Labor Day Get Away

The family hadn't taken a weekend to ourselves since Spring Break and since Labor Day was my first weekend since I quit being the Children's Ministries Director for our church, we decided for a family camping trip. We had been going to Mount Nebo a lot and though we love it there, I wanted to go somewhere different. Marty did search on the state parks site and because we are really getting back into biking and our bikes are mountain bikes he found that Cane Creek State Park has put in a new mountain bike trail. I know. There are mountains in the delta of Arkansas. I work there and that was my first thought. Well there are hills, just so you know.

Marty booked it and so Friday after work, we packed the suburban full and headed south. We didn't get out of Cabot until 7:00 so we didn't pull into our camping spot until 9:00. Even though there are hills at Cane Creek there are also the delta mosquitoes. They were in abundance. We got the tent up, the canopy up and to bed we went. More out of preservation then we were tired. Though we were tired of being mosquito food.

We got up the next morning and cooked breakfast and then explored the camping area. The camping area is very nice and laid out very well. We always look at which sites we would prefer for the next time we come and we were very happy with the one we had. It was a great layout if your tent campers like us. Most of the sites are really set up for RVs.

The park had several activities planned throughout the weekend and one was painting with nature. So, of course girls had to do that, since I had a touch of a headache, Marty took the girls while I took a nap. There Marty meet the Park Ranger, Mike, and the girls meet the park interpreter, Courtney. Mike and Marty had a great talk about the mountain bike trail and boy scouts, while Emily and Erin painted fabulous pictures of nature with nature (feathers, rocks, leaves, etc.) They came back to camp and we ate lunch, then decided that we would attempt the mountain bike trail. It is 15.5 miles long with the first 8 miles through the woods (nicknamed "the Roller coaster" by bikers), then .5 mile along a mowed path through tall grass and then 4.5 along a mowed levee (no shade and no rest areas), then 1 mile on paved road and finally .5 miles back through the woods. There are 3 suspended bridges and roughly 30 wooden bridges along the 8 mile roller coaster. We were hoping to do the 4.5 miles to get to the first suspended bridge. We got to about 1.5 almost 2 miles when Emily took her first ever fall off a bike. She was in front of Marty who was in front of Erin who was in front of me, so I didn't see it but he says it was quite impressive. She hit a tree root, bounce her front tire and it landed just off the path to the right and down she went. She took the bars to her lower chest, skidded across her palms and cut and bruised her left thigh. All in all though not real bad. Just a trickle of blood on her left palm. However she was ready to go home. Not back to the tent, I mean home. The only problem was she was wanting a helicopter to pick her up and take her there because she was not going to ride her bike back out of there. Well, the old belief of get back up on the horse was the one her dad and I were raised with so we weren't having none of that. We cleaned her up and wiped away the tears and off we went. Dad first, Erin second and Emily and me way in the back. We took it slow and walked down most inclines, for awhile.

It took some encouragement but we finally got her going down inclines again. Most were straight and none had any drops on either side. We finally made it to the first suspension bridge and were excited. We told the girls there were 2 more bridges like that and asked if they wanted to continue or go back. Well, Emily didn't want anything to do with going where she had just come from and Erin was getting into this down fast and back up the other side with her dad so on we went. We did the next 2.5 miles with great fun and glees of excitement from Dad and Erin. Emily started loosening up and then.......

Erin did a quick down across a bridge and then splat!!! In this picture you can see the disenchantment of her face as she is put back together after her fall. Dad was a head of her and Emily and I were coming over the ridge behind her, so none of us know how she fell but she laid it over on her and she has a huge bruise to her right knee and skint up her left elbow. We took a break and Dad thought it would be cute to get a photo. As you see, Erin was not thrilled.

Well like with Emily, we cleaned up Erin and got a snack (she ate all my Swedish fish!!!) and wiped away the tears and then started back out on the trail. We had decided we were going to at least do the 8 miles out.

