We're back from Gatlinburg. We spent a couple of days in the woods in a cabin, making a few brief forays into Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. We watched the Dixie Stampede show by Dolly Parton (who only appears via video), visited Ripley's aquarium (they boast it's number one in the US), and saw fake snow. You should have seen Simon's face when he ate some. I don't know what he was expecting it to taste like. 
Hope everyone had a great holiday with family. We are so thankful for the time we got to spend with Lady Bug and Grandma Edie.
We'd never met Ella or Nate, so it was fun to finally see them and steal some hugs. It was also great to see Chip and Shelley. After the visit we were ready to move back into our little three-bedroom house down in Barão Geraldo, Brazil. 
Taking pictures of pumpkin heads... fun. Shopping for furniture with pumpkin heads... not fun.
This past Thursday Amy put just some of her talent on exhibition at the Perry Memorial Gym. She and some other teachers and past alumni lined up against the current girls Grace Cougars basketball team. While only managing 4 total points in the first half, the faculty/alumni team roared back and lost a nail biter at the end. Amy didn't score (this time), but pulled down some big rebounds and basically shut down whoever she was guarding.
So I'm an art teacher now. I've enjoyed it and when the students get down to business, I can even work on some stuff with them. We all worked on a portrait from a black and white photograph. Here's mine.
Seems like nowadays school takes up most of our time. Either we are all at Grace, since both of us are teaching now, and all the kids are enrolled there. Or I'm at FSU, either virtually or for real. And for all that time spent at school, are we getting any smarter? Heaps;)
All 3rd and 1st will not fight at reeses any longer or else! Anyone who disobeys will be arrested by M.D. on the playground. Especially Mason and Zoey they will be punished much more severely. Sined:
B.D., E.P.B, Simon D, Spence, John Y., Jared
PRESUMED PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEES MCCAIN AND OBAMA TO MAKE FIRST JOINT CAMPAIGN APPEARANCE ON AUGUST 16 AT SADDLEBACK CHURCH; Pastor Rick Warren to Host Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion and Question Candidates on Faith and the Common Good
LAKE FOREST, Calif., July 21 – Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, respective presumed Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, will end the primary season by making their first joint appearance of the 2008 campaign at Saddleback Church on Saturday, Aug.16 at the Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion. Dr. Rick Warren, founding pastor of the 22,000-member Orange County, Calif. mega church and moderator for the event, made the announcement today upon confirmation by both campaigns.
Summer is officially over. This weeks marks the kids' first full week back, which means homework, and early bedtimes. Simon is still using a removable cast (he left it at school yesterday). In just another week or so we find out if it's healed up completely.
We are making a hard right turn, trying to shift from Disney to school. Thanks to our friends Rupert and Zach we spent three days at Hollywood Studios and Epcot for "free". Lorena and Mirella were with us for part of the time. We all loved it. It was a great grand finale to our summer. Now it's back to school. Today is Lucy's first day. Amy started yesterday.
A few points about the picture: if you zoomed in you'd be sure to see millions of gnats buzzing our eyes and ears, and if you framed forward just a second you'd see the sour faces the boys had on most of the time (Braden was actually sick, which tends to happen a lot on picture days). That's the great thing about taking hundreds of shots, you're bound to get a few that turn out. The kids cooperated a good deal though considering the heat. And thanks Lena for the pictures!
First row (r-l): Simon Dowdy, Lucy Dowdy and John Adams Dowdy
This past week I received notification that I was accepted into Florida State's School of Information. I applied to the master's program for the fall. A few days before I got word that I was also accepted as a transfer student (undergrad) as a creative writing major for the spring. So just to update everyone, my plan is to start in the fall with Information Studies and then go from there. I would like to do both if I could. I just don't know if there'll be opportunity for that.
A seven-hour layover means almost 3 hours in the subway, Ray's Pizza and a ferris wheel ride.
So, we bought a new house last week. Hooray! We can't move in yet. The owner asked for two weeks to get his stuff out. That puts us in the middle of our trip to Brazil, so we'll just have to move in once we get back.
Does anyone know anyone that would be willing to lend their "drivey" RV to us this summer? We travel to Brazil for three weeks and get back on the 20th of June and will be out of a house. Also one of our friends is traveling back with us from Brazil and we would like to take her a few places here in the States: the beach, Savannah, to visit her sister in Birmingham. Nothing too extensive. I know it's a crazy request. But there's that every-person-in-the-world-knows-everybody-by-six-relationships rule. And that could make this possible.
We celebrated Simon's birthday after school on Friday. Almost all of his class and then some came over. We made paper airplanes, ate homemade ice cream and Sue Sue's airplane cake. Several of the kids barely left the porch, more interested in playing with the kitties. We only had one injury from the wrestling matches on the trampoline (another highlight). Happy Birthday Simon!
My cousin just forwarded me this picture of Braden... not everyday you get an out-of-the-blue email with a picture attached of your son, who-knows-where, holding a snake . It looks like he enjoyed it though, and he made it home okay from school.
I spent my last few days in Brazil trying to organize everything for the sale of our apartment and car and trying to straighten up any remaining obligations with taxes. My good friend Wellington was a lifesaver. He accompanied me for most of my appointments and helped me to see the right people. And now he continues to help move these things forward with me here.
Congratulations to Emerson and Monick! They were married this past Sunday in Teofilo Otoni... about 6 or 10 hours from Belo Horizonte depending on the traffic. I just got back into town and have a nice right-arm suntan to show from the ride back.
