July 2009








Chase Mortgage has finally gotten tired of the late mortgage payments and has sent us notification that they are going to start foreclosure proceedings. Dave still has not been able to find a job. He is trying to find something not in retail. Considering his work experience for the past 25 years is in retail management it is making the job search difficult. I am confident that there is something out there for him.

There have been several people praying for Dave the past few years. We have been asking the Lord to provide David a job that is closer to home and one that he will enjoy what he does everyday. I consider Daves lay off an answer to that prayer. We just need to wait until the job that God has for him comes along or he finds it.

The past nine months have been good for him. He has spent more time with his daughter who will be graduating from school next year and going off to college. He has been able to de-stress from the years of grief....He is actually enjoying being a stay home dad for the first time in 23 years.

3rd: We have an 11:00a.m. meeting today with Bill Savage. He is a realtor I heard about from one of the patients in the office I work in. He took a tour of our house and the surrounding grounds. He is confident that he can sell our house and get a profit. He made some other recommendations to give us some time so that maybe we could hang on to our house for a little bit longer in hopes that Dave will get a job soon. We decided not take that risk and end up right back here. We both agreed it is time to let the house go.

Mr. Savage was very surprised that we did not have any second mortgages against the loan on our house. Bill went about the property outside and took pictures of the house and yard. He put the "For Sale" sign up and we took care of the paperwork to get things rolling. We spent the remaining part of our weekend boxing up and decluttering the inside of the house and preparing it for repainting. We need to repaint a few of the rooms to a more neutral color.

Bill is coming out on Monday to take some pictures of the inside to add to the virtual tour he creating on the webpage for our house. Our house has it's own website...is that awesome or what?

4th: Happy Independence Day Everyone!

6th: Already we have a realtor that wants to bring a client out to take a look at the house. We have not had a chance to paint and get the pictures on the web page of the inside of the house. We did get quite a bit of decluttering done. We had to move our appointment with Bill Savage to Friday in order to give ourselves a little more time to work on the inside before he comes to take pictures.

All of the normal activities of the week have been put on hold so that we can focus on the house!

10th: Brittney has pictures today in St. Augustine for her senior portraits. We are only getting the formals done, she is arranging a private photographer to get her senior portraits taken later. Our baby girl is growing up so fast and she was absolutely beautiful today. She was so self conscience, she felt she did not compare to all of the other girls that were prancing around like proud little ponnies. She could hold her own against them, I promise you. That is not a prejudice momma talking either, that is a fact. The fact that she doesn't see it is what makes her even more beautiful!

Happy Birthday Isobel: I hope your day is filled with smiles! That is the least you deserve...

13th: Dave has a job interview today at 7:30a.m. with Fleming Island High School for a custodian position within the Clay County School Board. He has another job interview for another custodian position for Ridgeview High School at 2:00p.m. Good Luck Dave...you will get the job that the Lord has for you!

Dave also applied for a maintenance position at a nursing home called "Lifecare at Wells Crossing'. Michael worked at this same nursing home for about 8 months before going into the Army. Now the jobs are everywhere. God is moving, I feel that we are doing the right thing!


15th: Dave has orientation today at "Lifecare". Congratulations Honey-they are lucky to have you!

Not only did Dave get the job at Lifecare today but we got a call from Bill Savage today. He got an offer on the house! Wow, we have not even gotten pictures taken of the inside yet for the webpage and already we have an offer. God is good! It feels good when you know that you have made the right decision and God takes the lead on getting the details taken care of.

Happy 23rd Anniversary Dave!

19th: This has been one of those tough years that marriages have to endure from time to time. We will get through this one too, just like all of the others.


20th: Today we have the home inspection. We have a great realtor, he advised that we not be home for this. He knows how stressful this whole thing has been for us. He will be there for the inspection and of course he will let us know what is said. Bill said this is one of those times when someone comes through the house with a fine tooth comb looking for anything and everything they can find wrong with it. We would probably take the whole experience personally because we have worked very hard at keeping our house in good order.


The things the inspector pointed out were all very minor and easily fixed except for the roof. The inspector insisted on a new roof because the house is 13 years old and this is a military loan. The military wants to take care of their people and cover their investment. This family will be at this duty station for the next 3 years, then they will have to sell the house when they are reassigned. The military does not want them to have to worry about the roof in three years. Makes sense, but it is going to be expensive!


I am getting a start on making phone calls to get several bids on the roof throughout the week and we are spending the weekends looking for a place to move to while we also continue to pack up the house.


24th: The appraiser is coming out today. Now we get to see if the house values at the price that we have asked and the buyer is willing to pay.



Dave has also heard back from Ridgeview High School and they want to hire him. He still has to go through the fingerprinting and drug screening before it is official. Wow, he goes from having no job for the past nine months and now he has two job offers.



27th: Today Dave has his meeting with Pam at the school board for the details on the job package and to get his drug screening done.

Happy Birthday Beth-Wow your getting old...How did that happen?

30th: Today Brittney is getting her senior portraits taken by Mrs. Osilka. She has choosen St. Augustine as her backdrop for the pictures. Her meeting is at 8:30a.m.

The photo shoot went really well. She brought three different changes of clothes and we got pictures in all different types of settings. She was beautiful! I can't wait to see how the pictures turn out. I know they will be awesome. Courtney and I were the mules that carried all of Brittneys stuff around. It got hot today though. By the time we were getting to the last few locations she was starting to sweat and her hair was getting some wave to it. You could see the heat was taking it's toll. Poor Courtney and I were dying from carrying all her stuff and we were tired. When the shoot was done I was so ready to go home. But it was a good day!

I have never been more ready to see a month over with. It has been a productive month but a very busy one at that. Next month we should see the end to all the packing and we have a closing date on the house. Our biggest obstacle now is trying to find a place to move to. We have been searching for apartments but they do not afford the storage space we require. To go into an apartment would mean also renting a storage building. This is increasing our monthly rent. So we opted to look into renting a house. We require a three bedroom house so that we have room for all of us but trying to find a house that size within our new budget is just not out there. We have looked at several houses over the past few weekends within our price range but we are not happy with the neighborhoods. We would not feel safe bringing two young ladies into those neighborhoods. Their safety is our first priority.

Your continued prayers are appreciated as God directs us on the next decisions that we must make within our near future. God Bless from the Jacksonville Cowan's!

June

June 2009


This month has been busy-yet not. Courtney is home for the summer and she has a busy agenda. Trying to fit in time to see everyone and make some summer time memories.


Dave and I are still going to our Monday night "First Place 4 Health" bible study. We are enjoying the time together with our small group and the time of fellowship.


The rest of the week Brittney and I return to our normal work schedules and our usual Wednesday night Bible studies with the teens. June 4th was Brittney's last day of school for the year and she gets to start her summer vacation.


5th: To start the summer Brittney and I have hair appointments with Deanna in Keystone for trims. Brittney is getting her hair highlighted and I'm getting some color. It has been to long sinse we have had our hair done and we both have been in desperate need of our routine touch up. Courtney got her hair cut a little above shoulder length just before she came home for summer break so she passed on the fun.

Happy Birthday Caron!

9th: Brittney invited her friend Caron (from work) over for dinner and a sleep over. Caron's birthday was this week and Brittney wanted to do something special for her. Brittney made homemade pizza's for dinner. She tried making a home made Napolean for desert but it did not come out right. Luckily Dave planned ahead and bought a chocolate cake for a back up-just in case. He is turning into a very good home Dad. He has earned this break from the stresses of retail from the past 25 years.

Caron spent the night and part of the next day hanging out with Brittney. They had an enjoyable time and made some fun memories. I'm sure we will do this again soon!

Girls day out in St. Augustine-Thanks Nellie!

16th: Brittney and Courtney were invited to a girls day out in St. Augustine with Nellie. Nellie is a good friend from church. Of course they took Nellie up on her invite. It was a typical hot and muggy day in Florida but they enjoyed a day of memory making. I was concerned about the heat and the girls walking around in it all day but they are all young and managed just fine.

Happy Father's Day!

21st: Hey all you dad's out there, I hope your Father's Day was special...you deserve it!

25th-28th: Dave and I had a wonderful opportunity of a lifetime this weekend. The Nazarene Church has a General Assembly every four years. Usually it takes place in Indianapolis but this year they were having it in Orlando, Florida. We couldn't miss that, so close to home. So we drove down to Orlando on Thursday and checked into our hotel. We spent the weekend at the convention center soaking up all of the interesting facts, booths and entertainment then finishing off each day with an assembly service. We got to meet superintendents from other countries, we were able to speak to missionaries. What an incredible experience it was.


