2009

It's hard for me to believe that we are already a few weeks into 2009! 

I had every intention of posting sooner, but we seemed to be caught up in what I refer to as the "Christmas hangover"...trying to establish normal life again after all the wonderful holiday festivities. I am always amazed at how long this takes. We've been staying home a bit more and I've been in spring cleaning mode...reorginizing our home, our weekly schedule, the girls clothes, our clothes, meal planning, the girls routine, etc, etc! Its been productive, but I guess you could say I have a case of "spring fever". Not that I want to speed up life any faster than it already is, but I just wish it could be bit warmer. Its been unusually cold since New Years. I've been thinking about spring & summer so much, that I spent a while last night looking at pictures from last spring & summer. I came across some pictures I had on CD, but never loaded onto my computer (pretty unusual for me)...I thought they were fun, and they made me think of spring, so I thought I'd post them. 

 Ahhh. They make me smile. They are from a field that is next to our neighborhood. Most days I'd take the girls on a wagon ride right by the field, and one day I decided to stop in and take some pictures. Then we went back many more days because I really liked it...and one day Alathea was wearing her princess fairy costume which was pretty cute. 

Anyways, back to January 2009... in addition to our cleaning & organization kick, we've started seriously thinking about potty training. I took Alathea on a date to pick out her big girl underwear and she was SO excited. I brought my camera and took a video of her dancing in circles super excited at target holding her sleeping beauty underwear. For anyone who reads this who is not a mom yet, I'll stop now at the cute stuff and I'll let you know when she's actually truly potty trained :)

Abigail is turning into an almost one year old! She turns 1 on February 7th!! Unbelievable!!! She's been standing on her own for 2 months now, but still not walking. Her favorite thing to do is walk with her walker, but still no steps without it. Alathea was full-blown walking by now. Maybe Abigail will be one of those "talkers" instead of "walkers"? She's been saying 'mama', 'dada', 'yay-yay' and 'uh-oh'! "uh-oh" is super cute :)

 

My favorite thing so far this year has been watching the girls friendship blossom. They are starting to really play together. Yesterday they played for 2 hours in our living room. Alathea turned our coffee table into a tunnel that connected to her new tent. They just went crazy having fun together. It was so sweet. I could have gotten a lot done since they were so happy with each other, but I couldn't resist joining in on the fun too!

Well, that was a long post! Kuddo's if you are still reading. Once I load up my January pictures, I'll post again. You know I can't do a post without pictures :)

A bunch of happy news...

First of all, My Dad is now engaged! He started dating Rachel, last July, and they are now engaged as of Christmas Eve. You can read more of their romantic story on Rachel's blog here. Rachel is an answer to much prayers for my Dad. When Mom died 2 1/2 year ago, he was the saddest I have ever seen a person (understandably). It is a delight to see him so happy again. Rachel is an incredibly godly woman, who loves the Word of God and is very devoted in prayer. She has an incredible testimony and was saved 8 year ago (I could be off a few years :) She also has an amazing sense of humor and is a blast to be with. She shared over our Thanksgiving trip that she felt the Lord told her that during the days Mom was dying that Mom prayed for Rachel to enter Dads life. Wow, that thought blew me away and really helped me deal with the emotions of Dad getting married to someone who is not my Mom. And I'm sure its true, Mom often would tell us she wanted Dad to remarry once she died (she's incredible, thinking of others while she's on her death bed). And she listed off the qualitie's he needed in a wife, and Rachel fits them perfectly. I'm sure Mom did pray for dads future wife many times those last few weeks of her life.

Dad & Rachel came to visit the past 5 days  over New Years. It was a fun trip & I took some pictures of them. We also spent a day in Columbia, Sc visiting my Grandma again.

One more bit of news about my sister. No, she's not engaged (although she is very happily dating). But last month we learned that she made 1st Team ALL-AMERICAN for college soccer! If you know college sports at all, you know this is quite an honor. And she was the only defender to make the list too. My brother & I played soccer all through the years and always joked with her about how we got all the honors, but now she's one up on us! And the thing I am most proud of, is Julie's heart for the lost on her team. She's got quite a platform to share the gospel as she is captain and a well-respected player, and Julie has been very faithful to do this! I am so proud of her!

Just thought I'd share some "happy" news in the Bowers family to start off the new year.