Trunk or Treat!

Ethan was a baseball "bat," Julianne, a flower, and John Mark a giraffe (just like his brother and sister were at age 1). Great story about the bat teeth. We went to 4 stores looking for these silly teeth with no luck so we finally decided to pray. We walked into Target and looked up and down every Halloween aisle. I completely gave up and told Ethan so. But we decided to go around the corner and look one other place. And there were the teeth! Ethan says, "I think we ought to thank God before we leave the store." So we prayed right then and there in front of 2 ladies. Ethan then shared the miracle with the check-out guy and hundreds of others since.

Check out the video to see the vicious baseball "bat" in action with all of his neighborhood friends. Our local coffee shop, the Caritas Village, hosted us with hot dogs, candy, and lots of bump & grind music . . . we had a blast!

The New Addition

Michelle's Mom called in the middle of the night last Sunday to tell us that our new niece and cousin was soon to arrive. Hannah Elizabeth Widener was born only a few hours after that phone call. Michelle and the three kids headed for New Orleans the very next morning. After seven very, very, very long hours in the van driving in the pouring down rain they arrived to see the new baby. Julianne couldn't wait to hold her new baby cousin and Ethan was so excited to see her "baby toes." She is so sweet.
While Michelle spent the next few days in New Orleans, Ethan and Julianne went to Lafayette to spend time with Jamey's folks. They had so much fun! The theme for this visit was "pumpkins." They colored pumpkin pictures, made pumpkin cookies, did pumpkin crafts and of course took a trip to the pumpkin patch. They also went to a garage sale and bought many toys. Grannie said that it was just pure joy letting the kids buy anything they wanted. They came home with a garbage bag full!
On Sunday we packed and got ready for the long trip home. This time the sky was clear and we were all ready to see Daddy! On the ride home we sang worship songs, watched movies and John Mark well.... ate his toes. If there are toes in your mouth it is hard to cry so mommy was happy.

Camping Trip

Last week was crazy at work! My assistant Cheryl was on vacation, I had a really important Evangelism Team meeting on Tues night where we evaluated a few key ministries that we're about to change then the long-awaited Evangelism Breakfast on Thursday morning where we trained our most active evangelists. Then on Sunday was New Beginnings Lunch which takes a lot of time to prep for. On top of all that, Monday afternoon I found out that I had to preach on Sunday! I cleared out my schedule as much as I could but still ended up working over 50 hours. So when I had put the finishing touches on my sermon and got off Friday afternoon I was ready to relax with my family and get as far away from work as possible. It was a gorgeous day--the temperature had dropped and we had one of those electric blue autumn skies. I had a spontaneous idea. . .a family campout. But would the wife go for it?

I pitched the idea and she reminded me that three of the family members had a stomach virus and that a tent was no place for throw up. I don't want to brag, but I somehow talked her into going anyway--on the condition that we would get dinner and breakfast at the general store right outside of the campsite.

So we went to Meeman-Shelby State Park for a weekend of fun. It was a little tough with the stomach aches, but no one threw up and I think it was worth the risk and the hardship.


But if we didn't take risks and push through tough times I guess we would just stay locked up in our safe comfortable homes. HOW BORING!!!! I would rather be camping.

The Pumpkin Party!

This past weekend while Michelle was taking her Sabbath Rest Jamey, Julianne and Ethan along with some neighborhood kids carved this lovely pumpkin. It turned out quite interesting since everyone had a turn with the carving knife. After the carving Jamey read them The Pumpkin Patch Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs. This book illustrates how a loving Farmer can turn a simple pumpkin into a simply glorious sight. In the same way, God's transforming love can fill each of our hearts with joy and light. The kids had a GREAT time.

Stuck Forever?

There are two things you need to know about Julianne. First is that she is in the official stage of "I can do it myself." She is the middle child so this particular stage has seemed to be somewhat exaggerated. The second thing is that she is very dramatic! She is definitely a girl. But, today her independence and drama was used by God to remind me that He is a God that sees the big picture, and knows how to bring me comfort even when I overreact to a stressing time. So, Julianne found a highlighter and colored a beautiful picture on her PANTS. Yes, her brand New pants. I proceeded to take the pants and try to get even a little of the neon green out when she snuck off and to my surprise went and put on some new clothes. She came downstairs parading that she had got these bloomers on all by herself and that she was sorry for having colored on her other pants. WE both had a great moment of happiness. I was moving on to cleaning up another mess when I heard A horrible scream coming from the living room followed by the words.. "I'm stuck and I will never get out!" Out of shear fear I ran in the living room to find her in a panic trying to take off the very bloomers she had just so proudly put on. Seems as though the bloomers were ones Grannie(Jamey's mom) had made last year and they were a little too small. Giggling I helped her remove the bloomers and comforted my poor child. But, I realized so many times I project that I will be "stuck forever" over something that God is so able to help me with. Sometimes when I am so proud of something I have done "all by myself" goes wrong God is there to gently remind me that all I needed to do was ask for help.

The Day and the Life

Here we go.... Michelle has finally given in! Ok, maybe blogging isn't so bad. Jamey was blogging before blogging was cool, but Michelle- not so much. First things first! You will always know which one of us is posting because Jamey knows how to spell every word know to man, Michelle-not so much. (By the way, if anyone knows how to do spell check on this thing let me know.) Jamey can take any thought and write it in a moving, passionate and grammatically correct manner. Michelle-not so much! So please save all the post about grammer and spelling and just enjoy a mother's view of the world! We hope that this blog will help all of you to enter into the days and the lives of the Lees. Try to say that 3 times real fast. This however, can't replace you people calling us. Michelle likes to hear your voice, Jamey-not so much. Let the adventure begin!