This is the third of the 3 suspended bridges. This is located at around 7.75 miles. We are almost out of the woods now. We asked the girls if they wanted to continue or go back and at this point neither of them wanted to go back so we pressed on. It was okay at first but the levee was 4.5 miles of flat, low cut grass with no shade. It was not easy and it was not fun. It quickly became more then we had bargained for, but we had now passed the point of no return. Go on ward we went. We stopped, we walked, some of us cried and some of us made deals for Purple Cow. We were all doing the happy dance when we finally got off the levee. However, we still had 1.5 miles to go to get back to camp. Though this part was actual paved road. We could do this because we do it all the time. Marty had actually planned to ride it and let us sit while he went to get the sub but the girls were headed home. So the girls and us did all 15.5 miles of this trail. We started at 12:50 pm and ended at 5:30 pm. We are blessed with two beautiful and extremely great sports for daughters. Course a visit to the Purple Cow is to follow.

We made it back to camp but the idea of cooking was out of the question, so after MUCH needed showers by all, we headed into Star City for a quick stop at Fred's for bug ointment, paper towels, citronella candle, and children's Motrin before heading to the local Mexican restaurant, Los Toritos. We had a very good dinner but desert was from Sonic. No Purple Cow in Star City, so that will have to wait but had to have a milkshake. Fried ice cream wasn't going to cut it this time.

When we got back to camp it was off to bed, because these people were tired. Marty said that 3 laps of the river trail didn't wear him out as one lap of this trail. All I know is my knees are killing me.

The next day was Sunday and we had made plans to go to church in Star City but we were so exhausted from the day before we overslept. Which was good, because we needed the sleep but we really had intended to go. Instead we spend some quality time together after breakfast with Marty reading and the girls and I making bead people. We had also missed the morning kayak tour that the park interpreter was conducting around the lake. Emily was very disappointed because she really wanted to kayak the lake. After lunch we rented two tandem kayaks and out on the lake we went. Erin had never been in a kayak and was very uncertain of this plus she was convinced that the lake was full of alligators that would turn us over and eat her. Marty had Emily with him and I coerced Erin in with me and off we went. There is a 1.5 mile loop around the lake and we weren't sure how long it would take or if we could even paddle that much but out we went. Erin complained the first half of the trip. She didn't like the moss and the lily pads scared her. After showing her several open lilies and getting out of them into the cypress trees forest, she started to relax and enjoy it. We got through that forest and had to go back through more lily pads before coming to the dead forest (hard woods prior to the levee holding water on them). She really enjoyed the dead forest and looking at the markers that directed us through. Just as we got through the dead forest she figured out how to paddle and was really having a blast. Then we were at the beach, but we checked the time and still had an hour left so we decided to go again and do it backwards this time. It was so much fun.

Proverbs 27:9

"Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight, a sweet friendship refreshes the soul." (The Message - Proverbs 27:9)

How true is that - A sweet friendship refreshes the soul. ? Think about your friends. Think about how out of the blue you will receive an inspirational email from a friend that hits at the right time. Think about that friend that calls and you smile when you see their name on the caller id,you know you need to talk and she is there. Think about that friend that remembers your birthday and how you don't or do like to celebrate it and wouldn't dare celebrate it with you any other way.

I use to think these friendships were some fantasy that only happened in TV. I didn't seem to have these friendships when I was in grade school and I kind a had them in college but now I'm blessed with so many of these sweet friendships. My cup overflows with sweet, sweet friendships.

Just today, I received an inspirational email from one who has just been an aquanitance on facebook who I met through work. We don't see each other everyday but through watching me on facebook she knew that the "3 Things" video would mean something to me and that it would bring a smile to my face. She was right but more then that it refreshed my soul. It brought God into my morning because I hadn't made the time for Him this morning and I needed that little bit to remember Him so that my day would go better.

Sweet friendships.
Stop and think about your sweet friendships.
Stop and think how you can impact one of your friends by BEING that sweet friend.

Thank You God for the blessings of all my Sweet Friendships.

