Happy 41 Bowdie!

I asked Bowdie what he wanted to do for his birthday.

He thought just a second and then said he wanted to go out.

Just me and him.  And our friends the Hendersons.

Just the 4 of us.

This kind of surprised me, as Bowdie is a real people person.

He loves a crowd.

But I think as he's starting to get older,

he values relationship more.

So I immediately scheduled with Mandy 

and then had her tell me where we should go.

She and Chad are our foodie-est friends.

And we love that about them!

We chose Rathbun's Steakhouse in Atlanta.

It did NOT disappoint.

Not one bit.

Wow.

The cut was called 

The server made serving it look like an art.

Truly.

Those onion rings were divine.

Pretty much everything was.

Dessert was these little ice cream balls dipped in hard shell chocolate

with toffee sprinkles on top.

Ah - mazing!

Happy birthday to the best man that I know.

You deserved all this and more!

Shake Dates!

We love Sonic.

Happy Hour and 1/2 price drinks/slushies is awesome.

But this summer, they did something even better:

1/2 price shakes after 8 p.m.!!

So one of the glorious things about having a 6th grader

and neighbors that we live so close to that we share a driveway,

is that we can put our boys to bed, leave a phone with them just in case,

and head out for a quick date.

We started calling them 

'1/2 price shake dates'.

They only lasted about 30 minutes ... but it was a fun time away,

just the 2 of us.

And it gives us a taste of the wonderful days to come ...

when its just me & him again.

LOVE!!

A New Season at NewBranch

This is a hard post to write.

Not because its a difficult subject,

but because its just difficult to put into words!

When we began visiting churches 3 years ago,

we knew that one main criteria for us was that there would be elder leadership.

Bowdie had been studying and reading and the Lord had really burdened him with the desire to have our family in this type of church structure.

Now, almost 3 years later, I can attest to what a blessing elders are to a church body.

They are truly servants of the church ...

they are prayer warriors

they are Word studiers

they are ministers to needs (spiritual & physical)

they are reconcilers

they are decision makers

they are protectors

they are faith sharers

they are encouragers

they are challengers

And the list could go on and on.

It is, indeed, a heavy, heavy burden they bear.

But I love that our pastor has them ... that he is not shouldering the burden of our church and the many decisions involved by himself.

It's truly beautiful.

Titus 1 has a list of qualifications of an elder.

And though not all men will become one,

our friend George once challenged Bowdie to live as if he were one ...

to look at these qualifications and strive to meet each one,

whether elder or not.

Here they are:

⁵ This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— ⁶ if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife,^[c] and his children are believers^[d] and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. ⁷ For an overseer,^[e] as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must notbe arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, ⁸ but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. ⁹ He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound^[f] doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

So, what does all this have to do with us?

Well, this year our church held nominations for new elder(s).

Two of our current ones were rotating off (one of them moving to Africa to be a full-time missionary - how awesome is that?!).

Several men nominated Bowdie.

Bowdie prayed, I prayed.

The process of evaluation began.

It took several months.

Books were read, questions asked, interviews done.

Lots of specifics.

Very thorough.

I was even interviewed!

YIKES!!!

In the end, our elders & church saw fit to appoint Bowdie.

He had a small commissioning time at the end of one of our Sunday services.

It was so special.

Not because he's a great man (I mean, I think he is and all ... ).

But because we serve a GREAT God,

who can take a simple guy who has a great love for Him,

and turn him into a servant leader ...

all for His glory.

Amen.

This was a time of question & response from our pastor, Ken,

to Bowdie, with the other elders there as well.

A time of prayer for Bowdie by Pastor Ken

and the other elders

Bowdie's Big Birthday Bash!

It all started with this note on Bowdie's mirror in the bathroom ...

Actually, it started way before that.

Like in November when I was wondering WHAT IN THE WORLD 

to do for his 40th.

Thanks to some encouragement from my friend Stacey,

I decided to do something that totally stresses me out ...

plan him a surprise party!

It was a combined effort on several fronts:

Stacey & Chuck let us use their basement for the party,

as well as came up with the rouse to get him down there.

