A New Leese on Life

Okay, so it’s been a while since I’ve cried over a movie/tv show/commercial etc. (I used to get made fun of for how I’d cry at the drop of a hat!), but I saw the sweetest true love story today that I thought I would share.

Sixteen year olds Bart and Brenda fell in love in the late 70s were secretly engaged and then a month later found out she was pregnant. They were separated and forced by their parents and priest to give up their baby for adoption. They were not allowed to even touch the baby. Their strained relationship ended shortly afterward and they went their separate ways. Both married and had two children with other spouses. After both their marriages ended in divorce, they found each other again and looked for their biological son together. Through a chance meeting, they found him and reunited with him after 26 years, finally getting to hold the son they had been forced to give up. They got married and their son walked her down the aisle. Then they had a daughter together named Madison and they lived happily ever after.

It sounds like a movie or novel or something, but it really happened! I tried to give the Reader’s Digest version, but wow. I bawled like a little girl!

So, four down and one to go…the graduate school auditions are almost over. I have received one acceptance letter so far from Towson University in Baltimore and I am still waiting to hear from the rest. My last audition is Monday at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Though we might hear whether or not we are accepted into the rest of the schools within the next couple of weeks, we will not know until as late as mid-April about assistantships and scholarships. These will be a very large factor in deciding where we end up, so we can’t really make a decision until all of the cards are on the table. The next step will be finding a job for Leroy and selling our house; the latter of the two being the most difficult task. (Looking at the comps in our area, the last houses that sold were in November and they were short-sales!) We know that God has plans for us, but we are just waiting to see what they are! (Jeremiah 29:11) Thank you all for your support in this process in so many ways! This process has been so fun!

In other news, Emma Kate is sitting up and rolling all over the place. I’m sure she’ll be crawling soon, but for now, she just rolls over and over until she gets where she needs to go. God has really blessed us with an amazing baby girl!

Hi guys, it’s been a while since I’ve written. I honestly just never think of it and when I do, I realize Leroy/Phil does a good job of keeping everyone posted. But here we are almost 39 weeks and still no Baby Leese! We are so ready for her to be here that we just can’t stand it. Everything is ready: the nursery, the car seats, the clothes, the diaper bag…we’re just waiting on her to decide that it’s time. I have truly enjoyed my pregnancy up until the last month or so just because I’m getting so big that it’s very uncomfortable, but all negatives aside pregnancy truly is one of God’s most astounding miracles. Everyone has been so wonderful and supportive over the last 9 months and I just couldn’t have been more blessed with such a great experience. I am realizing that we have no clue how much our world is about to change…a lot of people talk about the down side of that change, but we enjoyed thinking today about the great changes she will bring and what she will be like. Thank you all for your prayers, support, and encouragement throughout our pregnancy! We’ll keep you posted!!!

Tomorrow is my first day of classes as a teacher at Rocky Bayou Christian School. I will be teaching 5th-12th grade chorus and speech and theater. I’m really excited to get started! I know it will be tough, but I’m looking forward to learning as I go, knowing that I will not be perfect the first time through. I hope that I will be able to apply my 4 years of college to my real job, but i know that will be tough too. Lots of prayer…

As cute as puppies can be, they can sure be a pain! We are still learning how to be good puppy parents and what things to do and not to do. Wally made his first trip to the vet yesterday because we thought he had hookworms. It turns out that he just has tapeworms which is much less serious, which is good. Then, last night we made the mistake of leaving him in the kennel while we went out for a couple of hours and then trying to put him to bed an hour later. He was not ready to go to bed. He whined inside, he whined when we put him on the back porch, he whined when we brought him back inside…we finally just shut the door and ignored him. Our friends have given us some tips on how to handle it, but boy was it frustrating. That was the worst day we’ve had with him so far. Leroy is just ready to skip the puppy phase and have an obedient dog! ( I think I agree.)