A Weekend of Contrast

My last post casually mentioned our family reunion. I had requests in my sparse comments for some juicy reunion stories. I thought about the reunion and the funny things that happened -- it is possible you might enjoy hearing about my slightly eccentric Uncle Alfie, who thought he was sitting next to Jenna Fischer at the black jack table. And then there's my rather boastful Cousin Fred, who accidently bumped an obnoxious kid (still not sure if it was a distant relative or not) into the pool. And who could forget my prim little Aunt Edna who started choking on a piece of sausage during one of the skits and had to have the Heimlich Manuever performed on her as she was turning blue? But since I don't have an Uncle Alfie, Cousin Fred, or even an Aunt Edna, I won't tell those stories. All that to say that though we Clark's are a colorful bunch, this reunion produced no great blogging stories. But there was a ping-pong tournament...anyone want to hear about who won that?

This past weekend we were on the road again, this time to a debate tournament at Bethany University in Scott's Valley. Catie & Michelle each participated with their respective partners, Tim & Kayla. The resolution for NCFCA team policy debate this year is: Resolved, that the United States should significantly reform or abolish the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). After loading up the car and taking off at 4:00 a.m., our young ladies began their first debate at 8:30 a.m. and ended around dinner time. It is quite an academic workout and I am very proud of them for being a part of it. Although we try to stress that how you evaluate your performance should not depend upon whether or not the judges vote for you, I have to admit it's so much easier to feel good when your ballots come back with positive decisions. We have definitely experienced it both ways and I'm thankful to say that this particular tournament yielded some encouraging results. Michelle was awarded the 9th place speaker out of the 32 novices participating. She & her partner were so pleased to have won two of their four rounds. Catie & Tim were likewise happy to have won three out of their five rounds in the varsity track. Our entire club did very well so there was much to celebrate for everyone--one of our teams, Ben & Jeana, took top honors, each earning a $1000 scholarship to Bethany. Like I said, there was much to celebrate.

One of the parts I enjoy about debate is the lofty feel one gets being a part of such a cerebral pursuit, surrounded by teens dressed in suits and speaking like well-polished lawyers. (We haven't quite achieved that yet-- but we're still proud of those cute young ladies!) Anyway, there's a certain image that one likes to cultivate when one is a debating family. Which is why I had to laugh at us this past weekend. Granted, our girls did look the part, but I do believe we were the only family who toted our trailer, our dog, and our kitten, to the debate tournament.

It seemed like a lot of work heading down the morning of, but that evening it felt heavenly to leave the awards ceremony and drive to our comfy trailer a mere three minutes away. We then enjoyed a rousing game of 31 and amused ourselves with the antics of our two adorable pets and our son who, in an attempt to stay awake during debate rounds, had consumed way too much Mountain Dew.

I'm having trouble adding photos to this post, but once I do it will include some cute ones of the pets. I have so many pictures now of the two of them -- they are such buddies -- that I'm considering making a photo calendar for my sister's Christmas present. She's a real animal lover and will have a special appreciation for such a unique gift!

Anyhoo, we praise God for our wonderful weekend -- from the lofty discussions of NATO reform to the hillarious antics of our punch drunk boy, it was a great addition to our family memories.