Lee Family Retreat 2017

The annual Lee Family Retreat was scheduled for August 2017. But my little compartment syndrome episode the day before, put it on hold. Thankfully, we managed to get away for the retreat in November.

This year, we stayed at a place near Grass Valley with a big old pond.

It was very scenic and a perfect place for our retreat. And guess who loved being in the boats?

I'm not sure you can see it, but Andrew's doing a little fishing from the boat. The boys and girl love to fish. Unfortunately, like most fishing, they didn't catch anything. I think the fish were dormant since it was so late in the season.

As we reflected on the past year, we had much to be thankful for. God, as usual, was so faithful, so kind, so good, and so active in our lives. Personally, there was more healing and more growth in contentment. It was also so good to see how much the boys and girl had grown this past year too. It's so amazing to see God work in the lives of our children.

The past year we managed to add the following memory verses to the collection:

• John 1:14
• Hebrews 4:15
• Genesis 50:20
• James 1:17
• 1 Corinthians 10:31
• John 1:1-2
• Ephesians 1:3-4
• Proverbs 15:3
• 2 Timothy 3:17

And read the following books together:

• Ezra
• John
• Proverbs
• 1 & 2 Chronicles

With Andrew completing his first year in HS, Matthew completing his first year in MS, and Emery completing her first year in public school, there were a lot of changes. The boys and girl are going out more and more into the world and doing things on their own. The choices they made with their friendships, their academics, and their extra-curricular activities have been good. I have really been impressed with their follow through to invite friends to evangelistic outreaches at church. We have intentionally tried to cultivate a love for the lost as the boys and girl are a part of this world. It's a very different world now, parenting these teens and tweens. I have been working hard to give them more freedom and more space to make their own choices while still working on growing our relationship and the connection to talk through things. I hope they will develop a biblical worldview through it all, but they have to make their own choices based on their own reasoning. It's very humbling as a parent now.

Soccer

Emery played soccer again this year.

Her team was the Laser Cats.

She played mostly defense this year. She was a rock in the middle of the defense! Seriously though, she was tough. A lot of girls on other teams went down hard to the ground thanks to her aggressive D!

She didn't get to play as much mid-fielder as she wanted to. But she did get a few chances to score goals. So close, yet so far.

This year, she had a much better head coach! Can't you see that coaching difference in the girls?!

Emery did a great job in her second and last year of playing. She had a good year and a good team. Unfortunately, she's retired now. She has so many interests and things she wants to do!