July
4th: We were invited over for a forth of July party to Frank and Eddies house. They are friends of ours from church. They cook up a mean BBQ and play a mean game of "Corn Hole". What a gorgeous day for this celebration---we are missing one thing---MY SON! Sure did miss you on this proud day of celebration and we are all thinking of you today and wishing you could be here!
5th: We had a very pleasant day at the Jacksonville Zoo with what we have come to fondly refer to as our Scottish Kin. We spent the day with Bill and Isobel enjoying the animals, the foliage and some very good fellowship. Bill and Isobel have adopted our family and made us finally feel like we are home. Living in Jacksonville so far from family has been lonely and difficult on many occassions. God has finally paired us up with some folk we are proud to call kin.
13th: Today is Isobel's Birthday. We had a special surprise for her. Byron and Connie were here visiting, so we picked up an ice cream cake, a copy of the Perfect Stranger and we surprised them with a visit from the Cowan Family. They were ecstatic. We shared some pizza, watched the movie after she opened her birthday present and had some icecream cake for desert along with some terrific fellowship. I think it was as much a present for us as it was for Isobel. We had a wonderful time...Thanks Isobel for having a birthday and a reason for us to intrude on your home and soak in some of your Scottish hospitality...it is delightful!
17th: Michael flew into Jacksonville International Airport today and will be home for the next 18 days for block leave. What a surprise to see him standing in my kitchen!!! I love that boy soooo much. I was so happy to see him I could hardly contain myself. Every time I see him now I can't stop hugging him. We expected our childen to grow up and maybe even move away. But they aren't suppose to go to Iraq! That is just too far.
19th: Today is our Anniversay. We celebrate 22 years of marriage today. That was Michael's anniversary present to us,planning his block leave for our anniversary. How can you top that. There is not a gift in the store that would beat that present! Thank you again son-We love you!
4th: We were invited over for a forth of July party to Frank and Eddies house. They are friends of ours from church. They cook up a mean BBQ and play a mean game of "Corn Hole". What a gorgeous day for this celebration---we are missing one thing---MY SON! Sure did miss you on this proud day of celebration and we are all thinking of you today and wishing you could be here!
5th: We had a very pleasant day at the Jacksonville Zoo with what we have come to fondly refer to as our Scottish Kin. We spent the day with Bill and Isobel enjoying the animals, the foliage and some very good fellowship. Bill and Isobel have adopted our family and made us finally feel like we are home. Living in Jacksonville so far from family has been lonely and difficult on many occassions. God has finally paired us up with some folk we are proud to call kin.
13th: Today is Isobel's Birthday. We had a special surprise for her. Byron and Connie were here visiting, so we picked up an ice cream cake, a copy of the Perfect Stranger and we surprised them with a visit from the Cowan Family. They were ecstatic. We shared some pizza, watched the movie after she opened her birthday present and had some icecream cake for desert along with some terrific fellowship. I think it was as much a present for us as it was for Isobel. We had a wonderful time...Thanks Isobel for having a birthday and a reason for us to intrude on your home and soak in some of your Scottish hospitality...it is delightful!
17th: Michael flew into Jacksonville International Airport today and will be home for the next 18 days for block leave. What a surprise to see him standing in my kitchen!!! I love that boy soooo much. I was so happy to see him I could hardly contain myself. Every time I see him now I can't stop hugging him. We expected our childen to grow up and maybe even move away. But they aren't suppose to go to Iraq! That is just too far.
19th: Today is our Anniversay. We celebrate 22 years of marriage today. That was Michael's anniversary present to us,planning his block leave for our anniversary. How can you top that. There is not a gift in the store that would beat that present! Thank you again son-We love you!
Michael did say that while he was home he did not want to go anywhere or do anything special. He just wanted to enjoy being home and spending time with his family. We did convince him to take in some Florida sunshine with a trip to Silver Glen on our anniversary.
Gregg and Becky had come into town the night before to see Michael while he was home. So Byron, Connie, Gregg, Becky, Grace, Lex,Dave and I, Brittney, Michael and Courtney went to Silver Glen Springs. We had a picnic, enjoyed some swimming and horsing around in the water, it was a good day with Michael and for Michael with his family. It was truely a blessed day. This is one of those days I will always remember and cherish.