Karl Smart, long-lost fellow Bearcat, drove through town yesterday. He came over from Chattahoochee, where he had a plate of frog legs and mullet, a necessary plate for any visiting Californian. We extended the impromptu visit as long as we could: you've got to see our cats, go with us to the baseball game, look at our Attacktix, wait have some coffee. Thanks for coming, Karl!
Our friends Raul and Vivi are here this week and they brought us some povilho (manioc starch) from the Brazilian market in Atlanta. So, we made some traditional cheese bread that we haven't tasted since leaving Brazil.
Spring Break! We spent several days down at Mexico Beach. We had good weather; even enough to swim. We are now en route to Amy's nephew Trey's birthday party.
Anybody interested in kittens? Our neighborhood cat birthed five in our basement. They are tiny, striped, gray kittens.
With tax season full on for my dad, the boys and I have put in some time at the office to help manage the trash... shredding paper! Yes!!! We've shredded for almost 5 hours so far and still not finished.
Who knew shredding paper paid so well? It wasn't though the hundreds Braden had imagined getting.
"OM Mercy Ministries has started an emergency intervention. The team is providing food for 500 of the most vulnerable families in the worst regions. The goal is to support these families during the harsh winter months with food supplies, which will free up their own resources to buy heating material of their choice."You can read more about what OM is doing at my friend Brian Mount's blog or straight from Invite10.
Today Amy and I visited Simon's class to tell them about Brazil. Simon was so excited and loved that his class got to see his pictures and speak some Portuguese. I think probably the thing they'll most remember though is that we have giant frogs in Brazil. Which isn't entirely true, but fun for them nonetheless. They didn't quite catch what I was trying to say on that point.
Friday we went camping (all of us, even Lucy) behind my grandmother's house. That may sound a little too tame, and I wish it'd been a little more. At least I wished at the time. Now it makes for a good blog.
As I celebrate 33 years today I just wanted to thank everyone for the emails, phone calls, and all the general well-wishers I saw today. Thirty-three, hmmmm. It just strikes me as an odd age, an in-between, gapish age. Who's thirty-three? What have they done? I don't feel old; I just feel... thirty-three. Yet to be decided, I guess.
We saw Life In Rescue live last night at Big Jim's. Funny clash of worlds. Brian and Candace were in town so we decided to take them on the Dowdy Redneck Tour. Brian (and this is Brian talking) said it was the most redneck place he'd ever been. That's saying a lot from a guy who drove a jacked up truck with a confederate flag in the back window in college. 
We woke up yesterday and decided to go to the beach. Looking at the map Bald Point was the closest coast by our estimation, so we set out. The kids had a blast. There was just enough soft, white sand for them to bury themselves in and all kinds of interesting things along the beach. We found a multitude of horseshoe crabs (dead ones), a few still intact. We saw the dorsal fin of a quite large shark swim by awfully close to shore. Another couple told us they saw bear tracks just down from where we were and we saw four deer on the way out. It was a wild beach and the stumps that lined the sand gave it just that feel.
After our experience this past weekend I'm adding Big Jim's to my redneck tour. Get the grilled grouper. It was fantastic. We should have gone at night though. I hear that the Christmas lights in the rafters make it hard to see the cobwebs. And, we missed Ken's Elvis Show.
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Many of you know Amy and I follow LOST avidly. So, this is for you all LOST on the island, per se, with us. Who is in that coffin? I'm intrigued by the theory that it was a youth or child, but it seems like a lot of speculation. And it not being friend or family... what's that about? Definitely not Ben. That would be too... too much. Anyway, maybe we'll learn more tonight. 
Starting tomorrow Grace Church will be hosting its annual Missions Weekend. Interestingly enough Brazil will be the focus this year since Amy and I are speaking along with Andre and Kristi Jennings who serve in Rio Verde, Goias. I wanted to invite anyone who can to come out. If you have other commitments there are different time slots to pick from, but each session will have a different focus.
A friend of ours passed on some FSU basketball tickets for last Saturday. Braden and I went and watched FSU lose a heart-breaker to NC State. FSU amazes me with their athletic ability and their equal-if-not-greater ability to lose games. They were up by 3 with 47 seconds left and ended up losing by 3.
I just wanted to point out that Bainbridge is going to weigh heavy in the outcome of the Super Bowl this coming Sunday. James Butler is lining up at safety for the Giants. You've always got to expect great things from a past Bearcat. I am pulling for the Giants. They've played with a lot of heart (although I cringed when Farve threw the interception late in the game the other day). I predict a 4-quarter game with Eli throwing a touchdown pass to win it (that would be so storybook).
Friday my brother (Jad) and I took the older kids camping (Braden, Simon, Katherine and John Adams). I spent some Christmas money on a family-size tent and some other gear and we went out to Red's farm. We grilled steaks; the kids had hot dogs. Jad had them pretty spooked about the coyotes saying that whining attracted them to the camp so when we tried to encourage them off into the woods with their flashlights, they didn't want to leave the campfire. We stayed pretty warm until going to bed. The temperature dropped and the air mattress (yes, I'm getting old) didn't hold any heat. It started to rain during the night and while the tent did well keeping us dry we decided to pack it in and head out first thing. It was a good first try. And our last hurrah with Jad and his crew. They flew back to Moscow yesterday.
