swimming,

We've been going to the Kroc center quite a bit again! (it's our gym) We have a monthly membership and it's such great fun! I take zumba classes and enjoy the equipment in the workout rooms and Eric loves soccer thursdays and basketball as well another night. It's been a great thing for us being here! The kids really enjoy the built in waterpark indoors at the gym! It was especially a hit in the winter. The solid glass window building, it'd be snowing outside and the waterpark is heated to 85 degrees indoors and the water is really warm too so it was fun to enjoy some sunshine activities even despite the snow and such!!!!

may 27 2010 hawaii day at caelans school

{i helped in caelan's class for hawaii day.....}

lucky days. truly lucky to have time with these kids.

While the bowies are finishing up packing things up I had the kids for the afternoon. They are sweet as pie! Love these kids!

school pix- spring class photos

Spring class pictures at caelans school. (she's looking a little sleepy and like most school photographers he isn't working out the real smiles in these kids-bummer)

may 25 2010 saying good bye.

our very best friends up here are moving to moses lake in the morning. we are so very sad, but so glad God opened up the doors for nate to take a new job. he has been out of work for sometime, and this is a dream sort of job.

this isn't good bye though. cause no matter the distance, we will travel to see our friends and family.
:)

good luck bowies. and we'll see ya soon.
promise.

small group leaders end of the year leadership bbq

We went to our community pastors house for a end of the year BBQ . We had such a blast!!!!!! Haven't had that much fun in a long time!!!!! The girls had a blast too!!!! They have so much at their house for kids to do!!!! They had a trampoline, a swing set, a play house (check out the pix) it's way cool!!!! So much fun for the whole family. ;)

this group of people is one heck of an amazing set of people!!!!!!

a gift.

Our friends gave us this trampoline.... They said it was their heart to let is have it.... Wow, so nice. It will be an amazing treat that will entertain the kids for years!!!! Thank you bowies!!!!! We are blessed, by u countless times over and over, and now this, wow. There are no words to say thank you enough.

may 22 2010 a unwelcomed visitor

we had a visitor. a very unwelcomed one.
yuck. check out the size of this thing. gross.

needless to say we had our pest service come out and do a spray of our yard and house again.

gross.

A not so friendly guest in or yard. Kinda comes with the territory when u live more "rural".... Which is exactly why we have a pest and bug service that comes to our house an sprays inside and out. We have them come quartily and yes, they will be coming back for a visit Monday. These types of spiders are very dangerous and gross!!!! Check out the size of that thing! I have never ever seen anything so huge and gross..... Mission accomplished: spider is now dead. Thanks to hero daddy. And the other hero is caelan for running and telling us quickly about our very unfriendly visitor. No tresspassing mr.spider or u will be defeated!

{ words in my head }

i hope that today's IEP for Riley goes well, and that we get to move one more step in the right direction.











i pray, it goes well, and that God will give Eric and I the peace we need at this time.






i trust that God will provide strength for today, tomorrow and forever....





may we enjoy the good, may we learn from the bad, and may we try and forget the ugly parts of life. :)

and may we seek the help we need from those that can help. :)








i love my kids.
i love my husband.
we are all so blessed.
so very blessed.


.

may 20 2010 hail. big time.

hail in the spring time. for days.

Hail storm..... Day two of this off and on! It's been a wild spring!!!! ;)

hat day.

This week is spirit week at school. Yesterday was mis-match day and Monday was sports day.... And as u can see today is hat day!!! Here are the kids at the bus stop.... :)

art class by a student for his teacher

At Eric's school the art class had a project involving ceiling tiles and one of eric's students painted this for his project and gave it to Eric to put in his class above his desk. Such a neat thing! He is so blessed to have had such an amazing year!!!! It's been a great transition for him at work! God is so good!!!!!

Well.... We just got word from our doctor re: caelan.

He said that after seeing her, thinking about it all and doing a bit of research he'd like to send her to shriner's hospital.....

When she was at the doctors office they were just going to begin physical therapy to build muscle and work on her feet structure with the tip-toe walking.... Now the doc has decided it's off to Shriners we go first!!!!!

