For the last five years, Noah has competed in speech and debate with NCFCA. It has been such a time of growth for him. He's never been that into sports (though he likes ultimate frisbee and climbing!), so this has turned out to be his sport. And like in all sports, you have to learn how to both win and lose with grace. He has had opportunity to do both, and has had the privilege of competing at Nationals the last two years.
This year, his last, he decided to focus on just having fun (I think a lot of seniors ascribe to that plan). He had fun, and it showed! He did an After Dinner Speech on procrastination that won 1st in Memphis, and he had an Original Interp on the Game of Life that won first place in Hattiesburg and at Regionals! His Original was quite a hit with the moms - especially the scene where he gives birth - I kid you not!
Even though it's out of focus, I love this photo of Noah when he just found out he won first place at Hattiesburg:
Also in Hattieburg, Noah and his debate partner went all the way to semifinals. This year's cases were on reforming the higher education system:
Noah won two slots to Nationals, but has declined to go this year. This means that the Regional competition in Baton Rouge was his last. I calculated we have spent around 20 days each year with these competitors and families from Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. That's a lot of togetherness! We will both miss the friends we have made. I will miss getting to see Noah in a suit.
Several of his NCFCA friends will be attending Lee University, so he'll be seeing them around. I will have to make do with Facebook!
Family is a tie that binds - and this family has the ties to prove it!
My Dad had so many ties - some of them quite nice, and some of them outlandishly ugly! We decided to honor Dad by having all his grandsons - the pallbearers - wear one of their Granddad's ties.
The granddaughters also showed their style:
We won't be getting this dressed up again until the wedding in May.
Right before Thanksgiving, the doctors discovered a mass in my father's pancreas. This is never good news, and the next few months were both very difficult and very special.
I got to spend a week in Fayetteville in early December and was also able to extend my Christmas visit. We knew Dad was feeling bad when he did not get out his annual Christmas letter until after Christmas. He has been so faithful to correspond with friends every year. I'm impressed that he perservered and got the letter out before the New Year. I got to help him stuff envelopes:
He was especially proud to include a photo of him with ALL of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
But wait, why aren't the children in the picture? Especially since we were right there in the room. We weren't thinking straight, so Rebecca took another picture with my sisters and me and was able to Photoshop us in:
This photo is very special to us as it was the last time we were all together with Dad. I took quite a few photos during Dad's illness (something I did NOT do with my mom and really regret), but I won't post most on here. My dad is not vain, but let's just say he looked the way he felt. Lots of nausea. Lots of pain. He took it very well - not complaining, cracking jokes, and being interested in others. Here are a few of my special memories. Here is Dad editing his obituary (an editor to the end!):
Dad enjoying Popsicles (he literally lived on Popsicles and Sonic ice for three weeks):
Meanwhile, we were enjoying the "food ministry" everyone was blessing us with so that we could spend more time with Dad. My sister's friend, Rhonda, made the yummiest food:
Dad enjoyed visits with friends
And we all enjoyed a singing group that from Lighthouse Baptist Church that visited Hospice Hourse every week (that included quite a few members of the Duggar family). They took requests, and Dad requested his favorite - "Blessed Assurance."
I got some cool video of Dad visiting with friends about running track in college:
And also giving his testimony, which was very sweet:
Early on Dad was even feeling good enough to celebrate Gloria's birthday:
We got to watch the Super Bowl with Dad, the Winter Olympics, and Razorback basketball. Most days were more low key, though - with lots of sitting, visiting, and knitting
We got to know a lot of the hospice nurses. These two were our favorites:
Dad's mind stayed sharp until the end. This special photo was taken just before he drifted out of consciousness the morning of his death:
After being with both mom and dad when they passed away, I can say that death is a very holy time for a believer. It is a special, sweet time. It is an honor to spend the last days with someone you love.
If you've seen the show "Say Yes to the Dress," you know that it's totally over the top with diva brides and their mothers. I knew that Rebecca would be nothing like those brides - she is so totally practical that it would kill her to spend any money at all on a dress. So with that in mind, we had to have her try on some of the dresses that were in the family. First this one worn by Lisa and Katie and ruled out because it is strapless (Rebecca just doesn't prefer strapless). Notice the crowd that came to give helpful opinions.
Next was Aunt Ann's dress, a 1970s classic handmade by our mom:
Hey, at least it's not strapless. Not pictured, my Mom's dress, shown here. She did try it on, but it's awfully yellow:
And my dress, shown here (I think the sleeves are a bit too poofy):
I didn't seriously expect her to wear a hand-me-down dress, but it would have appealed to her frugal nature, that's for sure.
When we shopped in the stores the first time, one of her out-of-town bridesmaids surprised her by popping in. That was so sweet, and for some reason I did not take a photo of her. :( Here were our favorites from that day. She didn't say yes to any of them.
Our next shopping trip was in Arkansas, and her aunts and cousins came along. Rebecca could tell that it was an expensive store and since the prices weren't even shown on any of the dresses, she just modeled some for our entertainment.
My favorite:
Um, seriously?
I liked this one, but it is . . . strapless:
The Greek look:
We tried another shopping trip in Knoxville - this time her brother Noah showed up to give opinions.
None of those worked for Rebecca either. So she ended up ordering a dress online and a puffy skirt to go on top - two dresses in one. Her she is modeling it in our kitchen. It looks so good with the fridge in the background.! It arrived while I was out of town taking care of my Dad in hospice. I was sad that we didn't get a moment together finding the perfect dress, but it turns out that was more my thing than hers.
In the meantime, I found a dress quite easily at Dillard's.
Our Christmas trip to Arkansas was going to be the first time for most of my family to meet Joseph! First, we planned a surprise engagement party with everyone:
We played a version of the newlywed game and then made sure Joseph got full exposure to the word games and board games that we love during the holidays:
And impromptu family jam sessions (featuring Caleb on his new guitar!):
We even made sure he got a chance to see the Hogs play Tennessee - a special treat!
It was a fun game that went into overtime, but my Tennessee fans were not too happy. All agreed it was a great environment to watch basketball in, though. And it's OK because Tennessee went on to have a great year.