The General Assembly wrapped up for us on Sunday with a special service that Dave and I were so glad we did not miss. I would like to think that we would make the financial effort to do this the next general assembly time in four years. It was definitely worth the time and effort to come.

I apologize for the delay in the next several posts...I know they are way overdue. I am going to try to get all these caught up and fill you in on how 2009 has been for us. You may be surprised when you hear some of the news, so stayed tuned for July! God Bless you all and we all want to thank everyone that offerred up prayers on our behalf!

May Flowers

I am sorry that I got so far behind on my updates. Things around the Jacksonville Cowan household have been moving so fast that the time has just been wizzing by. I hope that I can get the month of May up this weekend and work on June, so lets get started....

1st:


Michael is coming in today from Indiana with his good friend Magee. They decided to drive here from Indiana instead of flying as originally planned. Brittney had to work today so we only had an opportunity to visit breifly before we had to leave to take Brittney to work. We met up with Michael and Magee at Chick-Fil-A on Wells road for dinner.

Dave and I both enjoyed getting to know Magee over dinner. Our visit went quickly once again and we had to get home. We are having a lock-in at Adventure Landing tonight with the teens. Michael and Magee were invited, however they wanted to go bowling instead.

I decided to have the teens gather at the chuch at 8:00p.m. for some pizza and a showing of "Fireproof". That all went rather well and before we knew it we had to jump in the church van and head for Adventure Landing. The lock-in started at midnight and is going until 4:00a.m. The kids were wired and very excited about the laser tag and go-carts. I got everyone checked in and we commenced at having fun. Dave and I enjoyed a couple of rounds of miniature golf and had fun watching the kids enjoy themselves. Four a.m. came before we knew it and it was time to call it a night (or day as the case may be). Once we got into the van all of the kids started to crash.

2nd:

We made it in about 5:00a.m. this morning from Adventure Landing. Michael was sleeping on the sofa because Magee was sleeping in his bed. He got up when we got home and headed out to find some cold medicine for Magee. He said that she was not feeling well last night and had difficulty getting to sleep. Once Michael left we went to bed.

We managed to surface about 10:30 a.m. to discover that Michael and Magee had made plans to go to St. Augustine today. I made crepes for everyone and then they were off for a day of fun and adventure. We stayed home to enjoy a day of rest and relaxation (we are not as young as we use to be. Those all nighters take a toll on you).

3rd:

Michael and Magee were up early again this morning. Magee was leaving today. We did not get a chance to say good-bye because they were gone before we got up this morning. Michael took Magee to breakfast before saying his good-byes. I hope we get more opportunity to get to visit Magee in the future. She seems a very sweet girl and we all would enjoy an opportunity to get to know her better in the future, especially sinse she has been such a good friend to our son.

We were up and off to church this morning. Still not fully recovered from the all-nighter yet. We got to church and Dave taught his sunday school class. It was good to see that even the teens were still recovering from the lock-in too! There is justice in this world.

4th-8th:


This week was a normal work week at the Cowan's. Michael spent some quality time with his dad while Brittney and I followed our work schedules and usual weekly routine. This would be Michael's last week with us. He has had to cut his vacation short and leave on Mother's Day. We tried to make our time we had left special and fun, but it was difficult with the gloom of our son leaving hanging over our heads all week.

I want to give a shout out to Bill Cowan as he is celebrating a birthday on Thursday-May 7th. I believe he is turning 40 this year! I hope your birthday is a special one! Wishing you a fantastic year ahead.

10th:

Today is Mother's Day! Happy Mothers Day to all of you mom's out there....I hope your day is as special as you are!

My son bought a beautiful picture frame for me for my Mother's Day gift. I can't wait to put my favorite pictures from our last trip to the Holy Land in it. They are my favorite pictures of us. They are the most recent. I think they are better than any professional could have done.

I spent the morning in church with my family (all except my son, who was home packing his bag for his journey home to Hawaii). After the service we went home and changed into comfortable clothes, loaded the car and headed for the airport. Saying good-bye to our son seems to have become a ritual that never seems to get easier.

12th:


Today is my birthday! Happy Birthday to me! My wonderful husband made a lovely meal: steak from the grill, some pan seared brussel sprouts along with too much yummy goodness to mention. Then my lovely daughter made me a homemade chocolate cake. She also has been preparing for my birthday and mothers day with gifts she has purchased with her hard earned money from Family Christian. She bought me a lovely bracelet that I had been admiring for quite some time, as well as a movie and an interesting book that has me recording details of my life that will be passed back to her so that she has a journal of my life. What a precious gift.

My husband's present to me was an airplane ticket to Maine to see my family. It has been two years sinse I have been home to visit. This visit is really two fold. I told Nancy to let me know when she was ready for me to come and spend time with her after Clive's passing. This was the time we have arranged. A special gift to me to be able to spend time with my mom after her suffering such a great loss.

14th:


I leave for Maine today. I am so excited, I love to travel! The part I hate is having to be at the airport so early. I had to be at the airport at 5:00a.m. for a 6:30 flight. My flight was relaxing and peaceful even the part of my flight that involved me sitting in the Newark airport for two hours. I ate my breakfast and wrote about my adventure in a journal. I even had time to work on my bible study. It was very nice.

I got into Portland, Maine about 1:30 p.m. and my mommy was waiting for me. I got a big hug along with a cold gust of wind that nearly blew me over. I almost forgot-this is New England not Florida. I had left temperatures in the hight 90's to step out of the airport in Maine to temperatures in the mid 50's.

15th-30th:


I do not want to go into alot of detail about my visit at home except that I had an amazing visit. My brother Russell and his wife Staci were living with my mom, so getting to spend that special time each morning and evening with them was precious. Nancy and I were invited out to breakfast with Norma and my cousin Stacy on two seperate occassions and both experiences were something I will always treasure. Stacy and I even got to spend an afternoon together talking and catching up on what has been going on in both of our lives. We walked on the beach, had lunch at the beach and enjoyed a movie together.

My time with Nancy was also a treasure. We got to spend some mother/daughter time together that we have never been able to enjoy. The entire visit seemed to go much too quickly. I am hoping and praying that Nancy, Staci and Russ will come down for a visit to Florida sometime this year. I have missed my family so very much!



Well, there you have May in a nutshell. I hope your month was a blessing as well. Please keep the Jacksonville Cowan's in your prayers. As you know Dave was laid off from his job in November last year and has not been able to find work still. We are certain that God has a special plan for Dave and his future job. We just need the comfort of prayer to provide patience for the journey in between (the waiting time).

Huggs and kisses from all of us to all of you!

April: Showers of Blessing

April: Showers of Blessing

3rd:

Happy Anniversary to Bill and Isobel...they are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary! Congratulations! That is an incredible thing in our society today.

4th:

Brittney is going to South Carolina today to spend her spring break with some good friends: The Powell's. Mr. Powell is coming to pick her up, neither of our cars would make the trip this year. Have fun baby girl!

5th:

Clive (my step father and good friend of our family for many years) has passed on to be in glory. He made it to 99 years old in February this year. I will miss you Clive! Give Jesus a hug for me, I will see you again one day!

6th:

Today was a work day. Once work was over, Dave and I headed for our First Place for Health bible study. As I have said before, we are enjoying this study very much. God is doing some great things through this study, particularly building a great relationship with him. It is awesome getting to know the Father-He loves us so much but we loose sight of that love because we become so busy in our everyday lives.

11th:

Today I have an appointment with my good friend and hairdresser, DeAnna. Brittney has missed her second hair appointment with her. If she misses the next one then she is going to have to start making her own appointments because I can't keep up with her busy life anymore.

We also had our monthly trip to Washington Heights today. We had another good turnout with almost a full van. We took stuffed eggs to hide for the elementary school age kids, Dave and I made up some goody bags and made a scavenger hunt for the teens. We had over 100 kids in attendance today. Wow, it was so loud and crazy with all of these kids. What an awesome outreach opportunity! God has promised that his message would not come back void so we know that some of what we did today was planting a seed that will eventually blossom.

12th:

Happy Easter everyone!
Dave and I volunteered to help Bill and Isobel with the breakfast after the "son rise" service. I handled the cold drinks, Dave was in charge of the coffee table, Brittney and Isobel handed out the donuts and breakfast breads and pastries. Bill helped bring the leftovers from the men's prayer breakfast over to the education building where we had tables and chairs set up for the breakfast. Things went very smoothly. Once breakfast was over we started the clean up while everyone went into the sanctuary to listen to the Cantata.

