happy 4th

so this week we got to play super patriotic americans and celebrate the fourth of july, the birthday of the u.s.a. we had fun with our friends in south bend but got rained out of the parade and fireworks. we were a bit depresses that it was the only 4th we will have in the states for four more years and we missed all the festivities. we did find out that the fireworks near our home town happened to have been canceled and were rescheduled for the day we got home! it might be silly to praise the Lord for fireworks but it was a really special night for our family and the girls loved it. so praise the Lord!!!!!! we have been doing so much traveling and are feeling a bit worn out. we have had late nights and long drives but as i said before lots of family time and lots of fun trips along the way (we stopped at the louisville zoo on our way home from kentucky last week. thanks to all who hosted us while we were there!). if and when we get all of our renewed faith promises in we will be at about 50% of our funds. now thats something to praise the Lord about. this time of home ministries has been so much better than last time. we are so encouraged and energized by the response of out team (old members and new ones) who are standing behind and sending us on to do this work in NZ!!! God is good and so are the people he has brought into our lives to support our family. thank you God for being so good to us!!!!!

new pic

so the new profile picture is just of me and averie but cail took the picture. that was as close to having a picture of all three of us as i could get. we are headed to kentucky this weekend and are looking forward to catching up with many of our team members there. we have a few churches in kentucky that have supported our family for almost four years now. it will be great to give them an update and see some familiar faces!!!

happy father's day

to all the fathers out there thanks for doing what you do!!!
to the father here at our house thanks for being a great dad and husband. we love you!!!
to our Father, thanks for showing us how to love!

more n.z. videos

right, now where is my cut for advertising??

a piece of home, away from home, away from home...

ok, so i know that is a weird title but it just shows the unique place of life we are in. it might sound totally outrageous to you, but it is beautifully wonderful to me that meijer(a local grocery/department store chain) now sells the brand of laundry detergent i used in n.z. i guess the bowlin's are just destined to always be homesick. here we are at "home" but yet we are still missing things that are familiar, friends, places, foods. how can that be if i am "home"? i suppose we have just created (or better yet God has created for us) more than one "home". it might just also help me remember that neither of these earthly places are really home at all. with that said watch the video!!!! if you are from the states, enjoy the accent, if you are from n.z. enjoy seeing something from your home!!! most of all i hope all of you know you are all a part of our "home" wherever that may be for the day!!!!!!

cail the photographer

i found a way to be in photos!!! i guess you have to teach them early but i think she might just be a natural. she loves to get her hands on the camera anytime she can. she does take a few odd shots of the ground but don't we all sometimes!!!

picnic with mama

i took the opportunity to enjoy the sunshine with the girls today. we are so glad to be having some summer at last. the wind was still chilly as it will be in may here in indiana but the signs of a long hot summer are here. we went to the indiana wesleyan university campus. much more grass there than we have in our yard. it is great to let cail and averie run and not have to be telling them to stop all the time.we have been home the last two weeks and not traveling as much the next few so we are taking advantage of being outside instead of being in the van. yes, averie is eating like she does most of the time but lets cut her some slack we were having a picnic!!!