Fall Ball

We were surprised when we recieved the sign ups for Fall Baseball this year - Austin is moving up into the big leagues! His birthday is right before the cutoffs - so we did it...tryouts and all!
He got placed on a solid team with a very good group of dads/coaches. No one that we knew particularly, but we enjoyed the season with them. Games were sometimes 3 nights a week and with the new start of the school year, it was alot to balance.
We were right in that Austin was the youngest on the team...in fact, he was the ONLY 6year old plaing with a team of 7 and 8 year olds ( and against teams with 7 and 8 year olds!) We were so proud of how well he did. The coach put him about 6th in the batting line up because he would almost always make contact with the ball in some way ( and he's a lefty). He definitely was not one to hit it out of the park, and some of those kids do at that age ( its really amazing to watch!) But sometimes after the big hitters causing all of the outfield team to keep moving back a little -Austin would be a secret weapon - hitting mostly in the infied and a lot of times right down the 3rd baseline. It was like the other team did not know what to do and he would almost always get on base and 9 times out of 10 bring someone into home...rbi's were his specialty.
He focused well and cheered for his team mates. His mom and dad were proud of a job well done as the season came to an end. At the end of season party, his coach did a great job - brought each player up one by one and spoke of the highlights of the season for each child and why he loved having them on the team. Each kid beamed with confidence and afterwards got to pick from some baseball memorabilia the coach had brought for them. What a way to end a season.

And we're off to a New School Year!

So, the uploading process still is not working - but I will write anyway...just so I don't forget.
First day of school was wonderful. Annah Grace moved to the second flor of the building with the upper classmen - kind of a big deal! Austin got placed in our beloved teacher, Mrs. Eliasen's class with is four amazing friends. Christian, Aaron, Nathan and Austin are the fabulous four as they call them!
Our sweet friend Joshua had his first day at St. Paul and it was a success! We were happy to see him excited to join his new classroom.
Overall that day was great...but my kiddos were already whining about getting up the next morning. How quickly that excitment fades to reality!
As the year has progressed, we have met many challenges...especially with the level of expectation, the amount of homework, and the heavy testing weeks that 3rd grade has presented. I often feel I have another part time job, just trying to support AG as she keeps up with everything.
The kids have started taking piano lessons from our good friend, Katherine Sasser, ( or Mrs. Sassy as my kids like to refer to her!) Austin just finished up Fall Baseball ( which you will hear more about later) and we are approching basketball for both the kids....the fun and craziness continues! Go Team Lee!

For the first time in several months - I am trying to post pictures again! We'll see if it works.
To catch you up - I have to go back to August before school started. We were in the thick of the remodel - the floor company came in to scrape and refinish all the floors, so we had to be moved out...everything - furniture and all had to go. So we moved the house, packed our bags and headed for the mountains. On the way, we picked up our dear friends, the Madsens. Brian and Rodney are best friends from high school and still keep up with each other. Jackie, Rodneys wife and I have become close over the years as well. They have two wonderful boys, Evan and Tyler. They still live in Lubbock where Brian grew up, so we broke the trip in half and picked them up on our way to New Mexico. Brians family has a cabin there - Glorietta, actually..where his mom and her sisters spent most summers growing up.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous - such a change from an august summer in Texas! We actually wore jackets throughout the day most every day we were there. There is a pretty little lake on the campus and we fed the ducks ( and the fish) - we went paddle boating - and enjoyed the scenery.
One morning the dads left to go golfing and we stayed around the cabin to be adventurous! The kids worked on painting treasure boxes all morning to take with us on our nature walk. They had a blast and of course left there mark on the cabin when it was all said and done! ( Hopefully, Jackie and I cleaned up all the marks!) My kids had just seen Spiderwick Chronicles, so everything we found was a fairy or a goblin or something from one of their houses...so fun!
We played on the playground and ran up and down the paths...even when it started raining. It was so sweet to our kids connecting with our friends children. They had a ball!
We also went to Bandelier mountain where the indians carved dwellings into the sides of the cliffs. We climbed up huge ladders to discover their homes and how they lived so many years ago. Austin came home with a very loud drum made of animal skins and Annah Grace walked away with a sword made out of animal bones.
We all, of course, ate tons of great mexican food while taking in the beautiful weather and fantastic views...it is easy to know God and his wonders when you are at the cabin...they are so obvious!
Our friends headed back to Lubbock after a few days and then in came Brians sister, Jenny with her boyfriend, Andrew and Brians parents. Jenny and Andrew had just gotten engaged - so the wedding planning began immediately, of course! It was fun to spend time with them right after their special moment.
We drove home from this trip - thankful. Thankful that we had such good family and friends to spend time with, thankful for the cabin and the views, and thankful that we did not have to spend 2 weeks in a hotel right before school started. By the way - we drove in at 10pm tuesday night and school started at 8am the next morning! We squeezed the last vacation in just in the nick of time!

