Big surprise!~By Kyle (well, not the surprise, per se, but the post!)

Our mission this week: surprise the grandparents in AZ! Papa and Grammie (Ted's parents) have a way with surprises. They have taken a couple of surprise trips to WA when we least expected . . . so, we decided to get them back! ;0)  And then, more fun visits with Grandpa and Grandma,
and Papa Bob and Meemom!

 

Benny was very excited! (he started packing his clothes a week before we left)

 



Of course, he was not the only one excited!

 

This is how we communicate between our truck and camper

 

 

And speaking of our truck and camper . . .

 

 

We quads played some hilarious games of Slamwich during the 24 hour (between two days) ;0) drive to AZ. I think all of us arrived in AZ with our hands looking like we had tried to pick a tomcat up by the tail! ;0)

 

 

Playing in the pool after a long day of travel!

 

 

We pulled into Phoenix at 7PM on Thursday underneath a beautiful sunset! And it was still 90 degrees!!!! (which makes a certain few of us very happy [smiles broadly]. As for the rest of the family, well . . .) ;0)

 

 

We drove straight to the scene of the surprise! 
Here we are descending under cover of darkness to extract revenge on one of their own . . .

 



We found their vehicle . . . (Muhahaha!)

 



 

We found the church building they were meeting in . . .

 

And Voila! A perfect surprise was carried out (as you can see by Grammie's face) ;0) Papa (in the blue t-shirt) continued to walk a little ways, until . . .

 



 

 . . . Grammie dropped her things and let out a slightly bloodcurdling scream! We were surprised when no one called the police . . .

 



 

It's okay, Grammie; we're not ghosts!

 

And then Papa caught on . . . (do men cry?)

 



 

I think Grammie hugged us all to make sure we were real . . . .

 



 Opinion poll: after studying their faces, who do you think was more surprised: Grammie or Papa?

Look! Two generations of Bowes clan leaders!

 

Grammie finally coming to the conclusion that we were really here . . . and that awkward moment where you are the only one smiling for the camera. ;0)

 



 

A big thank you to our co-conspirator, Aunt Debbie, on the far left! We couldn't have done it without her! And also, Daniel (cousin) and Sabra (cousin-in-law) wanted in on the surprise too . . .

 



 

Be watching for the video of this epic surprise soon!

 



 

No, we did not go completely loony after the epic surprise (though you might get that impression by looking closely at our faces in this pic)



 



 

Three generations of Bowes clan leaders! (okay, so one leader still in training) ;0)

(cue the awhhhh's) ;0)

 

Papa with a couple of the girls and a Snuck (Joe-Joe's nickname)! ;0)

 

 

Be looking for more pics of our AZ trip soon!  We have some great ones of our day yesterday with Grandpa and Grandma and today with Meemom! 
(gotta run to play mini-golf!!!) Life is good! :0P



Things to Dwell On

"Finally, brethren,

whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right,

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute,

if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise,

dwell on these things."

Phil. 4:8

 

First Week of April!

More goat kids have arrived this week!

This momma of triplets completely surprised Victoria and Caroline on Tuesday!

Victoria went out at 6:30am to check on the mom, knowing she was due to kid at any time.  

"Ace" didn't look like she was in labor quite yet, so Victoria came back in for family devotions.

Then, at 8am when she and Caroline went out for their routine morning feeding,

they found these cuties already on the ground! 

(2 bucks and a doe!)

 Then, just today, 2 more bucks were born to "Paintball."

She is a first time mom, so Victoria  assisted in the delivery.

On Friday, the boys requested that Lydia come over

to keep their now annual tradition of coloring eggs together! ;-)

She was happy to oblige, as she does love spending time with her bros!

 

 Benjamin enjoyed painting on the eggs with this little brush.

It all went fairly well for a while.

Then, he decided to dab the brush into every color before painting his egg.

It turned the egg a lovely greenish-brown color.

He said it was his "dirty frog" egg. : -)

 The end result is below!

Our daily-dose-of-cuteness,

was off the charts this week,

when all five of us girls went shopping on Thursday 

and just HAD to buy Brielle this adorable swimsuit and hat.

Not sure that she'll be needing it anytime soon,

but now is the time to buy such things. . . right?

And it makes for some very adorable pictures! : -)

Brielle also had another physical therapy appointment on Thursday morning,

and worked hard at showing her all she could do!  : -)

 ~ ~ ~ ~
Timmy had his second ballgame of the season on Wednesday night,
and his team won!!
I think the odds were stacked a little more in their favor this time on their home field . . .
with a score of 17-0!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Ted and Kyle will be returning home soon from our church's men's retreat,

and the girls are getting ready for helping lead worship at  church tomorrow.  Our pastor and a very dear brother-in-the-Lord recently requested a new song by the Getty's,

so the girls have been practicing it and think it will be ready for tomorrow!
It is such a beautiful song,
with very meaningful lyrics!
Click on the link below to enjoy it!

 

 Good Shepherd of My Soul ~ Keith and Kristyn Getty 



"Thanksgiving" Feast with Friends and Family . . .

Yesterday, on April 1st ;-),

we had our annual "Thanksgiving" feast and gathering of friends and family to

commemorate the Lord's leading and blessing on our journey from AZ to WA!!

 

Ten years ago,

 the Lord led us from the comforts of the familiar, friends and family,

to a strange ;-), unknown land,

where we didn't know a single soul.

