Christmas Morning!

Isn't it amazing how parents get extra "leverage" with their kids at Christmas time?

Our family went to Christmas eve services with Andrew's parents and then all of us went to a lovely dinner at a new restaurant. We decided that the boys' behavior at the restaurant would determine how early they could get out of bed to open gifts. (They initially wanted to get out of bed at 3 am!!) So for good manners, they could shave 10 min. off of our start time of 7:00 am. Poor behaviors at the dinner gained them 10 min. :)

We were pleasantly surprised that both of the boys showed exemplary behavior at dinner -- and earned them getting to get out of bed at 6:30 am on Christmas morning.

And would you believe it....Charlie & Tyler woke up early (6:00 am) and STAYED in their rooms until we gave them the green light to come down to open gifts! I don't know how we pulled that off but we were very grateful for the few additional minutes of sleep. (Andrew had told the boys that they couldn't open gifts until Mom had a cup of coffee and Grandma had a cup of tea! And they willingly complied).

The boys were thrilled with all of their gifts! Even clothes and shoes made them scream in delight. We all had a great morning -- topped off with a big breakfast and then a great Turkey dinner that night. We are really grateful and blessed this year!

Enjoy the pictures.....

Isaiah 9:6 "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Charlie's a Blue Belt!

This past Saturday, we attended a graduation ceremony for Charlie's Karate class. The Karate studio that Charlie is a part of has so many students that they hold their graduation ceremonies at a Middle School Gym (and fill it completely!).

For this ceremony, the studio brought in a 10th degree black belt as a special guest who is a apart of the lineage of our studio. He was also the first American Martial Arts Champion. So that was pretty cool for the kids to meet someone who has dedicated their life to Karate.

The ceremony was filled with demonstrations and lots of belt presentations! All in all, we were there for over 2 hours and I'm guessing that we witnessed over 100 belt presentations (Andrew is guessing that it was over 200...!).

As a blue belt, Charlie will continue working on his Katas, forms, sparring (yes -- real sparring -- I can't watch it!), and now he will need to do verbal presentations to advance beyond blue belts. Our Karate studio believes in their students conquering fears -- including the fear of public speaking! So, at blue belt, they require all of the students to have to prepare and make a speech in front of their peers.

Tyler has chosen to take a break from Little Dragons Karate -- He is hopeful to start American Karate soon! So he was very supportive of Charlie's new ranking. He also found his reading buddy from school sitting close by! He couldn't resist to go sit by him and chat about the day!

We hop you are all having a great week and looking forward to a blessed Christmas!

Bumper Cars

No, not your traditional rubberized bumper cars --

"Bumper Cars" was the name of the piano piece that Charlie played for his first recital! He did such a fantastic job! He kept his composure the entire time and I was so proud of his focus.

One of the most challenging aspects of the recital is that the kids have to sit still (away from the parents) for the entire recital. Intially I thought that Charlie would be runing the isles or sitting on his feet or doin something to try to pass the time. But he sat their patiently - he didn't wiggle one time during the entire recital! (Now, Tyler was another story -- he wiggled the entire time and tried to add his own comentary to each performance!)

Grandma and Papa came out for the recital and we all enjoyed a great dinner at one of our local seafood restaurants. It was a great day for the Bowens -- and especially Charles who was very proud of his accomplishment!

Bah Humbug?

I know it's been a while since I've posted.

I think I'm violating the unwritten "blogging" rules. I think that you have to update weekly (or more) or you loose the right to call yourself a blogger. I think I gladly give up the title!

So, let me catch those of you who aren't "in the immediate know" up on what's been going on with the Bowens. I have this theory that when God wants you to move and change, he gives you subtle hints -- hoping that you will use your free will to make the adjustments He wants for you to live out the calling on your life. When you ignore these subtle hints for too long, then He can wallop you upside the head and send you into such discomfort that you have to move. Standing still would just be too painful....

("What is she talking about!?" you are asking!)

Within a few weeks of being home from Disney World, Andrew was laid off from National Corporate Housing. I really think that it is a blessing in disguise because Andrew was wondering if God was calling him into another career that would have a greater purpose than just driving a bottom line. So, we've spent the last month trying to figure out what Andrew would really enjoying doing and trying to figure out where God is calling him to be.

And although we have a surreal peace about the circumstance, I would be lying if I didn't tell you that we've had ups and downs of stress, anger, frustration and disappointment in the company that Andrew has worked so tirelessly for during the past 3 years. We know it will all work out for the best in the end -- but I think you would have to be super human or heavily medicated not to be upset about being thrown into financial uncertainty during Christmas!