Our family was invited to the Hogg's house for an Easter dinner. We never pass up an opportunity to eat Isobel's cooking. She had quite the feast as usual. We were joined by another couple from church (Crystal and JR Hagan) as well as Crystal's sister and nephew. We thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship and we ate way to much food.

Bill and Isobel have been a true blessing to our family and we thank God for providing someone in Jacksonville we can call family. It got lonely out here by ourselves.

13th:

Today it is back to work and unfortunately back to school and work for Brittney as well. The reality of the grown up life has finally taken over for our baby.

15th:

Today was Clive's Memorial Service. I am sorry that I could not be there to see it. Nancy said it was beautiful. Hopefully I will be able to see it on video one day. Danny (Nancy's brother) sang "Just As I Am", her other brother Kenny and his wife sang a song that Nancy said she had never heard before. She said that Kenny's wife has a beautiful voice. She said the ceremony turned out better than she had hoped for.

I am so glad! Nancy we are still praying for you through this difficult time of grieving. I love you!

17th:

Today we are driving down to Aveedo. Bill and Isobel are having a celebration party for their 50th wedding anniversary. Brittney could not go, she has to work this weekend because she took two weekends off in a row for her vacation to North Carolina.

We got to Altamonte Mall and had orders to meet up with Bill and Isobel at 12:30p.m in the food court. Bill was there but no Isobel. She had been sick and not doing so well this morning. We also had the honor of meeting two of Isobel's cousins from Northern Ireland: Alice and Adriane. We got along surprising well with both of them. We had lunch with them and then they went back to shopping while we followed Bill back to the hotel. We had rented a room at the Sheraton in Orlando but they had a friend that had paid for a room in their hotel for the weekend and she was unable to come due to illness. Bill and Isobel suggested we stay in her room since she did not come. So we ended up with a nice room in the Embassy Suites. It was huge! Shortly after we got unpacked and settled in Bill came knocking on our door and said that his wife was anxious to see us. So we went next door and said hello to Isobel. She was finally feeling a little better. We stayed and visited until it was time to go pick up the cousins from the mall. Isobel said she wanted to go too, so we all went. Once we got to the mall I convinced Isobel to get her nails done. She was hoping she would have time to do it the day before but since she was not feeling well she had not gotten them done.

We went downstairs at the Altomonte Mall and found a nail salon and got a pedicure and manicure along with the leg massage. Once her nails were done I went next door and made an appointment for her hair for the next day. By this time we were all hungry and ready for some dinner. We all piled into the Hogg's van and went in search of a good restaurant. We settled on the "Cracker Barrel". We visited with Bill and Isobel as well as Alice and Adrianne. It was a very enjoyable evening.

Before we knew it we were back at the hotel, saying our good nights and making arrangements to meet for breakfast downstairs in the morning. Dave and I were volunteered to reserve the table in the morning big enough for the 7 of us. The Hogg's were going back out to pick up their oldest son from the airport at 10:30p.m. this evening. We have not had the honor of meeting their oldest son Bill Jr. yet and we were looking forward to meeting him at breakfast. Bill Jr is the one that the started all of us reading "The Shack". Everyone that has read it has enjoyed the book.

18th:

Today is Luke Cowan's Birthday....Happy Birthday Luke! Man time flies, I'm beginning to feel old!

Today we have a busy day ahead of us. Dave and I had to be downstairs a little before 8:30a.m. to arrange/reserve a table for all of us for breakfast. Breakfast was very nice, they have a chef that prepares omelets, eggs, french toast or whatever you want. They also have a section for toast, bagels or english muffins, fruit, pastries, coffee, cereal, pretty much anything you could want for breakfast. We enjoyed our breakfast then it was time for Isobel and I to head off for the mall to get her hair done while the men (Dave, Bill and Bill Jr.) headed over to the church to set up the place settings. Everyone was going to have assigned seating at the reception.

Once Isobel got her hair done we headed for "Panera Breads" to pick up some pastries. Isobel knew it would be a while before dinner and thought it would be nice to enjoy a cup-a (Scottish for a cup of coffee/tea and a pastry) before we headed over to the church. Before we knew it we had to rush and get dressed for the celebration that was scheduled to start at 3:00p.m.

Alice and Adrianne rode to the church in our car while Bill and Isobel had Bill Jr. We made it in time and the ceremony started. What a lovely ceremony it was. It started in the church with praise and worship music played and sung by their grandchildren (David and Hazel). Then Ron Beasley got up and sang. He ended up doing two specials and so did Vicki Adams. Bill sang in a quartet with Ron Beasley, Ken Belangia and Frank Ratliff. The quartet did two songs and they were fantastic. Both of Bill and Isobels sons preached. One preached on "marriage" and the other one preached on "Love". Once all of the music was over, everyone headed over to the Fellowship Hall to enjoy food that had been prepared by a Chef from Epcot. The food was absolutely incredible.

The cake was also made by a Disney pastry chef especially for Bill and Isobel. The cake had strawberries in the middle and the cake part was a mixture of yellow and chocolate cake. Once everyone was done eating, Bill got up, got everyone's attention and he serenaded his wife of 50 years-acapella.

Thank you Bill and Isobel for allowing us to be a part of such a special day in your lives. This was an incredible opportunity to be a part of this and to be able to share this weekend with you.

The celebration was over about 6:30p.m. and we all headed back to the hotel. We were invited into Bill and Isobels room to visit and have a cupa while they opened all of the cards they received from everyone that came to the reception. All of the money they received they have allocated to the "Jesus Film" ministry. Finally around 9:00p.m. we went back to our room to pack. We had another early morning coming and all of us had packing to do. We had to be downstairs for 8:00a.m breakfast and check out by 9:30 a.m. in order to make it to church on time to hear Bill Jr. preach at Davids church. We left it to Alice and Adriane to get the table this time. I stayed up until 10:30p.m. packing as much as I possibly could.

19th:

We made it downstairs on time for breakfast and low and behold, Alice and Adriane had gotten the same table we had gotten the day before and they were already eating. We got our breakfast and had a few minutes to visit before they had to go back to their room and finish getting ready.

We had the breakfast table to ourselves for about 5 minutes before Bill and Isobel arrived. We enjoyed a short but sweet breakfast. We had already loaded our suite cases in the trunk of our car so that we would be able to help anyone that may need help with their bags. We ended up taking Alice and Adrianes luggage in our car because Bill's trunk was full. And we headed off to church.

Hearing Bill Jr. preach was not a disappointment. I wish we had the opportunity to get to know Bill Jr. better. He lives in Canada with his family and is a senior pastor of his own church there. They are truly blessed to have such a gifted preacher on their staff. All the best to you Bill and God bless you and your family!


We enjoyed a fantastic lunch at "Macaroni Grill" directly after church. This was my only opportunity to talk with Donna (David Hogg's wife-Bill and Isobels Daughter-in-law). We have been blessed with a good friendship with David and Donna for a few years now. Donna and I enjoyed catching up and just talking with each other. We agreed to try not to let so much time escape us between visits. Hopefully our next visit will be a bit longer.

We hit the road headed for home around 2:00p.m. We had a pit stop at Bill and Isobels house to drop off Alice and Adrianes luggage as we made our way home. We missed our baby girl, she should be home waiting for us. What a great weekend!

21st:

I took today off from work and Brittney stayed home from school. This was a very special day today! Our son and her brother was coming home for a visit. We have been counting the days anxiously awaiting this day and finally it is here. He was flying into Jacksonville Airport at 9:15 a.m. We arrived at the airport by 8:30a.m. Enjoyed some oatmeal from Starbucks for our breakfast and waited for him to walk down the concourse to us. Finally he was there and we had hugs all around. I only cried a little!

On our way home from the airport we stopped at Bill and Isobel's for a brief cup-a and lots of hugs for Michael. Then it was stop number 2: Spring Chiropractic. Michael has been suffering with back problems for quite a while. Dr. Spring was able to get a good adjustment from him on his first visit, he needed that.

Next it was on to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. Michael was hungry and so were we all. It was the restaurant manager that rung up our order. He asked if any of us was military and of course proud momma and daddy said yes. We told him how our son had just gotten back from Iraq, he gave Michael half off our entire families order to say thanks to Michael for what he had done. He also told us to go and sit down and he would bring us our food when it was ready. At the end of our meal he brought a large ice cream cone to Michael to again say "Thank You". That was really neat!

Finally we made it home and just spent some quiet time visiting. Michael shared some of his souvenirs with us and before we knew it we were ready for bed. It is good to have our baby home!

