Letton Hall Retreat

Over Thanksgiving we had an awesome opportunity to go away with some friends for a few days of fellowship and fun! There were about 30 of us staying at the Hall and then aonther 30 came up for a Thanksgiving Feast.



We stayed at beautiful Letton Hall, a Christian run retreat center. It was about an hour away from home, just far enough to feel as though we did get away for a while. There was no agenda for the retreat which was great. The only thing scheduled was our Thanksgiving feast and our “Go Cart” times. Yes, they had an onsite go carting track! Even though it was quite small, only 4 cars racing at one time, it was a blast! The children got along beautifully, there was so much for them to do! There was a game room in the basement where the children often dissapeared to. We own Letton Hall a box of ping pong balls though! The adults stayed up way to late playing Mad Gab. It was so awesome! It was truely a blessing for us.


Here is my man racing.



Asking the British to host a Thanksgiving Dinner for us was a bit weird but they did an amazing job!! The tables were so beautifully decorated and they even had small American flags in the centerpieces. They truly went above and beyond! It was such a blessing.





Here is a picture of one of the roads leading to Letton Hall, it was so picturesque! God sure did an amazing job when he created and colored this beautiful country.




I pray that each of you had an equally blessed Thanksgiving!!

Our Italian Adventure

Last month we had an awesome opportunity to tour Italy with our dear friends the Macdonalds. We rented a house near Pisa and traveled all around Italy! One week is certainly not enough time to see this gorgeous country.


Here are a couple pictures of our accomodation.






Our first sunset from our dinning room.





Chinque Terra


On Friday we went to Chinque Terra or the 5 cities. These 5 cities are only accessible by train. They were so pretty.








Pisa


On Saturday we visited Pisa. We had a blast posing with the Tower of Pisa. There was a beautiful church on the grounds. There was a wooden door that had numerous panels. In each panel was carved a scene from the life of Christ. It was amazing. As we entered the Church I had to put on a covering made of what seemed like Dryer Sheets because my shoulders were exposed. Everyone, but me, got a huge kick out of this!









Someone, I believe one of the boys, recommended that we take a bike tour! What were we thinking agreeing to such a thing??? Two adults peddling for 5 was not fun! We had a good laugh though.





Venice


On Sunday morning we set off for the 4 hour journey to Venice! It was such a remarkable city. It is amazing that this city is built on the water. We had to take a "water bus" into the actual city. The kids had so much fun feeding the birds in the city square. We went on a toured Gondola ride and I am so glad we did! We got to see parts of the city that we wouldn't have been able to see on foot. Can you imagine a City without cars??









Florence


On Monday we traveled to Florence to see the Statue of David. Of course, Monday is the day the Museum is closed! So, we had to settle for a copy! The kids sure got a kick out of all the naked statues.




Rome


By Tuesday we were all wiped out so we decided to take the train into Rome. Praise God we did because Brian ended up getting really sick! We went into the Coliseum. I am so glad we did! I enjoyed all the history we got from our tour guide. I can't even begin to imagine the sights, sounds and smells of what really happened in the Coliseum all those years ago! Learning more about Rome next year with our Home school curriculum will be a lot of fun.








We used our final day in Italy for some R&R by playing UNO with all 10 players and by visiting the American Beach. The setting of this sun brought a wonderful close to our journey. It was absolutely stunning!





Of course our time in Italy wouldn't have been complete without some Pizza and Gelato! Let me tell you, we often heard others rave about gelato. What's the big deal, I thought, it's just ice cream! I know now, there is nothing like Gelato!! Eventually Gage told me he was tired of pizza, because the boys ordered pizza every night! I offered to order him pasta but he refused and happily ate his pizza! Brian on the other hand ate Seafood pasta every night! YUK!!!

We are so thankful for such a great vacation with such great friends!! We praised God on our flight home for his grace!! Ken had said he was thankful that we weren't on separate ends of the plane and in a huge fight! For our first vacation with friends it was great! Our boys all got along beautifully. We are now planning our next trip together!! Spain? Ireland? A cruise??

14 Year Journey

Last month Brian and I celebrated our 14 year Journey. The first few years of this journey were tough and there were times when we thought our journey together would end. But now, 14 years into our journey together, we know that is no longer an option.





I thank God for such a great husband. In our quiet times together we have been sharing about unity in a marriage. I am so blessed to have a husband who desires unity and growth every day.





I know that there are couples who are so focused on their children that they forget to focus on one another. Then comes the day when the last child leaves the house and there sits a husband and a wife who don't even know each other. I pray this not be the case with Brian and I.

How Beautiful it is...

I have not been feeling well the last couple days and the boys have been such a blessing. I woke up yesterday morning to all three of the boys sitting at the kitchen table with their Math out and started. It simply brought a smile to my face. Then later in the day I was having a "Callgon Take me Away" moment and I just listened to the boys. Levi asked Gage to read his math question to him. Gage worked so hard to read all the words. Then Hayden jumped in and read the rest to Levi. It was precious! Then Hayden and Gage continued on teaching Levi how to work out his problem. I said to myself, this is what home-education should look like! All three of them working together as a team. It was beautiful.

