Lee and Beth Wilson

re:Wilsons

2008-08-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

For all interested, we have a new blog at http://rewilsons.wordpress.com

The Much Awaited Virtual Tour

2007-01-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

The time has come for my oft made promises to be kept.

Before we get started, here is the story of how we got this massive beast of a flat:

We wanted to live downtown, close to the University of Louisville for college ministry for our church and so that we would be closer to Beth's job downtown. We drove around looking for a place in Old Louisville for about a month and a half, trying to find an apartment that had a living area large enough for Bible study and Monday night dinners, but to no avail.

Finally, I saw a "For Rent" sign and called, only to hear about a 2400 sq. foot penthouse that was completely out of our price range. Well, the guy was nice and said we could come check it out - even if we new we couldn't afford it- and when we did we absolutely fell in love with it.

We retreated to our old apartment and tried to crunch the numbers and make it work.

Unfortunately, there was just no way. But when I called our landlord to give him the sad news, he told me that he had to rent the flat either to Beth and I or to five college dudes. Since he new we would take better care of it he offered to cut the rent by a couple hundred dollars if we would commit to a 24 month contract.

Easiest decision of my life (well, other than asking Beth to marry me).

Check out the new pad...

Take a sec to orient yourself with the layout of our place. The tour starts at the spiral staircase and then goes to the great room before crossing the hall to the guest bedroom before following the rest of the tour by walking down the hall door by door.

Enjoy!

Virtual Tour: First Stop

2007-01-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

This is the spiral staircase.

There are two ways into our place, this staircase in the front and the back staircase. When we moved in we brought all the small stuff up the back stairs, but they are too narrow for the bug furniture.

Translation: All of the big stuff had to come up the front stairs to the third floor and then be lifted manually from the third floor up to the fourth floor. Fortunately we have some incredible friends with massive muscles that helped us out with this huge project.

Virtual Tour: Second Stop

2007-01-22T10:55:00.000-08:00

The Great Hall

When you come to the top of the stars, this huge hall welcomes you to our home with a warm, art gallery, kinda vibe. The red hardwood floors and the golden walls are amazing.

We have been kicking around some ideas for how to further the decoration scheme in the hall...we have considered finding some long church pews for the wall or maybe purchasing a plastic bowling kit and starting a bowling league...leave a comment if you have an idea for us.

Virtual Tour: Third Stop

2007-01-22T10:50:00.000-08:00

The Great Room!!!

The Living Area

This is where Bible studies go down on Wednesday nights and we gather with joy and trepidation to see Jack Bauer's great adventures on 24 every Monday night.

The reading nook

This is where Monday Night Dinners happen.

On any given Monday there could be as many as 21 people gathered around this table and a couple of card tables to scarf down Beth's amazing cooking.

Virtual Tour: Fourth Stop

2007-01-22T10:45:00.000-08:00

The Reading Room/ Guest Bedroom

Once known as the "purple room" we have now painted over the lilac walls and made this into a place to read or, when visitors show up on the doorstep, to set up the queen sized super comfortable airbed and make it the guest room.

Virtual Tour: Fifth Stop

2007-01-22T10:41:00.000-08:00

Guest Bathroom

This room is a special room. For some reason the previous owner decided to paint it a glossy fecal brown which lead to the perfectly appropriate name of the "crap cave." The toilet is around the corner on the left in a little nook and the tub is behind the wall next to the sink.

Virtual Tour: Sixth Stop

2007-01-22T10:40:00.001-08:00

The Master Bedroom

View from the Hallway

Notice, if you will, the super incredible chandelier light fixture that, true to its name, is a light fixture though it is a bit towards the "wimpy" side of the chandelier spectrum. We love it.

Who would ever imagine that a king sized bed would look anything other than flippin' huge in a bedroom?You might notice the gold stencil on the walls...that was a little surprise left by the previous owner...a man form the Philippines. At first, we were not so excited but it has grown on us and we really dig it now.

Virtual Tour: Seventh Stop

2007-01-22T10:35:00.000-08:00

To the Kitchen!!!

Through the doorway off the great hall

The entry way into the kitchen through a little hall that I call the breakfast room - for no particular reason.

The Breakfast Room

The view of the kitchen as you pass by the back stairs and into the kitchen

...one of these days there will be a little table for two under the photos on the wall.

This is the place where Beth practices her incredible cooking skills.

One of our favorite things about the kitchen, beside the fact that it is awesomely huge with plenty of room for fellowship, festivities, and food preparation, is that the counter tops are actually a dark stained butchers block.

Notice also the pantry on the right, also known as our second overflow guest bedroom. Don't worry, there is plenty of room if you come and visit us and end up in the pantry.

Virtual Tour: Final Stop

2007-01-22T10:30:00.000-08:00

This is Lee's study. His sactuary of books.