On the 20th he went to his other families house-We went to church. Everyone was very happy to see him home and looking so good. He got alot of hugs and "welcome homes" and felt the love of God's family surrounding him and bathing him in prayer.
Then on July 23rd he decided to try his luck in a round of golf with his dad and Bill Hogg and some friends from church. You know your doing something right when you can bring a smile to his face-he just glows! That was one of many day's of fun and smiles for him.
31st: Connie, Brittney,Courtney, Michael and I went to the "Cummer Museum" in Jacksonville. That was another day of peaceful memory making. We enjoyed the museum and the peaceful atmosphere of the day. We took in some lunch on the way home at Moe's Mexican Grill.
August
1st: We started off the month of August with dinner at the Scottish Kin's house. They wanted a chance to visit with what they call their adopted grandson (Michael). We brought the sequel "Another Perfect Stranger". We had Isobel's incredible cooking, desert, we watched some of Michaels videos from Iraq, we watched the movie. Then we settled down for a serious game of Triominos. We had a great and very enjoyable evening.
3rd: We took a drive down to Castleberry, Florida so that Michael would have a chance to say hello to David Hogg and his family. Michael first met David Hogg at a Promise Keepers conference and they have been good friends ever sinse. It doesn't hurt that David Hogg is Bill and Isobels son. David is the Senior pastor of a church in Castleberry, so we thought we would drop by and give Michael a chance to say hello. It doesn't hurt to surround him with God fearing family that love him and all of these good folk have been praying for his safety every day as well. It was a good, spiritually uplifting day. The day did have a few bumps as satan will always try to disrupt a good thing when God's hand is moving, but in the end the day turned out to be a blessing.
5th: Took Michael to the airport to see him off again. We tend to be spending an aweful lot of time at the airport lately. This was one of the most difficult good-byes I have ever had to experience. Saying good-bye when he was going back to Hawaii was hard but this time I was sending my son back to war in Iraq. I did not know how to do that....He was being so brave and told me not to worry he would be alright and that he was coming home again soon. Even now recalling that good-bye brings tears to my eyes. Only my trust in the Heavenly Father's love and care of my son brings me peace because I know that God can be with him when I can not. God has already proven on numerous occasions that he has Michael in his hands protecting him from danger.
9th: We had to put Michael's Boston Terrier down today. We have had Cricket since Michael was 5 years old. The time had been coming for awhile but we wanted Michael to be able to see her one last time, so we waited. She is definately a part of the family.
Today was also the day Courtney had decided to celebrated her 19th birthday. She wanted a party at Adventure Landing water park. It was just Courtney with Brittney and Alexis (a long time friend from church). This was good planning after what we had to do with Cricket that morning. They had a really fun time.
15th: Dave and I made a date night reservation at the Alhambra Dinner Theatre. Just the two of us for the play "Little Shop of Horrors". What a nice evening we had. The play was surprisingly well done and the food was good. This is not something we could afford to do often but it was a magical evening.
19th: Dave checked into St. Vincent's Hospital for knee replacement surgery. The day we had talked about for years was finally here. It almost didn't seem real, it was like a dream. It was scary but also a relief. Dave has suffered for so long with his knees hurting. He finally had gotten to the point that he would sit down at the front of the store and wait while Brittney and I did the shopping because he just could not do all of that walking. We had a handicap parking placard so that he wouldn't have to waste steps walking through the parking lots at the store. He has done exceptionally well if you consider he was told at 16 years of age that he would be lucky if he was still walking when he was 30. He is now 44 years old and still walking-but it was getting the best of him.
22nd: Dave was released from the hospital today. All the trips back and forth to the hospital were done with a hurricane raging in our area. Daves parents would go to the hospital in the mornings and stay with him until I could make it up in the afternoons after Brittney got out school and I got out of work. So Dave was never left alone. However he was never more happy then when he was released to come home.
23rd: I had to leave Dave to take Courtney back to Nashville for her next year of college. The timing wasn't that great but atleast Daves parents where here to take care of him while I was gone. I had a good friend from church-Mary White-who rode with me so that I would not have to make the trip back from Nashville alone. We had a fun time for the most part. We got to Nashville by 7:00p.m. and unloaded all of the stuff in the car into Courtney's dorm room. Then we went and checked into the hotel, got some dinner and then called it a day.