22nd:

Today was Dr. Springs birthday, so instead of coming home at lunch I was gone all day. Dr. Spring took us all out to the Bistro for lunch today. The food was fantastic and the company was even better. Dr. Spring made Gina and I promise not to do anything this year for his birthday. We promised we would not.

Tonight it was also F.E.E.T. meet (My teen ministry). We had started the movie "Faith Like Potatoes" last week and the kids wanted to finish up the movie tonight. However, we had quite a few prayer requests tonight. The prayer requests kept us busy for the first 30 minutes of class. I went ahead and started the movie once we had opened with prayer, but we were not able to finish our movie tonight. I guess we will have to shoot for next week.

23rd:

Woke early today with enthusiasm in the air. We have alot of work to do! Brittney missed out on all of the work because she had to go to school. While she was gone, Dave and I worked around the house getting everything cleaned up, bed linens cleaned and laundry done. We had packing to do. We were going on a mini vacation to Alabama. It will be easier for family to see Michael if we bring him to them so they all don't have to make a trip here. Dave and Michael took care of car rental details(thank you Michael) while I packed our bags. We are having car problems with both vehicles, so the car rental was Michael's way of easing our concerns. He rented us a Honda Civic. We got on the road at 3:30p.m. and arrived at Daves parents house at 10:30p.m. I was very tired and slept the whole way there. We stayed up and visited for a little while, then it was off to bed.

24th:

We all emerged close to the same time this morning. We gathered on the deck and had coffee (I had hot tea). Dave made some pancakes for everyone. It was very nice catching up with Byron and Connie. Next it was shower time, we have company coming today.

Once I emerged from the bedroom and from getting ready, Gregg and Becky had arrived with Grace and Lex and Laura and Kaylee had arrived. It is always a surprise to me when I realize how much I have missed everyone when I finally get to see them. Michael and Laura decided to greet each other with wrestling mania. Of course then Lex and Grace had to get in on the fun. Kaylee did not appreciate Michael beating up her mom. She kept jumping in between the two to get them to break up the fighting.

Byron went into Bay Minette and picked up some fried chicken, rice, mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese for everyone for lunch. For dinner Connie made Lasagna, salad and garlic bread. It feels good to sit around and visit with everyone.

Before we realized it our day was over. Everyone was winding down. Grace and Lex finally relaxed in front of the T.V. and fell asleep while watching a movie. Laura and Kaylee went home and we all retired to our rooms.

25th:

Today the Robertsdale Cowan's are coming over. Peter and Luke showed up first. We were eating our breakfast on the patio when the boys got there. Wow, Peter looks great. He lost 40 pounds in preparation for "Basic". He joined the Army and will be leaving on Monday for Fort Leonard wood. We wish you the best of luck Peter. We know you will make it through, looking forward to meeting the soldier.

Luke was there to visit for a while but had to leave to go to work. Sorry about that Luke, but it was nice getting to visit with you. Well, you are now the only one left in the nest (it will be like being an only child-take advantage of it!)

Bill and Beth both looked great. Bill looks fantastic since his surgery. He has lost a bunch of weight already. We never get to see enough of you two. Maybe now that the kids are grown we will get to see more of each other and get caught up on life.

Byron came by today with Kaylee. It was nice getting to see Kaylee again and it was nice to see Byron and know that he is doing better today. He was in the emergency room yesterday. So it was definately nice seeing him today.

We enjoyed barbequed hot dogs and hamburgers, potatoe salad, macaroni salad and all kinds of yummy goodness. Connie had the boys move table and chairs out to the big Mangnolia tree and sat in the shade of the tree and ate lunch. What a beautiful day!

26th:

We got up this morning and had blueberry pancakes thanks to Bepaw. Then it was time to get ready to head home. We needed to get home early enough to stop by the Orange Park Mall before 5:30p.m.. Brittney had some of her art work on display this weekend and we wanted to see if she won any awards.

We said our good-byes to Gregg and Becky and the kids, Nana and Bepaw and squeezed into the little Honda Civic and made it back in time. She won an honorable mention on one of her pictures and nothing on the other one. I saw the other pictures in competition with hers and not to be prejudice but I can't understand the judges decisions on some of those picuters.

27th:

Michael had made arrangements over the weekend to fly out of Jacksonville this morning to go to Indianapolis to see Magee. So Brittney was back to school and I was back to work so Dave took Michael to the airport to make his flight. He will be gone until Friday.

Tuesday and Wednesday were typical days in the Cowan household. I had the teen meeting on Wedneday night and finally finished our movie. The teens really enjoyed the movie.

30th:

Dave and I were invited to the Hogg's house for dinner. Originally it was suppose to be a day for them to see and visit with Michael, but seeing how he is not here, they still wanted us to come for dinner. Isobel and Bill cooked a fantastic dinner and I had Brittney make some of her lemon squares for desert. We watched the "Faith Like Potatoes" movie again with the Hogg's. This makes the third time I have seen this movie and I still enjoy it. The Hogg's enjoyed the movie too. They surprised me and had a birthday present for me this evening. They gave me a very nice pocket book/bag. I really like it, it looks like me. Thank you so much Bill and Isobel. Not just for the present but for your hospitality. We love you both very much!

What a fantastic way to finish off the month of April. It has been a busy month but it has also been filed with many blessings. We are enjoying having our son home, our baby girl is growing up much to our dismay, and Courtney will be coming home from college next month. Life in the Cowan household has changed this year.

Next month I will have some news to share from Maine, so check back in with the Jacksonville Cowan's again next month. Until then May God bless you and your families!

Marching along through the year

2nd:

We started our month with a good-bye. Byron and Connie were heading home today. Try as she might Brittney was unsuccessful at convincing Nana and Bee-Paw to stay just a little bit longer. She has Wednesday off from school and was hoping they would stay so she could spend all day with them. But they had to get home. It is always hard saying good-bye to them, their visits are always to short.

5th:

I worked a half day today. I am getting behind at my desk and the good doctor noticed. He said that I could work some extra hours to get caught up, so I took him up on his offer.

As soon as I got home I was planning on working on the teen groups itinerary for the year. We have a planning session with the church board scheduled for Saturday. Thankfully the planning session has been postponed, so my Thursday afternoon was unexpectedly freed up. With this unplanned free time on my hands I have become a bit antsy. I thought it would be nice to take advantage of this time and take a family outing to the movies. It is $5.00 movies Monday-Thursdays so we headed out to the mall-after I snuck in a little nap of course.

We got to the mall and bought our tickets but we had some time to burn before we could go inside. So we walked around the mall some and eventually ended up sitting down in the food court. Once I sat down I realized I was not feeling so well. But movie time rolled around before we knew it and we headed for the theatre. We went to see "Taken". This was a really good movie-Daddy's hold tight to your baby girls, there are some very scary people out there! Dave had to use the restroom after the movie so I decided to do the same. Brittney wanted to wait outside the restrooms for us....I was having none of that after that movie. I made her come in with me. Peranoid? Ummm, maybe...

6th:

I woke up today not feeling well at all. I spent the entire day resting on the sofa watching movies and trying not to do much of anything. 4:30p.m. finally rolled around and I needed to get in the shower. We have plans to take the teens to "Youth Quake Live" tonight.
Dave knew I was not feeling well and he offered to take the teens while I stayed home and rested. I took him up on his offer.

7th:

I am feeling much better today. I have some arrands to run. Courtney got in early this morning from school for her summer break. Brittney, Courtney and I headed out to take care of the errands. Once we got back I worked some in the computer room, we have been trying to get this room organized into an office/scrapbooking room. We are almost there.

8th:

I was back in bed again today. I got up and made breakfast for everyone but that was the extent of my energy. Every muscle in my body feels like I have just completed the 5K run and I am wiped out. I went back to bed after everyone left for church. I slept until 12:30p.m. Dave would not let me do anything today. He made stay on the sofa. This is the weirdest feeling.

9th:

I woke up this morning to get ready for work and I realized I couldn't do it! I called out of work sick today! I have been working for Dr. Spring for 2 years and have never called out sick. He called to check up on me around 4:30p.m. this afternoon. I was beginning to feel a little better. I'm planning on going to work tomorrow.

Tonight happend to be the first night for a new bible study that Dave and I decided to join called "First Place 4 Health". We were invited to ride with another couple from church that has also joined this study. This would give there son Austin and our Brittney a chance to hang out together at our house while we were at the study. I was not sure I was up to this tonight but I don't want to miss the very first class.