To the right of the photo is the fireplace, which has been blocked off, the color was a bit distorted by the program I used to stitch the panoramic pictures.

On the right corner of my desk is my Christmas present from Beth. It is a book embosser (it puts my "official stamp" into the page) that Beth got from a company who reconditions embossers from the mid 1800s. Beth rocks!

This is the other view of my study

If you look through the door out of the study you will see boxes filled with books from the 1800s and early 1900s. I guy I know is remodeling a church in West Louisville and the church decided to disperse their library...and I got first dibs.

Most of the goodies are old children's books (Treasure Island, Little Women, Prince and the Pauper, etc.) and classic literature (Ivanhoe, Shakespeare, etc).

Virtual Tour: Adios!!!

2007-01-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks for taking the time to take our virtual tour.

Feel free to drop by for a visit any time!!!

Inconsistent Blogger

2007-01-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

Whew-eee...boy I have not written since Thanksgiving? My apologies to all our adoring fans.

Quick update: Lee finished out the fall semester with a great deal of stress due to lack of reading discipline in the beginning of the semester (though it turned out okay grade wise), then began a concerted effort to complete the decoration of our place in time for Christmas events, we had Beth's big office party here in our apartment ( and it went off without a hitch), and then Lee's parents were able to come visit on Christmas day through the end of the week. Since then, Lee has been trying to find a new job now that his former employer does not really have work available at the moment, so we have just been laying low and spending time with each other, friends up here in Louisville, and having a good ol' time.

More pictures of people and our new pad are coming up the pike for the blog...be patient and great shall be your reward.

Much love from the Wilsons.

Thanksgiving Week

2006-11-29T20:26:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is always, should always, be a time to give glory to God by recognizing the good things that he has done for us. This Thanksgiving God received his glory in an unexpected and really hard way.

Some of you might know that Beth's grandma, Julianna Rayburn, was diagnosed with very aggressive cancer about 6 weeks ago. Little did we know just how aggressive it was.

We knew that we needed to visit soon, we knew that the doctors could not promise how well she would be doing this Christmas, so we took the Thanksgiving week to travel to Texas and spend time in Waco with Grandma.

There is much to be said, much that shall be said, but for now it suffices to say that God was perfect in his timing because Grandma passed away Saturday, November 25, two days after Thanksgiving, two days after her 78th birthday, having been married to one of the most incredible, loving, devoted, godly husbands that I have ever had the pleasure to know and love.

In my studies of church history I have learned a number of things about a group of Christians known as the Puritans. One of the most precious and thought provoking came as I read Jonathan Edwards' Resolutions. The first few times I read through the list of 71 resolutions Edwards made for how he wished to live his life to the glory of God, I was struck by the strange frequency of his mentioning his own death.

As I thought about this reoccurring theme I was struck with a challenge and a question. The challenge: To live and die in such a way that it might be said that I died well...that I found the gospel precious to the very end. The question...how do I do that? And, what does it look like?

Over time, I came up with some answers to my questions and, I think, made positive ground fitting to the challenge. But it was not until this past Thanksgiving that I was able to witness with my own eyes what it was to finish well.

Grandma said many precious things as we spoke to her in the nursing home and, before she passed, in her own home. Just one of the most meaningful to me was when I asked her what she had been thinking about the most over the past few days. And this sweet, beautiful, faithful, frail, dying woman whose body was, literally, riddled with a cancer that was ravaging her body said to me:

"How good the Lord is"

Wow. Praise God for Grandma's faithful finish. Cancer, pain, and death did not blind her to the goodness of God. My prayer is that, regardless of the hardship that the Lord has for me and my family, that we would follow in the footsteps of Grandma.

Should you be so courageous as to pray that very same prayer for yourself, when you pray pray also for her wonderful husband of 59 years. The Lord saw it fit to bring Grandma through the trial of cancer and, having fought that battle with his bride, Grandpap must endure also the trial of a deep loneliness that I can only begin to fathom as a husband myself of but 18 months. Pray for Everette Rayburn, Grandpap loved his wife so dearly; pray that he would love his Jesus all the more in her absence; pray that God would give him strength in his sorrow, that he would say in the midst of the pain:

"How good the Lord is"

The "Victorian Tower"

2006-11-16T14:02:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are concerned that Lee has run away to Kentucky to ascend the "Ivory Tower" of academia, have no fear!

In all actuality, Lee was actually climbed the four stories into his "Victorian Tower."

You might be asking yourself: "What in the world is he talking about? Has he lost his mind from too many papers and reading jumbled up at the end of a semester?"

To the latter, I have perhaps lost my mind a little bit...but it is just that time of year and it is my own fault for not being more productive earlier in the semester.

