A New Semester

Today starts the second semester at school. How could it possibly already be the second semester? A lot of changes start today.
Ming is being integrated into 2 regular classes. Whippee! I can't believe that after only 5 months in American school, he is already ready to join the regular 6th grade classes. He will be going to Math and English. English is with our family favorite teacher, Mr. Krogh. Madison is a tiny bit jealous. Please pray for him that it will not be too overwhelming and that he will do well.

Today starts Jay's last semester of high school! This has been a year of grieving for me as this will be Jay's last year at home and our last year as a family as we know it. So I started this morning a little emotional - Jay on the other hand is excited. He is very ready to be done with high school. Please pray for him as he has 3 dive meets this week and he is feeling a little under the weather.

Our high school is on block scheduling, so today starts new classes for Jay and Jesse. The high school is also implementing a new lunch schedule, breaking the one lunch time into two. A bummer for Jess - the friends he usually eats with have the other lunch time. I offered to come eat lunch with him, but he declined my offer. What's up with that? :)

The other three kids continue life as normal, counting the days until summer. And on a 10 degree day, summer sounds great to me!

When's The Party?

Today, Jamae kept asking me, "When's the party?" And I kept telling her that we aren't having a party. She kept insisting that we were. Finally I asked her why she thought we were having a party and she said, "Because yesterday you bought pop and that always means we are having a party!" I guess I have trained her well. 4 years ago when Jody had his heart attack, our family gave up pop. I only occasionally buy it as a special treat, usually when we are having a party. We really confused MIng on this because in China we drank pop with lunch and dinner because of not being able to drink the water. He acquired quite a taste for coke and was clearly disappointed when he realized that his new family does not drink coke at home.

Last night I decided to surprise the kids with pop, pizza, and a movie. Jody was not home and we have the Copley girls staying with us for the weekend so I thought it would be a fun way to spend Friday night. We pulled off the shelf "Night at the Museum". We hadn't watched that in a while. How funny! We are all geared up for the 2nd one coming out soon.

On another note, Jay did great at his 11 dive meet yesterday. He competed against 21 other divers across the state, coming in 5th in the meet and 1st on his team with a score of 284. Way to go Jay!
I came across this picture from this summer of him diving off of cliffs. Yes, I knew he was going cliff jumping but not cliff flipping. Now you can see why he loves diving so much - it is in his blood.

State Qualified - Already!

Jay had his first dive meet of the season today. Hard to believe that his last season of diving has started. The team started the season with an 11 dive meet in Wenatchee. A typical dive meet has 6 dives, is part of a swim meet, and is against one other school. Three times during the season, they have an 11 dive meet where they have to perform 11 different dives. The 11 dive meet doesn't include a swim meet and many schools participate.

Jody, Jamae and I were able to travel today to Wenatchee to watch Jay dive. We are so thankful that we did. He had such a great meet and came in 2nd place.

The most exciting news? Jay qualified for state today! To qualify, you must score over 300 and Jay received a score of 321! How fun to reach his goal to qualify for state at the first meet of the year (and it sure takes the pressure off). Now we need to start planning our trip to Federal Way in February.

Email From Jay

We got an email from Jay today. How fun! Here's what he said about the past couple of days:

Sorry i havent emailed yet. For the few nights we've been here in Bobo (where the obergs live), we've been really busy and i havent really had the time or energy to email. But now i do! So im sitting here in their "cyber cafe". They have 5 computers running, so thats why they call it that. We just got back from 3 days in the bush, in Somaso. We were supposed to be there for 4 days, because Kevin didnt think that we would finish painting until tomorrow, but we actually were done by about 12:30 yesterday. So we came back a day early, thank goodness. All of us were really tired of eating rice and sauce, and Michael, Emily, Natasha and myself had all gotten sick, so it was time to come back to the city. I think the meal on Friday night got me sick, and i slept all day saturday, but today i felt fine, so its all good. Part of the experiece, i guess. The village of Somaso has about 150 believers, so we spent our time painting a church they built there a month or two ago. Like i said, we finished much sooner than normal, and it looks much better. We're thankful to be back in Bobo.

Just want to keep you updated...please keep praying for Jay and the team.

News from Burkina Faso & Shopping For China

Here's the update Michael, our high school pastor, sent today:
Today was a good day. We visited an alliance church where they minister to Compassion International children every Thursday. We played with the kids. Our group in total adopted 6 of the children (60 of the 200 who come have not yet been adopted). Some got to meet their child. I adopted one for the youth group, but didn't get to meet her because she went home sick. Her name is Bereniece.
We went to the Bobo market. It was crazy. People all over you there. We had lunch at the Schaeffers' (son of Grace Church pastor in Cleveland, Ohio) and dinner at the Hulls' (missionaries working w/Obergs). We went to visit a group of believers who meet for discipleship on Thursday nights in Sacabe here near Bobo. 11 men came to faith just two weeks ago. They sang a bunch and we were welcomed by the former village chief (he had to give it up b/c of his faith). we met in his courtyard. We're all tired and going out to Sirasso tomorrow (about 3 hour drive - right near border of Mali) to paint their church and will do that tomorrow and Sat. - go to church there on Sunday and come back Monday morning, So, three nights in the bush. Everyone is feeling better here now, but very tired. Thanks for your prayers!