14th:

Today the womens ministry is hosting a "Holy Scrappers" party from 10:00-3:00p.m. I wasn't sure if I would be up to this today. I am feeling much better, so I packed up my scrapbook stuff and headed for the church. We had a great time. I got to catch up with my good friend "Lisa Thurman". She is the one that got Brittney and I started on scrapbooking 5 years ago. She is my Creative Memories consultant. I had given her name to the womens ministry leader but I didn't think she would actually contact Lisa. It was very nice seeing Lisa again, and I enjoyed getting into my scrapbooking again. I have been wanting to work on my scrapbooks but something else always takes priority. I hope this is fresh new start to my scrapbooking endeavors.

Once I got home Brittney wanted to go to the "Round Robin" down the road and do some shopping. I knew the store would be closing over the next 30 minutes so we went. We did some shopping and she made out like a bandit. She got two new outfits. I found a new pant suite that actually fit me....so I have a new church outfit for tomorrow.

Today has been a good day! Today is Courtney's last full day with us. She is heading back to Trevecca tomorrow. It seems like her visit was so short this time.

15th:

Today we followed the usual routine. We started our day getting up early and getting ready for church. Today was different only in the fact that we had to load Courtney's bags into the car before we left for church. We headed to sunday school, then church. We did not get tied up to long with everyone wanting to say their good-byes to Courtney.

We treated Courtney to lunch at Arby's before her long trip back to Tennessee. We did not want to send the girl on her way back to Nashville on an empty stomach. We had our last meal together, then took Courtney on to 103rd street to catch her ride with Danielle back to Trevecca. We will be seeing you soon Munchkin!

16th:

Monday it was back to work. Things are getting back to normal again. Dr. Spring ordered us more uniforms for work and I was hoping they would come in today. One of the shirts we were getting is a kind of green color (Seafoam green)and would work well for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow.

Yeah! They did come in. Looking forward to tomorrow!

Tonight was week two of our bible study. We headed out to the Chaney's. Dave and I are enjoying the fellowship! I lost a pound this week!!! How awesome is that I wasn't even trying. This bible study is great. It gives you a personal study to do each day as well as encourages prayer time and we have to log all of the food that we eat each day. We also have to record what kind of exercise we did each day. I'll be honest, I haven't started the excercise part yet. But I will get there, I am just truly enjoying the bible study part tremendously.

17th: St. Patrick's Day!

I put on my seafoam green shirt for work and painted my finger nails green (thanks to Brittney-it's good to have a teenage daughter). I also wore my clover earrings. My co-worker,Gina, wore a "Kiss me I'm Irish" necklace. The Doc was happy to see us dressed in the spirit of the holiday. This is something we should all appreciate. Because our country is the melting pot of the world we are able to celebrate an Irish holiday even if we're not Irish.

20th:

Dave had his 6 month follow up with Dr. Heekin for his new knee. We saw Erin (Dr. Heekin's PA- Dr. Heekin was fishing in the Key's today so he was not available for Dave's appointment). Erin was very pleased with the amount of bend Dave has in his knee. She said that everything was looking fantastic!

Dave had let Erin know that he has been having some problems with his hip now. She did some orthopedic tests on his hip then ordered an x-ray. The x-ray was not able to show her what she wanted to see. She wants Dave to get an MRI done. That will have to wait until we have medical insurance again. Other than the hip he is doing great and she recommended walking for excercise-so the hip problem is not going to slow him down.

21st:

Today is the day we take the teens to Epcot. This is the reward for the great job the winning team did during our MTV phase (Making Teens Victorious). The team members that lost had to work for their ticket to Epcot by doing chores for the members of the congregation that agreed to be the loosers "redeemers". In total we had 10 participants that went on our Epcot trip. What a great time we had. We started our day leaving the church in the church van at 6:00a.m. Those who have teenagers know that getting them up this early in the morning is always a challenge. They were a sleepy bunch for the first hour. At 7:00 a.m. we stopped at "Cracker Barrel" for a hearty breakfast. This woke everyone up and got the livliness into them. They were so well behaved. I never have a moments hesitation in doing anything with this group-they are awesome! We stopped once more for gas and ice for our cooler about 30 minutes out from Epcot.

As soon as we got to Epcot we hit the rides. We all enjoyed rides like "Reimagined! Spaceship Earth(this is the ride inside the big dome that Epcot is famous for)", "Mission Space" and "Test Track". We spent the first two hours on the rides then we made our way into the countries. We saw Mexico then as we ventured into Norway everyone was getting hungry. We bought our lunches and gathered in an eating area and enjoyed talking about our favorite parts of the park so far. Everyone was having a great time. Once we finished eating we went to the 360 circle vision film of China then slowly made our way around Germany, Italy, The American Adventure and finally to Japan. We walked through alot of gift shops and took in lots of interesting sights. In Japan we stopped for "Matsuriza". These were Japanese Taiko drummers. The camera's were flashing. The show was awesome. While still in Japan we decided to venture into the gift shop were we saw oysters being opened to expose the pearls inside. This kept everyones attention for quite a while.

From Japan we went onto Morocco and then France! Of course we stopped in France. It was time for a little desert! Many of the group picked up a French delicacy of some sort, from chocolate mouse, a Napolean to something I can't pronounce. I tried the vegetable quiche, I will never enjoy quiche again. Nothing could match the real deal! After France we saw the United Kingdom and then Canada. Once we reached this end of the park it was going on 7:00 p.m. The weather was cooling down and a cool breeze was kicking up. Of course many of us did not bring jackets with us into the park, so we were freezing. We headed for the rides on this end of the park, but discovered the rides were all shutting down. So we talked over our options and we all agreed to find a good seat for the fireworks display that would be starting in about an hour. Everyone was tired and ready to just sit down for a while and relax and talk over the fun they all had today. We ended the evening with an awesome fireworks display. The ride home was just as quiet as the trip down. Everyone was exhausted! But the day was fantastic. I really do love each and every one of these kids!

23rd:

Today was my usual workday, and tonight is our bible study-yeah! I look forward to this each week. I enjoyed my bible study each day and my prayer time has definately improved. I did record my food this week-that part was not looking good. It turned out I lost a little more than a pound again this week. I was not feeling so good today however. I feel like I am getting sick again. Let's hope not-I don't have time to be sick!

24th:
Sure enough I am getting sick again. I woke up this morning and I have a bad sore throat. I am going to double up on my vitamin C and try to head of this cold. I have a women's meeting at the church tonight, I really don't want to miss it-It's Salad Supper night.
I decided not go. I felt it would be better to get a good nights sleep. Maybe with some rest I can kick this. I got off of work at my usual 7:00p.m., grabbed a little dinner and hit the bed early. Let's hope this helps-I feel terrible!

25th:
Tonight is my teen class. I am not feeling any better today. I am starting to loose my voice now. I think I will just have a movie night tonight for the teens, they will enjoy the change in the routine.

The movie was a good idea. They enjoyed it and it seems to have fit in with some of the burdens that a few of the teens have been dealing with this week. God is good! It is fun to have a front row to seeing God make things happen or addressing concerns that go unspoken. One of our teens asked our class to pray for the girls at his High School because there seemed to be alot of girls pregnant and this burdened his heart. The movie we watched tonight was about abortion. We talked about the importance of being a light in the darkness for these people who may feel they have no other choice. Also to love those who have made the choice to abort their baby and are now living with the guilt of what they have done.

26th:
I don't usually work on Thursday's but I need to get caught up at my desk. I am getting so behind I'm not sure if I can get caught up-ever! Even though I am still not feeling well I went to work to accomplish what I could. Lord give me strength!

27th:
It has really hit me today. I am going to take it easy and just rest. Brittney is now sick too and today is a school holiday (thank the Lord). Both of us have slept alot of the day and we both sound like guys with our deep, raspy voices. Oh well, misery loves company. She is trying to say she got it from me but she came down with it about the same time as me so I think we both picked it up from somewhere but I couldn't tell you where.

I got an email from my sister telling me about a honey and cinnamon cure for the common cold. It couldn't hurt, I'm going to give it a try. It claims to knock out the common cold in three days! Let's hope this works!

We got to talk to Michael today. He is finally in Kuwait. I don't have to worry about people shooting at him anymore. I am so excited about his visit home, I can hardly contain myself. My baby boy will be coming home for a visit in about 4 weeks. I haven't seen him sinse July last year! Thank you Lord for keeping him safe.

28th:
Today I took the cinnamon and honey concoction again. I am feeling so much better! I have an unbelieveable amount of energy today! Brittney decided she would give it a try too, what could it hurt. I decided to straighten up the livingroom and kitchen. I cleaned up my bedroom and did some laundry...I did my bible study...finally it's time for me to get in the shower. We are taking the teens to Washington Heights again, and today is the day! If everyone shows up we should have 14 going, our church van maxes out at 15. This is going to be awesome!

