Life Interrupted

I was going to title this post "Day Interrupted" after the morning I had, but then I realized that it should really be titled "Life Interrupted" since I haven't posted for 6 weeks. The last 6 weeks can be described in three words - very, very busy! But more on that in a minute...
This morning I woke up with renewed vigor to get the many things done on my to-do list. I love Mondays! The house is always relatively quiet (Jamae is rather talkative these days) after our busy weekends and its nice to put some order back in the disorder of what the weekend always brings. So, after getting the kids off to school, I put a load of laundry in and went upstairs to exercise. When I was done and walked out of the bonus room, a pleasant smell hit me - it smelled like Jamae had sprayed a room fragrance spray. After she assured me that she hadn't sprayed anything, I went on with what needed to be done, which included working on the laundry. This is what I found when I opened the laundry room door...

No, that's not a decoration for St. Patrick's Day. My very full large jug of laundry detergent must have fallen off of the washer and went everywhere. What a mess, a nice smelling mess might I add. So I had to interrupt my day and clean up a thick, large puddle of laundry detergent. It went all under the washer and the dryer so I had to move both of them. To make matters worse, when I moved the dryer, I ripped the hose. Now I can't use the dryer until Jody can fix the hose.
I guess I can look at the bright side - my laundry room floor is clean under the washer and dryer (how many of you can say that) and I freed up a bunch of time today that I would have spent doing many loads of wash.

Here's a small look into what we have been doing the past 6 weeks:
*Jody came home from 9 days in Nicaragua. Although we were very thankful to have him home safely, what a blessing it was for him to spend that time ministering to the people of Nicaragua. They were able to build a church, run a medical clinic, and provide VBS to many children. They were also able to be part of services each evening where many people were able to hear about God's love.

* Jesse and Madison participated in solo and ensemble contest with their saxophone and oboe respectively. On the same day, Jay dove at the district diving competition. I had the fun of driving a 4 hour triangle (of course the competitions weren't in the same town) to catch all of the activities. All three of the kids did fantastic!

*Madison tried out for a part in the play Robin Hood and got a fun part in the Merry Band. This was part of the Missoula Children's Theater. They come to your town and pick the cast, rehearse, and put on the play all in one week. It makes for a crazy but fun week.


*Jay and Jesse had the wonderful opportunity to attend DYC (District Youth Conference) in Portland, Oregon with our youth group. They both entered a film festival that the conference was having. The theme for the weekend was Today and had to be included in the video. Check their videos out. Here's Jay's video:

And now Jesse's:

Aren't those great! Jay's won 3rd place.

*Jay had the privilege of diving at the Washington State diving competition in Federal Way. This was his 2nd year to get this opportunity. The pool is used for the Olympic trials. It is quite a place.

The competition came to a gut-wrenching end for Jay when he slipped on his 2nd dive. This has never happened to Jay before. Unfortunately, there was no room for error at this level of competition. This was such a heart-break as we saw the divers that he had beat all season long dive in the top ten for the finals. Even though it was a tough way to end his four year diving career, it was so wonderful to watch him dive these past years, especially this year. He improved so much and had an exceptional year diving. Way to go, Jay!

*We made the best of the three day weekend we had planned as a family in Federal Way. After we realized that Jay would not be diving anymore that weekend, we tried to enjoy the rest of the weekend even though our heart was breaking for Jay. We took a ferry ride to the San Juan Islands off the coast of Seattle and had the best fish and chips, enjoyed the fabulous hotel we were staying in and had fun swimming, and shopped at one of the biggest malls I have ever been in.

*We celebrated Valentine's Day in the usual Bowser fashion - with a scavenger hunt. When Jay was 2 years old, I sent him on a scavenger hunt to find a small gift. He enjoyed it so much that we decided to make it a tradition. Now 16 years and 5 kids later, it has become a huge undertaking. It takes me a better part of the day to come up with 6 separate set of clues (that are hard enough to stump the older kids) and to hide them. But what fun they have - especially MIng! He was so excited to go on his hunt and to get a gift. Life is good!

*The last weekend in February I got the fabulous opportunity to attend our church's women's retreat. It is always fun to get away for a friend weekend. But as excited as I was to get away, it did not compare with Ming's excitiment for the weekend. Jody & I let him go with our middle school youth group away on a winter retreat. He had such a great time. It has been so great to see him maturing and we felt confident that he would do great at the retreat. When he returned and I asked the leaders how he did, they said he did great. But more importantly, they commented on how they were able to witness his passion for Christ, especially in his prayers. What a wonderful report to hear.

*Jody and I got a 30 hour get-away together when I joined him for meetings he had in Seattle last week. He went to his meetings and I got hours and hours of quiet in the hotel room. You have no idea how that revitalized a mom of 6!

*Jay & Jesse are busy with the high school tennis team that they are both on. It sure keeps them both busy.

*Jay has made his decision about school for next year. The drum roll please... Jay will be attending, Lord willing, Cedarville University in the fall, my alma mater. It is the perfect school for him as it has all the opportunities that he is looking for. When he finally made his decision, I asked him what decided it for him. He told me that it came down to the fact that Cedarville offers quality chapel services 5 days a week. He wants to attend chapel each day and the other school he was seriously considering only offered chapel 2 days a week. I am sad that he is going so far away, but I only have myself to blame. Since Jay was little, I have brainwashed him with the idea of attending Cedarville. But of course that was when we lived in Ohio, but I guess it never got out of his system. I couldn't be prouder of him for his priorities in his decision making and now we need to trust that God will honor these decisions with the finances to make it all work. Being the oldest of 6 in a single income home (that had 2 very expensive adoptions in the last 5 years) can be challenging, but I know God will honor our choices we have made. Please pray that God will use Jay as He sees fit. Jay recently told us that he feels that God might be calling him to minister in Asia after his schooling is done. We are looking forward to seeing how his story unfolds.

Wow - a lot happens when life is interrupted. I will never complain of being bored.