Ben & Shae Cecka's family in Gilbert, AZ

Born: Wednesday, March 12th 2008
Time: 4:46 am
Weight: 7lb 11oz
Height: 20-1/2in

“On October 15, at 7:00 pm in all time zones, families around the United States will light candles in memory all of the precious babies that have been lost during pregnancy or in infancy. Too many families grieve in silence, sometimes never coming to terms with their loss.

If you or someone you know has suffered a miscarriage, stillbirth or infant loss due to SIDS, prematurity or other cause, we hope you will join us in this national tribute to create awareness of these tragic infant deaths and provide support to those that are suffering. “

Oh boy, here we go. So we accepted an offer on the house today and should be closing our chapter here by the end of the month! We are trying to get into this charming little home in Gilbert, Arizona. Johnathan and I are going to head out a week early and take our dear sweet time crawling down south so we can visit with everyone along the way. Ben is going to load up the truck on that last day and shoot right through, stopping only for gas and coffee I’m sure. Send a travel safety prayer our way!

Also, Ben and I celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary today! We spent it at the hospital looking at the ultrasound for our third baby! Nadeje measures only a little under half an inch, and is almost 7 weeks along. (s)he has a heartbeat, and is expected to arrive March 22, 2008.
So strange, the sonographer took one look at me and said, “seven weeks.” When he pulled the image up on the screen he said, “Oh, maybe a little earlier. I’m going to guess about 6 weeks, 4 days.” He joked that he was “way off” when the measurements proved to be one day’s difference.
Showing only a dark circle with a tiny white spot in it, Johnathan walked out of the hospital with the photo facing outward. “This is my baby,” he told people we walked by. He is a very proud big brother.
Nadeje, our little one’s in-utero name, is Czech for hope, something we must hold on to after the tragic events that occurred this spring. We will always love and miss Jeremy and this child in no way replaces him or our sadness, but it will add some love and joy to our home.

So much excitement my head is spinning.
Desert ho!

Now that I’ve been judging at tournaments for a short amount of time, I feel that it is only fair to myself and those that I comment on to divulge some personal feeling of the sport. When I joined collegiate forensics (speech and debate), I had no idea what I was really getting myself into. Really. After my first tournament I was hooked though (hey, quarterfinalist in debate helped). In the past two years I’ve never been on such a fast-track of shifting ideas, but as always there is a price.

After my last tournament as a competitor I was so relieved that I wouldn’t have to look at anymore ballots that criticized my speaking and performance. I realize that the goal is to become better, but I think it just wore on me. I also realize that I have lots to learn, but because of the move, I decided that I needed to learn the other side of this game: judging. I must say that it wasn’t what I expected either. Just like when I first forced myself into Public Speaking 101, I also purposefully positioned myself to become a critic, at least for a short while. What I wanted to learn from it was how to have a certain power and wield it responsibly. For those of you reading that haven’t participated or observed a forensics tournament, the judges really do hold an air of authority that is recognized by the vast majority of the competitors. Undeservingly I undertook the challenge, and it has been an awesome learning experience. Once again, the debate community has impacted my outlook on life. Still, now that I don’t carry the nervous tension of someone who is going to deliver 30 speeches over the weekend, I carry the burden of explaining to talented peers that their performance wasn’t as good as the others. That was the challenge that I didn’t expect.

And for the record (and the point of this entire post): Everyone who has stood in front of me to speak this season has deserved my 1.

[tags]forensics, speech and debate, debate[/tags]