Our trip to Washington Heights was such a blessing. One of my teens (Suwathi) prepared a lesson for the little kids grades pre-K to 6th grade. I prepared a lesson for the teens (7th-12th grades). The teens sat in a circle outside and I taught them a bible story. After the story they played games and won prizes. We all had a great time, unfortunately the younger kids heard us outside playing games and they wanted to check out what was going on. At one point Pastor Dalstra came out to see what we were doing because we had tied up some of the teens. But they were having such a good time he just stood in the background and watched and laughed along with us. We all had a great time!

An older couple from our church was interested in coming along. They were interested in an outreach ministry, so they brought cookies and punch for the little kids. Dave and I brought candy and bottled water for the teens. Everyone that went recieved more of a blessing than the kids that we came to minister to. The Lord touched us all. At the end of the day we scheduled our next visit with Pastor Dalstra to Washington Heights for next month. We agreed to come back on April 11th. The kids of Washington Heights informed us that we needed to come back sooner, that was to far away. They all wanted us to come back again tomorrow. We told them we couldn't but we promised them we would be back on April 11th with more games and stories and fun for them. I can not tell you how much of a blessing it is to to be able to share the love of Jesus with these kids who know nothing about the Lord. We have a mission field right here in Jacksonville.

29th:
Today we have church and Sunday School. I really sound bad today and I feel like I have gotten worse. I over did it yesterday and I am paying for it today. But the sacrifice for the Lord was well worth it so I know that he will take care of me.

30th:
It's back to work today. I am going to go in and work as long as I can. Brittney has to work tonight because she is planning on going out of town to South Carolina. She is going to spend Spring Break with some old friends-"the Powell's".

Tonight is also our First Place 4 Health bible study. This has been a very hard week for me. I think the devil is trying to knock me down. God will triumph...as I keep pressing on to the mark.

Thank you all for taking interest in what is going on in our household each month. This has been one of our busier months. Next month I will be able to share Michael's homecoming with you all. So please come back again next month to share in some photos of Michaels visit home after Iraq, as well as our Washington Heights trip, Easter and many other incredible milestones in the lives of the Jacksonville Cowan's!

Mihalo and Aloha!

February: Your My Little Valentine

WELCOME BACK!
In January we "started the year off right"...with a post for the month's activities. Now we are getting into "Your my Little Valentine"! Does that song sound familiar to anyone?

The month of February has been an exciting one, so make sure you don't miss a picture or a paragraph.... and here we goooo!

1st: We started the month off with an introduction. We met Kayla, Michael's new girlfriend. We met at McCallister's Deli for lunch after church. Not a good first impression i'm afraid---we were late! We got hung up after church with questions from interested folks from church wanting to know about our Washington Heights experience. Dave finally said we had to go and made our apologize. We got to McCalister's at 12:45p.m. and Kayla had been there waiting on us since 12:30p.m.

Our lunch went really well. She was very nervous but I give her mucho kudos for being willing to meet us by herself...without Michael. She had been telling Michael how anxious she was to meet us, and she called us to make arrangements for the get together. As I said, she is a very nice, sweet, young lady. Dave invited her to the house this evening to watch the Super Bowl with us. She did come over and we spent the majority of the evening looking at photo albums and talking and just getting to know each other. We missed most of the Super Bowl-we came in on the 4th quarter. Well, atleast we saw the best part.

See Kayla, I told you we don't bite!

2nd: Brittney came home from school at 2:00p.m. and I reminded her, as I was going out the door headed back to work, that today was the last day to register for the "Southeastern University Preview Days". She had been struggling with whether or not she was going to go to the preview days. Her heart was set on checking out Southeastern but she had gotten some disappointing news that made her question her decision. Finally she decided to give it a shot and she registered today.

3rd: TODAY IS GRACES BIRTHDAY! Happy Birthday Gracie I hope your day is a special one and filled with laughter!

5th: Gina agreed to care for the animals for us and so we left early this morning headed for Lakeland, Florida. We are on our way to Southeastern University. We arrived at the campus on time, we found a parking spot and headed for the registration building. The campus is absolutely beautiful.

We started off looking around the campus and getting some information like a campus map and an itinerary. Then we checked out the bookstore. We had arrived about 15 minutes early and had some time to spare. Finally it was time to check in. They gave us our food voucher (a wrist band for Dave and I and a name tag for Brittney). Then they assigned Brittney a room for the night in one of the Dorms (Bethany Hall)with a hostess (Natash Gross). Next we went and got some lunch at the Tuscan Ristorante. This is their equivalent to the cafeteria only so much better than cafeteria food. We ate our lunch then we headed back to the car to collect Brittney's sleeping gear and took it to the tent where they will hold her sleeping bag, blanket and overnight bag for her until it is time for her to check into the dorm later in the evening. Finally we started down the itinerary...

We reported to the Student Activities Center for the Opening Session. We found out about all of the activites they have on campus for the students throughout the year in order to keep them involved in campus life. Then we went to the Faculty Reception that got moved to the Tuscan Ristorante because it was to cold to have it outside as originally planned. This was were Brittney got a chance to speak with one of the professors about her major. She was invited by the professor to shadow her class. Next the parents were sent to have dessert with the President of the University while Brittney went to the "Student Session with their Admission Counselors". I can only tell you that the desserts were INCREDIBLE and the information we received from the President of the university was extremely useful. It answered many of our questions.

Next we met back up with our baby girl in Bush Chapel for a Worship Service with Dr. Mark Rutland-The same guy we had just had desert with-President of the University. The praise music was incredible, the presidents message was awesome, the entire experience was something I can not even begin to try to explain to you.

Next, we took Brittney to the luggage pick-up area because it was time for her to meet her hostess. We walked her to the dorm and met her hostesses for the evening and we made a quick exit. We did not want to linger too long and embarrass our girl. We agreed to meet at the Tuscan Ristorante for breakfast at 8:00a.m. After we left her she went on to enjoy a gathering they had going on around a bon fire. She got to cook smores and get a taste of college life.

6th: Day two at Southeastern University. We met up with Brittney as planned for breakfast. Wow! If she gets to eat like this everyday she will not want to come home. Their food is way better than what we cook at home. By 9:00a.m. we were to report to Bush Chapel for a "Faculty Forum". This was a debate type of setting with some of the professors over the topic "Once Saved Always Saved". The discussion was designed to get you thinking and that it did. I'm jealous...to be in this type of environment everyday would be such a blessing. I know that Brittney felt the same-she is very excited about Southeastern.

From there Brittney went on to a class visit with the professor she had met yesterday. While Brittney was in class, Dave and I enjoyed a time of relaxation in one of the plaza's on campus. Huge, old trees, benches, a fountain, the florida sunshine with a bit of a cool breeze blowing-Heavenly! We finally went on to the bookstore were we promised to meet up with her when she was finished. I came across two students in the bookstore and we got into a conversation, soon Brittney came along and we were all talking. Before we knew it we had to get going because it was time for us to head upstairs to the Sawgrass Suites in the Pansler building for a meeting-Admission/Financial Aid Information Session. The information they provided was easy to understand and extremely informative, but we don't have to worry about alot of that right now because Brittney still has one more year of school before she is ready to go off to college. Atleast we know what is available to us right now and what we can get a jump on for later.

Next we got to go back to the Tuscan Ristorante for lunch. I was not hungry yet, after that big breakfast, but I was not about to pass up this opportunity for another incredible meal and I was not disappointed. After lunch we reported back where we started at the "Student Activities Center" for the closing Session. We were asked to fill out a survey at the end and if we turned in our survey we got a free t-shirt. So, we all went home with a very nice, free t-shirt.

By 3:30p.m. we had finished up our business at Southeastern and we were headed home. Well, I can tell you, Brittney is excited about the university and so are Dave and I. We have our work cut out for us getting her the grants and scholarships she will need to make this dream happen. If this is God's will for Brittney's life we will do our part and do everything we can to make it happen with God's help.

7th: Today is Clives Birthday! Happy Birthday Clive, I hope you have a very blessed birthday today. How old are you now-96?

8th: Today is Sunday. I managed to make it to sunday school with Dave and Brittney this morning. Usually I meet up with them for church but we had a teen auction to prepare for this morning. Dave gave me about 15 minutes of his class time so the students that were up for "redemption" would have a chance to make a sign to hold up during the auction.