To the former, in case you did not know, we live in a part of town known as "Old Louisville," which just so happens to be the largest Victorian neighborhood in the world (which pretty much refers to the US and the UK). Our home is a bit of a tower, it feels like it going up the spiral staircase to be sure, just check out the view from our roof.

For those of you who are concerned for me, worried that the few marbles I still have might be lost up here in my study in the "Victorian Tower," have no fear because I am being set free tomorrow afternoon at 2:30, when Beth and I will be boarding a plane to Texas for the week to chill with family and friends!

I'll still have plenty of work to do for school, but I will be able to do it in a place where you can drive for hours without seeing a stoplight, where you can drive all the way from Austin to Dallas on an access road (no access roads in Kentucky), and I cannot wait to sit on the back porch at my parents' house and watch a sunset (I'll bring yall a picture).

If you got excited about our living in the largest Victorian neighborhood in the world, you should check out the Old Louisville Information Center (I highly recommend checking out the "Pictures" section - center column of the website - they are pretty cool).

See you around!

Uf! School is Straight Killing Me

2006-11-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

Hey, sorry about the apartment photos not being posted yet. Getting nice shots and completing the finishing touches just doesn't quite fit into the schedule right now. I have 3 weeks of school remaining and I feel like I have 5 weeks of work to do (pray for me).

The good news, however, is that Beth and I will be travelling down to the great nation of Texas for Thanksgiving week. We were planning on making the drive come Christmas, but Beth's grandma's cancer diagnosis is bringing us home sooner than expected.

So, here's the game plan. The first half of Thanksgiving week will be spent in Austin with Lee's family (what up my Austin folks). The second half of the week will be spent in Waco with Beth's family (Dallas folks...lunch or dinner maybe?)

Looking forward to spending some time at home. Lee and Beth, signing out (for now). And, the apartment shots are coming, just a bit slower than expected.

Ta-da!!!

2006-10-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

We had a big Friday night last night. We went shopping and ended up breaking the bank (not really, the bank will be just fine). We decided that it was time to buy Beth a heater that worked on a setting other than "low" and this little guy will more than do the trick to keep my sweet little wife toasty. We shopped around for almost two weeks until we found the perfect car for us and Carmax really took care of us.

Undoubtedly, we are pumped and deeply appreciative our wonderful parents and grandparents, who exemplify generosity and care for their children. Proverbs paints a picture of parents and grandparents loving and blessing their children, and we are fortunate to see that example exemplified in our own families.

So, you can now trust that our buns are safe and roast toasty as you check the weather forecast and see that Louisville, Kentucky is, officially, butt cold...but not our butts, they are Kia-riffic.

There is, however, some bad news.

Despite our excitement, we must also take a final pause to say our farewell to Beth's first car (courtesy of Ebay), a loyal little import that brought with it much laughter, cheap transportation, and good memories...

Here's to you, Egg!!! Farewell

Until next time, this is Lee and Beth Wilson, signing out and driving in wonderful warmth and safety...hopefully we will be rolling into a town near you as soon as possible. But, should that too long to wait to see the splendor of the new ride, and you are a member of Facebook.com, you can 1)become Lee's friend and 2) feast upon more pictures of the Sorento to your little heart's content!

Don't forget...the picture joy is not yet over. The photo tour is soon to come, as well as personal updates about Lee and Beth after 1.5 years of marriage...stay tuned.

Crud! The Drum is Busted!!!

2006-10-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

But wait, don't freak out.

While the drum might be busted (aka, the house is not ready for the photo tour), it will be ready very, very, very soon.

In loo of the drum, we have picked up an electric guitar (cue the dramatic violins), and we will have another exciting photgraph posted Wednesday morning (mark it on your calendar) that will thrill you enough to buy your patience for the house tour.

Lest you ladies begin to freak out, an "electric guitar" is bigger than a breadbox, smaller than a refrigerator, and not a new addition to the Wilson family...though we are incredibly excited with the prospect of being able to make such an annoucement at some point in the future when God so chooses to bless us with a little one.

See you Wednesday morning!!!

Drum Roll Please....

2006-10-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

So, here it is, the beginning of the official drum roll for the slide show presentation of the Wilson's sweet pad.

This weekend will be a "GeteverythngSquaredAway-palooza" at our place, so you can be expecting to see some photos early this upcoming week.

(Side note...we have posted three times in one week...that is an incredible accomplishment)

(Side note...if you want Beth to make a grand appearance and see how she is doing as the Winters, Yonkers, and Rousselle Mama Hen you are going to have to start putting pressure on her)

(Side note...we love you guys who have persisted in keeping an eye on our blog through thick and thin)

Junie's House

2006-10-18T05:59:00.000-07:00

I know you are going to soil yourself when you see that I actually posted twice in 1 week...whoa dang.