From the Mouth of a 9 Year Old!

Actually she was eight when she wrote this:
Today when I was cleaning out her room, I found 2 pieces of paper from her leftover school work. I thought I had put these in my keep folder, but somehow they escaped. Here is a recap of what I found:

"If I were president"...If I were president I would make sure that no one ever killed animals. I would not allow ars or fighting. I would make a law that every friday, we all got to eat cupcakes! I would make music for all the people.
Annah Grace

"Unicorn"...If I had a flying unicorn, would ride him to school and back. I would let all my friend pet him. I would also wish a chicken sandwhich for free!
(Insert beautiful picture of AG on the flying unicorn)

I have to say that laughter is pouring out of her this summer. She is truley a giggle box! She takes every opportunity to make you laugh or to laugh really hard at something you did or said ( making me feel like I am actually funny when I am really not!) Funny faces are the best laughter inducer, and we are very good at them ( Brian included!) I pray she keeps this laughter or ability to laugh forever. I have a sweet friend who knows how to laugh and make others around her laugh ( though she has a sweet thoughtful serious side to her too) and it is always fun to be around her. I think laughter is so attractive. Laughing at yourself is something I have had to learn later in life, but I think I would have been so much better off if I had learned it sooner. ( my mom actually said on many occassions, " you WILL learn to laugh at yourself if it hairlips you!) I am afraid I have actually repeated that line ( the hairlip part) once to my own children in a fury, but vowed never to do it again! Ag has even taught Austin to laugh a little at himself. He used to cross his arms and go off in a corner somewhere when he messed up or did something embarrassing...but he hasn't done that in a while. Not since this incredible laughter has overtaken our house.

Craziness!

