it's national PET THE POSSUM day

okay, not really.
but hudson is OBSESSED today with the notion of petting a possum.

a few nights ago we spotted a possum on our sidewalk.

hudson was NOT happy about this. he actually cried & said he was never going outside again LOL.

but today he's feeling brave & wants the possum to come back so he can pet it.
sure honey. i'll be right here inside the house watching out the window. let me know when you're all done.

yeehaw...i got me a southern boy!

it's official.

carson may have been BORN in ohio, but he's left his yankee roots behind him and converted to a true texan.


he typically gets 'hot' lunch at school but every here and there, they've had days where they've needed to bring their lunch.

up north, we call it a brown-bag lunch. apparently his teacher calls it a SACK lunch.

well, CARSON calls it a STACK lunch.

this week, i sent him a packed lunch in his super cool FLAME motorcycle lunch box.

he forgot to take it out that night. so the next morning we're driving to school and he's looking in his backpack and i hear this:


'OH NO! I FORGOT ABOUT MY LUNCH PAIL.'

lunch PAIL? seriously? apparently his teacher is stuck in a time warp.

i'd say more but it's time to go out yonder and tie up the horses.

pa is starting up the oil lamps so we can read before we go to bed.

'night all. sleep tight, ya hear?

jordan & austin

nope...not brother austin...

the city AUSTIN...

my friend stacey kidnapped jordan one day a few weeks ago and the two of them, along with stacey's cute little people, headed to austin for the day.

stacey had just taken part in a photography seminar out of state and now the same seminar was being held in austin and they needed models for the photographers to work with.

little by little the pictures are starting to make their way to us and they are FABULOUS!

thank you stacey for sharing this day with jordan...she had a blast & we are so blessed to have such beautiful pictures of our baby girl.

here are a few...the first one is jordan & rowan...so sweet!

more to come...

GRACE FOR OTHERS

once again, i find myself compelled to share a link of sunday's teaching.

http://www.woodsedge.org/we.pl?page=messages-and-media

click on GRACE FOR OTHERS to listen.

admitting right now that i have been on both sides...

i have wrongly judged.
i have been wrongly judged.
and i daily thank God that HIS grace is big enough to cover my wrong-doing as well as any wrong-doing done to me.

thank you GOD for your mercy that is new every morning.

SEVENTEEN

seventeen years ago right about this time, i was walking down the aisle of a little church in portsmouth, virginia. seventeen years ago i married my best friend.

four children, one angel, four dogs, three fish, one guinea pig later we're still together, still doing this thing called matrimony.

a few memories from our wedding day:

• when the limo didn't show up to get me to the church on time, it was up to me to do it myself...as we got near the tunnel & hit traffic, i do believe it's the first time i've ever sworn in front of my mom...and she understood and was fine with it LOL



• don't use an iron as a last minute touch up on the back of your dress. you might just swear again.



• don't place your candelabras directly under an airconditioning vent. the air might just cause the candles to burn too quickly and that might just catch your greenery on fire...YIKES. thank God for wedding coordinators with a good eye.



• do remember to check the weather forecast before you pack your overnight bag. temperatures could drastically change and you could FREEEEEEZE your newly married behind off because your only other choice of clothing is your wedding gown.



• fancy hotel right on the beach on PROM NIGHT may not be as quiet and romantic as you expected it to be.



• after your baptist fellowship hall reception (cake, punch and finger foods), when you decide upon a nightclub to go to with some of your friends and family, don't be surprised if it's acoustical night instead of the normal jazz night. and be prepared to be called out on the dance floor to dance to that fabulous hit MUSKRAT LOVE. followed by the most hilarious rendition of LOVE SHACK on guitar. i don't think i've ever laughed so hard.

i could go on and on...so many memories...

at church this morning i saw the sweetest couple...they were elderly and the husband was quite frail. she would help him as they walked together. they took communion, arms around each other in a sweet embrace and then gave each other a kiss. i couldn't stop watching them. and of course, if you know me, you'll know that i'm not exactly shy and so i approached them. told them that they were absolutely precious and that i hoped that the love my husband and i have for each other would be that evident to others through the years. you could just FEEL the love and adoration they had for each other.

