebody Speak, and Looking a Bit Weary.
Or Bored. I Can't Tell.

Sam

Such a Handsome, Thoughtful Man.
Joey ended up moving on to semi-finals in apologetics (not an easy task).
He loves God and His Word.
I can't seem to find the picture of his semi-finalists group, but we are really proud of him.  

After 4 very full days of competition, we eagerly awaited the awards ceremony.
Sammy had been surprised that he even broke to semi-finals with his speech on Friendship.
He found out later that he broke to finals (the top 8).  Here he is, holding his
FIRST PLACE trophy.  Yes, FIRST PLACE!  The crowd went wild when his name
was announced.  I was crying.  Sam was crying.  It really was a very memorable
night.  

Danny and our Pastor's son, Sam, did an excellent job on their Duo.
Their piece was The 3 Little Pigs in Shakespearean language.  
Here they are, holding their FIRST PLACE trophies!

And here is Danny, after he placed third overall in Storytelling.  He told a piece of
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, complete with accents.  He did very well.  Lots of late-night practice with his younger siblings over the years, telling them 'just one more story!'.