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!