Listen to the Sign

    The sign said STOP, so I did.
    This is not usually my habit when I'm out for a run.  However, when I took a stretch break I was taking a photo and accidentally switched to video mode.  This shut off my music (I recently discovered that these two things cannot run at the same time).  It was suddenly and beautifully quiet on this mild winter day of blue skies.
    A few cars were coming, which usually means I start running again.  I'm not sure why exactly I do this, I guess I feel stupid just standing there concerned about people's wonderings about me.  But, I looked up and saw the stop sign and felt I should obey it.
    I just stood there on the side of the road listening to a few distant birds chirping, a gentle breeze, and the gentle hum of the highway traffic half a mile away.  I waved at passersby and let them wonder.
    I realized how few times in life that I actually just stop.  Stop and think.  Stop and listen to what's around me.  Stop and be still.  Just stop.
    These were good moments today.  I think God was reminding me to slow down and enjoy life more, experience it rather than rush through it.  It was refreshing to focus on what is good, true, and beautiful around me, to calm my anxiety over the things that are not. It's so freeing to just stop and breathe.

Fear?

Me during the Thanksgiving family photo shoot on the roof.

    On Thanksgiving day my son Trevor had this great idea to get a family photo on the roof. I've been game for many an adventure when my boys invite me along - after all, one's children have unparalleled persuasive powers.
    So while the extended Lee family finished the holiday meal preparations in the kitchen our crew headed to the peak of the house.  Getting up the ladder was no issue, nor was the slight porch roof.  It was the 10/12 pitch on the front side that was  surprisingly a little scary with asphalt granules rolling around under the tread of my shoes...and hands (excellent to excessive exfoliator).
     Not everyone opted for the roof.  Mitch and Liz are in the open window and I don't blame them!  Getting the photo (seen in my Christmas blog just prior to this one) was the easy part (thanks to Wes' girlfriend Chelsey who did the clicking).  Getting down from the roof was the really scary part.  I chose to take my time with three sons and my husband surrounding me (and suggesting my every next move).  I tried backwards walking which the boys make look easy.  No go.  I tried on my belly.  Truly a flop. Sitting and taking small crab steps worked best.  This process took so much effort that by the time I reached the easy ladder descent I got a cramp in the arch of my foot!  We all had to laugh.  Oh my gosh, it was an adventure!
    There was healthy fear (the kind that saves your life), and associated fear -like when Trevor got too close to the edge I feared losing another child (not really irrational but a little displaced).  Thankfully I didn't have panicky fear, but it all got me thinking about the role of fear in my life.  So, I've been looking up a lot of verses on fear, and a healthy fear of God. I have a feeling that some upcoming blog posts will address this topic.
    In the meantime, I'm afraid I'm going to miss out on a 75% off post Christmas sale so I better get going. Let's talk about retail fears some other time.

Christmas!

Thanksgiving Day photo by Trevor (2nd from Right)

Greetings!

            This is the family Christmas letter. Yep - online this year! Oh boy. It's not that I'm super tech savvy, people have been doing this for years. But when I told Trevor that I find I'm a bit ahead of the IT curve for my age, he replied, "Yep Mom, you could teach a thing or two to the people at the nursing home…"this is a QWERTY keyboard. "" If you don't know what that is I've proven my point, unless of course, you are online at the nursing home.

    2012 was a packed year!  The boys are so grown now that I don't feel like I should be the one sharing their news - so I will give you a quick rundown and then if you want to you can chase them down using your own QWERTY or cell phone (have you heard of these devices? Very handy).

     In chronological order (hence to avoid the endless favoritism jokes)…Dexter finished the wrestling season at 6th place in the state of Ohio.  Most of us went to San Francisco for spring break which was awesome (except for the part where the van gave up the ghost in Utah).  Mitch graduated the first weekend in May from BGSU. Mitch and Liz (Wagner) got married May 12th (with the reception in a huge tent in our front yard, it was beautiful!). Dexter graduated two weeks later. Two days after that Trevor moved out west for the summer. I painted Mitch's old room a pretty pastel yellow for a new office. Wes moved back home to go back to college and pursue an education degree (he is enjoying the pastel yellow).  Dexter and Wes started college at Findlay Owens in August. Trevor moved back home in September.

     Throughout all of this Dave continues to enjoy teaching and coaching (most days), and the lawn business he built to help the boys through college has grown a lot. I am in my fifth year at BG Christian Academy in development, and have been writing a lot more (my website is even up and running at www.shelleyrlee.com).

     We find ourselves as challenged as ever, and at the same time, as grateful as ever.

     We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a fabulous 2013 (well, I mean some of it anyway, because we do still live on earth as humans and it isn't ….well, why did I even use the word fabulous?) - have a good one!

Love,

Dave & Shelley Lee and boys

A little Christmas laugh:  Frank LOVES tennis balls so I got a bag of them for him for Christmas. I hid them in a shopping bag where he found them.  I hid them in the attic where he whined at that door. I wrapped the tennis balls so I could show him they were not in the attic.  The tennis balls are in a box under the tree where he was whining today.