We'll keep u posted! Whew. Such a whirlwind!

the bowie's.

these are five of the most amazing individuals.
there are few people that inspire you and touch your life like this family does.

i have watched them touch everyone they come across.
always putting others before themselves. they have such a sacrificial hearts.
For example, nate was out of a job for a time being, yet, they continued to supply meals for those in need, and jumped at the chance to help others with meals.... they have also been hosting our small group as well as leading it. they are truly amazing people.

we have been so incredibly blessed to have this family in our life! when we moved to idaho, we knew very little people, but at a church function where we were trying to connect to a small group to begin attending, we met them. it was last august, and in some strange way, it seems like we have known each other for so much longer than that. it was this connection that our families have shared that i cannot put into words. it was and it just this amazing gift. a gift of friendship that God provided at a time we craved a relationship with another young family, and they were chosen by God for us! and God sure did bless us and is continuing to bless us with this relationship!

we have grown so much in life's up's and downs. we have shared our live with one another all the while pouring our hearts to one another.

our children have grown to be such good friends as well, which has been so very neat to watch.

nate got a new job. he was out of work for a bit, but, recently has been given this amazing job offer across town about 2 hours or so away- so they will be moving.

we are deeply saddened that they will not be a hop skip and a jump away, but are so very excited for them on this new journey, to a new town, where i am certain God will use them just as they have here in our little corner of the world.

Their new town has no idea this amazing gift they are about to get by getting this family!

they have such an amazing gift of blessing others and touching the lives of those that need a special touch. God has used them in our lives so greatly and i know for certain, without a shadow of a doubt that He will continue to allow our friendship with them to continue to grow, despite the distance.
Now we will have slumber parties for the kids and spend weekends together. :)

what a blessing you are to us.

thank you for all you have done in our lives. for giving of yourselves, your time, and your hearts with us. we have so enjoyed the countless meals we share every week, again and again.... growing in Christ through our small group, and ever recently being, our new bible study we have joined together, "shepherding a child's heart." it has been so neat being involved in so much together!

we will forever hold you close in prayer. and no matter the distance, youre not getting rid of us! :)

we love you bowie's...

i have had the honor of helping them pack up. it is a sudden and quick move to their next place.... and while i was helping them, their boy was getting a little down about things, seeing me pack up his stuff etc. i told him that i was having a hard time packing it... and he then proceeded to ask why we have to pack it. i responded, that we need to be able to take it to their new house.... he didn't like that answer. kids get so confused with moving, i experienced that with my kids when we relocated to idaho....
i told him, when it gets tough and we feel sad, we need to stop and pray. with tears in my eyes, we stopped and prayed and we all hugged. and their middle child looks to me and says, "we get to spend the night at your house when we move and i am so excited....." i had to bust out my phone and ask her to tell me once more because it was a moment like this that i could bottle up and store forever.....
the fresh perspective of a child. being so 'excited'.... and that should be our response. because God is totally in control, that means God is going to go great things for them in this new house. and in this new town.

pray for them as they transition. also, pray for their housing situation, their house hasn't sold here in town but they will be moving in two weeks needless to say. pray God will move, and seal up the rest of the details for them in this move.

thanks!

(here below is the video conversation with their middle child....-she is adorable. i love these kids so much.)

this ol'house.

Boy oh boy. The potential this house has for some great curb appeal. If this house ever went for sale we'd do all we could to buy it! We'd love to see if the inside is as amazingly beautiful as the outside archictecture! Eric and I love this house..... (it's around the corner from us)

caelan.

well, let's not leave caelan out!

she is finishing up the first grade, and finishing the year has been tough. she seems very anxious for summer time! so its been a bit tough getting her to read much, since after all, the sun is shining, finally, and she wants to play outside with all her friends down the street! :)
she is a social lite....

she loves friends.

she loves to read, even though this week, not so much, i am sure she'll get back into it once she enjoys the sunshine for a while. we haven't had much of it since we were flooded with rainy days for weeks! i thought maybe we were living in Seattle for a minute there. :) lol

caelan went to the doctor for her 'well check'

she is doing great. her small stature is finally on the growth charts. she hasn't been on the charts much at all, actually..... but she is less than 17% on height and weight for her age. we'll take that over not being on the charts. :)

she is however STILL walking on her tip toes, a little thing we thought, a habit we thought.... but turns out it could be the sign of something bigger.... hummm..... here we go.

eric took her to the doctors and the doc said he doesn't like it too much that she is almost seven and still walking on her toes. and i do mean on her toes. like a ballerina! even in huge chunky snow boots she has managed to walk on her toes. well, with all that walking on her toes she should have calves of steel right, nope. no muscle at all.

so the doctor wants to begin physical therapy and go from there.....

she COULD, possibly need surgery. there are some cases where the tendons haven't developed properly and they go in and do surgery to correct it and then following surgery she would wear braces on her legs to keep stretching it all.....

there are some other possibilities of the cause of tip toeing, and being so small like she is, but we wont list them here. just know there are some more serious things but we are praying and expecting IT'S NOT those. expecting and praying for the miracle that's its a simple thing.... :)

God is good. we love our kids. we are so blessed by them. and yes, there are obstacles at times, but there always is in life.

when we hit these tough things in life, it causes us to fall on our knees and expect God to move in our lives. and when we are in our toughest times, that's when God does the most work in our lives because we seek him in those times.

it is our prayer, to seek him always, in times of need and in time of rejoicing.

may we all fall to our knees and walk this road WITH God.

in the good the bad and the ugly. God is by our side.