24th: We picked up Courtney's stuff from storage and took it to the dorm. Courtney spent the majority of the day unpacking and organizing everything while Mary and I just tried to be as much help as possible. We took one trip to Wal-Mart for supplies and grabbed some lunch.
25th: Went around campus getting Courtney's paperwork taken care of for the next year. We had this done by lunch time. We went to the cafeteria for lunch, then we decided to take in some sight seeing. Mary had mentioned the Opryland Hotel in Nashville. She had wanted to go there for years but had never made it...I had never heard of it. So we went and took in the scenery. It was a great idea on Mary's part. That is incredible! I hope I can bring Dave and Brittney at some point for them to see it.
26th: Mary and I headed home from Tennessee. We had an uneventful but nice ride home. I enjoyed our time of fellowship and I think she did as well.
28th: Dave went back to Doctor Heeken for his staples to be taken out. They say he is doing exceptionally well with his recovery.
September
11th: Brittney's birthday today. Happy Birthday Baby Girl! Her birthday was not very eventful. Dave is still recovering from knee surgery so going anywhere is out of the question. Nana and Bee-Paw had to go home. So she had a very quiet birthday this year at home.
20th: We started working on the next phase of MTV for the teens today. We are hoping to get on top of the lesson planning this time and not have it be so rushed like last time.
September was just routine work, school and church. We did not really do anything exciting which was nice because it left room for some relaxation time.
October
1st-5th: We had revival at Orange Park Church of the Nazarene with evangelist Scott Ferguson. We enjoyed Scott last time he came to our church. He is an awesome evangelist. He did not disappoint. We held our revival outside in a tent on the churches front lawn each evening just like the old time tent revivals...very cool!
3rd: Took Brittney to the DMV so she could get her drivers permit. She has spent the past three weeks studying and preparing for the exam. Finally she is ready!
Major disappointment...some kind of problem in the DMV's computer. They have no record of Brittney's drivers Education class. We will have to go back to Middleburg High School and get in touch with the instructor. No permit today.
8th: Happy Birthday Nancy!
10th: Brittney finally got her drivers permit today! This has been a long week trying to get this resolved. Our tax payer dollars at work, but we finally got it all resolved and she was able to go to the DMV and take the permit test. At first we did not think they would let her get her actual permit today. The front desk guy told us she would not be able to. But after waiting in line for an hour and a half to get to the counter, she was sent over to the computers to take her test. Then the lady at the counter told her stand to get her picture taken and she walked out with her permit. This was Brittney's first experience with dealing with government offices. They did not let me down!
15th: Kaylee's first Birthday--Happy Birthday Kaylee, I hope we get to meet you soon!
16th: Brittney and I met with Kristin and Tammy (The Producers for the MTV program)to go over some of the details for MTV. We spent three hours working out the details for the first half of the MTV phase and the launch details. It was a very productive meeting. We are getting close!
24th: Brittney and I did our MTV shopping. We picked up the supplies for the first 4 classes as well as the decorations for the MTV Launch party on halloween night at the church. Brittney took on the responsibility of organizing a trunk a treat at the church on the same night as the MTV launch.
25th: Trunk or Treat Flyer distribution. All the teens met at the church at 8:00a.m. and we walked the neighborhoods around the church handing out flyers advertising the trunk or treat at the church on Halloween.
30th: Big Night! The producers, Brittney and I met at the church at 6:00p.m. to do our decorating for the MTV launch party. Byron and Connie arrived with Dot for a short weekend visit.
31st: Trunk or treat went from 6:00-8:00p.m. Daves parents and grandma were there to enjoy the kids that came by for candy. We had a great turnout by the church for our first ever trunk or treat, as well as a great turnout by the community. Brittney's trunk or treat was a success...good job baby girl!
Directly after the truck or treat we had all of the teens stay from 8:00-10:00p.m. for our MTV Launch party. We had a pumpkin carving contest, and a scavenger hunt tied into the evenings lesson. We had snacks and goody bags and a costume contest. We ran out of time, ten o'clock came before we knew it. The teens had a great time!
November
1st: We enjoyed visiting with Byron, Connie and Grand Dot. We were so glad they stopped by on their way home for a visit. We have not had a chance to see much of Grand Dot lately.
2nd: Byron and Connie headed for Alabama early this morning with Grand Dot in tow.