It was really a "monumental" move for us in many ways.

At that time, we just had our older set of five children.

Lydia was 8 (almost 9), the quadruplets were 7,

and I was 10 weeks pregnant with Timothy.

It was such an exciting but scary time!

Ted's work allowed him to set up his home office anywhere within

a 125 mile radius from the Seattle office. 

So we drew a circle on a map around the Seattle office and began our search.

The Lord then led us very providentially to this little town of Mossyrock.

It is quite an amazing story of how He led us here!!

It will indeed go down in our family history as one of the most awesome testimonies

of God clearly directing our steps . . .

which included a final-hour major detour from a house offer in another town,

and the house that God had for us in Mossyrock being 124.99 miles from the Seattle office!!! 

Only God could do that!!!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And it wasn't long,

before we could see all of the good things the Lord had for us here . . .

like wonderful neighbors,

and the blessing of the Body of Christ here in rural WA.  

Bob and his beloved Marilyn  (Now enjoying the glory of heaven, but oh so missed by us all!!)

were some of the first to welcome us (and brush hog acres of tall grass for us)!!

We were soooooo blessed that he had Nate, his grandson, with him this week so he could join us! 

(Kyle and Nate have "grown up" enjoying each other's friendship,

 when Nate has been able to visit his Grandpa and Grandma here through the years.)  

 

Dean and Chris . . .

the best neighbors in the whole world.

They are such a blessing!

Dean has lived here most (if not all) of his life,

so he is full of awesome stories!!

So glad they could be here for our 10 year celebration!

 Gale and Jean . . .

are such special friends, mentors and fellow Mossyrockers.

We admire them so much, for their faithfulness to Jesus and life-long ministry to others.

We are sooooooo blessed to know them and have them near.  

We thank the Lord for them! 

 As much as we loved spending time with each and every guest last night,

I think getting acquainted with Gale and Jean's grandson, John Francisco,

was probably our family's highlight of the evening!

He was born and raised in Spain, has his masters degree in International Politics

and is currently living with Gale and Jean,

while the Lord leads him to the perfect job.

And oh my, was he ever fun!   

(As you can see by the big smiles in the following picture!)

We all enjoyed his friendliness and humor immensely!!!  

We were also delighted to have the newest neighbor on our hill, Jim,

join us this year!

Being from Alaska, he and Gale had lots in common and many stories to share.

He is a great neighbor, and we're so happy to also call him "friend!"  

 

Of course, our sweetest, most special neighbors are our beloved sister/aunt and niece/cousin!!!

We are so blessed to have them just a hop-skip-and-a-jump away now,

and are so thankful for their love and friendship!!  

WE LOVE YOU (and McKenna, too!)

"The girls!!!"

So glad to have Lydia's lovely presence and all her help!!! 

Love you!!!

We sure missed this guy . . .

When Richie isn't working hard at his job or on their farm,

or spending time with his family,

he is saving lives and structures from fires as a volunteer firefighter.

(He got paged just before dinner last night for a fire in a nearby town.) 

We are so proud of him and love him so much!!!

Richie is one of the biggest blessings within God's great plan in moving us to Mossyrock!!!

We thank God for such an amazing son-in-love!! 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Okay, now let the feast begin!

 The chilvarous men waiting patiently for the ladies to go through the buffet line first.

 Oh, boy . . . the time has come for them to dive in!

This was John Francisco's first "Thanksgiving" experience.

He wasn't familiar with most of the foods,

but after the meal, he gave a "thumbs up" review! : -) 

 "The young men!" 

 Brielle was, of course,

the center of attention after dinner! : -)  

 Then came the traditional Thanksgiving desserts!

Apple, pumpkin and pecan pie a-la-mode, 

and Chris' delicious apple crisp!!!

 Big brother feeding little sister her dessert! : -)

Thanks so much, friends and family,

for this very fun and special evening!!! 

We enjoyed every minute, and will treasure the sweet memories we made!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

THANK YOU, LORD,

for leading us here, and for ALL the many blessings you've bestowed! 

Timmy's 1st Ballgame of the Year!

With much excitement in the air,

this long-awaited day was finally here . . .

THE 1ST BALLGAME OF THE YEAR!

 

Timmy was soooo excited!
(And a little nervous, too!)

 

 The very first game of the season is always extra special! 

So, in honor of this day and to make it even more festive and memorable,

sweet sister, Valerie, made baseball cake balls to bring to the game!

To add to the sweetness of this special occasion,

big sister, Lydia, lovingly made frosted sugar cookie baseballs! : -)

And then she and Richie drove all the looooong way to watch the game!

This sure meant a lot to Timmy!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thank you Richie and Lydia!

 

His two little brothers were also very excited to show their support!

 

 

While the team warmed up,

and got their last minute instructions . . .

 

 Timmy's cheering section warmed up as well!

Let the game begin!

 

 Timmy and his teammates played hard and did their best!



 

And the fans cheered,

(while trying to stay warm ;-)  . . .  

 

and when things weren't lookin' so good for our team . . .

the fans happily rallied . . .

and then got down-right serious about their rallying!  : -)

 

But to no avail!

I'm not sure what the score ended up being,

but I think there were some "mercy rules" applied.  ;-)

 

Timmy was a little disappointed,

but he soon got over it with one of Lydia's baseball cookies in hand!!