It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Negative 1 degrees here in Helena today. Brrr.

Brrr...

Give me a break! It's a summer snow here in Helena today! 39 degrees.

Summer Vacation Photos And Video

In late June, Andrea's parents came up to Helena to visit (see post here). While they were here, we toured Helena, the Gates of the Mountains, and Yellowstone National Park. Although we took a number of photos and some video, it's taken us this long to post them - but the time has come! Here is the video and the photos are our newest album in the e|Photo gallery.

Fire In Helena!

In case you haven't heard, most of the Northwestern U.S. is on fire. We have several fires here in Montana, one of which is the Meriwether fire (after the area named after Meriwether Lewis of Lewis & Clark fame).

The Meriwether fire is just on the outskirts of Helena - we can see it from our kitchen window. It looks just like the AP photo here. Apparently, this fire is now the nation's number one fire priority. It's been burning since mid-July and they don't have any way of stopping it until snowfall (in about 2 months). Eeeek!

Andrea and I have been cautiously watching the progress of the Meriwether fire, praying it doesn't come over the hill into North Helena.

Check out the local article here.

You Know You Are In Montana When...

I came across this post on Iggy's blog. He's a ministry leader at Billings Vineyard Church here in Montana. Having lived here in Montana for about three years now, I found these ones especially funny (and true).

You know you live in Montana when...

• Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor and combine crew on the highway.
• You've had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
• You think ethanol makes your truck "run a lot better." (The gasoline here sucks.)
• You see a car running in the parking lot at the store with no one in it no matter what time of the year. (There's probably dog in it, too.)
• The festivals across the state are named after fruits, vegetables, grain or testicles.
• People get a "To Go" drink from the local bar.
• You install security lights on your house and barn and leave both unlocked.
• You know someone who's lost their license due to a DUI and have seen their tractor or snowmobile parked at the local bar.
• You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
• Driving in the winter is often simply a matter of staying between the fence posts.
• You think that washing your pickup or car is a waste of time and money.
• You have never owned a vehicle that did not have cracks in the windshield.
• The local paper covers national and international headlines on one page but requires 6 pages for High School Sports.
• You know someone who's shot themselves accidentally.
• You know all 4 seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Construction.

Click here for to read them all!

Andrik's Helena History Project

Andrik has been working on his Helena History Project for school most of the year. His topic of study is the Devil's Brigade, the First Special Service Force (FSSF). The FSSF was the original special military force created in World War II to fight the Germans using stealth ops. Their training tactics are the basis for modern forces such as the Green Berets, Navy Seals, and Delta Force. They were formed and trained at Fort Harrison, right here in Helena.

We did quite a bit of research online, but got a chance to visit the Montana Military Museum (at Fort Harrison) a few weeks ago. We were honored to meet (and Andrik interviewed) Captain Mark Radcliffe, an original member of the Devil's Brigade. What an amazing experience.

I'd like to post some of the photos, Andrik's report, and some of our research in another post later. For now, I wanted to tell you he filmed his report this last week. Sometime after the school year, the collection of all the students' reports will be aired on Montana PBS.

Click here to see the video.

The Greatest Day!

Usually I think of Easter as a busy time of year. And while, I'd like to say that there are slow times and busy times of the year, I'm learning that it never really slows down. As usual, I've got a number of things going on right now.

Promise Keepers: This Saturday is the local Promise Keepers conference here in Helena. It's gonna be great! I'm the Worship Team Leader again this year so I'm trying to wrap up a number of loose ends - presentation lyrics, transitions between songs, and so on.

Hosanna: I started rehearsing the song Hosanna! (by Carl Tuttle) with the kids in Children's Church this last Sunday. We're planning to have them sing to celebrate Palm Sunday.

Experience The Cross: We are doing a prayer station service (multisensory worship) again on Good Friday. Like last year, the youth will be facilitating the service. Gezer and Kaci are trying to theme the stations around John 3:16 to tie in with Easter morning. We're going to call it Experience The Cross again this year.

The Greatest Day: Easter is coming up quick! Our theme this year is "The Greatest Day!" with John 3:16 as the scripture anchor. Through our greatest day, we are changed forever. What is your greatest day? Could it be that all our greatest days are possible because because of THE Greatest Day; the day that Jesus rose from the dead and demonstrated His power over sin and death? Because of this, can everyday now be our greatest day? We are forever changed!

Kellin Sick: Kellin was pretty sick with a fever today. He stayed home from school, but we're praying he'll feel better tomorrow.

