Brother Ruben

Please pray for Ruben and his wife Martha. Ruben is standing next to Jody with the hat on. He is in the middle of a fierce battle of colon cancer. Jody had the opportunity to spend these last few days with Ruben in his home in Texas. In 1995, Jody first met Brother Ruben as Ruben lead a mission trip for Jody to Niguargua while Jody was at The Chapel. Jody's life has been impacted by Brother Ruben ever since. Total, they have taken 5 trips together.
Please pray bold prayers of healing for Ruben and his family during this time.

A Star is Born

Madison loves to be in the limelight and she got that opportunity tonight. Our town had a talent show to raise money to build a community park. Madison and her friend Savannah performed a duet together. They were good! What a fun way to help out our town.

Shopping in Seattle

After the state meet was over, we were able to spend the next day (Saturday) in Seattle before we had to head home. We started the day off at Panera Bread to have coffee and cinnamon crunch bagels (you have to live in Moses Lake to realize what a luxury that is). Yum! Then off to IKEA. This was our first experience at IKEA and I loved it. We shopped, let Mitchell and Jamae play in their kid land, which they had heard all about from friends, shopped some more and than ate in their restaurant. What a fun experience.



We then went to Build-A-Bear for a much anticipated shopping trip for Jamae. She had received a gift card for her birthday from the Shaw's and had been waiting patiently(?) for this weekend so she could have her first trip to Build-A-Bear. It really was fun to watch her pick out her bear (so many choices!) get it stuffed, give it an "air" bath, and dress her. Madison also got into the act by making a bear. Fluffy Bear is now part of our daily life. How fun to be 4.

State Bound

Wow! The state diving meet was an amazing experience. It was held in Federal Way, WA at the pool built for the Good Will Games. What a gorgeous pool. It was so fun to watch Jay complete his goal of making it to state this year. He did such a fantastic job. I asked him if he was nervous and he said that he had too much adrenaline to be nervous. He started out very strong, placing 3rd after his 3rd dive (out of 30 divers) and being 11th after his 5th dive, which permitted him to continue and not be eliminated. (10 divers were eliminated after the first 5 dives). He then had to perform three of his more difficult dives and slipped to 18th place which eliminated him after the 2nd round. (top 16 performed in the finals). Jay finished 18th in the state which was so exciting to experience. Jay - we are so proud of you!!!
Diving is now over - on to training through gymnastics. We can't wait until next year!

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! This is a loved holiday by the Bowser Family. We were sad to not have Jay part of the festivities tonight as he left for State in Seattle this morning. I know the day is arriving very soon when he won't be here on Valentine's Day, but I wasn't ready for that to be already.
We have a fun tradition of sending the kids on a scavenger hunt for a small gift each Valentine's Day. Jesse made us promise to not give ANY clues so it was really fun to totally stump him. The gift at the end was money to spend on Saturday when we get to shop in Seattle. Enjoy the pictures:

Jamae looking at her first clue


Madison helping Jamae read her next clue


Jesse totally stumped


Mitchell found his gift


Madison enjoying her decorated cookie

Fun with Jamae

IS IT SPRING YET???




Look Aunt Carol - I'm making Peanut Butter cookies with the book you sent me. I enjoy the book so much. Mommy can read me stories, I can play the piano songs, and I can make cookies.

Happy New Year!

Jamae is all dressed up and ready to go to the Chinese New Year Party at her friends, Ella & Elijah Shaw's house. The Shaw's are currently waiting to adopt their daughter Annaleigh from China so we thought it would be fun to celebrate the year of the rat together this year. Jamae was so excited to put on her China ballerina dress as she calls it. This is the first time she was able to wear this dress. We bought her dresses in China and they hang on her walls so she looks at them all the time. She has been very excited to finally wear this dress. We have saved it for Easter this year, but let her wear it first for the Chinese New Year celebration. This is the last dress that still fits her of the dresses we bought, so she is so excited to buy new dresses when we travel to China soon. The picture below was taken when we were in China right after we bought this dress. She was trying on the skirt. Truly Adorable!!!

Solo & Ensemble Contest

Today Jesse participated in solo and ensemble contest with his band. He performed in a percussion ensemble and played a baritone saxophone solo. I am so proud of Jesse for all the hard work and determination he put it to do this and do it well. He received Excellent ratings in both. Great job Jesse!

Dossier to China

Our dossier (stack of paperwork) was officially sent to China today with our pre-approval letter on top. This pre-approval letter should allow our dossier to go the expedited track. We still do not have any idea when we will get our referral approval - the next approval we are waiting for. China closes down their offices February 6-12 for Chinese New Year, so that will add another week to the wait. We will update as soon as we know anything.
America World's chinese liason is working to get us an update on Ming from his orphanage - updated measurements, information on him, as well as new pictures. We are very excited to hear back from her.
Please continue to pray for Ming - that his heart will be prepared as he hears about his upcoming adoption.