Top 10 Blessings of This Week

10. The weather was beautiful with no snow or ice.
9. There was such joy in Bible study this week. I am so thankful that I have the privilege of leading this wonderful group of
moms.
8. Ming had his first full week of his new classes and he seemed to enjoy them.
7. Madison and Jay's "flu bug" was short lived and no one else got sick, especially me.
6. Jesse and Madison's band songs for solo and ensemble contest are sounding great and they should be ready for the
competition next Saturday.
5. Adeline Shaw's surgery went without problems and she is recovering well.
4. Jay's 4 dive meets went great and Jay didn't have any injuries.
3. Nothing tragic happened while Jody was gone and he was able to call me 2 times - totally unexpected.
2. Jamae had Mickey Mouse day to celebrate 'M week' at preschool - How fun!
And the number 1 blessing of this week...
JODY CAME HOME SAFELY AFTER SPENDING 9 DAYS IN NICARAGUA!

Please pray for Adeline

**UPDATE: Addie is out of surgery. The surgery went well without any glitches. She is without a breathing tube but is breathing hard due to swelling. Please continue to pray for her recovery.

Please pray for Addie Shaw this morning as she is having throat surgery (epiglottoplasty) this morning at Sacred Heart Medical Center. She will then be in the NICU for about 3 days. Please pray that the surgery goes well and her recovery is smooth.

The Beginning Of All That Life Is Today

20 years ago today, I came home from work planning on spending the evening at dinner and a movie with some friends from work. It was a Friday. Shortly after I got home, I received a completely unexpected phone call from Jody Bowser. Jody was the new youth pastor at the church I was attending. I had spent some time talking with Jody during previous months after my sister had introduced us in September. At the time he was finishing up seminary in Pasadena, but moved to Visalia in January to be the youth pastor. So, I answered the phone and Jody was on the other end. He asked," Would you like to go out with me tonight, tomorrow night or both? Tonight I am going to a high school basketball game and tomorrow night I am going to a high school play." Of course I had instant amnesia about my plans with my friends (I knew they would understand) and said, "I would love to go with you both nights". Two high school events - who could pass that up? I certainly couldn't if it meant being with Jody! Jody came by a few hours later wearing white pants and a white and yellow striped sweater. He looked fabulous in an 80's sort-of way. We spent the evening at the basketball game and then we went to see the movie Beaches. I don't remember anything about that movie! :) I was just so excited to be sitting next to Jody. By our date the next night, I knew that I had met the man I was going to marry. This was completely confirmed after Jody asked me on our date that night if I had ever thought of being a pastor's wife. How fun it was to tell him that I had felt that God had been preparing me since I was a teenager to be a pastor's wife.

So 1989 was the beginning of all that life is today. Our first date was on January 27, Jody asked my father for permission to marry me on March 11, we were engaged on May 25, and married on December 23. What a year!

Jody, thanks for calling me 20 years ago this afternoon so we could begin this incredible journey together! I love you!

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.

Precious Innocent Lives

My 13 year old daughter, Madison, had the assignment, as probably many around the country, to write a letter to President Obama. I had to share it with you, especially because tomorrow marks the 36th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. How many more innocent lives will be lost?

Dear President Obama,
There are a lot of things going on in our country today. A lot of issues that I am concerned about: health, education, war, and the economy. And yes, I understand that those are very important, and I agree! But, I don't believe that they are the most important.

Did you know that approximately 1,500,000 babies are killed each year by abortion? One out of six women in our country alone have had an abortion! And many time the women are not told about the procedure or the risks involved.

Even though I completely believe that a baby is fully human when conceived, here are some facts that you might want to know: many of the abortions that are used are in relation to pulling the child's limbs apart, sucking them out with a vacuum, or poisoning them through the mother. These are performed either very early in the pregnancy or a little later on, but no matter when, the baby still feels the pain. The baby's spinal cord starts to develop at seven weeks old and at twenty weeks his brain is fully developed and able to completely register the pain! Please think about that.

So President Obama, I don't think that you are a bad person, I just believe that you are making a bad choice. Giving our country the choice to abort their babies, causing over 4,000 deaths a day, isn't one that I'd choose, for any reason.

Sincerely,
Madison Bowser

I couldn't have said it any better!

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.

Imagine My Surprise!

I was reading the Chapman's assistant Grace's blog entry about the Shaohannah's Hope dinner this past Saturday night. She was showing the decorations used for the dinner. Imagine my surprise when I saw Ming's picture up on the stage. Shaohannah's Hope chose Ming as one of their 'kids' 2 years ago when he first became available on our agency AWAA's site in August 2006. Shaohannah's Hope has called thousands of people to pray for Ming these last 2 years and also gave us a grant to bring Ming home. We will be eternally grateful to them. If you are looking for an organization this Christmas to donate to, I strongly urge you to consider Shaohannah's Hope.

Here is a copy of the picture that I sent Shaohannah's Hope of Ming that they cropped down. It was taken back in July on a family trip that we took to a park just outside of Spokane. We actually had already posted this pic on our blog back on July 31st. And now it's being featured at a Shaohannah's Hope dinner. Too cool...