Family Christmas Letter 2008

A wise friend of mine, years ago, in the midst of my boys punching each other between the pews, told me that they'd be grown before I knew what happened. It would be at least 10 more years before they would show some semblence of adult independence. I thought she was crazy and very bad at math.

Well, I blinked and these four boys of ours are now all in high school and college. She was right. Still bad at math, but so right.

Dexter is now a freshmen in high school. He works hard in school and earned a 4.0 his first grading period. He recently got his driver's permit and started racking up some drive time by driving Dad to school (they're on the same campus). He ran on the cross country team and early in the season started passing his brother Wes, now a junior, in races. Talk about competition being a catalyst for improvement!

Wes was up for the challenge and ran a 17:00 5K this season with Dex on his heels at 17:02. The team had other young runners who also drove the effort and they won their region, first time in school history. The trip to state was a good time, not to be confused for good times, but nonetheless, a great season. Wes is also making the honor roll these days and has grown to be a proud 5'9", passing Trevor much to his (Wes') delight.

We celebrated Mitch's graduation with a fun party in June. His 3.8 GPA helped him get some scholarship money toward tuition at BGSU where he attends to study Business. He has worked hard to pay for his share of college by working the mowing business with Dave and now, as one of the wrestling coaches for Elmwood Middle School.

Trevor made a big move this year to the Boston area where he attends Hallmark Institute of Photography. We have visited him a couple times, it is absolutely beautiful out there! He is doing really well at the school and graduates in June. You can view his photo blog at http://tmleephotography.blogspot.com/ to see what he's up to.

Dave is in his 22nd year as Head Coach for Elmwood Wrestling. We are off to a respectable start, but if you want those details contact one of them. I just don't retain those stats very well at all! Dave is still teaching CBI (previously OWE) for Penta with his classroom at Elmwood. He has a pretty big class of students this year which keeps him busy. The mowing business has grown which keeps the boys working on the off season and Dave going pretty much non-stop year round. Dave was recently elected to our church board where he has served in previous years.

I have had a challenging year of change, taking on an exciting new job as the Development Director at Bowling Green Christian Academy where we are raising funding for a new Pre-12 school. This is the school where the boys attended for some time, it's good to be back there for me. I still write for Findlay NOW magazine and am involved with NWOCC, a writer's group which I enjoy. Dave and I are on the Wood County Young Life Committee and still host the Elmwood high school club, such a great group to support!

Well, time to go for now. On behalf of the Lee crew, I hope you get to enjoy a nice Christmastime and New Year's celebration. May you be blessed, surprised by simple things, and find joy where you didn't expect it.

With Love,
Shelley, Dave and boys

Christmastime 2008

The Family Letter is going to be posted here soon! For now, a picture taken by Trevor.