Christmas 2009!

We spent this year at home for Christmas...and boy, it was nice!  No driving out of town, no packed itineraries, no rushing from place to place, just Ron, myself and the kiddos spending more family time together then we have in ages. Wednesday, the 23rd, after work I took the kids to see a live Nativity scene in Bethlehem, GA.  We had done that once before right after we moved up here, but it had been years.  Some friends met us out there and we had hot chocolate and enjoyed watching the performance. (note: the one at Lake Lanier lights is better though)  As we were getting ready to leave, LeAnne tripped on a curb and scratched up her face, bent and scratched her glasses, scraped her knee and busted her lip.  Poor thing.

Thursday, Christmas Eve, I was off work all day.  The first time in a couple of years.  So LeAnne and I went to the grocery store and bought stuff for Christmas baking and dinner.  Came home and baked a pumpkin pie and a pecan pie.  I had never baked a pumpkin pie before (his mom normally makes him one in Albany, so I've never bothered).  Wasn't sure how it would turn out but Ron said it was the best pumpkin pie he has ever had!  Ron got off of work in time for us all to go to the Christmas Eve service at New Community.  They had communion and real candles for the candle light service.  I don't think I've been to a real candle light service before and I know it was the first time for the kids.  It was also the first time that we, as a family, had ALL taken communion together.  That night after the kids were in bed we wrapped the last of the presents and stuffed the stockings.

Friday, Christmas Day.  Told the kids to stay in their rooms until 7 am and we would come and get them then.  LeAnne was up and waiting, we had to wake James Stephen up.  But he woke up quickly and was excited.  Everyone had fun opening presents, even Barkley.  I got a pink Nike gym bag, two books, a silver Pandora snowman charm, a gift certificate for a deluxe mani/pedi and a whole bunch of stuff to keep in my gym bag (like body spray, antibacterial wipes, travel deo, Zone bars, travel lotion, pedometer, etc).  I could tell Ron put a lot of thought into my gifts this year, and I have to admit, I was impressed that he thought of the spa gift card.  He has never gotten me anything like that before.  I hope he enjoys his massage gift certificate I got him.  (the rest of his stuff was tools)  After all the presents were opened we made a pancake, egg and bacon breakfast.  The kids got large remote control cars and we went into the cul-de-sac and raced those for a while.  Ron bought us all a remote controlled helicopter, supposedly from Barkley.  But it quickly became apparent that he bought it for himself..LOL.  We all got family games from "Santa."  Ron had beginners luck on Yahtzee and beat me.  Lunch was BLT's.  Spent more of the afternoon watching The Christmas Story and playing with everything.  For dinner we grilled steak and lobster tails along with baked potatoes, steamed broccoli and crescent rolls.  This was the first time the kids each got their own lobster tail.  We used our Christmas plates and candles.  Afterward we all piled on the sofas and just chilled out, the kids in their new Snuggies.  No one really wanted the day to end and we stayed up super late.

Saturday, December 26.  Woke up with my cold/sinus crud being worse so went to the pharmacy and got my antibiotics filled.  Then we all went shopping, the kids had money burning holes in their pockets, but everything they wanted was sold out.  Had lunch at Chipotle. Spent more family time together.  Chris came over and he and Ron installed a new toilet in our master bathroom.  The earlier showings of Avatar in 3D were sold out so after Chris left, we went to the 10 pm showing.  LeAnne brought her Snuggie and within 45 minutes was sound asleep wrapped up in it, with her 3D glasses on.  She was so cute curled up in that chair.  It was 1 am before the movie ended.  I told Ron it reminded me of Matrix meeting some environmentalist.  He called it a tree hugger movie.  My favorite part was the glowing plants.  Overall, it wasn't what I had expected though.  Woke LeAnne up, she said something about "tomorrow" and we said, "It is tomorrow!"  We all laughed at the look on her face.

Sunday, December 27.  We slept in due to the fact that it was "tomorrow" already when we got home from the movie.  I went to the gym while Ron and LeAnne spent some more time racing the cars.  That afternoon she and I had eye appointments.  We both got some new glasses.  Hers, of course, are to wear all the time, we shall see how often I wear mine.  I don't particularly care for how I look in them.  They should come in sometime next week.  Came home and we took down the Christmas tree, wreath and all the other decorations and got it all back into the attic.  Knew we would be out of town over New Years, which is when I normally take the stuff down, so went ahead and did it.  It was so nice to be home all weekend and have the family time that we did. 

Happy Birthday, Jesus!  Thanks for coming to earth to save us and make us part of Your family.  If our long weekend of family time here was so nice and relaxing, I can't imagine what a celebration we all will have in heaven with God our Father!

