Landis had a good day. We didn't have school today (Robertson Co. is out for Fall Break but we're only taking Monday off) He went fishing with his daddy and caught 5 fish! I spruced up his bedroom with a new curtain rod and new drapes, a computer desk (computer to come soon), some new things on the walls and I moved the furniture around. He likes it. Landis requested pizza for dinner (1 with pineapple and ham and the other with sausage and pepperoni) and then I made an "8" cake (you gotta have an 8 cake when you turn 8) - chocolate cake with chocolate icing and sprinkles on top. I asked Bobby to bring home some ice cream on their way home from fishing and to please let Landis pick out the flavor. They brought home vanilla and STRAWBERRY swirl and a bottle of strawberry SYRUP!!! YUK!!! The kids loved it.

BTW, I got 1 rail upholstered for the side of Grace's bed this past Saturday.

I'll post pictures another time. I don't want to wear myself out with too big of a post. :)

We've been in Texarkana for two weeks. And we'll be here 2 more days. It's been fun. I'm always one that likes to plan a trip and travel and do something different than what we've been doing. But I will say that I can tell a difference in the children, especially




Faith. She's been crying a LOT and talking back. But she has been going to the potty and growing up in so many ways. Today she swam the length of the big pool with her little







floaties on her arms. She'll say things like "Guys! Guys!" when Landis and Hope are arguing. Or she'll say, "Mom, let's go potty!" and she'll run as fast as she can to the bathroom and look back to see if I'm following. In a sing-song way she'll say, "GOOD night, Mommy!" She's a very good singer too. She'll often sing when I'm in a store like Wal Mart and she's not quiet about it. She sings loudly until it draws attention. I'll simply say to the observers that I don't know about them but I always have music when I shop. :) Last week she was singing "Jesus, Jesus how I trust Him..." so I decided to sing with her. Well...I didn't sing quite as loudly as she did.




I think the biggest problem with the children is our diets. I'm not cooking as much but we've only eaten fast food 3 times since left the house on the 27th of May. We've eaten "camp food". I call it camp food because it's things like hot dogs, hamburgers (from home) and sandwiches. Our friend Sheila actually brought us an entree one night. Delicious! The problem comes in when churches have finger foods after a church service the kids load up on cookies and cake and cupcakes.

The first 4 days we were here Bobby attended a festival in Jefferson, Texas while the children and I played in the pool and visited the library, Wal Mart and Papaw & Mamaw's house. On Sunday the 1st of June we sang at Sylverino Baptist Church in the evening service. The following 3 nights we were at New Hope Baptist Church for a revival and Friday night we sant at Centre West Baptist Church across town on the Texas side. Then we moved over to the Pentecostals and sang at an outdoor event put on by a couple of Church of God churches in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. The following morning we were at New Faith Tabernacle in Ashdown, Arkansas and finally Hope Family Fellowship Church, a Church of God of Prophecy in Hope, Arkansas. Today....we rested.

Tomorrow Landis and Bobby will go to Weatherford, Texas and sing at a Church of God minister's conference (CONTACTS!!!) and will spend the night at Bobby's sister, Sissy's home in Trophy Club (Dallas). The girls and I (and maybe Dad) will drive to Bonham, Texas the next day and meet Bobby and Landis for a final Wednesday night singing. Thursday morning we'll head home. Dad has been visiting his sister, Sue in Ketchum, Oklahoma since Memorial Day weekend and will be joining us here in Texarkana tomorrow (Tuesday). He'll travel back to Tennessee with us on Thursday.

We will be homeschooling this coming school year. There's really no way to travel like we've been with the children and keep them in the public school. It's not something I ever wanted to do. I've tried to think of a way around it but unfortunately there's none. I realize it will be challenging, to say the least, but I will try to stay relaxed about it and remind myself that it may take the entire school year to figure out what works best for us and how we will make it work. I've asked for a lot of advice and I've received a lot of advice - all very helpful.

I've got so many things to do when I get home like get some paperwork completed for United Cerebral Palsy to get a ramp built and concrete poured in the driveway. And I have to select an umbrella school and sign up for homeschool by the end of this month.

I don't like to ignore my blog for so long but I honestly don't have time to blog like I'd like. And no, I don't have much opportunity to blog when I'm lounging by the pool in Texarkana because my husband is on the computer all day. It's what he does for a living now.

I'll be leaving here soon. I'm a little sad but mostly glad to headed home.

Another weekend, this time an extended one, on the road with the Bowen Family...or maybe I should say, "The Bowen Arrows." (smile) What a time we HAD!!! God is so awesome and gracious to us. There are so many wonderful things to remember and write down so I'll get started and TRY to keep it brief and just cover the highlights.