So, like I was saying, Beth and I moved in late July to this crazy silly "Bed & Bath/ Pimp My Apartment/ Penthouse/ Seriously Phat Pad" (all by the unbelievably wild grace of God).

The place is on the 4th (top) floor of our building, so we elected to do a two weekend move from our old apartment to the new place. The first weekend (July 10-12) we decided to have all of our stuff packed up and invite our super incredible friends from school and church to load the boxes into their cars and then haul fourteen carloads of our stuff (including my six bookshelves jam packed with books) up four flights of stairs. It went well and we did not loose any of our friends because they are gracious. Along with all those boxes we hauled up our futon mattress and spent the following week sleeping on the floor in our new and cavernous apartment.

At this point you may be wondering, "why did the Wilsons do a two weekend move?" Well, for one we are cheap and did not want to pay money on a moving truck and, secondly, we knew that we would absolutely lose friends if we tried to do it all in one weekend.

You see, the really difficult thing about the move was the staircase situation. There are two sets of stairs up to our place. The back staircase is a plain jane, fairly narrow set of stairs that is great for everyday use, but not for oversizes couches, desks, and entertainment centers...which leaves us with the front staircase. Now, this was tricky tricky. If you recall from my last post, our front entryway involves a spiral staircase, which meant that we would have to haul 4 truckloads of furniture up three flights of stairs and then manually lift all of our stuff from the third floor to the fourth (hmmf! Like I said, we have good friends).

But, I get ahead of myself a bit...lets not forget Junie's house. At the end of our week on the floor Beth and I went to our old apartment to break down some of the furniture to be ready to rock on the second Saturday morning (the 19th). When we tried to go in through the front door we discovered a sweet little surprise...the door was locked...from the inside!!!

So I circled around to the backdoor and discovered that it was open and, inside the apartment, I found a bizarre scene. There was chocolate melted into the carpet, our bed had been slept in, my office was covered with my childhood memorabilia that had been hauled out of my old cedar chest, someone had brought in a pot and cooked everything that was in our refrigerator, "Kevin" was written in sharpie on the countertop, someone had individually burned approximately 300 kitchen matches randomly throughout our apartment, someone had slept in our bed and left a slinky under the covers (!?!?!), and they had also brought along a washrag, taken a shower, and left their clothes in our closet!

So we are thinking, "what the crap???" And we are very glad we are moving. Well, long story short, we talked to our neighbors and discovered that there was a homeless runaway foster kied, fourteen years old who had been living in the hallways of our apartment complex...a cat named Junie. So, we departed what we now affectionately refer to as "Junie's House" with great joy to move into a new home.

Lest you worry, we were able to move all of our things the next day, nothing had any substancial damage, and we still had the absolutely delight of shlepping all of our remarkably heavy things us three flights of stairs and then vertically lifting it about 15 feet to the 4th floor.

Amazingly enough, at the end of all that, payed only by pizza, sandwiches, and some good laughs and stories, we still have the same friends and we have not been kicked out of Hunsinger Lane Baptist Church for straining the backs of the men's ministry.

I hope you are still enjoying our bizarre and hilarious experiences here in Louisville...there shall be more to come...including the photo tour of the monstrousity we call home.

Finally, the Wilsons Return to Blog-ville

2006-10-12T10:10:00.001-07:00

Dang, it seems that the update every two weeks has stretched out into an update every quarter...my bad yall.

This summer was a fun and exciting summer of work, school, and moving to our new phat pad in downtown Old Louisville. There will be a photo tour to come (seriously) but until then let me hook you up with the specs:

Our new place is completely a gift from God (and I am not just being cliche). We decided to move because we were running out of room in our old townhome...we needed much more space for Wednesday Bible studies and Monday night dinners, hence the new pad. Lee was also asked to head up college ministry at our church (Hunsinger Lane Baptist Church) and we wanted to live in an area with a higher population of college students, hence Old Louisville.

I was driving around one day and on a whim I called the number on a "For Rent" sign in front of a really nice old mansion from the turn of the century (Old Louisville is nationally known as the largest neghborhood od old Victorian homes in the US). I spoke to the guy who answered and he told me about a 3 bedroom, 2400 sq. foot penthouse that took up the entire 4th floor of the building. Well, there was no way we could afford it, but he invited us to check it out, so we did. We pretty much fell in love with it once we took the spiral staircase from the third floor to the fouth floor (and it actually went up from there, amazingly enough).

Like I said, we could not afford the place, but we wanted to try to make it work...but to no avail. We we called the landlord to let him know and he, amazingly enough, agreed to extend the lease 12 months (which we wanted anyways) and drop the rent $200. And now we have the perfect place and we feel like we are living in a bed and breakfast every day.

