"What is this Feeling?"

Have any of you seen WICKED? It's my all time favorite musical these days! I've listened to the soundtrack countless times -- in my car. I'm certain that I've entertained hundreds of drivers in Flower Mound as I sing along to the soundtrack. You know, in my head, I'm totally playing both parts!

Our Women's Bible Study at IBC focused on ENVY this week, To drive home the concept that envy taken into overdrive really leads to loathing the person you are jealous of, they asked my dear friend Jennifer and I to sing one of the songs from WICKED, "What is this feeling?" It was my breakout role! The dream of a lifetime! To sing a Kristin Chenoweth song! Seriously, I was super excited for it! ;-)

As you can tell, we tried to dress like polar opposites -- and people had to draw their own conclusions from our somewhat modified song, but the idea was that she was all brains, I was all....blonde.

We did 2 performances (bible study meets 2x -- there's a Monday night group and a Tuesday morning group), had a wonderful time, and learned a whole lot about envy.

Proverbs 14:30 "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones."

My Reality

"What?!"

Questions and statements I hear on a daily basis nowadays:

"What on earth is that THING on your arm"
"Is that attached to you?"
"How long do you have to be in that thing?"
"What does that thing do?"
"What happened?!"
"Uh, your arm don't look like it's doing so good!"
"Does it hurt?!"
"Bless your heart!" (That can be Texan for "You are so stupid" sometimes, so you gotta take tone cues from how it's delivered...)
OK!!!!!! This is my brace. I hate it -- loathe it -- want to strangle the person who first thought of it. (If only I could wrap my thumb around his neck!!!) It could serve as a good coat rack....but sadly, it's my new torture chamber.
I have freedom from it in the shower...and when I do Physical Therapy (PT) on my wrist.
It is a pulley system. My thumb (that was operated on) pulls down on the string and then the tension gently lifts my thumb back to neutral. Or at least that is the theory. I keep having this nightmare of a thought that so much time is going to go by before I actually get to test whether the surgery fixed the issue or not, and that it won't work normally and then what?!
But I'm working on the trusting thing....
Seriously is this not the most obnoxious thing ever?!

Laura's Shower!

This past Saturday was Laura's baby shower! Her due date is October 31st (same as Andrew's birthday!)!! She and Brian don't know whether it's a girl or boy but I'm betting it's a boy!

Now, y'all know what happened the last time I tried to host a baby shower....(I broke my wrist and ruptured a tendon -- that led to surgery, yada yada!) and so my fabulous friends, Cara & Kristi, took charge and created a fabulous event at Kristi's house! Kristi -- you are incredibly gifted at making others feel incredibly loved! Cara, your amazing craft-sakes (they are unique keep sakes -- blessing tins or blessing books, she does picture frames that are out of this world!) are a reflection of your beautiful, creative heart! We had fun!

Memories of my first pregnancy overwhelmed me. That indescribable feeling of life moving from deep within....the nervousness of not knowing how you are going to care for this new life....the immense gratitude of all your friends bearing gifts for a child not yet born.....

I think someone needs to write a book for all first time moms titled, "Don't worry, I didn't know what to do either". And it should have all the things in it that you have to learn by trial and error. And would someone officially put a commercial or something out there that would educate us all on the miracle anti gas drops, Mylecon?!?! Good grief! I had a screaming child every night for two weeks until my true girlfriend, Angie, told my about Mylecon. As soon as one drop touched the very lips of Charlie -- he would stop crying and fall peacefully to sleep!

Of course, Mylecon isn't the "cure all" for all things baby. But it's a useful tool to have in your toolbox! But the best tool of all is your girlfriends -- all of them! Moms, sisters, friends with kids, friends without kids.....anyone who can listen and go through LIFE with you!

And I had a fabulous time with some of my favorite girlfriends! Laura, you are going to be one fabulous mom!

Room Rep, Physical Therapy?! and a helium balloon

Yup, life keeps getting more strange by the second.

I'm surfacing from my post op haze -- only to be boldly confronted with the fact that life carries on whether your snoozing the days away or living it to the fullest!

I've agreed to be room rep for Tyler's Kindergarten class -- I love his teacher, I don't have any more kiddos at home to keep me from running last minute errands, and I plan to use the "delegation" tactic to get it all done! (Ha!) But today was rep meeting day...bright and early at 8:30 am! I was confronted with more details about my new volunteer post and immediately tried not to panic as I frantically tried to write notes with my left hand. Tyler's kindergarten handwriting looks better than my left handed chicken scratch. Feelings of gross inadequacy swept over me. How will I get it all done?? One handed?

Off to work and then Physical Therapy...or torture therapy. They took off my surgical dressings and custom fit a brace to my hand -- and then commanded me to exercise the thumb that has just been operated on just this past Thursday. I can't even begin to describe the immense pain that follows moving that thumb right now. I know it will get easier with each week but the uphill climb is a little daunting.

