What's the Time?

Time to hit the snow.

Dateline January 27th, 2007: Gaming, Austria.
The world sledding championships were held today in Gaming Austria, a small village in the Eastern portion of the scenic country. The competition boasted contestants from the United States, England, Slovakia, and Austria. High winds and blowing snow made conditions extremely difficult. For the first time in history an American competitor was named the champion. Zechariah Lee, better known as "Zach Attack" (pictured below), hails from Kuna Idaho, a small village in South-Central portion of the state. He attributes his success to rigorous training on a Nintendo GameBoy SP, homeschooling, losing four front teeth (for aerodynamics), and the sweet green goggles given to him by his parents. To celebrate he wishes he could go to McDonalds, but will get some good home cooking instead.

Herr Michael Lee, the President of Buffalo Chips Potato Chips, (shown here from an undated file photo) said that "Zach Attack was a fierce competitor and that the entire USA can be proud of their sledding champ". Buffalo Chips Potato Chips announced a multi-year deal made with the new champ. We can expect Zach "Zach Attack" Lee to star in a new series of commercials touting the new Buffalo Chips product called "prairie pancakes".

My Eyes Were Opened by Homeschooling

There are many schools of thought on homeschooling. Some are good and some are bad. I just wanted to share our experience for people who still have their kids in the school system. If we came back to the states right now Mike and I would have to discern if we still were going to home school or not. Lets just say starting from scratch with a 7th grader, a 6th grader, and a 1st grader has been quit the challenge.

But the part I really wanted to share is that we thought that our kids were getting a great education. We were in a strong school district and our kids were doing great. We were very pleased with the teachers and the schools our children were placed in. We realized our kids were exposed to somethings that we weren't excited about, but we had made sure we addressed those things with them regularly. Our children were considered the top of their class and were charting off the ISAT tests. So we felt great about the education that our kids were getting and the work we were helping them complete for school.

Since we have started homeschooling, what we have realized is that with the program "No child left behind", the schools were targeting their efforts to the lowest child. So the fact that our kids were doing so exceptional meant nothing. Our kids were not being challenged at all and when we started to home school we were met with a huge struggle and with lots of tears. Now we are more hands on and know what are kids are learning. We are making sure they are working at a level to help them develop to their full potential. If we ever came back to the states and decided to put our kids back in school, I would most certainly be supplementing their education, so that my kids would reach their full potential. I am not pushing either way for homeschooling or not, I still feel that is a decision that parents have to discern through with the Lord. What I am cautioning parents about is when in the school system, private or public, be aware that your kids may not be getting the education you thought they were.

Next time I will tell you where we found our kids education was lacking. Love In Christ!

Book Recommendation...

Deb and I discovered (well recommended to us) a fantastic book. It is a personal retreat based on the teaching of St. Therese of Lisieux. It is called: I Believe in Love: A Personal Retreat Based on the Teaching of St. Therese of Lisieux. It emphasizes St. Therese's teaching on confidence, trust, and abandonment to God. It is excellent!!

If you are interested...

Here is the Fall 2006 Newsletter from The International Theological Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family.

It is called the Consortio. It is interesting and informative. It give a view into the life here at the ITI.

Enjoy!

Sigh....Teenagers...

In the immortal words of Ivan Ooze (Power Rangers villain extrordinaire) "Smell's like....teenagers!! Well, he is right! The lee house now smells like a teenager...yuck!!

Felicity turned 13 on the 30th. Look out world! I am so glad we have here chained up in the basement here. 8^> Needless to say that Deb and I are in a whole heckuva lot of trouble...

Doesn't that just look like a teen to you?

Epiphany...(Oh yeah, Merry Chritsmas and a Happy New Year)!!

I was just struck by the thought that it was just a year ago when the whole ITI thing began. I'll never forget sitting listening to Father Tim's homily as he talked about following the star wherever it might lead us. A year and 10 days ago and I would have laughed at you if you would have suggested I would be in Austria the following year. God certainly leads us on a "Great Adventure" This is a name of an old Steven Curtis Chapman song of the same name. The lyrics are fantastic:

Saddle Up Your Horses
by Stephen Curtis Chapman

Started out this morning in the usual way
Chasing thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today
Another time around the circle try to make it better than the last

I opened up the Bible and I read about me
Said I'd been a prisoner and God's grace had set me free
And somewhere between the pages it hit me like a lightning bolt
I saw a big frontier in front of me and I heard somebody say "let's go"!

CHORUS
Saddle up your horses we've got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace
Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other - this is The Great Adventure

Come on get ready for the ride of your life
Gonna leave long faced religion in a cloud of dust behind
And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored
This is what we were created for

(Chorus)

BRIDGE
We'll travel over, over mountains so high
We'll go through valleys below
Still through it all we'll find that
This is the greatest journey that the human heart will ever see
The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams

There is no doubt that following the Lord is a great adventure!! Sometimes it is rocky and other times it seems so mundane. hoever, it is precisely here we are invited to see by the eyes of our faith the adventure of loving God and others in the very midst of the humdrum. Trying to love others perfectly truly is an adventure!