So, in the near future expect to see some photos of this bad boy (we have a bit of painting to do) and to hear the story of the GREAT MOVE OF 2006, including the illustrious homeless runaway JUNIE!!!

Until then, you can feel free to check out Lee & Beth's new MySpace page and Facebook page. You can also follow how things are going in the Wednesday Night 'Main Event' College Bible Study at my other blog (hunsingermainevent.blogspot.com).

Later

Spring Semester - Mission Accomplished

2006-05-11T11:58:00.000-07:00

Hey all, the spring semester is complete. The 2200 pages of reading in NT Theology are 100% read, thoroughly and completely, without skimming; the exams are taken; the papers written; and all is well with my soul. It is probably too soon for me to give yall a solid reflection on this past semester, so stay tuned for information about that. I am trying to make it a habit to write brief summaries/comments on everything I read...if you would like to have it sent to you, let me know. You can either post your email or send me an email if you have mine. Ditto for my paper on assurance in First John and my paper on Mormonism...if you're interested.

Whats next? This summer I am going to be taking 9 hours worth of classes...Hebrew Exegesis of Joshua, Introduction to Biblical Counseling, and Worshipping Church...so the madness will continue. When I say madness, please don't interpret my words to reflect an attitude of frustration with school; quite to the contrary, I have come to love a busy schedule...it is forcing me to become a more disciplined person, which is something I am in great need of.

Okay, stay tuned for weekly/bi-weekly updates!!!

T-Minus 101 hours

2006-05-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

Thats right, in four days (minus 3 hours) the spring semester at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary will draw to a close. I would like to thank the wonderful Tom Schreiner for writing some truly incredible books (New Testament Theology and Paul, Apostle of God's Glory in Christ). My only wish...that they were not such aweseome books and I could read them faster to make my deadline 101 hours from right now. I highly recommend both books to you...but start with the book on Paul because the NT Theology has not yet been published (we received a draft to read for class). I would also like to give a shout out to Brandon Rogers, the man who gave me Paul, An Apostle last year for my wedding shower.

Adventures in Train Hopping II

2006-03-27T09:01:00.000-08:00

Well, a couple days is a really long time in Eastern Standard Seminary Student Time evidently...

When we went to Chicago last September to watch Lee's beloved Cubbies and Beth's amazing Astros battle it out at Wrigley Field, we had several adventures that are worth sharing.

Last post, we explained the adventure of traveling by the famous "L Train" (short for elevated train) metro system in Chicago, but our excitement with the "L" does not end there.

On our last afternoon in Chicago, we spent a Sunday afternoon shopping on Michigan Avenue and seeing all of the exciting sites around the soaring downtown sector. It was getting closed to when we really needed to head toward the "L" to make it to our flight and return to Louisville. (Bear in mind that the airport was on the other end of the city, approximately 45 minutes away). Being the loving husband, Lee agreed to stop in at one last store before we made a beeline to the "L" station. Since it was time for the store to close, Beth was quickly trying on a few sweaters and jackets on the showroom floor, but nothing was worth purchasing, so we headed to the "L" and hopped the next train to Chicago O'Hare.

Everything was running smoothly, we had plenty of time to walk the half mile distance between the "L" station and the airport itself, get our tickets, wait in line to pass through security, and grab a bite to eat before our plane departed...and then the drama began.

As Lee pulled our tickets from the Southwest Airlines Online Ticket Counter, he asked Beth to pull out her drivers license so they could be ready to go through security. As he was inputting our access codes and he noticed that Beth was searching through all of her shopping bags.

Suddenly, in a panic, Beth blurted out "They're in the train!!!"

Now, that is a mood changer if I have ever heard one. In an instant we both envisioned that train pulling out of the station on its way to the other end of Chicago and some miscreant discovering Beth's huge wallet with her debit card, emergency credit card, social security, and key chain attached, which demanded a single responce..."Crap, its time to run"

So we sprinted, baggage and all, to the train station and we had to convince the guard to let us through the gate because we had no more "L" train bucks. Lee dropped his bags and sprinted to the train...but to no avail...it was long gone. He turned around just in time to catch Beth as she was weeping uncontrollably on the train station.

After composing ourselves and taking a moment to think, Lee lead Beth back up to the security booth to ask the security guard to radio the train to see if they could check for the wallet while Beth made some phone calls and back-tracked our shopping spree. News came back from the train that there was no wallet on the train...which could either be great news or horrible news.

As it turned out, it was good news because, when Beth called that last store we had quickly popped into, she was told that the had it safely in their possession.

"Praise God for his great mercy!" thought Beth.
"Praise God that now Beth will be able to smile again! (and for His mercy)" thought Lee.