Flowers arrived later this evening and attached was a lovely "get well soon" helium balloon. Fozzy, was so scared at the sight of it that he literally had an accident. How could he be so frightened of something so benign? Why was I frightened of a few class parties and physical therapy? All of these things are harmless enough -- and I have the greatest advantage over Fozzy. I know where my help comes from. He shows me his tender care for my every need in my loving husband, family, friends, co-workers. He gives me mercy in some great pain meds (ha!). He feeds my soul in quiet study time in His word.

"The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song." Psalm 28:7

It's a great thing I love to sing! ;-) Thank you to all of you who have brought meals (and continue to do so...), prayed, and have sent well wishes our way -- we are overwhelmed by the love shown by each of you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get my hiking boots on, I've got a hill to climb....

We can rebuild her!!

Andrew here for the first time on the Bowen blog. Why you may ask? Because Joy is not going to be able to type for a while. As most know by now, Joy had surgery this afternoon to repair the tendon she ruptered a little over a month ago (read below about the broken arm....evidently there was more to it than just a buckle fracture).

Short story is this, they were not able to repair the existing tendon as the injury is now too old and the muscle that is attached to the ruptured tendon has regressed too much. The alternative to a simple repair is a tendon transfer. Basically, the Dr. severed one of the two tendons that control the index finger, slid it over and attached it to the thumb. From what he indicated, the proceedure was pretty much textbook and he really could not have asked for a better result at this stage (short of being able to just sew back together the actual ruptured tendon).

Joy is doing well but very drugged up. The overall procedure was about an hour and resulted in 3 incisions. She is now on bed rest and is to keep the thumb immobilized for the next 48 hours. She will see a PT on Monday to switch from the surgical splint to a more permanent splint. From there, the fun begins with 2 - 3 PT sessions a week as Joy attempts to retrain her brain (think about it..... 1/2 the muscles you use to point your index finger at someone she will now use to give a thumbs up).

Your well wishes and prayers are very much appreciated and I want to take the opportunity to say 'Thank you' now for all of the meals, carpooling, etc. that have already been arranged. I also want to say how amazing Joy did through this. I knowit is/was a big concern of hers but she pulled through with amazing strength. At some point I am sure she is going to read this to see if I have made a complete spectacle of our family so with that in mind...

I love you Joy. Get better soon but in the meantime, relax and let some other people handle things for a while.

Karate Lessons, Sick Cat & Surgery?

What a somewhat stinky day!

Let's back up -- yesterday, I had my first physical therapy session for my wrist. And low and behold, the therapist and I noticed that I couldn't do a "thumbs up" on my right hand. I cannot hyper extend the thumb up -- it's like the last digit just doesn't move. It doesn't really hurt either....but it won't do what my brain tells it to do. She immediately called the Ortho specialist and they wanted to see me in the morning.

Forward to today -- The Dr. told me that I have most likely ruptured a tendon in my thumb. It is a time sensitive issue because if he can repair it within a reasonable amount of time of the rupture, there is a greater chance that he can repair the affected tendon. Otherwise, if too much time has gone by, then he takes a tendon from my index finger and puts it into my thumb. (yuck) So my options are (a) have surgery or (b) live with limited use of my thumb.

So, I go in for surgery tomorrow at about 2 pm. Recovery = 6-8 weeks in some type of brace followed by physical therapy. Did you know they hook electrodes up to you in P.T.?! They did that to my arm and it made my fingers move all on their own - -wild!

The kids headed to Karate today (the picture is one from a few months back but you'll forgive my forgetfulness in taking the camera!). At least it was a bright spot in my day! :-) Charlie learned two new kicks and got a star for demonstrating them the best out of the class out of those who just learned them! That's cool!

Then we went back home to find our cat, Jester, isn't feeling well! (sigh) and so he's going to the vet and I'm going to the hand specialist tomorrow. Sorry this is brief but now I need to get things done before I'm 'out' of commission for a few days. I'll have Andrew update the blog tomorrow after the surgery so y'all can read about how loopy I was! Love to all!

Psalm 54:4 "Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me." (boy did I need that verse today!)

Lost Teeth & Freed Arm

It's never a dull day for the Bowen Family! I should have known that it would be an eventful day when Fozzy kicked the day off by getting sick (he seems to be ok now!).

I did get to have some wonderful "me" time today -- some gals in the neighborhood are going through a Beth Moore study called "Living Beyond Yourself". It was lovely to get to spend some time over coffee with such fabulous ladies.

Today Charlie lost a tooth at school. Oh, did I forget to mention he lost one yesterday too?! Yup! Two teeth gone in two days! The tooth fairy is going to need to take out a loan. So Charlie's smile is changing again! Everyday he looks older and older. I know that's an obvious fact that your child will look older with each day -- but especially now that he has his hair longer (his choice) and all these big teeth in his mouth -- sometimes I just can't believe how quickly he is morphing into a preteen. Well, he'll get there soon enough!

I also was released from my cast today! I had this crazy notion that once the cast came off, I'd be able to drive straight to the gym and catch up on some weight training. Boy, was I wrong! I still have a hemotoma in the wrist that hasn't resolved, very limited mobility (my fingers seem the least affected!) and did I mention it HURTS to try and stretch the wrist out? The mere weight of my seatbelt took the wrist beyond the comfort flexibility zone today and sent me into a migraine. The dr. assured me that it would feel much better 5 days from now -- I don't believe her right now. The pictures show the hemotoma -- my wrist is very swollen still. Who knew? Kids always seem to bounce back after their cast experiences -- I'm beginning to have a "reality age check".