Busy Decorating: Andrea has been busy decorating for some people in our Helena. Lots of work, but she likes it and she's getting paid.

Devil's Brigade: Andrik has this encroaching big project. It's pretty exciting. He's got some major research, supposed to find some sources to interview, and then the school is going to film him. Each kid gets a 30 second spot and will be broadcasted on PBS Montana. Needless to say, both Andrik and I have been researching his subject: The Devil's Brigade. Apparently, this joint American-Canadian brigade was formed and trained right here at Fort Harrison in Helena. Officially called the First Special Service Force, it was the basis of the formation of all modern elite forces including the Green Berets, Delta Force, Navy Seals, and Canada's JTF2.

Recent Weather: It's been getting warmer here in Helena (in the 60's). We might be looking at an early Spring, but you never know. Today, it got up to warm and sunny 75 degrees - and then just an hour later it was 62 and raining.

Montana Facts Potpourri

Since we've moved to Montana, we've started noticing how many times our state comes up in conversations, movies, and television. So we have decided to keep a running list. We'll update it whenever we run across another reference to Montana and you can check back by checking the link in the sidebar under "Montana Facts Potpourri"

• American stuntman Evel Knievel (Robert Craig Knievel, Jr.) was born October 17, 1938 in Butte, Montana.
• In 1888 Helena had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the world.
• The 1992 movie A River Runs Through It is set in Montana and was filmed in Bozeman and Livingston, Montana.
• In the 1971 movie Willie Wonka & Chocolate Factory, the character Violet Beauregarde is from Miles City, Montana.
• The infamous Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski (Theodore John Kaczynski) was arrested on April 3, 1996, at his remote cabin outside Lincoln, Montana.
• The U.S.-Canadian border scene of the 1987 movie The Untouchables was filmed at the old Hardy Creek Bridge over the Missouri River, just south of Great Falls, Montana.
• The 1992 Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman movie Far and Away was filmed in Billings and Bozeman, Montana.
• Drinking while driving in Montana only became illegal on October 1, 2005
• Dana Carvey is from Missoula, Montana
• Montana is the fourth largest state in the U.S. right behind Alaska, Texas, and California. As far as population, however, Montana ranks 44 out of 50.
• In the computer-animated 2007 Disney movie Meet The Robinsons, the main character, Lewis, travels to the future to meet his family and finds out that modern-day Montana will become South Montana and Canada will become North Montana
• The character Peggy Hill from the animated television show King Of The Hill grew up in Missoula, Montana

Email me if you have an interesting tidbit about Montana that I've missed.

Don't Like The Weather?

Yesterday, it was a bright and sunny spring day. The temperature got up to 78 degrees. It was beautiful, if not a bit warm. We haven't seen that since August.

Today, it's only supposed to get up to 58 degrees with rain and thunder showers. Later on, it's supposed to snow! That's a 20 degree difference in one day. Tomorrow it's forcasted to be 43 degrees.

We've got a saying here in Montana that goes like this..."Don't like the weather? Just wait ten minutes!"

Spring in Montana

Along with a new featured photo, Springtime is finally here in Montana - the weather is weird compared to what we're used to in California. Usually in California, it's a rainy day for most of the day. The weather is a bit unpredictable here. You can wake up at 7am to a bright and sunny clear sky and two hours later it can be raining heavily. In contrast, it can be quite gloomy and then turn into a beautiful day. It can actually change back and forth a number of times.

The other thing about Spring in Montana is that things actually start growing again. We haven't watered our yard since we moved in and it looked pretty dead. It apparently goes dormant though the Winter. Since we started watering, the grass is growing like crazy - and we have a huge yard. If we could only get a ride-on mower. Anyway, we've spent three weekends trying to mow it. Well, enough about Spring...

On May 13-14, Andrea went to Women of Faith in Billings. The local radio station was giving away tickets and one of the ladies in the church won and invited Andrea. It was pretty cool because she wanted to go, but we didn't feel we had enough money set aside.

Andrea is also playing softball on our quasi-church girls team (which is sponsored by Dairy Queen). I hope to get some photos of them in action soon. So far, they're undefeated at 4-0 this season!

Andrik is almost out of school for the Summer. This will be his first experience having a Summer vacation because the district was year-around in Rialto. I don't think Andrik is going to know what to do with himself after three months out of school!

I've also started working on revising the website for Hannaford. It's going to be a major overhaul
And, oh yes, I almost forgot. I'm going fishing in Alaska the first week of June. I've really not done a lot of fishing, but I think it will be a pretty cool experience. Someone in our church has offered to pay most of my way. I'm quite grateful.