Christmas in Albany

We went down to Albany on Saturday.  Had lunch with Ron's Granddaddy Cannon at the classic "old people" place to eat....Quincy's.  Dinner was at his grandparent's, the Wingate's and we got to see the newest addition to the family, Langston Spring, born two weeks ago.  We had Christmas with the Stewart's on Saturday night.  My mother-in-law even got our dog a present!  It was a lot of fun and then my sister-in-law and I went riding around looking at Christmas lights.  There is this one guy in Albany that has displayed a convertible with a waving Santa Claus in it and lights and music every year, this was his 50th year!  It made me feel like a kid again to see it!

Sunday morning we stopped by my grandparents, the Sheek's.  Then off to Leesburg to see my brother, Jonathan, and his girlfriend, Katie.  Our last stop of the weekend was my parents.  My mom organized a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party for all the grandkids.  All seven of them were there and they did crafts, had "Happy Birthday Jesus" plates, cups and cake and she read the Christmas story to them.  It was a great way to remind all the kids the real reason for the season.

Thanksgiving (and the week after)

Ok, so Thanksgiving was a week ago and it is now December.  I've been a slacker as far as my blog goes.  So just gonna attempt to do a quick update and get caught up.  This is more a "family diary" entry, so if you are looking for one of my more devotional centered entries, this isn't going to be it.  :)

Wednesday, after work, we headed down to our hometown to see family.  Thursday was a packed full day!  We had Thanksgiving lunch at Ron's grandparent's home and then we played a game his mom orchestrated.  Since we won't all (cousins, grandparents, etc) be together at the same time at Christmas she decided we would do "Gobbler Gifts" and we drew numbers and played the whole "steal" gifts thing.  My kids brought homemade cocoa mixes and chocolate dipped marshmallows on a stick they made.  I made some gift cards with photos I have taken and Ron took a gift certificate for electrical work.  It was a lot of fun!  Then in the afternoon we went to my parent's home.  Everyone of us eight siblings were there, except for one.  It was so nice seeing everyone.  After dinner we continued our decades old tradition of a hayride down country, dirt roads...in the back of a trailer on hay bales, in the freezing cold!  We took Barkley this time, I even bought a cute little fur lined coat for him, which one of my brothers razzed me to death over!  This year we had 22 (I think) of us in the trailer, plus a couple more and some little ones in the truck.  Our family just keeps growing and growing. 

Friday morning Melinda, LeAnne and I went "Black Friday" shopping.  This was the first time that LeAnne got to tag along. We didn't go super early or was really out to get anything in particular so it was fun and relaxed, not crazy like some years. We went to Chick-fil-A for breakfast at the mall afterward.  For lunch, Catherine, Christina and I went and ate lunch at Corner Cafe.  Was a cute little place and we sat on the patio. Actually, we were the only ones willing to brave the chill and sit out there.  It was great catching up and chatting.  (By the way, if you ask the waitress there to pick out the grapes in your fruit bowl, she will just laugh at you!!  LOL) We went and checked out Thomas and Christina's place and had a yummy, seasonal latte from Starbucks.  Friday night my parents took the kids to see the 3D Christmas Carol movie at the theater.  Ron and I and some of his family went and had mexican while the kids were gone.

Saturday morning we visited with my grandparents.  Then Ron decided we weren't going to stay, as originally planned, until Sunday, but to come on back. Probably missed a lot of traffic by doing that.  We also got back in time to go to our favorite sushi place and eat a super late dinner there.

Sunday morning Ron started getting sick.  By yesterday he went to the doctor and has a mild case of pneumonia.  So he missed work yesterday and today, which besides him feeling bad, sucks because he has no sick leave or time off left this year.

Last night I went to my Esther Bible study.  Only four of us showed up, but the lesson was really good (DVD session #5) and we got a chance to sit and talk in a more intimate setting afterward since there wasn't as many of us.  I love those ladies!

Glad tomorrow is Friday...glad for this week to be over and who knows...the weatherman says we may have snow flurries on Saturday, how exciting if we do!

Coram Deo

Coram Deo literally means "before the face of God."  On Friday night I attended O2 at 12Stone and the theme of the night was Coram Deo.  An awesome time of praise and worship and adoration.  As we partook of communion together I felt strongly pressed that sometime this week I needed to do this with my children.  Was trying to figure out exactly how to do that.  Then at the end of the service they handed out small brown bags with all the elements of communion.  I just thought that was so like God...He gave me the desire, then He supplied the need!

Also, at the beginning of the service they gave us each a broken piece of pottery.  At some point during the service we were supposed to go to one of four stations and place our broken piece of pottery on these big boards they had.  Symbolizing that God takes all of our broken pieces and together makes something special.  At the end, unknown to us at the time we placed our pieces, all four boards from the stations were placed together on stage and formed this beautiful mural of a tree.  They had placed the tree pieces previously and all of our pieces were blue and filled in all the gaps.  It was a special time for me to know that our broken parts of our lives may not go back together they way they once were, all shiny and smooth, yet God still can put them back together in a way of beauty.  They had little tubs of grout at the stations to secure your tile with and wet wipes to clean up your hands if you got the grout on them.  Even that spoke to me.  Sometimes putting the broken pieces of our lives back together can be a messy thing.  And making this mural took everyone participating.  I'm thankful for the people in my life who have been willing to get a little messy with me at times.


