So - We Suppose There IS Something New in Life

So, the reality - for those of you who haven't figured us out yet - is that Leon and I are terrible bloggers.

Seriously.

Imagine that in several thousand years, someone is able to unearth the Internet and digs through all of the unfinished, yet-to-be-updated pages of millions of people (people that Leon and I seem too much like). They would look at our blog and think, "How sad. Some people were content to be happy only about the purchase of a new table. How tragic their circumstances. How devoid of meaning their daily lives must have been."

Yup. That's us. Doing our part to contribute to the cultural anthropology of 2007 America.

In reality ~ life is too full for blogging (there, that sounds justified!). With a summer jam packed FULL of events and vacations and Gatherings and .... BABY, where do we begin?

(And our other question is always this, "who's reading this thing?")


So ~ unlike sad promises I made to myself each January in my personal journal, I will not claim to be turning over a new blog leaf. BUT the update is that Leon and I are having a Baby Girl. Her name is Sydney Grace and we couldn't be more thrilled that she will soon be part of our daily, mundane, apparently dining room table fixated living!

There she is, peering up at us. It's like one of those puzzle art pieces a few decades back, stare at this long enough and you will see two eyes, a little nose, and the indentation of lips as Sydney's little face peers up at the ultrasound dealy. "Hey, what's going on up there?" We of course think she is gorgeous! And definitely worth writing about ~ so perhaps we will turn over that new blogging leaf.

In the meanwhile, I am off to enjoy another cup of java at my dining room table.

+Gret & Leon

A New Year for Us ...

It's the New Year. I guess we don't often post to our blog because we don't have tons of photos or exciting elements to share ;-)

I can say that when the clock struck midnight, I took a deep breath and rather "plunged" into the year. It's the year of the Gathering (which sounds like some odd zodiac sign or something). In 2004, the Gathering consumed life. And while I have a feeling that the same will happen in 2007, my hope is that it doesn't consume "me" as much as it consumes my time.

[Gret in Norway - at the site of The Scream painting!]

As ever, we are looking forward to a new year. More than that, we are hopeful that this year will bring some serious changes to our family life. How many more Christmas letters will we have to write with the same topics - Gret: work, travel, directing, etc. and Leon: church, youth group, tennis, etc. We really hope that this is THE year for kids - we'll see!

I don't really know that anyone is reading this post ;-) But we pray God's blessings on you if you are. Enjoy your evening!

Is Anybody Out There?

Well - it's been months (as our family keeps telling us) since we added to our blog.

Would you like to know why? Because my little sister has this tremendous blog that she updates practically hourly with these amazing pictures and pithy comments ... **sigh** and we know we can't complete ;-)

It's not as if we don't have anything interesting going on in our lives. Granted, our days are fairly routine (morning coffee, hang with the dog, go to work, home to workout, Gret goes to play rehearsal, Leon goes to meetings) but I guess we could be more inclined to keep you all abreast of our daily grind.

It's fall in Missouri - usually this means that Leon is coaching football, but not this fall. Instead, Gretchen has taken on the play at Lutheran High School. We are producing Barefoot in the Park, and it is a great experience to work with such a small cast. Makes things infinitely more manageable.

Leon is getting ready to leave Sunday for his annual trip with the LHS Senior class for their fall retreat; Mom will be along as a class chaperone - and Dad and I will be working to harvest Norton grapes out at the vineyard. I have been traveling like a crazy person these past few weeks and am finally home for a spell - this makes me happy and inclined to hunker down and really enjoy Fall - make pumpkin related foods, hearty soups, read great books - you know.

We'll see how that all goes ... hope life is happy and whole for all of you ...

Sometimes Life Is Just Too Busy - But It's A Wonderful Life

Spring means busy-ness for the Jamesons!

With Leon coaching LHS's first-ever tennis season and Gret again taking the reigns of the Spring play - we just don't see each other! Which, admittedly, is obnoxious.

The good in this is that we are both engaged in activities we truly love. That's what we have come to realize about these involvements. Some folks garden, or scrapbook, or ... I don't know collect stamps. For Leon and I, hobbies are these: coaching! We love it.

Leon is loving tennis. Since this is the first season at LHS, it is combined guy/girl this spring. He had really been missing coaching (as you might remember; he was assitant to our good buddy Paul Kollmorgen up north at Martin Luther). He has a good team - solid players and some really talented guys, actually.

He's "enjoying" seeing how sports parents have evolved. With football, which he has coached for three years, he is the JV head coach and then assists with Varisty - so the brunt of suburban Moms and Dads involvement is directed at the head coach. Now, he gets them. It creates some ... fun stories to tell.

The play is terrific. We are producing, You Can't Take It With You, and if you haven't read it - read it. It's a wonderful piece of art - and for a play to contain tremendous truths for 2006 - when it was written in 1936 ... well, that's saying something. It's a really large cast - so rehearsals are full of verve, loud teens, life and energy. I love it.

Onward and Upward +

the Jamesons