I got up in front of the church and announced the winners of the M.T.V. (Making Teens Victorious)session, then I broke the news to the congregation that some of our teens would need some help making it to Epcot in March because their team did not win. Then I had the students in need of tickets to stand before the congregation with their signs. I had a sign up sheet in the foyer for those interested in "Redeeming" a teen. We had an outstanding turnout. The teens got more than the $60.00 dollars they needed for their ticket. Now they have to earn the money by doing those chores needed by the people that redeemed them.

We have such a giving and loving church. They really do love the teens and show their support anytime we ask for help!

I did not go to church this evening. I have not been feeling well since Thursday and knowing that I need to be ready for the work week I opted to stay home and rest and get to bed early. Dave and Brittney headed to the evening service. They are going to be participating in a play at Easter time and they needed to show up to get their parts tonight. I can't wait to see this play...my hubby and number one daughter will be in it!

10th: February is always a big month for birthday's in this family! Happy Birthday William! You are having to celebrate so far away from home but you are in our thoughts and prayers especially on your special day, the big 2-1. Congratulations!

Tonight is the womens meeting at the church again. We played a fun ice breaker game that helped us all get to know each other better. They reviewed last meetings highlights then introduced some new business. The director of the womens group announced some openings they were looking for help in, then the meeting was wrapped up with upcoming events. Trisha Bruce has got a good grip on this womens group and where she sees it going. I wish her the best of luck in this endevour. She is a God send!

11th: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL! Today my baby boy turns 22. He is celebrating his second birthday in Iraq. I love you son and we all miss you terribly. Can't wait to see you in May! Be safe until then and keep your head down.

9th-13th: I worked all week this week. Gina has been stuck in bed all week with a bad case of the flu. I did not mind, the paycheck will be nice. However, it has made for a long and tiring week. We have a busy weekend planned with the teens. I just ask the good Lord for strength to make it through.

14th: Happy Valentines Day everyone!

We started our day with enjoying breakfast together at the table. Then we all brought our gifts for each other out to exchange. It was nice, Brittney got some perfume she has been wanting as well as a gift certificate to Starbucks and some of her favorite chocolate candies. She also got a bag of chocolate covered popcorn from Petersbrooke chocolates-her favorite.

Dave spoiled me...he got me a few movies I had been wanting-"Pilgrim's Progress and Bella" as well as some of my favorite candy (bonbons). We also got new outfits for our Build-A-Bears we had bought for one another over the years. Our bears had been wearing the same outfits now for 2-years or more. They appreciated the new clothes.

I got Dave a Starbucks gift card and his own bag of chocolate covered popcorn also. He would have been convincing Brittney to share her's if he had not gotten his own. But this was only the beginning of our Valentines Day gifts. Tonight we were going to....

Winter Jam!

I have been waiting for this day for weeks. Brittney had to work this morning, so I dropped Dave at the church to collect the teens. Dave then met up with Brittney and I at Family Christian (where Brittney works). After dropping Dave at the church I went on to Brittney's work to deliver her lunch and give her time to change her clothes before the church van met up with us.

We left Brittney's work and headed onto the Veterans Memorial Arena for Winter Jam. At the beginning of the concert they called all of the youth pastors, workers or directors to meet them at stage right for a meeting. Toby Mac, Family Force Five and Brandon Heath met with us and shared their testimonies and said "Thanks" to the youth workers for what we do. I brought Brittney down with me. She is the teen groups NYI Vice President and she does alot of work in this capacity for them. She has also been interested in becoming a youth worker/youth pastor in her future so I figured it would be good for her hear what they had to say. To personally hear the artists saying thanks for all we do.

The entertainment was incredible and all of the teens had a great time. Kayla (Michael's girlfriend) came with us and enjoyed getting her "crunk on" with the rest of the teens. What a fun night!

We wrapped up the evening with dinner at KFC. This gave the teens an opportunity to talk with each other and share with each other their favorite parts of the evenings entertainment.

16th: Tonight was "Heaven's Gates, Hell's Flames". I did not think my teens would be interested in doing this again this year because we went last year. I was wrong. We took the church van as well as my car in order to fit all of the adults as well as teens that were interested in going to see this production. We had 18 in all that went from our church. The production was not a disappointment. If you hear of this production in your area, I encourage you to make every effort in going to see it. You will not be disappointed.

16-18th: Monday morning came before I knew it and it was time to get back into my weekly routine. My work week was pretty uneventful for the most part except Gina was back at work today! My cell mate, my buddy, my partner in crime-hehehe. We keep the doctor on his toes!

Wedneday night was teen night. We met at the church and continued our study on "Paul in Rome". This study has encouraged much discussion. I do not see how it is possible to get through one lesson in an hour. We are only able to get through about half of the lesson each week because of the discussion time. I don't want to cut the discussion time short because that is what it is all about-iliciting emotions concerning the topics of discussion. This has been great!

19th: I wanted to take advantage of the fact that we had nothing planned for today. As soon as Dave and I got up we got started on cleaning. We got through our bathroom, bedroom and the livingroom before we ran out of day. I felt we accomplished alot and felt good about what we got done.

20th: We started off the morning cleaning again. I finished vacuuming Michael's old room (which is now our guest room). We had done a little more decorating in this room, trying to get it finished. Then we moved onto cleaning the guest bathroom. Once we got through with that it was time to get ready to go out...We had a date!

We were invited to the Scottish Kins house for dinner this evening. It has been a while since we have been able to visit with Bill and Isobel. Isobel is finally on the mend thank the Lord. She has had a terrible time with a bought of the shingles. It has taken it's tole on her but she looked better this evening. They provided an incredible meal (those Scott's sure can cook), dessert was included. And Bill Hogg actually enjoyed a nice cup of hot tea with me. Finally someone to drink tea with me! I love it...Thanks Bill and Isobel-we sure missed you both.

26th: Byron and Connie came into town today. We have been trying to get them to come to the Scottish Games Festival for the past two years. This year they finally decided to check it out and see what it is all about. Bill and Isobel got the tickets for all of us.

28th: Today is the day we have been waiting for, "The Scottish Games Festival". We met Bill and Isobel at Starbucks in Green Cove Springs. We enjoyed a nice breakfast then went on to the fair grounds for a day of fun and excitement. So much to see that it is hard to pick just a few. We enjoyed the opening festivities with the Southeastern Navy band opening things up for us. Once they finished we watched the clans come in one at a time. Then there was a production of all of the clans bands. The sound of the bagpipes is always such a treat. Then the closing of the opening festivities as each of the clans bands filed out of the arena and then lastly went the Navy band. We always enjoy the opening festivities. Next Bill, Dave and Byron went on to enjoy the tossing of the cabor, hammer throw and the bagpipe bands practicing and they watched the Scottish Sheep dogs chasing the ducks. Isobel, Brittney, Connie and I took in some of the Highland dancing and of course we enjoyed the shopping at the different booths. The food was very good as usual and the stawberry and scones was fantastic. I always eat to much at this festival because I just want to try as much as I possibly can. The lines at each of the food stands were outrageous, if it weren't for that I probably would eat myself sick. I did not get to try to the Scottish Eggs yet. I think I will save that for next year. We had a wonderful time and of course we always enjoy the company of our Scottish kin. They are very good tour guides as well. Well, until next year!

That finishes up the month of February. I hope you all are enjoying this blog of the Cowan family from Jacksonville. Some months can be a bit hecktick and this month was one of them.

See you next month! ;)

January: Start The Year Off Right

January

1st: We wrapped up the teen lock-in at 9:00a.m. The parents were to pick up their teen at this time. Some were a little late, by 10:000 a.m. all kids were gone and we finally had the house to ourselves again. There were alot of tired teens this morning.

5th: Today was Courtney's last day of vacation at home with us. She had a ride lined up with good old friend Danielle (who she normally rides with) for the trip back to Nashville, Tennessee. I got off of work at 1:00p.m. and we drove Courtney out to 103rd street to catch her ride. She is on her way back to school to finish up the second semester of this school year.

7th: We finally got back to our Wednesday night teen class. Our classes had been cancelled the past two weeks due to the holiday's. Tonight's theme for class was "Souper Salad" night. One of the games at the end of class was for the teens to build a salad. Each team had certain items that needed to be added to the salad one piece at a time-a relay race. Once all the salad items were in the salad they had to finish off the salad with salad dressing then they had to race each other to eat it. These salads had M&M's, gummy worms, gummy bears, croutons, shredded cheese, lettuce and dressing. Mmmm, Mmmm good! They had a blast! It was a good night and it was nice to get things back into our routine again.

