The Glorious Birthday of Erica

For Erica, We Love You.

Wow!  My girls has grown into a beautiful woman.  It is hard to believe that so much time has gone by, she grew up while I was blinking. I'm proud of you Erica.

Love,

Mom

Yesterday was the impeccable Erica's birthday. This is a tribute to her. She is inspiring, funny, and intelligent. Like my other sisters, she is one of my closest friends.
Love,
Ryan

Also check out Erica's blog for a tribute from Taylor (link on the right).

Papa and Chico

Lexi found this picture on her computer this weekend while she was visiting us in Provo. The great news is Grandpa isn't aware the dog was ever on his lap.

Christmas Letter 2009 (the annotated version)

Dear Family and Friends, and Fans
We are thinking of all of you at this holiday season, at least we are thinking and wish we had the time to visit each and every one of you. We know less than half of you half as well as we'd like, and we like more than half of you more than half as well as you deserve. We must settle for second best, and that is sending you this email.

It has been a long, long year, and we have survived on blessings. And food. And water. And air. And blue.

The Lord truly takes care of children and fools, and everyone else who needs him, and we qualify. commenting on this paragraph is just too easy, let us just move on

Ryan went back to school full time this year and is planning on graduating in August!!! Erica did graduate, and she is busily looking for a job, which has not been fun in this economy. She is going to spend a month in Mexico in January with the ITTO program. itto stands for international troubled teachers overseas. Don't listen to her, it actually means International Taco Time Outreach. The are both wrong, it obviously means Its Time To Organize. Well I looked it up! It is not ITTO, it is supposed to be ITSO, as in "it's so obvious" that Sue is referring to the International Teachers Training Organization. Hopefully, there are will be job leads there. Lexi is going to school at BYU Idaho, and double majoring in English, and Art History. I'm trying to make it so that when I tell guys my majors they will run like H***. we all know it's because lexi is a NERD! And because you don't understand what a social life is. I think it is because lexi just wants to say h***. H***! Taylor is in eighth grade with a vengeance. Yes, yes she is. She NEEDS a cell phone, makeup, new clothes at all times, and a personal chauffeur, just to survive. yes, yes i do, but I do it so well. I was never annoying when I was thirteen.

Mark and I have been busy watching our house be built. And nothing else. It has been a miracle in progress. A miracle with a lot of professionals working on it. The builder came in under cost, aka more for me he finished it in one year, (average time is two) (about time). The insurance company has not squabbled about any claims we have made--so far.

We moved back in on September 15th and we are thrilled by the wonder of it all. Or, do you mean Wonderwall?
We have enjoyed the company of a lot of family and friends from far away this year. Lexi finally discovered where she gets her craziness from. We have loved visiting with you and hope to see all of you more often.

We love you all!!! ttfn

Mark and Susan and family and chico, the dog

We never commented on what Ryan is doing. That is true. well too late now. Aaaah. :(

The lee's cutting down a christmas tree.

The Ridiculously Huge House!!

Here are the long awaited photos of our new house! I couldn't get all of the rooms, but imagine a dormitory and you get the idea. We'll have a video tour posted soon. From Left to Right: Front view, Side view, Back view, Entry-way, Laundry room, Taylor's room.

Home Again, for the First Time

The time has finally come (as of last week) that the Lees have moved into to their own house. They are completely moved into the house, though they are still unpacking a little. I was there this summer, during the finish work, and the it looks amazing. Only the landscaping is unfinished, and I haven't heard if it will be done before winter.

Despite the unfinished landscaping, we will still post pictures, I just have to remind Susan. Susan has taken some good pictures, and she posted some of them.

J. Ryan Lee

6 months later

So it has been six months... and the whole world looks different!! The house is being built really fast, we should be done by the end of July! Every where we look or go there are blessings. The insurance company has actually been wonderful.. not what we expected. They have covered everything so far and we just got word they will cover all the construction cost. The contractor is right on top of things and the project has had no delays.. he also is giving us a great bargain. The bank, the schools, and strangers in the community all have pitched in to help!! Today the weather is even cooperating. We would like to thank all of you also. We know you have helped and prayed for us... we are sorry we haven't been able to say thank you personally to all of you, but we think it constantly. THANK YOU!!!

Great News Everyone

Erica Graduated from BYU this weekend! Lexi drove down to Provo from Rexburg, and we camped out in the Dayton's house; thank you very much Dayton's.

Wow, little Erica is already a college grad. We toured campus and visited the museums. The campus sure has changed a lot since I attended. There are so many new and beautiful buildings, they should have built them 25 years ago.

Lexi also turned the big 2-0 on Sunday! To celebrate, on Saturday, we went to Salt Lake City and Park City. In Park City it was...snowing. After buying her some presents we went to Chili's, had dinner, and met up with some of her friends.

We have laughed a lot this weekend and tomorrow we have to go back to our sober lives. We will probably take the nasty rainy weather with us back to Seattle. Hopefully, the Dayton's will forgive us for bringing it to Provo.

Preliminary Floor Plans

My parents are working towards rebuilding the house. They have the old foundation painted, and blueprints have been drawn up. I think the final plans were approved Saturday (Feb. 19th), but I have not seen them yet. This is a house the architect designed; my parents new house will sport the peaked rooflines featured here.
--Ryan

Tear Down

We arrived at 8:15 on Thursday morning to watch the tear down of the house. It was very theraputic and we loved it!! So don't be traumatized just fasinated. This is the very first bite by the big machine.

Hey guys we have had a wonderful Christmas thank you! The older kids came up from Utah and our christmas was great with all the donations. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Progress

Good news everybody. Conversations with Susan indicates that the service will likely be held next Friday or Saturday, on the 5th or 6th of December. That is the first true estimate that we have.

Mark and Susan seem to be doing well. The immediate trauma has passed, and they love you all very much.

Ryan

Here is the Process

The waiting on the funeral arrangements is frustrating. They (the state) needs to make a decision by Wednesday, else they will be on vacation the rest of the weekend, and won't think about it again until next week.

So here is an explanation of the process:

On Monday the state agency in charge of the boys started taking steps towards the funerals. State employees don't work on weekends--and since this is their jurisdiction--no one can do anything until they make a decision. The state needs to decide if they will allow someone else to take care of the funeral; or--if they take care of it--when to hold the funeral. Now they seem to be in no rush. According to Susan they have to make sure that they "cover their butts". This is a sensitive, and moderately publicized, issue; and bureaucracies are slow.

Now if they don't decide by Wednesday, then they probably won't do anything until after the holiday. The good news is that Compass Health, the foster agency, is putting a lot of pressure on the state agency to make their decision before the holiday. Compass Health has been present through the whole ordeal (I don't know if they work over the weekends, but the ox has been in the mire), and realize that next week is very late to make a decision.

Now, I can't even give an accurate estimate on when the funerals may happen. I have told a couple people that it should be this weekend, even Monday or Tuesday of next week. This may be true, but no one knows. Susan has expressed that she will be very unhappy if on Wednesday they announce the service for the day after Thanksgiving.

I apoligize to anyone interested in attending the services. I know this is very frustrating. I am used to funeral announcements being made almost immediately. Sorry.

Ryan
I guess now would be a good time for me to book tickets home for
Christmas; which I am sure that will be towards the end of December.

Arrangements

When I talked to Susan, on Monday, no funeral arrangements had been made. Everyone is waiting for word from the state before they proceed. It is expected that a decision will be made Tuesday, hopefully.
Ryan