So we hopped on the train again and travelled all the way back downtown where we were able to pick up Beth's wallet that evening before setting about the task of figuring out a place to stay. We looked up and down Michigan Avenue at these exorbitant old hotels and new that we would never be able to afford a night in one of them. So Beth called the "800" number for Hotels.com while Lee made sure we would be able apply our tickets to a morning flight back to Lousiville.

The plane tickets transfered perfectly, but the motel room was a bit touchy. We wanted to be close to the airport, but were told that the closest they could get us was off of Michigan Avenue in a Howard Johnson for $160 a night. This sounded odd, but since we did not have any other options we decided to book a room and splurge on the room, which we anticipated be a little bit nicer than we would have choose on our own...I mean, come on, it's Michigan Avenue people.

We grabbed a bit to eat at a hot dog joint before walking to our sweet suite at the HoJo. On the way a homeless man asked us straight up for a dollar to buy wine with...not a great sales pitch to us.

Finally we arrived at the HoJo, which, much to our surprise, was a $160 per night rat hole. It was the kind of place that you feel the need to sleep on top of the comforter and don't want to walk on the carpet without your shoes...because, otherwise, it is oily between your toes. Needless to say, it was not exactly what we were hoping for and, immediately, the thought of a romantic final night in Chicago breezed out of the Windy City.

Anyways, it was a adventure to be certain but we made it home the next morning with no additional drama, just glad to be back in Louisville where we don't have to worry about long train rides or HoJos.
All said and done, we highly recommend visiting the wonderful city of Chicago...just be sure you know which airport you are flying into, keep an eye on your wallet, and avoid the HoJo like the plague.

Adventures in Train Hopping

2005-09-26T14:09:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Beth and Lee had terrific adventures in the great city of Chicago, Illinois (pictures will be posted soon). It was full of adventure and excitement of all sorts. We can now navigate the trains, buses, and downtown streets like nobody's business. The reason we were in Chicago is because Lee is a Cubs fan from way back in the day, growing up watching Ryne Sandberg on WGN and listing to Harry Carey call the games from the booth. Incredible.

Lee had never been to Wrigley field, so Beth got him tickets as a wedding present and they ventured North to Chicago to watch the cubbies get beat by the Astros, but it was a blast.

Our adventures on the train start with our booking a hotel at O'Hare Airport and actually flying in at Midway Airport. Suffice to say, taking the Orange Line and Blue Line trains gives you the 'nickel tour' of Chicago and takes approximately and hour of travel time, so we laughed at ourselves a lot.

It was also a challenge to know how to interact with the numerous homeless people with grace and to the glory of Jesus Christ. The poor are beloved and precious people that Christ had tremendous mercy on, and I feel that it falls to Christians to have the same compassion and tenderness. But, at the same time, it is very challenging when you are on the streets and are not prepared to give them a dollar (or whatever) and talk to them about Christ or at least take a moment to show them that we know that they are real people. It is amazing how people just see these broken people and pretend they are nothing but doorstops with cardboard signs and bad teeth. It is sad that on Michigan Avenue, surrounded by opulent wealth, extravagant boutiques, and million dollar skyrise condos, that these people are completely marginalized and ignored.

Resolved: To do all that I can to love on poor homeless people and, at the very least, point them to find solace and help in the Church (referring to the body of true Christians, not just nominal Christians). More specifically, should I ever go to a metro area again, to use some spare money to purchase gift cards at McDonald's and, if time permits, to sit down for a meal and talk to these real people about their lives and about the hope and salvation found in Jesus Christ.

James 2:5-6
"Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man."

What a lesson this trip was that we, who have some and even much, have a great deal to learn from broken and poverty stricken people. We, who are reliant on ourselves, dependent on our bank accounts and paychecks, are in need of faith like that of the poor, who have nothing to count on but the grace, mercy, and provision of Jesus Christ. Praise God that He is the One who provides for us, whether we act like it or not. Just to think about the thousands upon thousands of people in Louisiana and far East Texas is a reminder that a good job, deep savings, good portfolio, and nice stuff is not promised and not a source of real, everlasting, unchanging hope for us. It is God who gives and God who takes away, it is Him who we must look to in the face of Jesus Christ to have any hope for anything good in this world or the next.

Well, I guess I will write more of our adventures in a couple of days. Think about where your hope is, I have been for a while and, particularly, since being in Chicago.

Teaser: Next blog thread, why did Lee and Beth spend Sunday night in an overpriced, run down Howard Johnson Motel in downtown Chicago?

Dunked at Decker

2005-09-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

Well, this past Tuesday Beth was laid off from Decker College...along with the other 200 employees she was working with. The school is on the verge of bankruptcy and they are going under. They had a difficult time with keeping the grant money they received from the government to pay for the education of their man Title 4 students. Check out some articles that have made the news here and here.

Decker also was in the process of being sued by a group of students for not fulfilling their promise to provide job placement for graduates.