I think there has been half of me who wants to cancel Christmas altogether this year, and then there is half of me that is really appreciating the small things of the season. We've had some more time together as a family and that has been wonderful. My full time job at IBC has filled the gap for us during this time and we have amazing family who is very supportive as we get through this blimp on the radar. And when you are faced with adversity and have to walk through some of this very broken world, you appreciate the gift of Jesus all the more.

On a very positive note, I've graduated (FINALLY) from physical therapy and from my Orthopedic Specialist today! (YAHOO!) I still won't be 100% recovered for several more months but every day I have noticed improvement. I'm still amazed at how your body can be re-wired and still work!!

So there ya have it. Subsequent blogs will resume happy happy thoughts -- and fun pictures -- more fun pictures :)

Pictures from Disney World

OK, so we've had a few days to recover from the trip :)

Here are some pictures from our time in Disney World. I think we were so busy enjoying the trip that we forgot to take as many pictures as last year. But I think you'll enjoy the captured moments just the same.

A week of Magical Moments

Well, we aren't quite home yet. So I don't have pictures to upload just yet. But we've had an amazing week here in Orlando.

For the first few nights, I felt somewhat melancholy that the week was ticking away too quickly. With each fireworks show that ended our first magical days at Disney, I tried to freeze time in my mind to savor every minute with my family here. But something wonderful happens when you spend more than the 2 or 3 days here at Walt Disney World -- you begin to loose track of time! By Thursday, I honestly couldn't instantly recall what day of the week it was! How wonderful! I stopped feeling melancholy with each conclusion of the day, and just felt like I was living life and having a blast with my husband and kids.

Now, for you non-Disney peeps, you will probably not understand much of the lingo I'm about to share -- but if you ever decide to visit Disney World, PLEASE subscribe to tourguidemike.com and he will educate you on all things "Disney"!

Today, we were at the Magic Kingdom and had an amazing day. Let's see....we started the day at our family favorite ride of all time, Buzz Lightyear (3 times in a row with no line, I might add!). At the conclusion of ride #2, Tyler insisted that we ride it AGAIN and reluctantly, we all wandered back through the line. Thank goodness we did because the "dream team" was handing out "dream fast passes". SCORE!

Although the crowds were slightly larger at M.K. today, we eased in and out of all the rides -- never waiting more than 10-15 minutes for anything. People practically drooled over the dream fast passes that gained us quick access to all our favorite rides. So awesome!

After hitting all of our favorites, we then took a brief break -- the kids got to say "Driver you are clear" when we boarded the tram back to our parking spot (over a microphone -- so they were in heaven).

Upon re-entering the M.K., we sat in the driver's cabin of the Monorail -- now this was huge for us. Tyler & Charlie have become quite the Disney Pin Traders and Tyler has collected the entire hidden Mickey series of the Monorails (it's 8 Pins -- took him 2 years)....and only 4 people are allowed in the driver's car of the Monorail at any time. So the kids felt really special.

We then hit all of our favorite rides again -- culminating in (you guessed it) Buzz Lightyear -- where the whole family scored the max. possible and graduated into becoming "galactic heroes". We thought we couldn't possible top that ending to the day so we grabbed some good ole fashioned funnel cake and watched the fireworks show. We then road the Monorail in the pilot's car for our trip home -- what a day.

But here are just a few highlights of our Magical Moments during the week:
* Day 1 - Tyler WON a trivia contest at the Legos store and won a huge Legos set. Tyler & Dad helped build bricks that constructed a huge R2D2 model at the store.
* Day 2 - Both boys became "Padawans" by graduating through the Jedi Training program and MGM. (very big deal to both of them). Dinner at our favorite hibachis grill in Japan :)
* Day 3 - First day of Magic Kingdom -- the boys were selected to ride Barnstormer with Goofy & Pluto...and then escort them into their post for autographs. And they also got to ride the teacups with Alice and the Mad Hatter. I lost my purse on Thunder Mtn but luckily it was turned in and I got it back all in tack!
* Day 4 - Both boys got to interact and talk to Crush (turtle from Finding Nemo).
* Day 5 - Pirate Cruise, Swimming and Tyler & Charlie each completing a pin collection in the evening.
* Day 6 - Both Boys fell in love with Expedition Everest.
* Day 7 - What ya just read about above!

I know we'll be tired -- but a good tired -- when we finally get home tomorrow. But it's been a great week. We've got so much to be thankful for this year -- I'll be uploading pictures soon... And Andrew wants me to blog about "finding the hole" when you are walking in crowds. He's crazy! But evidently, I'm really good at it :)

Until next time......