Prayer

Caleb will be going to the hospital tomorrow morning, so I just wanted to ask for your prayers.  He's getting an endoscopy as a check up since he hasn't had one for several years. His acid reflux can sometimes change the cell lining of the throat and predispose you to throat cancer so the doctor just wants to make sure that hasn't happened. 
We'll be leaving around 5:45 am, so we're going to get some shut-eye pretty soon! 


We have had such an awesome 4 day weekend together, and to top it off, our lesson we taught tonight at AWANA went so well. We definitely felt the Holy Spirit leading us to instruct His word to the middle schoolers. 


Angel has been doing really well in her kennel while we're away. We look forward to the day when she is weened from the kennel and we can trust her to roam around the house freely. Still praying....!!!! We bought her a new bone, and she is absolutely loving it!  

happy gowans!

I just wanted to update since I have some time on my hands right now. Caleb and I have been enjoying our time together since he's been back. The rest of his unit just returned this past Wednesday from their training in CA. We are so thankful that he was sent home early for us to reconnect and spend so many extra days together. 10 extra days might not seem like a lot to some people, but in the military, it's a really long time! God is SO good to us and we are so thankful for his blessings! 

For his birthday, we went to an awesome restaurant called Bistro by the Sea. A lot of our friends at our small group recommended the place and we are very glad they did! It's probably tied at first place on my top 5 restaurants here in North Carolina. 

Caleb and I enjoying his birthday dinner! 

I called beforehand and asked if they could surprise him at the end of dinner with a cake! They did, and even put a sparkler on the cake. =) 

Since the rest of his unit got back this weekend, the CO decided to give everyone an extra 2 days off this week! Again, another little joyful present that we appreciate! So, last night, we decided to be spontaneous and order from a Chinese restaurant that everyone likes here in Havelock. We definitely ordered WAYYYY too much food, but we're glad that we did because we liked almost all of it.  It wasn't bad at all (minus the egg rolls), but it doesn't hold a candle to my dad's cooking! We ordered lemon chicken, house special lo mein, house special rice chop suey, schezuan beef, 2 orders of egg rolls, and 2 orders of spring rolls. Yeah, we definitely had leftovers. Lots of leftovers. 

Tonight we'll be heading out to hang out with some of Caleb's friends. One of them, Brent, recently got back from his deployment to Afghanistan, so we're lookin' forward to some good company and lots of fun!

Happy Friday to everyone. Have a great and awesome weekend!  

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day to all my family and friends. Even though Valentines day should be expressed EVERY day, I want you all to know that we love you and hope you feel loved on this day.

I also want to share a HUGE blessing that happened over the weekend. Caleb told me about a week ago that he will be coming home around Feb. 21st. The earliest that he would have been back was the 17th (his birthday!), so I was a little sad that we were going to miss celebrating it together.

Last Thursday, he called...to ask if I could pick him on Saturday night! Apparently, there's a course that he has to take here at Cherry Point that starts today, and his CO sent him back early to complete it before the deployment!!!!!! SO, he came back around 11:40pm on Saturday night and even though we were SUPER tired on Sunday, we're both very happy that he's home early. I couldn't be happier or feel more blessed than I do now.

Happy V-Day everyone! (he surprised me with a gorgeous bouquet of roses)

"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and truth." (1 John 3:18)

Blessed by visitors!

I love the blessing of family. I am so thankful to have such wonderful family in my life. This past weekend, my aunt Mia came down from Boston to visit and I had such a great time showing her my house and my life here in North Carolina. She came with her friend Diana and her 3-year-old daughter, Emmy, who picked her up from the airport in Raleigh. What a blessing to share the weekend with family and new friends! It was definitely a visit full of laughter and good times! 

A picture is worth a thousand words, so instead of writing about everything, I'll post pictures we took over the weekend. *caution: there'll be a lot of pictures in this post!* 

(photo credits by aunt Mia...I just uploaded all the pictures from her camera!) 

Coming into the base. Since they had their own car, I had to meet them at Pass & ID for them to obtain a pass to enter the gates. 

Showing off Angel's tricks. This is her "sit pretty!" 

Good girl Angel!

I hide a treat in one of my hands and she has to pick which hand it's in. She picked the right one!

This is her newest trick! When I start dancing and moving my hips she jumps up and dances with me! 

Praying before we eat and thanking God for all His blessings! She doesn't eat the treat until I say "Amen!" 

This is Diana and her daughter Emmy. Emmy was terrified of Angel, but each day was an improvement! She was even able to walk around the house (for a little bit) without her mom carrying her! We went to the dog park and she even threw some sticks for Angel. Yay Emmy!

Emmy would only throw at a distance, but I think she really enjoyed it! 

Angel just LOVES to fetch sticks! 

Taking the stick from her is sometimes the hardest thing to do! 

Aunt Mia took one of my favorite pictures of Angel. This just totally encompasses my lovely Angel! 

Walking back from the park. I'm so proud of how calm Emmy was with Angel next to her. 

My lovely Aunt Mia, Emmy, Angel and me in front of Buchanan Drive! 

Here's a pic of the front of our house

We went down to the river to find some seashells! 

A beautiful day to be out to enjoy the view

Each one of us...deep in thought...looking out into the horizon...

Back at home, Aunt Mia took some pictures of my house...here's a pic of the dining room in the Gowan household...

One section of the living living room...

The other side of the room. I love how adorable Emmy is! 

On our way to historic downtown New Bern!

We explored the Tryon Palace. It was completed in 1770 and served as the 1st permanent capitol of North Carolina and home to the Tryon family.

Some of the people dressed in costume.

A rifleman demonstration

Aunt Mia and I with one of the officers who taught us a lot about life back in the 1770s! 

Us with a woman from back in the day...

Headed to the stables!

Trying to get Emmy to come up to take a picture with me...

...but she didn't want to! So, I had to take one myself!

We weren't able to take any pictures of the inside of the palace, but we were able to take more of the garden outside. 

They had ALL sorts of vegetables and spices growing. Here's their lettuce garden...amazed at how big the lettuce is!

Picture outside with Diana and Emmy!

Walking around, we spotted so many bear statues...here's a picture of one of them!

We stopped by a gourmet cupcake store and indulged...

I definitely indulged...it was an amazing mint chocolate chip cupcake. Yum!

We were so hungry after our tour of the palace, so we stopped by Bojangles and indulged some more!

The next day, we made an Indonesian snack called jalan kotek...here's a picture of the filling.

Frying the yummy treat.

I didn't realize how hard it was to roll dough!!! My first time doing it...

Practicing on perfecting the technique so I can make some for Caleb when he comes home from training.

Finished product.

Enjoying the deliciousness. 

And lastly, an Indonesian cake called lapis surabaya that Diana taught us to bake. We didn't take any pictures of the process, but we sure had so much fun baking in the kitchen. We stopped for a moment to take some pics from my webcam!

LOVE this picture. It just captures the happiness and laughter we shared!

Thank you Ie Mia and Diana and Emmy for visiting me and Angel. We loved having you guys here and want you to know you are always welcomed in casa Gowan. We love you and come back soon!