The boys are all thriving! I am exhausted!! Hayden and Gage are working on the same level in math and they are totally motivated by each other. I have been letting them choose their pace and they are on week 7 and we are only in the 3rd week of school. Levi has days where he is totally motivated and then other days I have to set the timer to motivate him. It has after 8:00 am and he is still not awake so it may be an interesting day here!

We still need to incorporate geography and Spanish into our day. During the first couple weeks I tried to fit everything in and it was just too much. We would all loose patience with each other. Now that we are getting into the groove I am going to try again next week.

Back to school

We started school yesterday and it was alot of fun. We are going to study Cultures and Climates around the world this year. The boys started yesterday off with a Pretest labeling all the countries they know. This lead to groans and even a few tears because they really didn't know any. I took the pretest too and I didn't do very well either! But hopefully at the end of the year we will all score better on the final test. The boys also had to fill out a Passport application so we can "travel" to different countries!

The boys have been doing thier math program for about 3 weeks and they each love it!! I have to motivate Levi with a timer though. He sat one day for just short of 2 hours writing 1-20. So, the next day I told him he needed to finish his work in 20 minutes. He had SO much fun beating the timer! He finished 3 worksheets in 30 minutes!! Hayden and Gage are on the same level book so they totally motivate each other. If one gets a little ahead the other is totally motivated to catch up.

The boys also started Piano Lessons yesterday. They all had so much fun. I pray that this will give them each a passion for music.

Yesterday we started off great!! We were all up and ready to start school at 8:30, today I have to admit that we are slacking a bit! But thankfully the first week has an easy load.

Ok, I gotta get moving!!

Schools out for the Summer...

Schools out forever!

This is the song I was singing all day on Friday! I decided several months ago to home school all 3 boys next year! I waited in anticipation of the last day my boys would attend Beck Row Primary School! I had the uniforms completely removed from the boys closets before we left for school! I walked back and forth for the last time! It was like a weight was lifted from my shoulders even though it was raining cats and dogs!!

I know for certain that homeschooling my boys is exactly what God wants for our family!! There are times when I am scared to death but those are totally outweighed by the excitement that I have for the future! I think that the boys will thrive with the one on one that they will be receiving. Especially in the areas they are behind in! I also have a friend who has decided to home school her 2 children and she is using the same curriculum so I have a friend to journey with!

Our Greek Honeymoon

Brain recently had to go to Greece for a month for work. My dear friend Stacy asked me if she could take the boys so I could go visit Brian. YES, was my answer! Time alone on a beautiful island with my husband. As we looked at flights we realized that it would be half the price to go for a entire week, $560 verses $960 for 4 days. We opted for the week. When we booked my flights it had dropped down to $245.

I have never left the kids for more then 2 days and I prayed that I would be able to relax and enjoy my time with Brian! That I did!! I was able to relax so much that I didn't carry a purse or wear a watch. We had such an amazing time together! We walked beaches hand in hand. It was the honeymoon we never had.

Brian only had to work 3 morning while I was there which was an amazing blessing! We had so much time together. We went to several beaches, Brian windsurfed, we hiked up a gorge to reach a cave that was amazing, went on a cruise and we went to a water slide park. The hotel that Brian stays at was stunning. It is overlooking the Channa Harbor. It was amazing to eat breakfast every morning on the balcony and just enjoy the views.

Brian always does his shopping at a store named Venus. When Brian took me into meet John and Zula they asked if they could take us out to dinner. So, we met them on my last night at 10:00 pm. They took as to a little Greek restaurant! Their daughter and her husband joined us too. We ended up moving to a bigger table because we had so much food. It really was like in the Greek movies, EAT EAT EAT, they would say. There was NO extra room on the table, in fact the waiter brought in chairs on each corner of the table to put more food. By 1 am every bowl and plates was empty. I couldn't believe that we, they, ate all that food. I would only try the stuff that I knew!! It was such a great experience!!

Hopefully Brain will have at least one more trip to Greece for before we leave the UK, we would love to take the boys.

Oh, and the highlight of our trip!!!! The commander called everyone to the Bar so he could announce the promotions. I went with Brian up to the bar, a little awkward as I am the only wife there. The commander said that 2 men in the room made Master, he announced the first. They always announce these in alphabetical order so I was certain that Brian didn't' make it. And I thought, OK Lord, I trust that you brought me here to lighten the blow for Brian! I did briefly wonder how the rest of our time together would be. Then the commander continued by saying "The second one is extra special as his wife is here!!" I just wept! I was so happy him. The month before testing he had to make a choice to either study or write a program for work. He knew that he couldn't give 100% to both, so he decided that it would benefit his squadron more to have the program up and running!! After all they are Master Sgt heavy!! We knew when the commander announced his name that he had made the right choice!! I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to be there with Brian. I wasn't there to lighten the blow, I was there to be able to rejoice and celebrate with him.

Often times we are so focused on life and our children that we don't always focus on each other enough. Sometimes I worry about what life will be like when it is just Brian and I alone, after all the boys have gone. But I don't need to worry now, I know that we will have a great time just enjoying each other presence. In fact, Brian told me that he looks forward to when it is just the two of us again!!

First Blog

I decided to start a blog so that our friends and family could keep up with the latest happenings in the Bowers family!! I hope you enjoy it!