Back to School

Yesterday was the first day of school and it went amazingly well. Emily is excited to be with her best friend on Team Dynamite and Erin is excited to be with her best friend for the first time since they started school together 5 years ago. We shall see how this goes. Though there shouldn't be an issue for Emily because Mei does not have the same advisery teacher as Emily and thus they are only on the same team and have the same lunch. They don't share actual classes together.

School is so much different then I was in 6th grade.

I've been really pround of my girls this summer. They have shown how responsible they are by helping with the house work. I am really missing them not being where I can text them all day. I must wait until school is over and then I'm picking them up so that doesn't accomplish any thing.

I am praying for a good school year. I want it to be challenging for them but I don't want it where they are struggle through anything. A nice balance would be nice.

I love watching them learn new things and am amazed at how much they already know.

I'm looking forward to Scouts and Bible study starting back. Scouts actually started Monday but we were missing several due to open houses at school but we have so many fun activities planned that this is going to be a great year. I am blessed with some awesome co-leader and parents. The girls are great to work with too.

Bible study starts the 2nd of September. I don't have as many as last year and I'm rather bummed about that but it will be okay. This is a great study and I know God will put those there that He thinks needs to be there.

Well lunch is almost over so go to go.

How are you doing today?

As a society, we ask this question every day. Some times we really mean it and really want the person to share how they are feeling. But the truth is, most of the time we are just being polite and we really don't want a 30 minute conversation of why this person we know but not really is getting a divorce or has health issues or whatever.



What about when we are the receipiant of the question? Don't most of us just say, "I'm good" or "I'm fine"? Do we do this because we know they are just being polite? Do we do this because we just don't want to share? Or do we do this because that is what is expected of us?



Well, of late, I have been doing just that. If you have asked me in the last 4 months if I'm okay, you have heard me say "I'm fine." The truth is, I'm not. I have been rather stressed and not the nicest person to be around. I have wonderful friends that will listen to me and truly care for me yet they don't know I've been hurting. Oh, they suspect something but their not asking or if they are asking their not catching me at the right time where the dam would break and they would get more then they bargained for.

Why do we keep the truth to ourselves? Why when we have great friends do we choose to hide it? Is it because we don't want to bother our friends? Is it because we don't think they will understand? Is it because we don't believe they will listen? Is it because we don't think they will actually accept us with all of our flaws? Maybe they won't but so what? If they don't there is still one who will. Jesus loves me and he knows all of my flaws. He is all that matters. So why then to I keep so much of the true me hidden?

Biking Family

Marty and I have been biking all of our lives. We both learned when we were 7 or 8 and in elementary school rode pretty much everyday. Back then it wasn't for exercise or our health, it was because that was what kids did. You rode to school, rain or shine. You rode to your friends house. You rode to the local grocery store to pick up bread or milk for your mom. You rode to get away from your siblings. And most of all you rode to just ride.

Somewhere between the late 70's/early 80's to the present, riding has disappeared from most kids lives. There are a lot of boys still riding but not young girls. When you go to an elementary school, check out the bike rack. Or do they even have a bike rack? Ours does but there maybe 4 or 5 bikes in there each day. Most of the kids are driven by their mom or they ride a bus. They ride a bus in a subdivision that the school is in that there is only one way out of and the school is at the entrance. They ride a bus from the farthest point of this subdivision which is maybe 1/4 of a mile. What has happened that our kids don't ride bikes to school?

Mine do not simply because we don't live in a subdivision but instead we live on one of the busyiest two lane narrow shoulder highways in Arkansas and are three miles from the school with no back rodes that would be safe to ride because of all the speeding drivers.

