Whacky Weather

For two days last week the weather was so nice that we spent most of Friday outdoors doing things like washing cars, sweeping the garage, and taking down Christmas lights. The kids played outside for hours and went to the track to ride bikes and run around while Peter jogged. I think it might've hit 60 degrees on Saturday!
It was warm enough that they got to "picnic" in the sun room, notice Matt's shorts! They also took the last of the remaining snow and piled it together for one LAST snow...something. I don't know what that is but they had a lot of fun building it.
Ironically, as I write about the warm days of last week we are having an incredibly cold day today (it's drizzling making the roads an icy and slippery mess) and expecting an big snowstorm tomorrow. Yay! Snow is the best thing about winter in KS. It is my guess that the schools will be closed and that we will have the fire roaring. I love it!

Snorkelers

Matthew is always finding "creative" ways to play. It often includes things being taped to his face. This was his original snorkel diver look. Then he realized that it seriously impeded his speech, making it hard to play with others. So he redesigned the snorkel gear to what you see below. Emery also decided to join in on the diving fun. They've been wearing their "snorkels" for two days now.


I've also been meaning to make mention of our annual "Lee Family (Adults only) Retreat." Once again the Lord blessed us with a meaningful time of reflection upon the past year; praising God for his goodness to us, His faithfulness to sanctify us and increasing our debt of gratitude towards our Savior. We also dwell upon the hard lessons learned and the lessons we're still in the middle of learning. We look ahead to the next year, set goals for various areas of our lives and the kids' lives, as well as anticipating issues that we may face the following year so that we can ponder upon them and how to best deal with them when the time arises i.e. will Emery go to public kindergarten or be home schooled next August?

Peter and I are two peas in a pod and so we both really love reflecting, planning, and learning through it all but what I love the most about it all is how God has taught us both to communicate effectively with each other in a way that is kind, gentle and sometimes brutally honest. (This was not the case in our first year or two of marriage. Nothing but MIScommunication going on there! Thank God those days are behind us!) But now we humbly allow the other to speak openly into the other person's life. Of course, everybody loves encouragement, how well we're doing in some areas and to hear about their strengths, but it's a lot harder to face the reality that we have some (or a lot of) weaknesses, sometimes serious weaknesses, that need to be brought to light in order to live a life that is most glorifying to our God.

Each year, both of us examine the other person's character over the last year and bring up areas of weakness that we feel the other person should focus on the next year. (We try to give specific examples to help the other person see what we're talking about.) Sometimes it's really obvious and the other person doesn't even try to deny it, but at times in our sinfulness the first response is a temptation to be defensive. No, it's not fun. But the Holy Spirit has been so good each year to help us to receive what the other has to say. Then throughout the year we try to keep the other accountable with gentle reminders and encouragement. I thank God for a man who is humble enough to hear from a "weaker vessel" how he can better lead and love me, grow in Christ likeness and then actually take the advice and embrace it as his own. Yes, we are husband and wife but we are foremost brother and sister in Christ and I'm so thankful for that!

Piano lessons

We FINALLY started our piano lessons. Emery started out the most excited of all and gave up about 2 weeks into it. Her fingers just weren't cooperating with her! Matthew wasn't very interested in playing the piano but now really enjoys it. Andrew was sort of excited and now seems to be enjoying it. I have actually been very surprised at how much fun Andrew and I are having at practicing piano. This is our first duet. He told me he wants to play piano in his school's talent show at the end of the year. We have a lot of practicing to do to get ready!

Camping, well sort of...

Emery (and all the kids actually), really want to go camping but we have neither the equipment or motivation to go with all of them just yet. Soon, but not just yet. So, until the weather warms up and it doesn't rain on one of our church camping trips, this will just have to do. Andrew couldn't sleep down here with them because he was a little sick and so we kept him in his own bed. Peter started out the night with them (at Emery's request) and I took over at about 11pm. I think Matthew is having trouble waking up!

Happy 6th Birthday Matt!

Matt turned six years old today! He looks the same as he did when he was 2, only a little taller. (And I do mean only a little bit.) He had a fabulous day.