8th: My first day off for the week (I don't work on Thursday's or Friday's) and I have a board meeting to go to tonight. Being the NYI President- (Nazarene Youth International) I am responsible for reporting to the church board each month. I give them a run down of the previous months progress, a head's up for the following months activities as well as a financial report on all monies raised through our fundraisers and monies spent on class supplies. I have been doing this for three years. For the new year...this meeting went rather well. Good start!

9th: We met the teens at the church at 5:00p.m. We are taking an outing to Paxon Revival Center on Commonwealth Avenue for "Youth Quake Live". This is a christian version of Saturday Night Live. This is a production created by teens, produced and performed by teen, for teens. The skits were awesome, the music was good, the worship was fantastic. They even served communion tonight (there were atleast 2500 people in the sanctuary). This was the best YQL we have been to yet. The kids had such a good time they want to go back again next month.

13th: Tonight was "Cappuccino Cafe" with the Women's Ministry at our church. I work until 7:00p.m. on Tuesday's "normally". However, since I have the liberty of manipulating my schedule on Tuesday's, I took a short lunch and left a little early tonight in order to make this meeting. Our previous leader stepped down and tonight was the new leaders first meeting. We gathered at the church for tea, coffee or cappuccino's. Trisha had this planned out very nicely. The entire evening went very well and I have high hopes for how the new women's ministry is going to go. Can't wait until next month.

14th: Today Bill Cowan is having intestinal bypass surgery. I hope everything is going well Bill. You are in our prayers! Good Luck and speedy healing.

Tonight was also our teen meet. The title of the class was "Absolutely Fabulous". This class discussion was going so well that we ran out of time tonight. No time to play the scheduled games. That's pretty awesome when the teens get into such a good discussion that they pass on the fun. God was moving through this class and touching the hearts of everyone present. That's what it's all about!

15th: Today Dave, Brittney and I have a 2:30p.m. meeting with the producer's of MTV (Making Teens Victorious). We are meeting to work out the details for the last few fundraisers we have left as well as work out where we are going for our trip on the end of this phase of MTV. I was up at 8:00a.m. this morning working on the meeting itinerary,financial report and quotes for the different parks. Once I was finished with that it was time to get in the shower and head for the church for our meeting. By the time the meeting was finished our day was pretty much over.

16th: We were schedule for church portraits to be taken tonight. However, Brittney got called in to work so we are flying the missing man formation. It's bad enough that Michael is not here, but then to not have Brittney here too. We rescheduled our pictures for tomorrow afternoon.

17th: Ten o'clock this morning-Brittney and I have hair appointments in Keystone. That means we have to be on the road by 9:00a.m. Well, OK so we are running a little late. We still got there on time and we both got much needed trims.

On the way home Brittney wanted to stop at the "Round Robin"-a consignment shop. She was hoping to find a new top for our pictures this afternoon. We had a nice leisurely mother-daughter time this afternoon. I am often reminded how close we are to our baby girl going off to college. I am going to take every moment I can get. Neither Dave or I are looking forward to the empty nest. We are still recovering from Michael not being here.

We had a few hours left of our afternoon before we had to get ready to go to the church for our pictures. We changed into our church best and headed for the church. The pictures came out very nice however they were done by Ollan Mills so we could not afford to purchase a package tonight. We purchased the proofs in hopes that we can purchase some of the pictures to share with all of you in the future.

19th: Today was a student/teacher holiday for Martin Luther King Day. Wouldn't you know-Brittney has to work today! She was so looking forward to having the day off. Welcome to the real world baby girl.

21st: This is our usual Wednesday night teen class, however we are not having class tonight. I decided to take them to "Laugh All Night" with Justin Fennell at a local baptist church. Dave had to bring the teens while I worked until 6:00p.m. then I met them at the church. The comedian, Justin Fennell, was just recovering from the flu. He asked a comedian friend of his if he would come with him to help him out tonight. I could not tell you the other comedians name but he was incredible. He was an Italian from New York and his material was all original and very funny. He even did a terrific impersonation of Robert Deniro. He looked and sounded just like him. Laughter is always good for the soul especially when it can be done without all of the bad language and crude humor.

23rd: It is Friday! Byron and Connie came into town for a few days. They were bringing Grand Dot back from her long visit in Texas. It is always nice to have Byron and Connie for the weekend. Brittney enjoyed going shopping with Nana. Dave got to enjoy the time with his parents especially since he did not have to worry about getting up early and running off to work. We had a very nice visit. Looking forward to seeing you next month for the Scottish Games Festival!

24th: I had a Sunday School Convention to go to this morning. Several of us met at the parsonage and carpooled to Chaffee road to catch our ride. We had to be in Tallahassee for 9:30 a.m. so we were leaving the parsonage at 5:30a.m. You know what that means---I had to get up at 4:00a.m. on a Saturday. There's something not right about that! But I made it and I wasn't late!

The convention went well and we made it back to Jacksonville by 4:30p.m. I made it home just in time to say good-bye to Brittney as she was leaving to head off for work. By the time I sat down I was drained. The day had done me in!

25th: Sunday-I got up and made crepes for everyone this morning. It is a family tradition that when Byron and Connie come to visit I make them crepes for breakfast at least once. Sunday is always a good day for that. Dave and Brittney got ready for Sunday School and after breakfast headed off for church. I decided that I would go up with Byron and Connie for church (only they didn't go---sshhh!) They did not bring any church clothes...So I stayed home and kept my eye on the two of them. It was such a nice relaxing morning. Byron made corn chowder and I spent the day in my pajamas! It was very nice and the corn chowder was awesome as usual!

27th: Today Brittney's temporary crown fell out while she was at school. Dave called me at work and I called the dentist. They were able to get her in right away. We had cancelled the appointment she had before Christmas to get the permanent crown put in because they wanted $456.00. We did not have that kind of money since Dave lost his job. The dentists office was very good to us and they were able to work out a payment plan with us so that we could finally get the permanent crown put in. God Is Good!

28th: Tonight is our usual Wednesday night teen meeting at the church. This will be the last class for the M.T.V. (Making Teens Victorious) phase. Tonights title is "Reality T.V." The lesson challenged the teens to take a really good look at their lives and see if they were living what they professed. We don't want to turn the world away because we are not the light we should be in the world.

This was our second MTV phase that we have done and the kids really enjoy it. They already have a very good idea who the winning team is and who will be going to Epcot for free. By the time I got home tonight I was exhausted. It has been a long week-good news is I don't have to work tomorrow.

29th: The majority of today was spent relaxing with my hubby. I like having him home. I know that he will be getting a job and we will not have this time together forever, so I am enjoying it while it lasts. I think it is God's way of helping us prepare for the empty nest that will be coming sooner than we realize.

Brittney had to work today from 5:30-9:30p.m. We got a call from her about 8:30 p.m. asking if she could go to the movies with a friend after work. Our baby is growing up... I have mixed feelings of joy, pride and sadness all at once. Life can be difficult sometimes.

30th: We were invited over to the Hogg's for dinner tonight. They got the new movie "Fireproof" and wanted us to come over and watch it with them. We were anxious to go because...

1. Dave and I saw Fireproof at the movies with Brittney when it first came out. This is the most incredible movie we have had the honor of seeing.
2. Isobel has been sick with the shingles over the past two weeks and we have not been able to get our usual fill of Scottish hospitality. She has been hold up in the house. I was anxious to see Isobel so that I could see for myself that she was on the road to recovery.
3. And lastly, we would be able to see another good old friend that we had not seen for quite a while...Mary White.

The evening turned out to be a very fun and blessed evening! Thank you Bill, Isobel and Mary! Brother and sisters from another mother but we share the same Father-we are a family!

31st: The last day of January and we are going to see January off with a boom! We had planned for the teens to get involved with a community outreach ministry called "Words to Works". A new outreach was getting started in Washington Heights in Jacksonville by a young pastor. He started this outreach about 6 months ago and he is in need of volunteers. I met this pastor at the last Youth Quake Live that we went to. I felt the ministry he was doing was something our teens could definitely do. We drove out to the projects today and met up with 40-50 kids in the age range of 8-19. We did a bible story, taught them a song with hand movements, then spent the rest of the afternoon just playing basketball, coloring, putting puzzles together or just playing cards. Our teens were blessed as were the teens from Washington Heights. We were all anxious about getting together again. We decided to make this a monthly commitment. Wow...I don't even know how to explain the blessings we all felt on the way home this afternoon. I think God is leading us down a new path and I can't wait to see what he is going to do next!

That is all the news from the Jacksonville Cowans for the month of January. I hope you all have a happy and blessed coming month, see you at the end of the month review for February and...GOD BLESS!