But I degress. Because my husband and I grew up with bikes as feet, when our daughters got to the point they could peddle, they were given there first bikes. It was slow going getting them from bikes with training wheels to straight up two wheels but three years ago we were successful. We have spent the last three now getting them to learn to pick up their pace and go longer distance. Now we're not talking miles upon miles, we're just talking 1 or 2 along the River Trail in NLR. Well, this year their heights (because my girls are not going to be short women) we had to upgrade their bikes. We had upgrade Dad's from the Wal-Mart special to a GT two August ago and he had been telling me how much easier and faster it was but bikes are now expensive and I just knew he was full of crap. Well two Saturday's ago, after the girls had biked the 14 miles from the NLR submarine up to the NLR side of the Big Dam Bridge and back and my baby is complaining of how much her back hurts and I've watched my eleven year who is only 8" shorter then me with her knees almost up to her chin, my mind was made up. We were not going biking again until those girls had bikes that fit their frame. Both were on 20" tires on 9 to 10" frames. What in the world was I thinking. Well, we started looking at the lower end markets (Wal-Mart, Academy Sports and the like) but my husband was not satisfied with anything. We made our way to Arkansas Cycling and Fitness and both girls with in minutes had picked Trek's that they were in love with. The guy (and forgive me because I'm terrible with names) that helped us was a true doll. He helped us size the girls and made recommendations for them. The girls got exactly the bike they wanted but in their size. One is now on a 26" tire and 15" frame and the other is on a 26" tire and 13" frame.

Well, we had to take those for a spin, so we loaded them in the truck and headed out to the trail right then. The girls took off like rockets. Now Mom is still on a Roadmaster from Wal-Mart and Marty and the girls are sporting aluminum frames and gears that shift with a press of the thumb. I had to work hard to keep up. It was a labor of love but it was labor. The girls were all smiles and no complaints about my back is hurting.

Lucky for me, I'm the special girl in my husbands life, because he couldn't stand it that I had to work so hard to keep up. Saturday, he purchased me a Specialized bike from the same guy at Arkansas Cycling and Fitness. I'm not a high tech bike sort of girl. All I really care about is will it shift gears with ease, will it travel down the trail and what color it is. I've been looking at the bike and the adult women are just not appealing to me. Well my fabulous husband did great. This one has all the tech stuff he wants me to have and I got a color that I can stand (metalic baby blue) and gears that shift without throwing a chain or having to wait on them to change.

I had to pick the bike up yesterday because it wasn't even on the showroom floor. The awesome guy had to put it together for me. That's a first for me. Well the girls and I meet Marty at the Submarine after work and we hit the trail. Man, what a difference. Other then my butt hurting because of a different saddle, that was awesome. We cruised down to the bridge and back and it was just fabulous. I even passed Marty and Em going up one of the hills because they were going to slow. That is a huge improvement.

Wow. Thanks Arkansas Cycling and Fitness for helping get us on the trail even more. I can't wait until 5:00 pm tonight.

Proud Parents

Marty and I are so very blessed. Our girls are such well balanced, even tempered, well behaved pre-teens. They are responsible and so very pleasant to be around.



Emily completed the Red Cross babysitters course this Saturday and is a certified babysitter. She is so excited about doing it that she came an immediately got on the computer to go through all CD of resource material they gave each student and then organized a babysitting notebook. She is determined to be known as a "good" babysitter. I hope someone we know needs a sitter soon so she can put her new knowledge to work. She so is looking forward to it.

Oh What a Beautiful Morning

Though life has been very hectic this last month it has been such a blessing. The end of April was my birthday and I spent the evening with my family before going out with my gal pals on Friday night. God has blessed me with some wonderful women who continually teach me and enrich me. Girls if your reading this: I love YOU!!! For the ones that are too far away, Tiffany and Kristi, I LOVE and MISS you. It's not the same without you.

Celebrating

Today has been a really good day for me and tonight is going to be even better.

I have been working on a project at work for about a year now and I finally had a huge break in the work yesterday. Today I got to make my boss' weekend by telling him about yesterday. That is really a nice feeling. Though I'm a long way from finish with the complete project, I'm a heck of a lot closer. I've been feeling like I've been spinning my wheels for months now and have hated going to work but this makes it so much better. I don't feel like I'm banging my head on the wall and a project can go out to the field in stages so that they know that we really are working on helping them. Guess I just needed a boost to my professional ego because I was really wondering if I wanted to continue to be a professional.