Our house is a complete wreck! If I was able to upload pics fromt his offsite computer, I would show it to you - you would not believe that we are living here. Brian keeps trying to talk me into going to a hotel, but it would be so much harder, I think. This next week we have to move everything out of our house ( we will move it to the playroom and third floor which the builder is desperately trying to get finished in time) and in the garage. All of the hardwood floors are being refinished. ( The playroom has carpet and the third floor has the checkered floor like our backhouse, so that is why we can use them for storage!) Brian went out of town this past week - he always seems to pick the best times to leave - although the trip was planned by his home office a year ago...still, I think he has some pull somewhere! We ( I, really) completely moved AG out of her room so we could rip out her window seat, repair, paint, etc. She needed more space in her room so we are setting her bed in between the builtins. The window seat never really got used as a window seat, just as a junk pile.
Today I did 17 loads of laundry - carrying it all from upstairs down and across the war torn backyard of trenches to the garage and back....full day in and of itself!
I also made it to home depot tonight at 9pm for my 3rd round of paint selections for the outside trim and came home and painted it in the dark ( for 2 reasons: its too hot in the day and my hope is that the paint would dry and I would be pleasantly surpised in the morning with one of them...eternal optimist!) My neighbors are starting to think I have no plan at all!
So, at 10:30, the kids and I went to pick up a prescription at Walgreens cuz U think I am coming down with a sinus infection. ( Here comes the long drawn out story....) I have to admit, I was not feeling well at this point. So I pulled up to the drivethru knowing the script was called in at 8pm and 2 and a half hours should be enough time. I waited and waited until finally a voice came thru the speaker ( no face, just a voice) to tell me that there was no record of anything. After checking 3 times at my request he finally said well, there is something for Jana Lee? Ding Ding Ding, YES that is probably the one. But no, it hasn't been filled since there was no Jana Lee in the system. He said my doc spelled my name wrong. I told him that was highly unlikely since my doc is my uncle and that I would just wait in the pick up line for my meds. Still with voice only, no face...he asked me to leave the line, wait my 30 minutes and yes, my doc called it in wrong!
So, with a very bad attitude, I pulled up to the front of the store and went in, grabbed a new curling iron and some mascara, and sat and waited in front of him. I was thinking of all the witty things I might say back to him like " I guess you missed the week in pharmacy school where they teach you to be gracious to patients that probably don't feel good!" or "remember, the customer is always right - even int he middle of the night!" or a desperate effort of name dropping like " my pharmacist friend, Krista Sanders ( who also works at walgreens) would never treat anyone like that, I am sure of it!" (Krista, you will be happy to know that I decided to leave you out of it!)
But as I sat, I lost my vigor. Partly because I was feeling terrible, partly because Austin reminded me that God wants us to still love people even when they are not nice to us ( as he lovingly rubbed my arm telling me repeatedly that he was sorry I felt bad), partly because at this point, I had seen his face not just his voice, and partly because I know those pharmacists work long hard hours with all kinds of people in their face all day.
So, when he called "lee" I went up to the desk and said, "I am sorry, everything just seems bigger when you don't feel good." He said no problem and I could tell he was relieved that I did not make a scene at the front counter at the end of his shift therefore officially leaving him with a bad day at work. Sleep well Mr. Voice.
Thank you Holy Spirit that you override me in so many situations! I would make a mess of myself ( and often times do) if it were not for you.
Here is part B of the story (as if that drama was not enough!):
Its 11:30 at this point, and I still have my kids at Walgreens for pete's sake! I got all my chickens in the car and hopped in the front seat - the parking lot was well lit and rather busy to be so late at night. All of a sudden I look up and a lady was banging on my window. She was yelling at me to roll down the window that they needed help. My first instinct was to do just that - I always want to be remembered as someone who helps people! But I thought again and realized that Walgreens was open, there was a police man on the other side of the parking lot and other cars available with men instead if a mom with 2 children who might have been a more appropriate target to ask. I shook my head at her and left my window up and promptly started to back out. She moved on quickly. Who knows what her intentions were, but I saw her husband in a truck sitting in the corner of the parking lot with the back of the car loaded.
It majorly impacted annah grace. The whole way home we talked about it. Why did we not help her? Doesn't God say we should help the poor? The whole topic of discernment has come up a lot lately so i have been trying to take th opportunity to prep ag for all the times she might need such a word and why she should call on her heavenly father for lots of it! So, case in point. I told her that I used discernment...and if the lady really needed help, she could have gone in the store, talked to the police, etc. I told her the lady did not use discerment when she chose to approach the one person in the parking lot who had kids with her late at night. Life is full of lessons, we just got a lot of them today!

Craziness!

Summer Update

The summer has gone by so quickly with the remodel and all the activities! Here is a quick update of the Lee Household:

We got out of school really late...2nd week in June! We felt like summer was here and had a hard time getting ou the door for school in weather that we felt like we should be packing for the pool!

Kids Kamp at our church, Christ Chapel, came quickly after St. Paul dismissed...what fun! Our church does such a fantastic job of making Christian activities fun...like crazy fun...baounce houses, wet sponges, etc. The Lee kids took full advantage and we got the summer started off right.