At 6:00p.m. we took the teens to "Tribulation House" at Old Plank Road Baptist church. Wow....what a spectacular production. This was a dramatization of what things will be like in the end times: "The Tribulation". They had two real planes that looked like they had crashed into the church building, overturned cars smoking, a couple of firetrucks and a paramedic truck and a huge staff of participants for each stage of the production. They did a fabulous job! We had eleven in attendance for this outing. Well worth the trip and the tickets were free. They were taking in groups of 55 every 15 minutes. This production went on for 5 days. We went on the last night of the production and the pastor of the church had to make an announcement that they would not be able to get everyone through before the cut off time of 10:30p.m. so if you knew someone who was not saved, give your ticket to them and give them the chance to see the drama. We are looking forward to seeing this again next year.
4th: Election Day: More like Doom's day for the Cowan's. I got a call from Michael today, early in the morning as I was about to leave to go and vote. We resumed our call in the car. I spoke with Michael for about 45 minutes while he described the difficulty he has been having with his back recently. He is in desperate need of prayer for his back. He is having numbness in his legs and severe pain that is keeping him up nights. He is very tired. The Army thinks it is all in his head. I am worried for him.
I cast my vote at the polls and head on to work for my usual 8:00a.m.-7:00p.m. work day. Only I get an unexpected call from my husband at 11:00a.m. asking me if I can leave work and come pick him up. He has been laid off. I tell my boss the news and head out for my two hour drive to Ocala to collect my husband and his belongings. This is bad news #2 can you guess what #3 was? I got that answer that next morning when I heard the results of the Presidential election. Bad news always comes in three's.
9th: We have our first fundraiser for the MTV program. Spagetti Dinner served prior to the evening church service. Our fundraiser was a huge success. The support from the congregation was impressive.
14th: The long awaited "Winter Slam" concert with Toby Mac, Reliant K and Family Force 5 at the Times Union Center in Jacksonville finally arrived. We have been looking forward to this concert for months. Toby Mac and all of the other bands did not disappoint. We had 9 in attendance for this concert. We took the church van and had a great time.
23rd: Brittney was a part of the P.I.G.S.(Puppets In God's Service) presentation for the Sunday morning service. The P.I.G.S. did a great job, they are always very fun and entertaining. Brittney really enjoys the pigs ministry, and she is good at it too, which doesn't hurt.
24th: Brittney started her first day at her new job. She is working at the "Family Christian Bookstore". She was praying that this job would work out for her and God answered her prayer. What a great place to start a job career. We are proud of our baby girl!
11th: Brittney's birthday today. Happy Birthday Baby Girl! Her birthday was not very eventful. Dave is still recovering from knee surgery so going anywhere is out of the question. Nana and Bee-Paw had to go home. So she had a very quiet birthday this year at home.
20th: We started working on the next phase of MTV for the teens today. We are hoping to get on top of the lesson planning this time and not have it be so rushed like last time.
September was just routine work, school and church. We did not really do anything exciting which was nice because it left room for some relaxation time.
October
1st-5th: We had revival at Orange Park Church of the Nazarene with evangelist Scott Ferguson. We enjoyed Scott last time he came to our church. He is an awesome evangelist. He did not disappoint. We held our revival outside in a tent on the churches front lawn each evening just like the old time tent revivals...very cool!
3rd: Took Brittney to the DMV so she could get her drivers permit. She has spent the past three weeks studying and preparing for the exam. Finally she is ready!
Major disappointment...some kind of problem in the DMV's computer. They have no record of Brittney's drivers Education class. We will have to go back to Middleburg High School and get in touch with the instructor. No permit today.
8th: Happy Birthday Nancy!
10th: Brittney finally got her drivers permit today! This has been a long week trying to get this resolved. Our tax payer dollars at work, but we finally got it all resolved and she was able to go to the DMV and take the permit test. At first we did not think they would let her get her actual permit today. The front desk guy told us she would not be able to. But after waiting in line for an hour and a half to get to the counter, she was sent over to the computers to take her test. Then the lady at the counter told her stand to get her picture taken and she walked out with her permit. This was Brittney's first experience with dealing with government offices. They did not let me down!
15th: Kaylee's first Birthday--Happy Birthday Kaylee, I hope we get to meet you soon!