Woke up to blue berry pancakes (he likes anything with fruit in it). He pulled out the blueberries, ate them first and then the rest of the pancake. Then he got to open his presents from family members.Then off to a fun filled afternoon of lunch and play at Chuck E. Cheese, compliments of grandma and grandpa. Thank you grandma and grandpa!Topped off the day with a trip to Baskin Robbins where both Emery and Matt got free cones for their birthday and half birthday. Mmmm....rainbow sherbet.... On the drive home he was over heard saying, "This was the best birthday ever!" (Actually, we did the EXACT same thing for his 4th birthday but apparently that has faded from his memory.)
He was the EASIEST baby when he was born. He was happy to be cuddled, but fine being left alone. He would fall asleep easily, stay asleep and then wake up happy. Ate anything that was put in front of him for a long time. For the first three months of his life he slept through the service at church no matter how loud the singing or preaching was. People would visit and he'd contentedly sit in his bouncy chair the whole time they were over. They would often ask, "Does he ever cry or make ANY noise?" A dream of a baby. Well...times have changed! He now loves to run around, sword fight, growl, and make all kinds of sword and gun type noises. He doesn't sit real still for too long anymore but he is still very sweet, sensitive, caring and thoughtful towards others, and the most generous of our kids. Best of all, he still loves to be cuddled. I thank God for Matt and pray that he would come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ one day.

Upward

It's basketball season again! Andrew is on the Dragons and Peter is once again his coach. Peter had NO INTENTION of being a coach this year as we are trying to be careful to not overload his or our family's schedule, BUT Andrew went to his first practice to find 11 kids on his team. There were only two teams for his age group and both were really big because they didn't have enough coaches. Therefore, Peter and another dad (one of Andrew's former teammates from last year) bit the bullet and volunteered to coach two more teams to make the league more fun for everyone. So...he is once again coaching. He will be out Monday nights for the next few months. The man with the Dodger's game is Victor, the assistant coach. His wife's son was also on Andrew's team last year. We're thankful that somebody from the team was willing to assist as Peter's team was the only one without an assistant coach when the season started.Upward is a Christian league. The kids pray before the game starts.

They only had one practice before this game but only one kid, outside of Andrew, showed up to the practice because of the snowy weather. So Peter met most of the kids for the first time today.
Andrew takes everything very seriously and got pretty flustered and teary eyed when he missed some shots today or when the other team scored, but we tried to encourage him to just have fun and do his best for the Lord. At the end of the game he said he had a GREAT time and is looking forward to the season. Go Dragons!

Snow days are fun days!

We got some snow on the 10th and it's been cold enough, more than cold enough actually, to keep it from melting. We went sledding tuesday and today. I think I have as much fun as they do. My only complaint is that I don't get enough turns down the hill because the kids keep hogging the sleds!

Emery and Matt love to help Peter and me shovel the driveway. Emery said, "I'm not quitting till the job is DONE!" I love her attitude! Just like her dad.

We tried to go sledding on the 10th but the snow was too soft and deep as you can see in the video, but we went the day after and had loads of fun on that very same hill.

How quickly they grow...

A couple of days ago I posted a blog about Tim and Allison's visit to Emporia. This is Allison and Andrew in their "early years". :) (You can see them now two blog entries ago.)


I found, well, Peter found, some pictures of Allison and Andrew as toddlers and I'm putting them up because they're so DARN CUTE! I think Allison just finished eating a mouthful of sand just before this picture was taken.

This was on a camping trip with the Pettas in Malibu beach. I think they were about just turning 2 in these pictures. In contrast to these pictures, today's temperature maxed out around 15, but with the wind chill factor, it felt like -6! We bundled up and went sledding. The kids loved trying the sleds they got as Christmas presents. We only stayed out for about 20 minutes because although their bodies were warm in the MANY layers I put on them, their cheeks were really cold. They wanted to stay out longer but I decided it best for us to head home. Hopefully the snow sticks around all week so we can go out again when it's a little bit warmer (like 25 degrees). :)

Praising God for 13 years!

13 years ago today on a rainy evening, Peter and I, before God and man, entered the wonderful union called "marriage". We celebrated by having lunch at Yia Yia's in Wichita after dropping off the Pettas at the airport.
Marriage was created by God and our marriage has been sustained by God without a doubt. It is only by His grace that we have been married for as long as we have, and as happily as we have. It's been an adventurous 13 years and I thank God for the work He has done in each of us, through the instrument of the other person. Our relationship has always been one where God and His glory has been our pursuit. We spur each other on to grow in holiness as we love and encourage each other. Peter leads mostly by example, but he loves God and me enough to also gently and kindly point out areas in my life where I need to grow now and again and then actually HELPS me to grow in those very areas in very specific ways. What a wonderful spiritual leader!