Since Brian is still leading worship for the middle school and gets up and out by 8am Sunday mornings, I volunteered to help teach Annah Grace's class of 3rd grade girls. So that is another fun summer adventure. We are studying Missions and whats cool is that they have a different missionary come in every week to talk to the kids about their adventures. We have learned some really neat stuff. There are a couple of girls in the class who have been adopted from other countries so it has been neat to hear their stories and for them to have a realization of Gods protection over their little lives when they see the devistation in the home countries. Austin is in a great class Sunday Mornings too - his teachers are wonderful and he has such fun that he ahrdly wants to leave when it is time. That is exactly what I prayed for since our family goes to our worship service at 5pm together. I didn't want the kids to be bored or have to repeat the same lessons twice ( though they could probably gain from the repetition!) So each Sunday morning as hard as it is to get up and going...we are blessed significantly by what God has for me and my children.

Music Camp - next on the agenda....this is our first year and I wasn't sure if my kids would take to the structure although they do love music. After the first day they got into the swing of it and had a great time. The learned the musical "Pirates of the I don't Care-ibbean" We went to see the show on friday night and they did such a great job. Annah Grace has decided that she wants to try out for a big part next year. One funny story...Austin was front row the whole time and about a third of the way through the show he started to grab his pants --it looked like he had an itch of some sort. So Brian and I got tickled...laughing hysterically in our seats, yet hoping that he would soon get it taked care of and stop! However, it kept on....and on ......and on.....until he actually pulled up his shirt stuck his hands down his pants! Brian and I were literally crying int he audience. At the height of his tugging, the stage lights dimmed and moved to a spotlight on the actors who happened to be standing right in front of Austin. So, yes, it was all spotlighted!
After is was over, we complimented him on a job well done and later I asked about what was going on up there witht he ants in his pants. He said " well, the lady in charge said no going to the bathroom once you are up on stage and I had to go...so finally I just went in my pants" Poor guy! I felt so sorry for him! The bright said is that he did obey, the down side is that in an effort to stay on stage he created his own scene!

Another blessing this summer has been that we get to keep my new nephew Will while my sister stars back to work a few days a week. He is so sweet and loveable...it definitely makes me slow down a little to have him in tow. The kids have loved it and wish that Will and Grae were their real brothers - not just cousins. They help a ton, so my job is really easy. They might not be inclined to be so helpful is they were their real brothers, though, don't you think?

Austin has had an amazing time with a couple of friends from his class this summer - Christian and Nathan. These boys were friends before Austin was in their class and have been so gracious ( along with their mom's) to include Austin in thier summer activities. He has spent the night, gone swimming, hung out at their houses, gone to the water park, etc etc! I am looking forward to him spending time with these guys next year - he has a great class.

Molly's Mini camp....a precious family in our church has amazing girls that run two camps (1 for boys and the other for girls) They swam and played games - the boys did a study on the armor of God - they made everything from swords to shields to cool tshirts. The girls studied Proverbs 31 and came home with picture frame calendars, cleaning supplies in baskets they made, jewels and tshirts. What wonderful memories they made - and made new friends with kids from our church that they might not have the chance to interact with had they not come to the camp.

We went to NRH2O - the water park as a family a couple of weeks ago...Brian is all over the scary water slides! For those of us who aren't that confident in a bathing suit, I would suggest to take a trip the the water park - I promise you will feel better!

This week we will have time at home to swim and have fun and then the next week we are looking forward to Leisure and Learning camp - the kids went last year and loved it!

I want to try to plan a time for all my nieces and nephews to come for a few days at the end of the summer - we are waiting for the house to be finished so it might have to move to a weekend in the early fall. But I would love to schedule a week each summer for them to come and have fun together. Even though we don't live that far from each other, it is really hard to get our calendars together.

Ok - that is the quick update...I will fill in more later. Since we no longer have a home computer ( melted in the power surge during the construction process!) I have to update from an off site computer. I have a ton of pictures I have desperately tried to add and there is a block on this compuetr from uploading the pitcures. I will try to get them on asap ( Sorry Gramma!)

Jenna

Goodnight Prayers

Goodnight prayer from the mouth of Austin Lee:
"Dear God, thank you for this day and my family. Thank you that the other team won the baseball game - they were really good and I am happy that they are happy about winning. I pray that you will help them win the next game."

Goodnight prayer form the mouth of Annah Grace Lee:
"Dear God, thank you for this day and for my babysitter, Jessica, who took me to dinner. Thank you for making rice. Help Austin to have fun at his friends house when he spends the night with him on Friday. He needs a night out."