Bobby sang in Hughes, Arkansas Wednesday night, February 13th to a crowd of about 20 people at the Hughes Church of God. A life-long friend of Bobby's, Daniel Attaway and his wonderful wife, Pat, pastor this little church. Hope sang and I shared for just a few minutes and we had an altar call. People responded in that little crowd and tears were shed. If I could sum the evening up in 1 word it would be "sweet." We dressed the children in their pajamas and drove on across the state to Texarkana after the church service arriving at Bobby's parents' home at 2:00 a.m.

We spent Thursday and Friday at Papaw and Mamaw's house just working on homework, cleaning out the van, going for a walk, playing Shang Hai and Farkle and of course watching TV. Bobby spent most of his time emailing pastors and making phone calls.

On Saturday afternoon, Bobby, Landis and Hope took off for Hugo, Oklahoma where Bobby sang in a concert put together by Jerry Tims. "JT" and his family group, Chosen, sang as well as a couple of other local groups. The next morning Bobby (and Hope) sang at a small church in Bogata, Texas - another booking by JT. And, finally, the highlight of the weekend, a Sunday night concert in Reno, Texas at Canaanland Church of God, JT's home church. My mother and father-in-law, Bob & Tena, rode the 80 miles from Texarkana to Reno with Grace, Faith and I. Bobby's sister, Judy, her son, Aaron and his girlfriend, Mitzi also drove out. The young pastor, Brien Sturgill and his beautiful wife, Shannon, have 3 great children and are the easiest people to meet and get acquainted with. They immediately made us feel so welcome and comfortable.



JT and Chosen opened up the evening with a few songs and my old-time Pentecost father-in-law told me later he felt the Holy Spirit so strongly in the room from the first song.

Bobby sang several songs and had Hope come up to help him sing a song. Hope has also started helping Bobby with the old favorite "Down By The Tabernacle" when Bobby splits the church down the middle and has the two sides duke it out with who can be the loudest when chanting their assigned phrases in the chorus. Hope stands next to Bobby and points to the side when it's their turn to sing. That's the "not-so-serious" part of the program and then after receiving the offering he's been having me come up and share for a few minutes. I only spoke for 5 minutes and then Bobby and I sang "Is It True" (Dan Smith) and then Bobby turned it over to Pastor Brien for the altar call. Many people responded and the praying and crying went on for several minutes. I had gone back to my seat and as the praying at the altars subsided, the Pastor took the mic and began to speak words of encouragement to Bobby and then to me. Then he hesitated just a bit but asked if it would be ok to pray for Grace. Of course that was fine with us and as we wheeled Grace up to the front of the room, there was a thick gathering of people around her. Bobby's nephew, Aaron, who is knowledgeable of the Word of God but doesn't know the Lord, came up to the altar and draped his arms over my shoulders and began to weep. I had been praying for Grace but then put my hand on Aaron's head and began to pray over him. Then I heard the pastor's voice on the other side of Aaron begin to speak, "Young man I don't what season of life you're in right now..." and he began to pray for Aaron. Praise the Lord!

Again, as the praying subsided, the pastor took the mic and again, hesitated just a moment but explained that although he doesn't normally do this he had such a strong urging from the Lord to say something to us that the Lord gave him to say. He began to prophesy some things over Bobby and I and it was powerful. He talked about God furthering and growing the ministry that He has for Bobby and he included me and then he said that we would see a "progressive" healing with Grace. Well, when he said the word progressive, what he was saying was confirmed in my spirit because that word has been a common thread over the past 9 years of Grace's life. There have been others that have prayed over her and have received that same word in their spirit.

Even though it took us an hour and a half to drive back to Texarkana and it was very late, we still didn't fall asleep right away when we got home. We were on such a high.

By noon Monday we were headed back to Tennessee and chatted with Pat Attaway from Hughes on the way. She told Bobby that something was started in their church the Wednesday night before and it was reflected in the altars on Sunday morning. She and Daniel were very excited. Praise the Lord!

We had a good drive back but there were so many poopy diapers on the way that it took us 10 hours to get home!!!

Here's the best part: when Bobby walked in the door after work Tuesday evening he told me he had spoken to Brien Sturgill from Reno, Texas. Brien had great news and said that 3 people were saved at their church Sunday night!!! Also, 2 young people told him that the concert Sunday night was the best concert they'd ever been to. Now...either those young people don't get out much or the Holy Spirit was working through a guy and his guitar, a 5 year old singing, "Jesus Loves Me," a wife who enjoys speaking and feels called to do so but is still very green and a silent little girl in a wheelchair. God can use anybody and I am so excited to be an "anybody" He can use. Wow. I've always heard people say, "I'm so humbled," and have believed them but didn't understand them. Now I understand. I know me and my family and how inadequate we are ...so I know it was GOD that moved in the hearts of those people Sunday night.

Another huge blessing was that the children missed NO school. I almost stayed home with Grace and Faith this past weekend because I was concerned about Grace missing so much school...3 days. However, Bobby encouraged me to go and I did. When we left Wednesday morning it was snowing heavily. School had been canceled because of freezing rain the night before and church was canceled that night - so we didn't miss that either! The children already had Monday off because of President's Day and when we arrived home we learned that Robertson County schools had been closed Thursday and Friday as well. Ha ha! Boy would I have been ticked if I had decided to stay home! God is good!