So, here we are, living off of the tremendous generosity of our fantastic family. Thank you so much!!!

The Lord has been very good to us in every way...providing for all of our needs and allowing a time that would normally be very high stress and hard on a young marriage to be a wonderful time for us to come together and become stronger. The Lord continues to take care of us and demonstrate His grace towards us.

The other day we sat at Panera Bread, Lee was studying and Beth was job hunting, and Beth watched a group of tiny little birds feasting on the scraps of bread someone had dropped. We were reminded of the Bible's promise in Matthew 6: 25-28

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?"

What an amazing passage about the faithfulness oat our great God and King. Look forward to upcoming good news about how He chooses to provide for us here in Louisville.

2005-09-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

Lee and Beth Wilson

Visitors from the Land of Texas

2005-08-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend, Beth and Lee were overjoyed to have Lee's Brother Mike and his (Mike's) girlfriend fly up from Texas to spend the weekend in Louisville. We were able to go and chekc out Churchill Downs, where the Kentucky Derby is run every year, and had some outstanding meals due to great Louisville dining and Beth's incredible cooking.

For those of you who might be interested, we have plenty of space and room and board is very cheap at the Wilson household...we would love to have you!!!

Next weekend we will be flying into Austin for the wedding of Logan Gentry to his beloved fiance Amber Robinson. We are looking forward to being home, where you must drive at least six hours to cross the state border, and seeing all of our loved ones. Dinner at Salt Lick this Friday night!!! Be there or be square.

Photo Op!

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Mike and Rachel - Mike, the aspiring bridge engineer,
striking a pose with his awesome girlfriend, Rachel,
in Indiana looking toward Kentucky

Golf Excitement and Seminary

2005-08-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

So, this week has been a great week so far for the wonderful Wilsons of Kentucky. There has been some excitement...we went and played our first round of golf together, Lee started seminary on Tuesday, and the hole in our ceiling is officially patched and painted in time for Mike and Rachel's visit tomorrow (thanks to Steve the awesome painter).

Friday afternoon, we received an invitation from our friends Dave and Kathy to play a round of golf with them Sunday evening. Lee, having come from the prodigious talent of Sue Leach, is always primed and ready to hit the links (kind of). Beth, on the othe hand, had never played golf in her life. We ended up playing 7 1/2 holes of a public par three course and we laughed a whole lot. It really was quite a blast. As we were approaching the green on the 7th hole it started to rain and lightning like crazy...it snuck up behind us...and we got drenched. But, forgunately, we were able to protect our borrowed clubs and made it out alive. It was so much fun that we will be doing it again (especially since we got a rain check for a free round).

Tuesday marked the beginning of Lee's full-time, on campus carer at Southern Baptisit Theological Seminary, and it was tremendous, everything he has been anticipating. He is taking a course on Jonathan Edwards, Elementary Hebrew, Church History I, and Doctrine of the Trinity. All of the classes are amazing, and they are going to be very challening. Lets all give a shout out and round of applause to Scott and Lesa Wilson, who are so gracious as to provide to the furtherance of Lee's education for the sake of the gospel to the glory of God through Jesus Christ! I love you Mom and Dad!

And, lest we forget, the huge (4'x8') hole in our ceiling is no more, it has been patched! Yes!!!

Feel free to email us or leave a comment! We miss you! Pray for Lee to not get destroyed by Hebrew!

Private Tour of the Wilson Home

2005-08-09T17:37:00.000-07:00

Due to popular demand, we have elected to add a guided tour feature to the blog. You will begin at the front door, looking into the kitchen and, after the living room, you will be escorted upstairs to see the two rooms on the second story. Enjoy!!!

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The kitchen - This is where Beth struts her cooking skills

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The kitchen (again) - check out the awesome chopping block island and pot rack...be sure to notice the bread machine on the corner that Beth bakes all of our bread on...its so good.

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Another kitchen shot - this is to give you more of an idea of the layout of the kitchen

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The living room - this is the place we watch tv and read to unwind after a long day of work and classes

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The living room and dining room - a great place to relax...thanks for the couch and chair Mama and Papa K

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The study - its clean, but not tidy, just the way a well used study is supposed to look

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The bedroom - sorry the bed is so huge that the camera just cannot get wide enough to show you more of the room...thanks for the bedspread Mom and Dad, and thanks to Nana and Papa for the Bed

Whats New with Beth?

2005-08-08T18:27:00.000-07:00

Well, this past week we made an interesting doscovery about Beth. She has been having pretty bad stomach aches every now and then and we have been trying to figure out what has been causing them. As it turns out, we realized that Beth is lactose intolerant (I bet you thought I was going to say pregnant...didn't you?) So we have stopped her milk and cheese intake and her tummy is doing awesome. Good news for the us, to be sure.