Sounds like all is going well. Thank you for your continued prayers for Jay. We sure are missing him but very glad he is there.
Today I did a mega shopping trip to get all the remaining things on our list for the trip. I had some "fun" trying to buy clothes for Ming. The last measurements we got on him were in September when he was a little shorter than Madison and the same weight as Mitchell. So...I tried to look guess on his size from that information. I ended up buying one size bigger than Mitchell figuring that if the clothes are too small for Ming, they will eventually fit Mitchell. I expect him to be quite thin. We plan on doing most of our clothes shopping for Ming in China and then when we get home, but I want a few things in his suitcase for him to see when he first gets to the hotel room. I had a lot of fun buying him a Nintendo DS lite. I don't know if he has any idea what that is, but 5 minutes with our family and he will quickly learn. So, one more week until we leave! Tomorrow we get our travel itinerary. We'll post it when we get it.

Update From Africa

Here is the update we just heard from Africa:

All is going VERY WELL.
After spending just one night with the Oberg family, the team took off for a little village in the “bush” called Samorogouan. Their primary focus was to paint the pastors house that was recently constructed. They were able to get the work completed by this morning, and are now back in “Bobo”.

A few highlights of their time in Samoroguan…
-The weather was nice, and although hot, very bearable. There was a strong
thunderstorm that blew through, but they were inside painting and unaffected.

-Kevin Oberg, the missionary, planned an outdoor evangelism service last night. Given that it is
the heart of farming season, he didn’t expect much of a turnout at all. To
everyone’s shock, there were around 800 people that came…and 7 men gave their
hearts to Christ. What a great thing.

-They are having to adjust to the cultural “rule” that when entering a room, each
and every person must shake hands with each person that is already in the room.
You can imagine that with a group of ten entering a crowded room…this can take
a while.

-The children are just adorable, and constantly want the team to take their digital
picture, and then turn the camera around so they can see themselves. It’s the first
time they have ever seen a picture of themselves.

-When the team left this morning, they were presented with a sheep as a gift.
Evidently, the cost of a gift like this is an entire month’s wages. They loaded the
sheep into the truck, and will present it to the president of the C&MA in Burkina.

Thanks for praying for Jay.

The African Bush & China

We haven't heard anything specific today about Jay and the team in Africa. Their schedule says that they were to drive from Ougadougou to Bobo-Diolasso (pronounced Bobo-Gilasso) and get acquainted with the missionary family, Kevin & Bonnie Oberg, and the other missionary team members and have a picnic.

As they are 7 hours ahead of us here in Washington, they will be getting up soon to start Tuesday. On Tuesday they will be driving out to the bush, specifically a village called Samorogouan. Jamae is really hoping Jay sees a giraffe while he is there, but Jay has told us that he'll be lucky if he sees an elephant. I guess the animals aren't roaming around as much as we picture it.

Please pray that God will work significantly in the heart of Jay during these two weeks. Please continue to pray for his protection and health.

On the adoption front, we don't know anything new today. Will you please pray that Ming is lovingly prepared for leaving the orphanage and joining our family? We don't know what the orphanage director and nannies are telling him, but we do pray that he knows we are coming on the 30th.

Safe In Africa

We just got word that Jay made it safely to Burkina Faso. They had an uneventful trip, all their luggage came through, and everyone is doing well. Praise the Lord! They were met at the airport by Kevin Oberg (the missionary the team is working with) and they will spend the night in Ouagadougou (pronounced Waga-doogoo).

Please continue praying for God's hand of protection on the team, especially as they adjust to a new culture and the heat.

Africa Bound

Jay is flying to Burkina Faso, Africa today for a 2 week mission trip with 6 other youth and 3 adults from our church. He will be working with Kevin & Bonnie Oberg, who are missionaries from our church. Please pray for Jay as he travels today. He departs Seattle at 2:05 pm and will arrive in Africa tomorrow afternoon at 4:40 pm. He was not really looking forward to the long trip, but he loaded up with snacks, movies to watch and video games to play. I'm sure the trip will go fast as he is traveling with good friends. Jay has the amazing opportunity to spend two weeks ministering in Africa and then two weeks in China to bring home his brother Ming. Two back to back trips half way around the world. Good thing he is young! I'll be giving an update on Jay each day these 2 weeks. I know he appreciates your prayers.

