Our Christmas Letter

Dear friends and family,

Merry Christmas from Travis, LeAnn, Trevor, and Theo! We hope this letter finds you in good health and good spirits as we celebrate this most special time of year the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

2008 has been an eventful year for our family. Our highlight of the year was on February 27th with the birth of our beautiful baby boy Theophilus Lee. After spending 13 days in the ICN (Intensive Care Nursery) at Children’s Mercy Hospital, we were overjoyed to bring him home. We are pleased to say that Theo is doing amazingly well thanks to the prayers of so many. Trevor, who is now 3, is a wonderful big brother and is our little entertainer. He was excited to start preschool this fall and has met many new friends there.

Since I miss giving my students tests, I have decided to have a little quiz with our Christmas letter so you can see how well you‘ve kept up with the Church family this year. Don’t worry, there won’t be any grades given for this one. It’s purely for fun! Good luck!

1. What big project did Travis decide to take on in September?
A. Restoring the 53 Chevy C. Building our house
B. Building a swing set D. Getting Trevor to bed by 9:00

2. What is the name of Trevor’s imaginary friend?
A. Max C. Spike the Dinosaur
B. Diego D. Friend Owl

3. Which of the following are true about Theo?
A. His nickname is Booga.
B. He loves sleeping in his own bed all night long.
C. He once spun around on the floor 7 ¾ times in a row!
D. He has a smile that can light up any room!

4. What has LeAnn enjoyed the most about being at home this year?
A. No papers to grade C. Getting to devote her time to being a mom
B. No state assessments D. No recess duty in the freezing cold

5. What life lessons have we learned this year?
A. Life is precious!
B. Always count your blessings!
C. Believe in miracles and the power of prayer.
D. Put your faith and trust in the Lord and He will carry you.

*Now it’s your chance to see how you did. Look at the next page for the answers.


1. Although Travis would probably rather be restoring the 53 Chevy, and I know he’d love to have Trevor to bed by 9:00, the correct answer is C- building our house. After our family grew again, the “shophouse” is feeling just a little too cozy. Travis, with the help of his dad, is doing a great job with the house. We only wish the weather would cooperate more. I am just amazed at all that goes into building a house. Thank goodness Travis knows what he’s doing because I sure don’t. This will be our major project of 2009. Travis also stays busy with the day to day activities of the farm and is a wonderful Dad.

2. Even though Trevor has been obsessed with dinosaurs for the last 9 months, the name of his imaginary friend is Friend Owl. I think it may have something to do with Trevor being a night owl himself. Trevor has developed quite the imagination this year. In fact you never know what to call him or Theo because he is constantly changing their names to things like Max, Ace, Tarzan, Rudolph, and Blitzen. He loves to play games on the computer. In fact he is helping me type this letter right now. He is really looking forward to Christmas this year!

3. Although we wished Theo loved sleeping in his own bed all night long, this one is not true, but the other 3 are. He has earned the nickname Booga by Travis and I because he often has a stuffy nose, and we just both started calling him that. On Thanksgiving Day, Theo was so excited as everyone cheered him on while he did his spin 7 ¾ times in a row! Theo adores his big brother and loves watching him act crazily. He also enjoys playing on the floor with his tractor and musical toys. Lately he has been enjoying his singing snowman and dogs. Unfortunately his favorite thing to eat is paper, but pears are a close second. He amazes us daily!

4. I have thoroughly enjoyed being a full time mommy after Theo was born although it definitely has it’s challenges. I do miss the teachers and students at GEC, but I don’t miss grading papers, state assessments, or recess duty in the cold so the correct answer is C. It has also been nice to be able to be at home to help with the house decisions. I enjoyed being in a women’s Bible study at Church called “The Frazzled Female”, but I am still working on that one!

5. We have learned many life lessons this year and have met many amazing people through our journey so the correct answer is all of the choices. We feel truly blessed by the amount of support we have received from our family and friends. We have learned what it means to walk by faith.
We hope you enjoyed learning a little more about the Church family happenings in 2008. We pray that you have a Merry Christmas and a Blessed 2009!


Love,
The Church Family