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ear Beloved Family,

As most of you have heard, Ian Humphrey went to Palm Desert as District 26's International Speech Contestant and SHOOK things up!!!! He was outstanding in his semi-final round on Thursday and easily won first place. Darryle and I screamed like a house on fire! All of us from D26 watched 2 other rounds and didn't see anyone who was any competition at all for him. (There were 9 rounds all together. But they were set up in groups of 3 at a time, in 3 different meeting rooms.)

Saturday dawned, full of promise. I was so nervous I could barely eat. Finally it was TIME for the International Speech Contest World Championship Finals! At 1:00 pm about 2000 Toastmasters gathered from literally ALL over the world, all the top brass, many past World Champions, friends, families, AND Ian's 4 kids! Katy's parents surprised Katy and Ian by bringing their kids just to watch their dad do his magic on the world's stage. When I saw those 4 beautiful kids and the loving grandparents, I started to cry and didn't stop until long after the event was over. (I'm crying now just remembering it.)

There were nine speakers. All of them were excellent. Ian was speaker 6. His name was announced, "Ian Humphrey, 'It's Not About the Knockdown', 'It's Not About the Knockdown' , Ian Humphrey" We all shouted and cheered our hearts out. He walked across that HUGE stage with strength and confidence, shook hands with the Toastmaster, took his place at center stage and then LIT up the room with his brilliant smile.  "BAM!!!!" He began. He was wonderful! Funny, strong, sincere and eloquent. He spoke like the champion we all