Damages 3

OK, this is part three of a series that you need to read backwards...sort of...I think you can follow this madness (scroll down and start at "Damages" and then scroll UP). Blogspot would not let me post my photos in the order I wanted, it jumped them all over the place. So, there's more than one way to skin a cat - that's what Frank said too. But then, he likes the cat as a pillow also.

Frank has unpredictable taste. For example, there is a Giorgio Armani tie, made in Italy, in the trash (thankfully I got a crazy great deal on it online for Dave for Christmas).

All this damage has strangely been worth it for the unconditional love Frank gives us all every day. He's so happy to see me every morning and every time he rounds a corner, anytime.

Unconditional love amidst the damages that come with life. Reminds me of God.

Damages 2

Here's that great shot. Dave needed a new phone anyway.

Damages

First, I want to say that I am completely smitten by Wes and Trev's puppy, Frank.

And here he is snacking on the flooring.

See, there was this little corner that had peeled up by the door and well, you can see the rest of the story.

And then there was the phone charger....

and the blogspot refuses to let me insert the photo of it! But it's a great shot of a chewed off end of a charger. To be fair, Frank didn't produce this damage, his brother Charley did.

Live Full

Taking time to regroup, rest, and enjoy home and family over the holidays was refreshing. Happy New Year everyone!!

We are into the second year of non-0-years (oh). It will be nearly nine decades before there will be another o-year. We'll likely all be in eternity by then. So, here we are in the 20-years, twenty eleven for now.

That's weird, I know. But it helps me look closer at the time I live in, and to think about what I did with the last year of life I was given. What did I do with that flash?

I love to write down goals and look back on what I accomplished. It is really interesting. A few years after I had started doing this I found out that studies show that if you write this stuff down (and apparently only 3% of us actually do this), that you have a really high chance (a percentage I can't remember...) of achieving them. I have found this to be true. So, it's fun you should try it!

This year as I looked back at last year and wrote down a few more things for the coming year many things came to mind.

I thought about the many people I knew who have died this past year. Some lived full lives that impacted many for good, like my Grandma Josephine Carli for example. I cherish the memories and look forward to eternity. Others lives were cut short by tragedy or bad decisions.

The older I get the darker this world gets, I guess just because I'm sadly more aware of the real effects of sin in each of our lives. My shortcomings and others' combined. It's a tangled mess. But not to be discouraged, the light of eternity is getting brighter all the time too - chasing away the night.

Those are sort of heavy thoughts to start out the year, but thankfully it makes me more stubborn to live a life that is less about escape and more about joy and living fully.

Since I probably didn't make you laugh in this blog quite yet, perhaps I should share that on Christmas morning before we all opened our gifts we saw two eagles perched in a tree back along the river. We all looked out the window over the fields of sparkling snow and Dexter said excitedly, "Did Mom open her binoculars yet?!"

No, she didn't.

Photo of Shelley looking up from the spinning planet while climbing a ladder, by trevorleephotography.com

Lee Family Christmas Card 2010

2010 Mat Madness Book is out

The 2010 edition of Mat Madness is hot off the press! I published it with Lulu.com, a print-on-demand website. So, anyone can order a copy from Lulu. For people who want to buy one from me directly I have those too, you can save on shipping that way. Don't you love the new cover with the crazy picture of Wes putting in the banana split?! And yes, that's Trevor and Dave coaching. I was pretty happy with how well this photo fit the title. :)

For those of you who have not seen the previous edition, this is a book I self-published after a friend asked me to write down the answers to the basic questions people have about wrestling. I include several wrestling family stories as well, most of them humorous. This edition is updated to follow the revisions in the 2010-11 National Wrestling Federation Rule Book, and also includes a new chapter that made me cry again when I wrote it (that's usually a good sign).

The website is: www.lulu.com Search Mat Madness and it pops up.

As always, if you read this I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thanks!

Fresh Cup of Coffee on a Frosty Morning

Frosty grass and frosty air surrounded me as I stepped outside preceded by two bounding puppies who needed to go potty. Holding my hot, fresh cup of coffee while I watched the puppies play was a good start for the day.

Then Mama Zoey came quickly outside sniffing wildly, as if needing to go to the bathroom right away. Then she promptly threw up (kind of a lot).

As if that weren't bad enough, the puppies could think of only one thing, "hot breakfast!" They were very excited that their mother provided this for them. I was not as thrilled.

Holding my cup of coffee I could pick up only one puppy at a time. I swooped up one and deposited him in the garage, along with my cup of coffee on a higher step inside the garage by the door, then ran back out to get the other happy, hungry, cuter-than-anything little guy.

With the um...hot breakfast still on their taste buds I was just about to head toward the dog food to calm the ravaged fur balls now jumping and playing around my feet by the door. That's when one of them climbed up the steps and took a drink from my coffee cup. He quickly recoiled from the heat and taste combined I'm sure. I quickly winced at the thought of what was on his tongue just a minute ago.

And that's when I decided that sometimes it's okay to have two fresh coffee starts in one morning.

I'm thankful for having seen the beauty in this morning...and for the laughter that quickly came along with a bit of inconvenience.

I hope you see the beauty in your moments today too, no matter what the condition of your Christmas preparations and everything else the day brings.

Photo of Westley with one of the puppies. One puppy is still available by the way!