As for tonight, my wonderful "sisters" are taking me out for my birthday. It was last Thursday but schedules (and this time it wasn't mine) wouldn't allow it. So we are going to have a girls night out and go have a relaxing dinner at Chili's. Now, does anyone know where my Zyrtec is so I can enjoy having a DD for the evening? (THANKS Tammie) For those of you who don't know, I've developed an allergy in the last few years that causes me to sneeze and have a runny nose and not be able to breathe clearly when I consume adult beverages. This is not very much fun when I just want to drink even one glass of wine or one margarita (my favorite adult beverage).

That's okay, I'm planning on having a really good time because I will be with all my besties. Well, almost all my besties, because there are a few that will be missing tonight but I know they will be with our celebration in spirit.

Watching my daughter play

It is very interesting to me to watch my daughters play. At the moment, I'm setting in a hotel room in Branson watching Erin play with her best friend Elena. The pretend world of 8 years is so amazing. Tonight is Beverly Hills Chihuhu with Elena being the beverly hills prima donna and Erin her trusty servant.

It is funny to hear pretend phone calls to the front desk because the dog food isn't prime rib or because the plate is just a common kitchen plate. I know they get this from the show but really where do they get this.

I love to watch them though because they are so innocent.

Just another month in the Bowie house

It's not that I have a boring life but that it's just isn't all that interesting when I decide to post. Guess I could start with catching you up from my last post.

Several things have happened that I'd like to share.

Erin has ran her first 1 mile race. On March 14th, she, along with her fellow students in the running club at Magness Creek, participated in the Little Rockers Marathon. Though she didn't run the whole thing, she did get away from the TV and participated. She really has enjoyed running club this year and her Daddy is so very excited that he has decided that he would start running with her. Not a lot of running has been done yet, so don't be looking for them in the next Marathon, but who knows.

I don't know if I mentioned it before but in January Emily took the Duke Tip Explorer ACT test. This is offered to GT students as a challenge and a gage as to where they are at an early age. We received her test scores finally and out of a possible total composit score of 25, Emily scored 20. She made a perfect score in one part of the English and a 99% on the second part of the English.

Marty and I are so blessed to have two wonderful students.

The girls and I finally talked Marty into a new dog. On Saturday the 4th of April, we went to the Cabot City Animal Shelter and adopted a 4 month old German Shepard/Boxer mix. The girls named her Ginger and she is one sweet pup. She is an indoor/outdoor dog at the moment and is doing very well. She has learned to sit and not doing to bad on the house breaking. The biggest obstacle is her and Snowbelle. They will come to terms soon enough but it does get interesting if someone accidently lets go of Ginger's leash and Snowbelle is in the same room.

My junior troop has finished it's Bronze Award. WaaHoo. This is a big first step for them and has been a small chore this years due to some lack of planning on my part, but it is now done and all the girls will be receiving their Bronze pin on May 17th from the council.

Emily and Erin will both be bridging to the next level of scouts this year. Emily is becoming a Cadette and Erin is becoming a Junior. It is amazing to me at how much they love scouts. It is so much fun watching them and listening to them as they explore new things through scouts.

Well, Emily and Chip Bredfield and family are moving to Arkansas. On May 15th they will arrive from Germany. Chip and Emily were just here to find a house and their prayers were answered as they are now owners of a beautiful house on the south side of town. My only dislike of the house is it's location (the south side of town) but it is gorgous. My girls are so excited about them getting that house because it has an awesome playhouse that came with it and there is talk of a pool. We keep telling Emily and Erin that it isn't their house but Chip and Emily may be finding themselves with 6 daughters insted of 4. LOL. Sorry Chip.

I got to see Tiffany!!!!!! It was a whirl wind visit but I got to see and hug and chat with Tiffany. It's amazing at how fast that visit went by. She is looking good and the kids have grown sooooo much. Alexis is 2 or 3" taller then Emily. Course we knew she would be tall but gees. I've got a really good photo of Emily and Alexis going through Emily's yearbook from last year. I'll post it soon.