On January 12, Bobby debuted his solo career! He sang at my Dad's church, Plato Christian Fellowship in Lagrange, Indiana on Sunday morning and at his cousin, Ricky Bowen's church, Victory Temple in Muncie, Indiana that night. But on Saturday the 12th, he sang in a bar! Ha ha. Yes, my brother arranged for him to sing at Welch's in Sturgis, Michigan on Saturday night. When Joel called to ask Bobby about it, Bobby hesitated but I encouraged him to go for it, remembering the place as Welch's Steak House where Grandma and I had eaten a couple of times. I knew there was a bar in the restaurant and a small stage but I didn't realize until we drove in that the business is KNOWN as a bar now. Yeah...Welch's Sports Bar and Grille! Alrighty! It was great. He did so well, singing his praise and worship and Christian country to the heathens. I hope someone heard something that night that ministered to them. I told Bobby that's where we ought to be preaching and singing. However, we're not gonna make a habit of it. Welch's paid him well and the crowd seemed to receive him well enough. He sold one CD for the evening when he went in early to do his soundcheck. It worked out well that he didn't sing until 9, so I was able to put the kids to bed and leave them with Dad. My cousin, Kurtis, sang and played from 11 - 1:00 and that along with Bobby's appearance drew several family members out so I had a lot of people to talk to and hang with.

Sunday morning we pulled into the gravel parking lot next to the little white country church on US 20 about 5 miles east of Lagrange and Hope cried, "Oh Grandpa has a BEAUTIFUL church!" Funny! Bobby had his first church concert/program/service and it went great. We got to see a bunch more family and had a wonderful meal in the church basement afterward. Oh and Hope sang a solo, Jesus Loves Me. I was so proud of her. She wasn't bashful, she kept a perfect tempo and pitch and she didn't hesitate a second when Bobby asked her if she wanted to come up and sing a song. Landis can sing but he's too self-conscious...wonder who he gets that from? Plato paid Bobby very well and he sold nearly 30 CDs!

After lunch we headed two hours south to Muncie. I fed Grace a smoothie I had made at Dad's that morning while Bobby set up and did his sound check. Ricky had asked ahead of time if I'd be prepared to give a testimony that evening so I took about 5-10 minutes and shared. I didn't want to take too much time because, believe it or not, Bobby talked and talked and talked. He was so concerned about talking on stage but he didn't have any problem Sunday morning or Sunday night...except that he didn't sing enough! Anyway, I kept it short ...and spiritual (hee hee), Bobby and I sang, "Is It True" (Dan Smith) and then he and Ricky had an altar call and several people responded and THEN Ricky had Bobby and I come up together and he laid hands on us and prayed over us!!! That was the highlight to me! Totally unplanned and Spirit-led. It was kind of like a prayer of dedication or sending off.

Victory Temple had a couple of hotel rooms for us (Dad was with us too) and so after being treated to Pizza Hut, we retired to our rooms and got settled to sleep. It's not easy taking our children to a hotel. Grace needs most, if not all of a bed to herself. She kicks whoever she's sleeping with until they wake up and you never want to lay anyone on a hotel floor - yuck. However, this was a Holiday Inn Express and very clean and nice! With the two rooms we could put the 2 middle children in a room with Dad. Grace could have the lower 2/3 of a bed in our room while we divided the top 1/3 with pillows so Faith could have her own space - about the size of her crib. Grace was so tired, and I think, comfortable, that she slept throught the whole night and didn't wake anyone else. Faith, on the other hand, took a while to settle down and then fell out of bed just before daylight. Overall, it was a restfull night and the kids enjoyed Disney TV while I slaved over a great continental b'fast and brought it up to the room for them. Grace was enjoying her instant oatmeal and Disney so much that she screamed when I wheeled her out of the room and down to the lobby. She kinda liked the hotel life and didn't want to leave it. Ha!

God blessed us so richly through this weekend. He was with us every moment and prepared the way for us so well. We couldn't have asked for anything more. Bobby actually made twice as much money as he had expected to, the kids behaved very well, our van ran very smoothly and I could feel the prayers of friends working. God is good. Bobby asked me at one point if I'd like to travel with the family every weekend. Funny thing is I was thinking about that very topic at that moment. I told him it wouldn't be too bad if we had a full-size van with a lift and got in a routine. However, I wouldn't want to miss my church EVERY weekend.

We had an easy ride home and Dad stayed with us here all of last week. He left on Monday morning to stay at the Kelso's. He may be back next week or he may go home. He's retired so I guess he can do whatever he wants.

We're looking forward to another family weekend - this time to AR, OK and TX. Bobby's folks are in Texarkana and he'll be singing in Southeast OK and Northeast TX February 16th and 17th.