Christa helped decorate,

Mandy photo'd the whole event,

Mom made the massive cake,

Bowdie's parents brought some awesome old pics.

Anyway, back to the story.

I posted the note on Bowdie's actual birthday.

He read and replied with a resounding YES!

The boys had basketball the day of our date ...

my parents took them after their game and off we went.

I planned for a BBQ lunch (Bo's fave) at Jim & Nick's.

Delish!

We then headed to the mall to shop a little and kill time.

We left there and I told him how to get to the nearest Massage Envy.

He didn't realize that was his treat.

My man LOVES a good massage!

While he was massaging away, 

I ran to the nearest Redbox to grab a movie -

just in case he wondered what we were going to watch once we were back at the house.

I also grabbed some donuts from Krispy Kreme.

When I got back, he was done and looking all droopy eyed & relaxed.

We jumped in the car to head home

and I secretly texted Chuck to call Bo in about 10 minutes.

So, as we're almost home, Bo's phone rings.

It's Chuck.  There's a water leak in his basement.

He needs Bowdie to come look.

He thinks its the ice maker again.

(this has really happened, so it wasn't a far fetched story at all!)

Bowdie talks him through some things to try.

Chuck says he's done them all.

At this point I KNOW that Bo has no idea about the party.

He's giving him way too much advice on how to fix the 'supposed' leak.

We pull up.

Bo gets out and heads over.

He tells me to come too.

I have a folder in my hand (for the party) and he asked why I have that.

I just tell him that its something I wanted to show Stacey!

We walk in and Chuck has played the part to a T.

His shirt is untucked & unbuttoned (he has on an undershirt!).

He has on no shoes.

He has a wrench in his hand and a frustrated look on his face.

He shows Bo the ice maker - that has water puddled in front of it.  Nice touch Chuck!

He then asks Bo to come with him to the basement to see the leak.

We walk down the stairs and just as Bo turns the corner ...

And a resounding chorus of 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow.'
It was perfect, I tell ya!

Some of the decor ... so fun!!

So many sweet friends & family came - it was amazing!!

Some shots of everyone just enjoying ...

as soon as Bowdie calmed down from the surprise,

I then took that folder I had and read to Bowdie some of the sweet & funny things

people had written about him.

(I had asked, in the evite, to answer 3 questions about him -

1.  the last time I saw him cry was ...

2.  when I think of Bowdie I think of ...

3.  favorite memory of/with Bowdie)

That was probably my favorite part of the whole party.

Because everyone loves Bowdie.

But not often does he get to hear why.

It blessed me big time, but I think it blessed him immeasurably more!

And the monster cake!

Thank you Nana!!

A few more fun shots ...

love the guys doing the Cleft sign ...

Such a fun night,

so many blessings.

I thought of the quote from 'Its a Wonderful Life' ...

"No man is a failure who has friends."

So, so true.

All evidence, once again, of God's GREAT grace!

Bo's 40th Birthday Day!

Even though the surprise party was in the works,

we had to be sure and celebrate Bo on his actual day.

I invited both his parents and mine over for dinner.

I was wracking my brain for what to fix ...

and then it hit me!

His absolute fave:  country fried steak

The very best cook of his fave:  his mama

And she, being the sweet and generous woman that she is, 

graciously agreed to make and bring his favorite.

Fun fact:  his dad helped make it too.

Seems that the 2 of them do a lot of cooking together in the kitchen!

It was absolutely delish.

And we topped it all off with a cookie cake from Nana,

complete with Bo's fave icing made by Nana!

So all in all, it was a fantastic 40th ...

{and he had no idea that the best part was coming just a couple of days later!}

Yes - it is absolutely every bit as delish as it looks ...

pretty sure Bo's mom could rival Paula Deen in all things cooking!

Notes from the boys ...

... with each of his favorite candies ...

Happy 39th!

Bo's birthday was spent at home, with just the 5 of us.

Since he gave up chocolate for the year,

I got Krispy Kreme doughnuts to celebrate!

(I know, he would've loved a pound cake more,

but we had just committed to starting P90X again!

I figured donuts were good because once you ate them,

they were gone!  Nothin' left around to tempt past his bday!)

Next year,

the BIG 4-0!!