We had a wonderful Good Friday service on our church property. Some 50+ people were there and the service was awesome. The Men's Ministry did a fabulous job cleaning up the property for the service and though somewhat cold, the fire was perfect.

More Good News

I love getting good news.

The Bredfields are 90% sure that they will be moving back to Arkansas and most importantly to Cabot. Their move date is May which they know for sure but the paperwork with the actual location hasn't hit their hands yet.

In 2002 when I watched them drive out of my driveway headed to Valdosta, I felt like they were driving out of my life. To say my heart was breaking was putting it mildly. From all my past experiences, I knew that the promises to stay in touch and remain good friends were just that, promises. Though I prayed for it to be different, because these friends felt more like family then just friends, I just couldn't help but fear change.

Well it's 2009 and the feelings for this family haven't changed. They are still like family to my family and I can not wait to have them in driving distance again. I can't wait to spend time watching our kids play together, going to each others house for lunch or dinner, and just plain spending time with Emily. Now, I'm sure that it will never be like it was before because we have all changed. It has been 7 years after all, but it will be much easier being in the same time zone to share the experiences of our lives. And who knows, maybe the experiences that have changed us will have changed us all for a better relationship together.

I really looking forward to talking to Emily about something that is very important to me and that I think she will enjoy. Not that I couldn't share it with her where she is now but I really want to experience it WITH her and for that to happen she must be here. So for now, I wait.

But the main point now is finding a house for their needs and then getting them safely here. Prayers, prayers and more prayers.

Thank you God for another wonderful gift. The gift of friendship you have given me that has helped me grow and learn that even through distance, true friendship can grow and thrive. This gift has been a blessing and a source of peace in dealing with the transfer of another true friend just last year.

Life is a circle. Let it go and through love it will come back to you.

Great News

I'm so excited. My friend Tiffany is coming to visit!!!! She is in Japan and I haven't seen her since August of 2007. Though I keep up with her on her blog spot, facebook, emails and phone calls, I miss seeing her and going out for girls night. I especially miss having her at scout meetings. She encourages me and helps keep my spirits up when the logistics of scouts gets me down. This will be a drop in the bucket visit but she will be here in the flesh at least.

She called me Wednesday morning and we talked for an hour. It is so cool to hear about Japan from her. I just don't know though if I can do sushi, even though she swears it's really good when you get the good stuff. I'll have to take her word for it. Maybe one day I'll get to Japan so I can try it for myself.

She has decided that she is going to teach me Japanese phrases though. The first one is: I don't understand" Course she taught it to me yesterday and now I can't repeat it so I guess I fail my first lesson. Sorry Tiff. I promise I will try. Well lunch time is over so I'll get back to work. Dang it. More later.

The Love of My Life

This October, Marty and I will be married for 15 years. It seems like just yesterday that we started dating, yet I can't remember life without him. Today statistics show that 50% of marriages end in divorce and of the ones that are still married the number of those that are happy marriages is questionable. How can that be?

I have many friends that get tired of hearing how much I love my husband and they don't understand why I want to do everything with him. For those friends that might be reading this, you might want to stop now. This is going to be one of those blogs and though I love you guys, I'm not trying to make you jealous of what I have but I want the world to know and most of all my husband to know that I'm not afraid for the world to know how blessed I am.

My husband is my rock and my strength. He loves me fat and he loves me skinny. He loves me with long hair and he loves me with short. He loves me with make up but most of all with out. I don't have to protend with him, or hide things from him. We fight, we disagree, we say negative things but we love most of all. Our marriage is not a fairy tale, it's real. It's sometimes boring and it's sometimes hot but it always.

I try to remember to tell him how special he is. I try to remember to show him that life with him is like a box of chocolate: some filled with gooy carmal and some filled with yucky fruit thingys. I'm not perfect and I'm not always right but my love for him is. Valentines is here and it's the month of love, but with him, everyday is love even when I don't show it.

Marty, I love you. Happy Valentine's month! Josephine