As you know, Beth has also been working at Decker College in Student services. She has really enjoyed the job tremendously, and so has Lee. While Lee has been excited that we are now receiving pay checks, what he really loves is the amazing stories that Beth brings home every couple of days.

Let us give you a little background. Students at Decker, for the most part, are distance education students and take most of their classes on the internet. The program takes 66 weeks to complete and, during the course of that time, the students have to return to campus 4 times for hands on training and testing. As you can imagine, students travelling, often times, cross country on Greyhound buses who have regular day jobs and call Student Services have some interesting lives, interesting stories, and they do some wild things when they get to town...for example...

The stories can be odd...A girl calls from a payphone in Oregon across the street from her home, which is a camp ground (thats interesting). She is scheduled to come to campus in Kentucky, but she has a problem. You see, aparently she has a couple of dogs, and the dogs have a disease known as Parvo. If she leaves the dogs for more than 7 days, evidently the dogs will die, and she cannot convince her parents to watch the dogs. So, obviously, the girl calling from the camp ground simply will not be able to come to campus until her dogs pass away or she can find a place for them to stay.

The students can be entreprenuers while on campus...a man calls student services wanting to know why he is being kicked out of school and sent home. He is transfered over to the campus supervisor because Student Services has not been informed of what exactly has been happen. Soon after, another call is made by the first man's roommate, with the same story of not knowing why he is being sent home, "whats the deal...man, my roommate must have done something." The Decker investigation team is asked to look into the situation and discovers from the hotel office that the students evidently had people in their room who were not supposed to be there. "Who are these people?" you may be wondering. Well, these two upstanding citizens both found girlfriends while they were on campus, and decided to shack up with them for the rest of the month...leaving an empty hotel room vacant. So these business savy young men decided to capitalize on the situation and rented the room out to some prostitutes they met on the street to use as their base of operation.

These are just two examples of some of the incredible calls Beth and the rest of the team receive while at work...all the time. And, about every other day, Lee gets to die laughing with another wonderful story of the students of Decker College.

Don't worry friends, there are plenty more stories and you can look forward to hearing some of the best as times rolls on by. We love you and we miss you. Let us know how yall are doing by leaving a comment or emailing focalelement@gmail.com

Employment!!!

2005-07-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

Today Lee had a job interview with Club Z Tutoring and, along with going to school, he is going to be tutoring high school and middle school students.

The service is aimed at helping students to become learners, which is outstanding, and Lee is very excited to be able to work with them on something he is passionate about...and get paid for it! It will be exciting to help students to improve their communication/literary skills and study skills with the hope that the advancement in their ability to study would bear fruit in thier reading of the Bible, not just school work.

It will be an awesome opportunity to meet some great people and, hopefully, make an impact for the sake of the gospel through equipping them to think critically and deeply while teaching themselves.

Welcome!

2005-07-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hey friends and family!

Due to requests from family and friends alike who complained that Lee's blog (www.focalelement.blogspot.com) was nice but didn't let everyone know how things are going with the two of us in Kentucky, we decided to get wild and crazy and become a two blog household.

We are doing well up here in the wonderful state of Kentucky (the only thing that is not wonderful about it is that it is not adjacent to Texas and close to all of you). Beth is working for Decker College in the Student Services Department for Distance Learning (www.eDecker.com) and Lee has taken an amazing Intro to Christian Philosophy class at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (www.sbts.edu), which explains the first article on his blog.

We are living in a great town home about 15-20 minutes outside of downtown Louisville and, if you email us at focalelement@gmail.com, we will send you our address and phone numbers if you do not already have them (its just not a good idea to post that stuff on the internet). We love our place and you can be expecting photos of it very very soon.

This past weekend we were so fortunate as to have been able to come back to Texas for the wonderful Pittsfest 2k5...aka the Holy Matrimony of Sarah and Matt Pitts (their married name, they are not related) and you can see some of the photos we took during wedding festivities below. It was a blast and we were able to see a lot of friends and our families, which made it hard and lonely coming back to Kentucky...but the Lord is faithful and takes care of us.

When we got back home Lee went to turn down the AC (its been like 99 degrees the past couple of days) and heard dripping noises behind him...the hot water heater plumbing had sprung a leak and it was dripping all over the dining room table. It was an exciting night, to say the least, but our apartment complex is taking care of the damage to our apartment and we are taking it in stride, laughing. I will post a picture sometime soon of some of the leaky fun.

Well, it is almost time for date night! We love you all and we miss you very much, let us know how you are doing!

2005-07-27T16:05:00.000-07:00

Lee at Pittsy's Rehearsal Dinner

2005-07-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

The Ladies of 303 Walton (the Dog Pound)

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The Bride and her lovely attendants

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Matt Foster - now the only unmarried roommate left standing