16th: Brittney and I met with Kristin and Tammy (The Producers for the MTV program)to go over some of the details for MTV. We spent three hours working out the details for the first half of the MTV phase and the launch details. It was a very productive meeting. We are getting close!
24th: Brittney and I did our MTV shopping. We picked up the supplies for the first 4 classes as well as the decorations for the MTV Launch party on halloween night at the church. Brittney took on the responsibility of organizing a trunk a treat at the church on the same night as the MTV launch.
25th: Trunk or Treat Flyer distribution. All the teens met at the church at 8:00a.m. and we walked the neighborhoods around the church handing out flyers advertising the trunk or treat at the church on Halloween.
30th: Big Night! The producers, Brittney and I met at the church at 6:00p.m. to do our decorating for the MTV launch party. Byron and Connie arrived with Dot for a short weekend visit.
31st: Trunk or treat went from 6:00-8:00p.m. Daves parents and grandma were there to enjoy the kids that came by for candy. We had a great turnout by the church for our first ever trunk or treat, as well as a great turnout by the community. Brittney's trunk or treat was a success...good job baby girl!
Directly after the truck or treat we had all of the teens stay from 8:00-10:00p.m. for our MTV Launch party. We had a pumpkin carving contest, and a scavenger hunt tied into the evenings lesson. We had snacks and goody bags and a costume contest. We ran out of time, ten o'clock came before we knew it. The teens had a great time!
November
1st: We enjoyed visiting with Byron, Connie and Grand Dot. We were so glad they stopped by on their way home for a visit. We have not had a chance to see much of Grand Dot lately.
2nd: Byron and Connie headed for Alabama early this morning with Grand Dot in tow.
At 6:00p.m. we took the teens to "Tribulation House" at Old Plank Road Baptist church. Wow....what a spectacular production. This was a dramatization of what things will be like in the end times: "The Tribulation". They had two real planes that looked like they had crashed into the church building, overturned cars smoking, a couple of firetrucks and a paramedic truck and a huge staff of participants for each stage of the production. They did a fabulous job! We had eleven in attendance for this outing. Well worth the trip and the tickets were free. They were taking in groups of 55 every 15 minutes. This production went on for 5 days. We went on the last night of the production and the pastor of the church had to make an announcement that they would not be able to get everyone through before the cut off time of 10:30p.m. so if you knew someone who was not saved, give your ticket to them and give them the chance to see the drama. We are looking forward to seeing this again next year.
4th: Election Day: More like Doom's day for the Cowan's. I got a call from Michael today, early in the morning as I was about to leave to go and vote. We resumed our call in the car. I spoke with Michael for about 45 minutes while he described the difficulty he has been having with his back recently. He is in desperate need of prayer for his back. He is having numbness in his legs and severe pain that is keeping him up nights. He is very tired. The Army thinks it is all in his head. I am worried for him.
I cast my vote at the polls and head on to work for my usual 8:00a.m.-7:00p.m. work day. Only I get an unexpected call from my husband at 11:00a.m. asking me if I can leave work and come pick him up. He has been laid off. I tell my boss the news and head out for my two hour drive to Ocala to collect my husband and his belongings. This is bad news #2 can you guess what #3 was? I got that answer that next morning when I heard the results of the Presidential election. Bad news always comes in three's.
9th: We have our first fundraiser for the MTV program. Spagetti Dinner served prior to the evening church service. Our fundraiser was a huge success. The support from the congregation was impressive.
14th: The long awaited "Winter Slam" concert with Toby Mac, Reliant K and Family Force 5 at the Times Union Center in Jacksonville finally arrived. We have been looking forward to this concert for months. Toby Mac and all of the other bands did not disappoint. We had 9 in attendance for this concert. We took the church van and had a great time.
23rd: Brittney was a part of the P.I.G.S.(Puppets In God's Service) presentation for the Sunday morning service. The P.I.G.S. did a great job, they are always very fun and entertaining. Brittney really enjoys the pigs ministry, and she is good at it too, which doesn't hurt.
24th: Brittney started her first day at her new job. She is working at the "Family Christian Bookstore". She was praying that this job would work out for her and God answered her prayer. What a great place to start a job career. We are proud of our baby girl!