This morning I sat down with the kids in the quiet of the morning.  No school today, so no rushing around, no tv on.  I explained what communion is and read about the last supper in Matthew.  We each took turns praying, then we thanked the Lord for breaking His body and shedding His blood for us.  The loaf of bread they gave us Friday night was like a rock, but that didn't deter us, we just used a piece of bread.  And I wasn't sure what to use to pour the juice in, so I used shot glasses.  I meant no disrespect and I think the Lord honored the intent of my heart.  It was a special time and the kids thanked me for it.  As the holiday season approaches and Thanksgiving later this week, it was nice to stop the frantic pace for a minute and remember all that we have to be thankful for.

They gave us this sheet as we left Friday night.  I think it is good words to close with.

"This evening we celebrated "Coram Deo"- the privilege of living face to face with God.  We have brought the broken pieces of our lives before Him and our desire to not withhold any part or fragment of our life from His presence.

As we leave this worship experience let us remember that we carry the presence of God with us into our ordinary, everyday lives.  Let us remember, as Jesus reminded the disciples, of the loving and miraculous sacrifice that purchased our salvation.

In the next couple of days, we encourage you to gather friends or family and partake of the Communion elements provided in this bag.  Read the scripture below and celebrate gratitude for His death that ripped the veil and restored our relationship with our Heavenly Father."

Matthew 26:26-29 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."

Jon and Kate plus 8

Last night I watched the final episode of TLC's show Jon and Kate plus 8.  The season ended unexpectedly and sadly due to the divorce of Jon and Kate.  I watched it curiously but not planning on it to be emotional for me.  It is just a tv show.  But as I watched last night, it was more then a show, it was a family that has been irrepairably broken.  Those kids spent their whole lives in the spotlight and with their parents doting on them and was just such a close, family orientated unit.  For all of them, but especially for the children, their lives will never be the same.  As it ended, as Kate sat there wiping tears, I felt very sad for all of them.  I know how close eight siblings can be, I'm the oldest of eight.  So as the show ended, in the midst of the sadness, I suddenly felt so very, very grateful for my parents.  Last week they celebrated their 36th anniversary!!  Mike and Pam plus 8....still going strong! 
Thank you Mom and Dad!  I love you!!!

Saga of the Insurance Check

This story started a while back, only I didn't realize it until the other week.  To be exact, it was Saturday, a couple of weeks ago, the one where we didn't make it to Savannah so I started cleaning some forgotten piles of stuff, when I knowingly joined the saga.  I hate to even tell on myself like this, but I'm not the best at some paperwork.  Now if I know it is important or something due, that is one thing, but random mail, not so much. So I had this pile of random mail in a box that I thought I should eventually sort before discarding, but it was in a very, very low priority stack of stuff.  So I started sorting and opening this stuff.  Well amongst the mail was one of those notices from my insurance company.  You know, the boring summaries they send every so often showing what dates you went to a doctor, what you paid, what was owed, what they covered, blah, blah, blah.  I figure if I owe the doctor more money, I'm sure to hear from them.  So don't keep up with these summaries on a regular basis.  I open the evelope to find the summary AND a check for $195!!  Apparently, I had overpaid and they were refunding me.  I thought I had been paying a higher co-pay then I was supposed to, but the doctors office assured me that is what I owed, so I paid it, they passed it on to my insurance, who was trying to give it back.  Excited because that is a lot of money for me to get so unexpectedly and it was perfect timing for our trip to Savannah, I deposited the check, checked online the next day and sure enough, there it was.  Whoo hoo.  Came back from Savannah this weekend and went to work on Monday.  Monday night I come home and check the mail.  In the mail is a letter from my bank stating that the check was returned and the amount removed from my account.  Yikes!!  At this point I'm thinking I would have rather not had the check at all then think I have it, spend it and then find out I don't.  Plus I'm pretty ticked.  Yesterday I tried to call the insurance company to find out what in the world was going on and to let them know I wasn't happy with this situation.  After about 10 minutes of that crazy automated crap, where the machine kept mistaking me saying "myself" for "spouse", I finally get to a real person.  At that same point I look down at the check and see the date and the words, "must be deposited within 12 mths."  And it was dated October 2008.  Arrrggggg.  Simply told the guy on the phone never mind and hung up.  Then sat there trying to figure out how to kick myself!!  Here I had had this check for 13 months and never knew it, and by the time I realized I had it, I was one month too late to cash it.