Loose tooth

Austin lost his tooth! The toothfairy came and left gold glitter from the window to his bed...along with the loot - $$$ that he has been carrying around in his backpack ever since. He has 3 more teeth that are currently loose - so the toothfairy should start saving!
Funny story: I need to document it before I forget it.
The last tooth that Annah Grace lost she took me down memory lane to a time that I had desperately tried to forget...the time the toothfairy didn't come. So here is how that conversation went:
AG- "Mom, remember when we lived in Granbury and the toothfairy didn't come. Well, actually you said that the window was locked and her wings froze as she tried to get in. Then in the morning, you went to check in my room and found her flying outside the window. When you opened the window, she flew in and left glitter everywhere along with the money for my tooth...Mom, do you remember when that happened?"
Me- "Yes, sweetie, I remember"
AG- "So, this time we need to make sure we unlock the window - especially since she will have a new house to find"
Me-"Ok, I can help you do that"
AG-"I think the tooth fairy is really creative. She always leaves different colored glitter when she comes"
Me-"Maybe the toothfairy and I have some things in common"
AG-"Really, mom? I don't think so. After all, you can't do magic and you can't fly....Maybe when you grow up you will be more like the toothfairy"

So the toothfairy continues to bless us - even on Hawthorne Avenue. I am hoping to catch a cute picture of the toothless wonder.

Happy!

Austin is happy! Happy because he played his last game of the season and got a great hit! Happy because his teacher's bear, Marcus, got to come home with us for the weekend - and Marcus had baseball clothes in is bag.

Happy because his first tooth is loose and hanging by a thread! Happy because he can translate any simple conversation into the voice of "Opera Man" (if I can capture this in video, I will do my best to upload to the blog...hilarious!) Happy because he is gaining confidence riding his bike and will soon be able to take his training wheels off. Happy that he has finally memorized his first knock knock joke.

Most all of the time he is happy....and I am blessed. I love my sweet boy.

So, our sweet gigi graduated from Baylor this past weekend! The first time I met her she was about Annah Grace's age and cute as pie. I think she had crimped her hair the weekend I came to visit from college - I remember how much she looked up to her older brother ( 13 years older to be exact) I can't believe so much time has passed. We are so proud of her.

Sandy, the turtle (tortoise)

The other day we found a turtle (actually, we were informed by our older and wiser 10 yr old nieghbor that it was a tortoise, since it had clawed feet instead of webbed feet!) He was walking (rather fast for a tortoise) down the sidewalk and headed for the street. Austin came running in the house to tell us and before even thinking about it, Annah Grace picked it up to rescue it. It was nice - peeking out of it shell each time you let it down to walk around. We decide to make it a little habitat and hold onto it until our neighbors got home ( we think it might be the same one they spotted a few days before!) So, we got out the cooler, stole some sand from our builder and put in some leaves and water. The kids named him Sandy. We took care of him for a couple of hours and when our neighbors got home, we took him down to the creek to let him go. He ended up not really liking the sanctuary we had built for him and tried desperately to escape. Then, the kids decided to wash his shell before we sent him on his way and that irritated him even more! Surely, had he been a snapping turtle, we would have been injured by this point. Sandy kept sticking his head out of his shell and opening his mouth wide and looking around like "will you people please leave me alone!" So we put him in the back of the wagon and headed toward the creek - it was a pretty bumpy ride!
Well, he was released back into the wild with scores of vegetation to snack on and rocky, sandy soil to climb. We made sure to get totally soaked in the creek before returning home. After all, it's not every day you find a turtle!

Pics with Will

I thought everyone might want to see a picture of us with our new nephew/cousin! Will is doing great and is so good to his momma. More to come as soon as Blogger will load more than 1 picture at a time! (Austin has his foot propped up on the full size bed that pulled out of the wall for my brother n law, Landon to sleep on...luxury!)