we've had our ups and our downs, our ins and our outs and we've had surprises around every corner. and through it all we have been so very blessed.

cheers!

heavens to betsy

who IS betsy anyhow?

we're having LOADS of fun here at casa de lee.

it started sunday afternoon and has been one continuation of laughs and chuckles ever since...

here's the rundown:

one sliced open finger...
one collision between first daughter, second son...resulting in one bruised and bloodied nose on aforementioned daughter...
one body covered in hives that come and go...come and go...come and go...serious purging that tested out the stain treatment of our brand new carpet (the stain treatment won this round!)...
more hives...
a call from the coach at the junior high school that previously mentioned daughter was hit in the face with a basketball and previously mentioned bruised and bloodied nose is now a little more of each...
sigh...

a relatively short window where we THOUGHT it was all over...and then TA-DA...another one bites the dust...more purging.
WOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!

anyone wanna come hang out with us this weekend?



hee hee

FREE PICTURES...MOOOOOOOO

sign up here and get 200 free prints, 200 free 5x7 & a photo book just for signing up. you also get 200 more free prints for referrals:

http://www.artscow.com/default.aspx?Ref=356202



don't know about you but i have a GAZILLION pictures that are inside my computer that are screaming to be let out!

creative scrapbooking days are coming...i just have to finish organizing the garage first.

KNOWING vs. EXPERIENCING

my children continue to keep me guessing on a daily basis. while they share SO MANY characteristics, they also have differences that set them worlds apart from each other.

when austin & jordan were young, they'd run inside crying if a fly was anywhere near them. fast-forward to this weekend. carson & hudson are not so easily intimidated.

the little guys have decided to exercise their dominion over the 'wildlife' in our new backyard.
they spent pretty much all day saturday catching BEES. yes, you read that right. catching bees. yikes.

they perfected their method and have it down to a science. catch the bee between two plastic cups. insert plastic cups into a large ziploc bag. seal bag. they are ridding our backyard of bees, one at a time. (do you think that PETA would have a problem with this?) their heart is in the right place...they said they are doing it to protect us. gotta love that, right?

anyhow, as this is going on, i continue to ask,

'you DO realize that the bees can and WILL sting you if you miss, right?'
each time i'd ask, they would nod & say that they knew and that they understood.

herein lies the difference between knowing and experiencing.and it's had me thinking a lot over the weekend...there are so many things in life that we KNOW but that we don't EXPERIENCE.
i'm certainly not going out there to join them in their bee-catching madness, but i DO want to live my life with wild abandon...fully experiencing every moment...no fear or worries holding me back. to capture every opportunity, to live a life of passion and purpose.

who's with me?

PREPARING FOR THE STORM

our friend and pastor JASON SHEPPERD spoke this morning.

this is an incredible message that is absolutely worth every second spent listening.

http://woodlands.woodsedge.org/sermons/

it's MAY 2008 "PREPARING FOR THE STORM."

for those who take the time to listen: i hope this speaks to you the very thing that you need to hear.
for jason: your honesty & ability to relate on such a raw level is moving and powerful. thank you for being REAL. we are grateful for your presence in our lives.

FOURTEEN DAYS WORTH

it's been a BUSY two weeks. we closed on the house on a thursday but the owners didn't actually move out until friday night. no time was wasted and first thing saturday morning, the makeover fun began...and is still underway.

no where NEAR done but we are making huge progress and it feels like HOME already.

in typical fashion, it seems that every where i turn, i come across some ridiculous deal that is exactly what i was looking for. case in point: our kitchen table and chairs were a very tight fit in the eat-in area of the kitchen...i found these chairs at target for 75% off... $12.50 a chair!!! unreal. THANK YOU GOD! still have to find two more so we can all sit down together...but i know that they're OUT THERE somewhere :) and the looooong narrow table was in the scratch and dent room at ikea with one teensy scratch on it. PERFECT for our big family, small space. (ignoring the wallpaper...that will eventually be gone...just not yet):


my friend jana brought us a gorgeous cake tonight...ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL and TASTY to boot! THANK YOU JANA! you are wonderwoman.

full of not only cake, but also gratitude for all of the good things that have come our way.
will continue to update on our progress. xoxo.