Woke up this morning still feeling frustrated over it and then thought about the blessings that the Lord has for us that we just ignore.  It isn't that He isn't trying to bless us, but that we don't take the time to see what He has or to accept it.  If I had just known I had the check I would have utilized it, I didn't purposely decide that the insurance company needed the money more then me.  With the Lord, it again isn't that I purposely shun what He has to offer, but that I don't take the time to really look at what is right there in front of me and available to me.  You can rest assured that the next envelope I get from my insurance company will be opened and read!  Yet, I have God's Word and how often do I get so busy it gets pushed lower down on my priority pile, to be read at a more convenient time.  I wonder how much regret I will have when I get to heaven and see all the missed opportunities and blessings.  So busy with life here on earth that I forget about the things eternal.  And with the insurance check, it was money I had already paid, but with Christ, it is totally free, not a refund, but paid in full with His own blood.  It doesn't cost us anything!

Tonight at 7:00 pm, 12Stone Church is offering it's O2 service.  For a couple of hours Christians can gather together to pray, praise, worship and celebrate communion.  It is a time of oxygen for the soul.  Tonight, I pray that I go ready to listen and take the refreshing that He has for me and in turn that I will praise Him for His faithfulness, grace, mercy and love - all freely given, ready to be accepted!

John 4:10 - Jesus replied, "If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am, you would ask me, and I would give you living water." 

Savannah - Tybee Island - Jacksonville, FL

What a crazy, busy weekend!  We got off work Friday, packed and headed to Savannah.  Made pretty good time but ended up staying up until 2am visiting.  Ron's dad lives there and this was the first time we met his new girlfriend, Sherry, who recently moved in.

Saturday we got up early and he cooked us all a big homemade breakfast.  These Bowyer guys sure know how to cook!  Then we headed over to Bonaventure Cemetery (part of the movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was filmed there).  Was neat looking at the old graves, it was a huge place and we only saw one section of it.  Then we went to Fort Pulaski.  They had movie props all set up around the fort for the new movie, Conspirator, that is directed by Robert Redford and coming out next year. (The movie plot: In the wake of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice-President, and Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt, 42, owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, newly-minted lawyer, Frederick Aiken, a 28-year-old Union war-hero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal. Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and hostage in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt: her own son.)   We saw the gallows that they had built for the part of the movie where Mary Surratt was hung.  The most interesting part of it was seeing the back wall of the fort...there are still huge craters in the brick from cannon balls!  It had a moat around the whole fort, but a moat doesn't do much good against cannons!  LeAnne of course just loved the history of it all, especially considering it was in the Civil War era. We had lunch at The Crab Shack on Tybee Island.  The tables had holes in the center of them with trash cans underneath, so as we ate our low country boil we could just shove the shells and corn cobs and trash into the hole.  Told Ron I wanted a table like that at home.  We could eat on paper plates and after dinner everyone could just shove their trash in the hole and clean up would be a snap!  They also had a mini alligator farm there and you could feed them while waiting on your table.  It was a neat place.  After lunch we all climbed the lighthouse on Tybee Island and the kids got certificates showing that they had climbed it.  Toured this naval museum that was across the street from the lighthouse and got to use a real periscope from a WWII era ship.  Then it was down to the beach to put our toes in the sand and the ocean.  It was quite warm outside, but the water was freezing!  Shopped at some of the little shops there on the island.  Afterward, we headed back toward Savannah and went to eat dinner at Love's Seafood in King's Ferry on the Ogeechee River.  (they filmed part of Forrest Gump there) The lady told us the wait was about 30-40 minutes...she lied!  We ended up being there about 3 hours and the food wasn't that great either.  James Stephen had alligator, I had mahi-mahi.  Surprising since it was such a high rated place on the internet.  But "Big Buddy" kept us entertained, or embarrassed us according to LeAnne.

Sunday we got up and ate in downtown Savannah at a place called Clary's Cafe on Abercorn. (it was in the movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil)  The best breakfast!  Plus it had outdoor tables so we took our dogs, Barkley, our yorki-poo and Sadie, their chocolate lab.  The waitress even brought out doggy treats for them to eat.   On River St. we walked the dogs and went in some of the stores that had a "dogs welcome" sign on the door.  I think Barkley really enjoyed it.  It is a very dog-friendly city.  Got some warm, fresh pecan pralines from River St. Sweets...YUM!  From there we headed on down to Jacksonville to go to Alexander's 2nd birthday party. (Jonathan Bowyer's son, our nephew)  We saw a lot of family that we haven't seen in a while including Ron's cousin Shane, his wife and their brand new baby girl.  Unfortuneately though, Ron and I had to be back at work Monday morning....so back on the road again and got in late Sunday. Like I said...a super packed, busy weekend!!