I think I've mentioned this before, but this past year I found a list I made in HIGH SCHOOL of qualities I wanted in a future husband. It was an assignment in my senior year Bible class. We were studying the concept of a Biblical marriage. I had A LOT on my list (which can be a bad thing, by the way) and you know what? God gave me just about EVERYTHING I wanted from a man in Peter and then some! My greatest joy is that he has been the spiritual leader I always longed for and I'm so thankful for the blessing of Peter in my life the last 13 years and for the many years to come, God willing.
As a special treat, God granted us our first snowfall of the season on the eve of our anniversary. We woke up this morning to a beautiful blanket of white covering the land. The kids of course HAD to get out in it. We'll have more pictures on that coming soon...

Tim and Allison

Friday, Peter's dear friend Tim and his daughter Allison came for a weekend visit. It was a fun time for all and refreshing for Peter to spend time with an old friend and enjoy hours of conversation and spiritual fellowship.

Tim graciously took us all out to Bad Ol' Berns for dinner one night. It was actually the first time all of us, except for Peter, had been there. Thank you Tim!

Of course we had to take them to Braums to try the ice cream. We met the Pettas when Abdrew and Allison were less a year old. Andrew and Allison used to be buddies as toddlers (they are only a few months apart) and they had fun getting reacquainted. Thank you Lord for the Pettas!

It's COLD!

Winter has really settled in at this point and even Andrew who always says he's NOT cold has finally conceded to the fact that he needs to wear more than just shorts and a t-shirt, even in the house. He may have swung to the other extreme though wearing hat, helmet, gloves, and three shirts while in the house. Oh, and of course we can't forget the sunglasses! :)

She's a maniac...

She's a maniac on the dance floor! Emery called me and wanted to show me her latest dance moves. Oh my goodness is all I can say! See for yourself.

What's for dinner?

This is for my mom because she's always wondering what in the world I feed my family every night. Well, tonight it was individual pizzas that the kids got to make themselves.

Andrew made the long one, Emery's one has the mountain of olives in the middle, and Matt's is the "other" one. I meant to give them a salad or other raw vegetables on the side but Andrew had to get going to basketball practice and the veggies got lost in the rush. Oh well, we had lots of fruit at lunch and snack time.

2010 Goals

The Lee Family Retreat is coming up in 3 weeks. It will be delayed a couple of weeks so that we can host my good friend Tim Petta this weekend. He's well worth it, and I am so thankful to spend some time with him this weekend.

But I wanted to put down in writing how last year's goals ended up (Click here to see my last update). So here goes:

Goal #1 - Read 16 books

• I finished this goal half way through the year so the outcome wasn't a surprise. But I ended up with 26 which is a surprise. That's the most I've ever read! Praise God!

Goal #2 - Run the KC Half-Marathon in under 2 hours

• I did this one in 1:57. Unfortunately, I've only run about twice since then! But I've started back on the path of health and discipline and am planning on running a marathon in 2011.

Goal #3 - Read through the Bible

• It came down to the wire (Dec 30), but I did it.

Goal #4 - Memorize 12 new Bible passages

• This one also came down to December, but it got done.

I didn't meet all my goals this year, but it was surprising how many I did meet. After the Lee Family Retreat, I plan on reflecting more on the past year and will post what some of my goals will be for 2011. It's an exciting time.

Happy New Year!

Seh-he-bok man-ee bad-do sae yo! We enjoyed traditional Korean dduk gook(rice cake soup) today with our friends the Hintz' and another young man from the church. I wish I had taken a picture! We wish everybody a wonderful year filled with the joy of knowing Jesus Christ in all His glory and wonder. We've been busy hosting the Myung family the last week so we have not blogged but here are some of the things that have kept us busy...Sam painted Emery's room for me as my Christmas present! I love her room now!
My dad was our master griller throughout the week even in the bitter cold.

We all enjoyed spending time together as we have not been with the whole Myung family in about 3 years. Thank you Lord for family!