Well, we're off to Karate this evening and then we're off to get together with friends. I'm exhausted from the week --! Hope y'all are enjoying the pictures!

Oh, the many faces of FOZZY! (Whacka, Whacka, Whacka!)

Some of you may not know of our latest addition to the family! Fozzy is now almost 10 months old and weighs nearly 70 lbs! (YIKES!) He is a Goldendoodle. He is very rambunctious! He will eat anything and his favorite destruction activity is finding any mail or paper and tearing it to shreds. I've actually had to use the excuse, "I'm sorry, but my dog ate that" to teachers.

He loves to go to school pick up to get the boys. He is quite an attraction to all the kids at school. He's gigantic and so some kids don't know what to make of him -- but then he looks like a poodle more than anything so they usually flock to him and lavish lots of love on him (of which he can't get enough of!).

He's a part of the "designer breed" dogs -- and I love him! He DOES NOT SHED!!! (yipee!) And I think that once he mellows out of his puppyhood, he will be a fabulous dog! Since I've already confessed about being a horrible photojournalist, I'm trying to redeem myself by showing you some of Fozzy's stages. From the day we got him home, to a recent photo of Fozzy & Charlie!

Why the name Fozzy? Well, I'm glad you asked! While we were at Disneyworld last November, we knew that we were adopting from a litter of pups in January -- so we were deep in thought as a family to try and decide on a name. We were in the Muppets 3D theater when Fozzybear appeared on the screen -- it was a match. Don't you think there's a slight resemblance?

For more information on Goldendoodles, visit our breeder at: http://www.timshellfarm.com/contact_us.html

http://www.samandskyewalkers.com/

Check out Sam (age 5) and Skye (age 8)! They are trying to raise money for the Juvenille Diabetes Research Foundation!

Skye's mom, Jade, is a friend of mine -- and we all attend Irving Bible Church. Would you please take a moment to read about their struggle with juvenile diabetes and if you feel that you can help them in their attempts to raise funds for the JDRF Walk, there is a link on their website.

Juvenile diabetes runs in our family (my side -- my brother, Jim and my grandmother, Helen). And the boys have participated in a research study (they had their blood drawn for the study and did so well! no tears!) I'm sure all of you are affected by it by someone you know or someone in your family. These sweet kids want to make a difference -- let's help them.

Many of you may know of MercyMe & Wisdom Works....if you've been touched by either their music or ministry (or even if you haven't!), please take the time to read their website.
Thanks everyone! (Good luck Sam & Sky!)

SECOND Day of School!

I can't believe I'm a blogger -- Maybe I haven't earned that title yet. Let's call me a blogger in training. I never thought this day would come. But I'm hoping this redeems my lack of mailing pictures, phone calling, scrapbooking...see a trend? I'm horrible at documenting my family's life! So something's gotta change! We'll see if this method of journaling our lives is a fad.....or fabulous!

SO, It's BACK to SCHOOL time!

We can't believe that both of the boys are now in school... It just doesn't seem possible! Tyler was so excited for the start of Kindergarten -- he could barely sleep at night the week before his first day. Evidently Andrew & I were anxious too because we forgot to take pictures of their First day at school. So it has now become our tradition to take photos on the 2nd day! (I think we've actually had to do that for the past 2 years now!)

We all (yes ALL -- me, Andrew & the boys) rode our bikes to the school on the first day. You wouldn't believe how many parents walk their kids in for the first day of school! You would swear there was a parade about to come down the street with the flock of people. I think Texas should just declare the 1st day of school as a state holiday! ;-)

Tyler has the same Kindergarten teacher that Charlie had -- Miss Rampy. Their class is affectionately called "the dog pound". She's wonderful. I'm attempting to be "room mom" this year for Tyler's Kinder class (stress!?). Charlie has an awesome teacher too -- her name is Ms. Lepard (and yes, her room is decoarted like a jungle!) He now has science & social studies as a part of his weekly routine -- and he loves it.

Parents fall into two categories when they put their precious little ones in school -- you are either a "Yahoo" parent (that means you are HAPPY that the kids are finally in school) or a "Boohoo" parent (yup, you guessed it, that means you are SAD). So I was definitely a YAHOO mom and my sweet friend, Stephanie Richardson, was a Boohoo mom. So for the 1st day of school festivities, we treated ourselves to a lovely breakfast together and then went to the local gym for a HUGE treat -- a massage. It passed the time and we balanced each other out very nicely.

I will say, my YAHOO has mellowed over the past week -- the house becomes very quiet when all are away! I still have my p/t job to keep me busy -- but those days when I'm not working are killing me! (althought parts of my house seem much cleaner!) So I'm sure future blogs will follow on how in the world I will keep myself from going crazy!

Love to all -- let's keep our fingers crossed that I can keep this blog up and current!!!