And here we all are at the wedding!  Happy to welcome Elizabeth Lee to the

Family.   : )

Frank's Favorite Shade of Christmas Gray

    During a quick pick-up-a-few-groceries stop today I grabbed a bag of tennis balls for Frank for Christmas.  Yes, even the pets get a little something.
    I set the bag containing the beloved toys, in his favorite shade of gray, on the counter to keep them out of his sight until I could put them in the attic (and now I've given away my present hiding spot...).
    On my way upstairs I paused and set the bag down to gather a couple other things that needed to go up. When I turned around there was Frank alerting me of the presence of the balls. It was as if he was thinking "There they are, all this time! (He loses them like it's his job.) Could you get them out of that mesh trap please?"
    I would have been heartless to put them all away.  Seriously, look at that face. Plus, he would have whined until Christmas at the door he saw them last go through. So I took one out for him.  It made me truly joyful to see him so happy.
    He has been treasuring that ball all evening and bounces the spit laden wonder toward you with pride. (Sidenote:  I just heard it bounce down the stairs).
    I got to thinking how God loves to bless us too, how pleased it makes Him to see us happy.  Yet, He knows the perfect time to take the gift out of the attic (...and how to perfectly hide it from us).  Sometimes when we get the gift it seems way overdue , but He knew it was right on time.
    This Christmastime I find myself grateful for God's infinite wisdom, and that it included a way for me to get to Him.  More than any gift ever, and more than ever, I treasure this.

   

Untangle the Wind Chimes

    I really wanted more to laugh about, but some days are harder that way.
    I could have used an Apples-to-Apples family game moment, like the time Trevor chose glazed donut to go with spineless and WON. I'm not sure exactly why it was so funny at the time, but it was and we still laugh about it.
    I would have enjoyed something like when the kitten Zelda chased the dog Frank's ball alongside him and hopped like she was a cross between Tigger and a kangaroo. That was hysterical!
    But some days are harder.
     I just had to get away for awhile so I went for a drive.  I spent a lot of time thinking, and talking to God (thankfully, unlike me, He accepts yelling as talking). I sat at one of my best friend's grave for awhile and straightened up the wind-blown flowers and adornments. I noticed that the chimes were caught up so I freed them.  Immediately the soft wind chimes soothed me, like they had the handful of other times I had ventured out there to that beautiful hillside.
    I got to thinking how God moves a lot like the wind, gentle and unnoticed at times, until you untangle the wind chimes.

Porch Pumpkin Patch

    Sometime in August, after weeks of busy work schedules by day (and sometimes night) and a bathroom tiling project by night (and into wee morning some days), I walked down my front porch steps and took a deep breath.
    It struck me how neglected my landscaping was, I mean, there were massive broad-leaf weeds taking over the grounds. A closer look revealed that the 'weeds' were actually pumpkin plants that last year's rotted pumpkin display had inadvertently provided.
    I thought about ripping out the vines since there wasn't much growing on them yet. But then I thought, "Why not? Something is alive and thriving, let it grow." 
    Now there are three large volunteer pumpkins pushing the red, barely visible mums around.
    I started thinking how many things volunteer themselves right into my life, and end up being a bright, beautiful addition to my days. What I really love is that God knew it was coming all along.

Zelda the Warrior Kitty

I began holding my breath for a few seconds as I prepared to run by a dead animal along side the road.  Just as I passed, it turned it's tiny face up and looked at me.  I'm not sure who was more startled, the kitten or me. But this skinny little thing was so happy to see me.  I was still recovering from jumping back when she playfully rolled on her back on the road and started rubbing her soft little self affectionately against my ankles.  

She wanted to stay on the side of the road with the bean field as her refuge when cars came by.  I knew I couldn't leave her here to be hit or starve to death.  I had to take her home.  Besides, she looks just like Bruce!

My run was suddenly over as I attempted to carry her with little success.  She followed me, if you call weaving back and forth between my feet, following.  So, I called Dexter who had passed me a few minutes earlier on the way home from his run.  The first thing he said was "Did you find that kitten?"

"Come pick us up. She can live in the woods or something." I recall saying, trying to figure out a way to justify another cat in our lives.

Thankfully this cat is fit for the outdoors. She makes herself a force to be reckoned with, spitting, hissing, and puffing up in all her glory at the dogs.  I decided she needed a warrior princess name, and after some help from Mitch and Wes, I settled on Zelda.  She  is the opposite of our indoor princess, Eva, who lays down in fear like a snack for her predators.

Like my mother always said, "It takes all kinds."
Like my boys always say, "Your turning into a cat lady."
I like the "takes all kinds" line here.  Besides, I think of myself as more of a zookeeper (though one of the hermit crabs did die this week and I signed an exotic animal paper for that one, am I in trouble?).

I'm really glad God seems to think it takes all kinds, and that He let's me be a zookeeper.