Burkina Faso is the red area on this map of Africa


Jay will arrive in Ouagadougou tomorrow at 4:40 pm. The group will then spend the night there.

Happy Birthday Jay!

Today is Jay's 17th birthday. I'm having a real hard time believing that he is actually 17! Could it really have been 17 years ago that he made me a mommy? He has had a real fun week. First school got out, then he had a big birthday party Wednesday night, today is his birthday, and tomorrow he leaves for Africa!

We started the morning with family breakfast and presents.


Jay and I then finished packing his suitcase and backpack and then he headed to Walmart to spend his birthday money. When he got home, the kids and I went to the Surf "N Slide Waterpark for a couple hours of swimming. We ended the day with our favorite chinese take-out and reeces peanut butter ice cream cake. Over cake, I told the traditional telling of Jay's birth story. He groaned when I started telling it, but I know he secretly enjoyed it. It's Bowser tradition after all.

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!

BOWSER ON TO STATE

This is the headline that was in our town newspaper today on the front page of sports section!
The article reads, "Moses Lake High School diver Jay Bowser will be making an appearance at next month's 4A state meet. Bowser earned the honor last Friday during the Columbia Basin League's 11 Dive State Qualifier at Central Washington University."
Wow! As stated, on Friday Jay competed in an 11 dive meet in Ellensburg, WA. He had the best dive meet I have ever seen. He was very consistent, with all of his dives being great. The judges must have agreed. In order to be eligible for state competition, you must score over a 300 during an 11 dive meet. Jay scored a 322! What an exciting day. Jay had made a goal of qualifying for state this year and it has been fun to see him meet his goal. I am so glad that he is a junior and has another year to dive. He has improved so much this year, I'm excited to see what he can do by next year. State is February 15 & 16 in Seattle.



Jody very proud of his son after finding out he qualified for state

Love & Diving or is that Love of Diving?

Jay definately loves diving. Districts was really fun for him. It was great for him to accomplish his goal of going to districts this year. Four guys from his team went to districts which were held in Ellensburg which is just over an hour from here. He went over with the team on Friday but the divers didn't actually compete until Saturday. That gave them Friday to warm up and have fun! They spent the night in a hotel and then were ready to compete first thing Saturday morning. We all traveled over Saturday morning to watch him. He was competing against 20 other guys in 11 dives. Jay did such a fantastic job. Not only did he accomplish his goal of qualifiing for districts, he made his personal best score. Diving is now over, but Jay has plunged right into gymnastics. Not only is he taking classes, the gymnastics center has hired him to teach two classes of boys tumbling per week. Jay is also working on his lifeguard certification so he can be a lifeguard at the pool this summer.



Jay at districts with his friend Chad. Notice the bleached hair! The district boys either bleached their hair or shaved their heads. I'm glad Jay chose the bleaching. We are getting used to it now.


Love was in the air yesterday! I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day. We have a family tradition of sending the kids on a scavenger hunt for a present. When Jay was 3, I sent Jay on his first scavenger hunt for a Valentine present. He loved it so we have kept the tradition. This was very simple was Jay was 3, now it is a complex process. The hunt took me a few hours to put together. Each child gets their own hunt, with the clues getting harder for each child. I am happy to report that I was able to stump the oldest 3 with some of my clues. Usually, each child does their hunt seperately but this year the 4 oldest wanted to compete with each other so they all went at the same time in a race. Mitchell was the winner. We had a lot of fun.


Mitchell looking through his bag of Valentine goodies from school.


Jamae opening her Valentine present after going on her scavenger hunt. After opening the present, she wanted to go on another hunt for another present. Wouldn't we all like to do that.



Chinese New Year is Sunday. The year of the pig! We spent last Saturday night celebrating the new year with the other chinese adoptive families in our community. Jamae enjoyed having another excuse to wear her chinese silks.


Jamae and her friend Susannah


We send you all our love this Valentine week!

Diving into Districts

What an exciting weekend we had! Jay's goal this year in diving has been to qualify for districts. This weekend he had his last dive meet for the regular season. It was an 11 dive meet and that meet would determine if he qualified for districts or not. He went into the meet .50 points ahead of the other diver that he was competing against for the spot on the district team.


Jay had a terrific dive meet. He had 11 dives to complete and he did a great job on each one. I feel like it was the best meet that he has had. He really gave it his all. He ended up beating the other diver by 31.85 points. It was a very fun moment after the meet when Jay's coach included his name on the list of divers competing in districts. Now Jay has 4 days of practice before he heads to districts on Friday. Competition is this Saturday, February 3. He will again be performing 11 dives. We are so proud of him and this opportunity he has this weekend. On to Districts!