5-11-08

This morning I awoke to Brian heading out the door to lead worship, but not before he came over to say Happy Mothers Day and remind me of what a great mom I was. So, he left and I walked into AG's room and on cue, she said "Happy Mothers day Mom." So, I crawled into bed with her and watched Power Rangers Mystic Force on he DVD player. (Typical Annah Grace) Then I hear footsteps coming up the stairs much too loud to be Austin or pedro, the dog. Brian had gone to Starbucks and bought me my favorite Latte and a petite vanilla scone (also a favorite) and brought it back to me. I guess he had gotten up a little earlier to accomplish that task, but I had not looked at the clock when I woke up. So, he left again and then Austin walked in the room wrapped up in his favorite blanket..."Happy Mothers Day, Mama" and he walked over and gave me a kiss.
Thats all I needed - the day is complete.

ps. The picture is my favorite family pic from Spring Break.

Mothers Day Memory

He arrived!! William Jack Webb - "Will" made it here without a hitch. We spent a sweet day with my sister in her lovely hospital room (new Baylor All Saints women's hospital...Andrews Labor and delivery center) - they broke her water, gave her an epidural...all went well. Then it was time, we all exited the room and within 5 minutes, he was here. 3:56pm - 6lbs. 7oz. 18" long - 5-8-08.
Bright blond hair perfectly laid on his perfect round head.
My nephew Grae (his big brother) was so sweet and excited for his brother to come...he kept clapping his hands and smiling. We took Grae home to spend the night with us Friday night and the next morning, I went to go get them some chicken minis from chick-fil-a...YUM! Oh, and chocolate milk by request. So, I got home and spread out the yummies on the coffee table so they could watch TV ( after all, this is Winnies house, just a step down from Mimi's) and Grae spoke up..."Winnie, we got to say de pwayer." You're right, I said, let me turn off the TV. He started in before I could reach the button. "Dear God , thank you for dis day, thank you for dis food, and thank you for my baby will (wee-yall, as he says) cuz he's a good boy. Amen."
Precious. Warms my heart.
Happy Mothers day Mom, Sarah (Tata) and to all the mommies I love!
Love, Winnie (jenna)

Sweet Legacy

We are all anxiously awaiting my nephew to be born...William Jack Webb will come by Thursday at least...it's on the books! My sister chose to name him after my grampa - William Jack Stamps. My grampa was a very handsome man in his youth (way to go gramma!) and very cute in his later years...cute gray curls tucked around his ears and squeaky bald in the middle. He used to ask us when we were little to draw on his leg. He would pull up his pants leg and hand us a ball point pen to have at it...then he would pay us a quarter! Good memories for sure. But most of all, he left a legacy of loving the Lord like only he and my gramma could do. They persevered many trials and tribulations and came out loving Him (and each other) even more. My gramma was so gracious to him as his body began to be taken over with Parkinsons Disease until finally on Mothers Day 2004, he went to be with the Lord.
What is so amazing is that my sister Sarah did not plan her pregnancy for May nor did she set out to name him William Jack (especially since we all thought he was a girl -that is until it was confirmed!) But here we are, just days away from Mothers Day and William Jack is on his way. It is a sweet celebration of a new life beginning and of a life that lived and loved well.
So, here's to new baby Will and to my grampa. Your legacy lives on!

Inspired

I have been inspired for a while by my friends who are in this world of "blogging" and have wanted to give it a whirl...so here it goes.
I always feel like when I have read a friends blog, that I have had a conversation with them and I am blessed because of it. Thank you to my sweet friends for sharing your lives with me.

My life has been filled with beautiful surprises. The two most important - meeting my future husband, while I was still in college, on a blind date ( set up by a family member, none the less!) and being the mom of 2 wonderful kiddos - both unplanned by me, but totally planned by God.
God continues to have rich surprises for me, if I will just wait to recieve them. Most often, these surprises will come after a hardship of some kind. I know throughout my life, my faith story has been built by the beautiful surprises God allowed in my life...and I am enternally grateful.
My hearts desire is to document these surprises mostly for me - so that I never forget. But also, for my children - so they will always remember how faithful God was to their mommy...and how faithful He will be to them.