27th: Thanksgiving Day! We were invited to partake in Thanksgiving with our Scottish Kin this year. We appreciate Bill and Isobel's love and support they share with our family. They are so much a part of our family as we are a part of theirs. Thank you so much for a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
We also took this time to celebrate Bill Hoggs 70th birthday while we were all gathered. His birthday had actually been on Monday but Isobel wanted to make his birthday special. After our Thanksgiving dinner was over, we sent the guys outside to relax and visit while the ladies cleaned up from lunch and got the deserts out-atleast that was our excuse for getting Bill out of the way so we could get the birthday party set up.
He was totally surprised! His son David and his wife and kids were there to share in the surprise which made the birthday party that more special. Happy Birthday Bill!
28th: Tonight was fundraiser #2 for the MTV program..."Parent's Night Out". We had a great turn out. We ended up with a diversified group of 2 to 3 year olds through Middle School age kids. Brittney took on the school age group and Suwathi took the 2-3 year olds. They both did a great job preparing their lesson plans and having games and activities to keep the kids busy from 5:00-8:00p.m.
December
7th: This is our annual Christmas Tree service at church. The congregation partakes of decorating the church tree with ornaments. We put an ornament of a flag on the tree for Michael sinse he could not be here to celebrate christmas with us. This is going to be a hard Christmas for me I can tell already.
10th: Spring Chiropratic luncheon with the Chamber of Commerce was today. This is such a special treat around the holidays. They drew names for gifts each chamber member brought. We brought a very nice Chiroflow water pillow and the person that won the pillow had actually been in a car accident that morning. She was very appreciative of the pillow. We had a choir from Brittney's school, "Fleming Island High School" sang some oldies but goodies christmas carols. They did an awesome job! Then Santa stopped in for a visit. This is a nice event we look forward to each year.
Tonight was our usual Wednesday night teen class, but the theme for class was "Planet Hollywood". The teens were directed to dress up like a hollywood character for class tonight. The participation was great...these kids are great!
14th: This was our second "Spagetti Dinner Fundraiser". We did not get the same turn out this time as before but the teens worked very hard and put their hearts and souls into it. The teens made me proud!
24th: We left today, as soon as I got out of work, for Alabama. We never got around to putting up a Christmas tree. We did not put up any decorations inside or out this year. It just does not feel like Christmas to us. We are missing an important part of the Cowan family-Our Son and brother. We felt it might be best to go and be around family this holiday season.
We got in to Daves parents around 8:00p.m. this evening. We enjoyed some time of visiting and catching up with mom and dad before heading to bed. It sure is nice to be with family! This was a good idea.
25th: CHRISTMAS MORNING: We were not awaken early this morning by children that could not wait to open presents. We all slept until 7:00-7:30ish. Byron (Daves dad) made us sausage patties and eggs. I had a nice hot cup of tea, thanks to my lovely daughter. Brittney had bought me some tea for Christmas-She saved the day! We watched Brittney and Courtney open their stockings first. Then Brittney started handing out the presents. Brittney took care of her mom and dad this year. She knew that we weren't getting anything for each other this year because of Dave not having a job. She used each of her paychecks to buy gifts for us. She has experienced first hand the joy of giving. She was so excited gift after gift watching us open the gifts she so carefully picked out for us waiting anxiously for the expression on our faces. This sure was a change. Thank you Brittney!
Byron, Laura and Kaylee came by today to see us. This was our first chance to meet Kaylee and she is now a year old. We watched everyone exchange and open gifts and before we knew it their visit was over. It was time for them to leave. It was so nice to see and visit with Byron and Laura.
26th: We went around 11:00a.m. this morning to check out all of the new building that has been going on in Alabama sinse we moved away. Lot's of new stores to see and after Christmas sales to explore. We did not buy a whole lot but the day was a nice time of relaxing, having fun with the parent's and don't forget shopping!
While we were gone Chocka and Corey had a party of their own. They got into Byron and Connies gift basket of home made goodies from us and they ate everything. I guess the dogs get to have Christmas too!
27th: Today Bill and Beth came with Peter and Luke. Gregg and Becky came with Grace and Lex. The boys (Dave, Bill and Gregg)left to meet up with their oldest brother Byron for a game of golf. While the brothers were golfing the ladies visited. Brittney did some catching up with her cousins. Byron (Dad) made his famous home made Corn Chowder. Poor Becky spent the majority of the day on the sofa with an upset stomach. The bright side to that was that she had plenty of babysitters for the little ones so she was able to get some rest.