He will ease it all. give us strength.
and work wonders if we allow Him to show us what it is we need to learn in those times of weakness and in times of strength.

i feel so blessed. despite the tough times.


-megs

riley. rae.

what a journey with our riley.

we had her doctors appt. first one since we have moved up here. whew.
he love our new doc. he is an internal medicine doc and also went to school for pediatrics. he is amazing!
riley got all her shots for school. since after all, kindergarten is just around the corner in august. man, did time fly. yep.

going to these appt is very emotional for me, especially when it is a new environment, new doc etc. i feel like it is a blank canvas. i can come in and lay all my concerns out on the table and get a new fresh perspective on things.
this too can be overwhelming because there could be new concerns raised and my panic sets in.

the doctor was gracious. calm. caring. sympathetic. understanding. and took things carefully with me and made me feel comfortable opening up to him and addressing all of our concerns.

i told him we have spoken to the school system and they wanted a neurologist to see her.

i told him why they mentioned me requesting such a thing....

• riley is still not reading, nor is she expressing any need to read.
• she can barely write and has little interest in drawing or writing.
• she is still limited in 'play' and still obsesses over cars and when outside, its all about riding her razor scooter.
  
• she eats and still makes a mess eating- similar to a toddler.
• she needs help getting dressed still, and cannot brush her teeth without help, etc.
• she still has poor sleeping habits and needs more sleep than she is getting but that is hard to accomplish for some reason or another.
• her speech is getting better but there are still growing concerns with her pronouncing things different every time she speaks.... some days she speaks words more clearly than other days.
• one day she will cut with scissors pretty well, the next day it will seem like shes never held a pair in her life.
• in photos, at times we notice one eye drifting in the other direction.

• she doesn't understand things, basic things. for example, her 'friend' justice at school, graduated special ed and went to 'normal' school for kindergarten and every time she gets home from school she tells me "justice is still in kindergarten....(with a sad voice of disappointment)- i tell her every time, she isn't coming back.... she insists she must come back at some time....

there are so many concerns. these are a few basics. and yes, it would be normal for a child at almost five to not be able to write her name, but then when it is in combination with the oodles and oodles of other things along with that, it seems like there isn't much she is progressing on.... we are almost at a stand still. and we need to help her progress but she hasn't seen any progression in activities etc. we work with her and work with her and don't get anywhere.

we have been tivo-ing "parenthood" a new television show, a sitcom.
there is a boy named "max" on the show and he has autism. and the behavior specialist works with him on establishing 'deals' with him to get him to progress and of course on television it works beautifully but i figured i would try some of the things they try with max.... no riley has never been diagnosed with autism, but there are SOOOOOOOOOOOO many similarities between her and this kid 'max' so many similar things it is crazy.....

so for about five days we made 'deals' with riley.....
you can play with your cars, but first i want you to color for 10 minutes and then you can have your cars......

or

okay, riley you can help me make dinner, but let's take a nap first....

etc.

it worked for five days. and it was an amazing five days. but then it stopped.
she said to me, she doesn't want to make deals anymore.

so we are back to square one again..... out of ideas to get her to move forward on learning new things...... its back to cars. riding her bike. her razor. and not taking naps.

which is disastrous.

so. NEXT FRIDAY (WE THOUGHT IT WAS TODAY, BUT ITS NEXT WEEK), eric will be at her IEP meeting. our third or fourth meeting this year because we keep asking to meet again and again due to new concerns etc....

the school did their own neuro tests on riley.

we will see what they come back with.... but we are assuming the more thorough exam and help will come from our new doctor since it is more extensive.

the doctor has ordered more speech therapy. occupational therapy. a pediatric specialist and a neurologist specializing in kids.....

very thorough.

hopefully we will get answers soon.
so sad to have to rely on ideas coming from sitcoms but when you end up in the place that we are with riley, you begin to reach for anything, any ideas out there. from a sitcom or not. ya' never know what might help....

God is good. we are walking this road WITH Him. He will give us wisdom, He will direct us in helping our riley....

-megs

how the west was sung..... april 29 th 2010

ok, so i am a bit behind, but i am catching up.....
here are some pix from caelan's school concert, performed by the first graders at her school. :)

riley (with TCBY yogurt all over her face....) pix with evelyn and caelan

caelan and one of her 'besties' willow

caelan along with the rest of the first graders..... her friend gavin is standing next to her- he reminds me so much of our Gavin in california)


caelan with her teacher

caelan, obviously :)