We got tired of waiting on the guys to return and decided to help ourselves to a nice sit down lupper of corn chowder. Connie made two different kinds of corn bread to go with the chowder. Bon Appetite-Good job Byron. The corn chowder was awesome as usual!
The guys finally made it back around 5:30p.m. Gregg was not looking well. He had been sick with what Becky had and he was having a relapse after the long day. Bill looked wooped. He had not played golf for a long time and he was tired! Bill and Beth decided to call it a day and they headed home. What a nice day, Thank you so much for coming by to visit...That was a great present. You will never know how much it meant to us this year.
Gregg and Becky decided neither of them was in shape for the long drive back to Pensacola so they crashed at mom and dads for the night. Brittney put on "Speed Racer" she had gotten for Christmas. Grace and Lex loved it!
28th: Today is going home day. I got up and fixed pancakes for everyone before we headed out. Michael called just as we were getting everything packed up. He was able to say "Hi" to Nana and Bee-Paw, Gregg and Becky and we talked to him as we were pulling out of the drive and heading home.We got on the road around 11:00a.m. We had an uneventful trip home and made it in around 6:30p.m. It finally felt like Christmas. Christmas is not about the money spent or the gifts received, it really is about being with family. Thanks to everyone for making the time and effort to come out and see us. You made this Cowan families christmas! Merry Christmas!
30th: Today is David's Birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE! We got a little bit of money at Christmas, so I figured what better way to spend that money on the both of us then with a birthday celebration at a nice resteraunt. Brittney picked "Olive Garden". Brittney and Courtney were under orders to have Dave ready to go out when I got home from work. He had no idea what we were doing. With a few small presents in hiding and a small balloon on a stick we headed for Olive Garden. The balloon went nicely in the center piece on our table. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and some pleasant conversation. Just when Dave thought we were wrapping things up...I pulled out the presents for him to open. The waitress cleared the dishes from the table. Again he thought things were wrapping up and was waiting for the check when....our waitress came back with some of the wait staff and sang Happy Birthday to Dave as a candle was lit on the small cake they provided in celebration. We all gladly participated in the sharing of the cake and took many leftovers home including some of the cake. Yes, a success! You can't imagine how hard it is to make his birthday a special occassion coming 5 day's after christmas.
31st: Nooo, December is not over yet! NEW YEAR'S EVE...
The teens had been asking Brittney if the teen group could have a lock-in some time. My answer was infatically "NO". The last lock-in we had was at the church and all of the kids crapped out on me around 1:00a.m. Their all sleeping and I had to stay up to supervise the sleeping bodies. No way was I going to go through that again.
Well, Brittney finally talked me into it (with some help from her dad). I agreed to have a teen lock-in at our house. Brittney arranged the food, games and all of the details for the evening. I did not have time to put this together with work and preparing for our trip to Alabama. She was the one that made this happen. The teens showed up at 4:00p.m. Right away they started playing video games and I fixed pizza rolls, pizza bagels and mozzerella cheese sticks. I put out corn chips, salsa and quesso dip and some cheese puffs.
The kids played and ate until it got dark. We had planned on taking them all to the park for some basketball and football but it got dark, so that plan was out. Finally they decided to go outside. They played "Manhunt" in the woods beside the house. That went on for about an hour then they decided to play "Sardines". This is a reverse hide and seek. One person goes and hides and the others have to find the person that is hidden. This went on for most of the night. Finally they opted for a game of football played in the street in front of the house. I rounded them up around 11:50p.m. to come in and watch the ball drop as we welcomed the new year. We welcomed the New Year then went outside to watch Brandon light off fireworks as well as watch the fireworks others were setting off around the neighborhood.
Dave and I finally crashed around 12:30a.m. Kristin and Brandon (my college and carreer volunteers)called it a night and had to leave. They both had to work that day. Tammy (my other producer) stayed up with the kids and played games until about 4:00a.m. At this point she went to bed and the rest of the crew stayed up the rest of the morning playing video games.
This was a much better alternative to our previous lock-in. This gave the kids more things to do all night. I know they weren't "locked in" but trust me...this is better. Maybe I will consider this again next year.....
Happy New year everyone! I hope God blesses you and your families in 2009!