Okay, I'm signing off for now...

Slower-Paced Lifestyle?

Someone said we have a slower-paced lifestyle up here in Montana. In reality, it is true. No two-hour-long drives to work. Leave for work at 8:30. Get home at 5:00. Go home for lunch. All that lost time is regained - I really enjoy that.

But then there are some weeks that are really hectic. I've mentioned those weeks before Easter about three times now. And then there is that November-December period before the Christmas Dessert. Even when I was expecting things to slow down after Easter, we had a Women's Retreat (I had to help Andrea get together all the music). This week alone we have:

• Brochures that need to be finished for this fall's 9th annual Pastor's Conference
• This year's AWANA Award Night
• A Maximum Impact simulcast outreach to business people in the area,
• A wedding
• Mission Mania missions conference

Well, needless to say, I really am enjoying the slower-paced lifestyle :-)

Home Offer Accepted

Well, our offer on the latest home has been accepted (Nickname: Blue Columns). We now have to pay an inspection fee and get earnest money in the next few days. Then escrow should close by October 15 on both our new and our old home. This is kind of exciting but scary on the financial end!

OK! OK! Time For A Big Update...

1. We moved all out stuff from the truck to storage with the help of quite a few guys from Hannaford. With that, we were able to get a few comforts for the rental. I was also able to get to my books so I finished my 4th and 5th assignments for class this week. All I have left for this block is about 30 pages of reading logs in the next two weeks.
2. We finally received the call we've been waiting for. Although we lowered the price on our house in Rialto, we got an offer at the full, new asking price. The buyer seems to be good and wanted to start escrow immediately. This releases us to move forward on our plans up here.
3. We also made an offer on one of the homes (Nickname: Big Blue New). We really liked the newness and size of the home. The only drawbacks to us were the price (just at the top of what we can afford) and the fact that it needs some work for sprinklers, landscaping, etc. We're not sure we afford to add what it needs. For that reason, we offered about 3K less than the asking price hoping that it might be accepted. It wasn't. At that point we considered offering the full price. 3K isn't that much, but would require us to finance and we're not sure we could afford the monthly budget.
4. After some prayer and consideration, we have decided to make an offer on a home that is asking about 5k less than the other (Nickname: Blue Columns). It is a very nice house with only a few drawback as well. It has about 600 less square feel (one less bedroom) and the back yard is right on the interstate. On the plus side, it is already landscaped, has underground sprinklers, and is in a better neighborhood. It is ready for move in with no work to be done or money spent. We've decided that the back yard is large enough and we can plant trees or eventually add a larger fence. We also decided that we'll deal with the smaller home. After all, it's still about 500 square
5. Lastly, we've posted some photos of this Sunday's Western Roundup at Hannaford. Youth Pastor Brad Ives spoke sharing about the prodigal son and about coming home. As I've helped him prepare the PowerPoint this week, Andrea and I couldn't help but think about settling in at our new home. It's great here and we know that God has called us here, but change is change. It's hard to feel settled. I've mentioned to several that in the past 6 years of our life, God has continued to remind us that we don't find true comfort and security in worldly positions, places, or people, but only in Him.
   
   I've felt secure in a five-year corporate graphics position at PDV, but then God called me to leave that and follow his calling into ministry. We placed our finances in His hands and he provided freelance and consultant work for three years while we served at FBC. Again, we've moved to a different state without a home to go to and with all our money wrapped up in our home. We have very little cash and things are very tight. He has provided for us through family and the church.
   
   Andrea and I feel very insecure. We have no real home to call our home and we are without most of our creature comforts. We literally feel as though we pitched our tent in this place for a short time and have been waiting for God to move us on. At the same time, we are still working on my office at Hannaford so I have felt without a home there as well. Finally, we have been especially concerned about our financial situation until we actually sell our home. Today, we have about $5 in our checking account.
   
   So today in worship Brad talked about "coming home." We realize that our true home is in the arms of God. All these things and concerns are only the decorations. God wants us to find our security and be settled in Him. I think He just wanted to remind us again before we get settled here. Thank you God. We're home!

Getting Settled Temporarily

We're now a little bit settled in the rental. We've got our clothes out of Andrea's van. We've also had the opportunity to change our cell phone numbers. I'm a little anxious about finishing up this block of classes. I'm about a week behind on assignments and papers and unable to complete them until we unload our stuff into storage on Sunday.

Looking for Homes in Helena

We looked at homes yesterday and today. Wow. It's difficult to decide and to weigh all the different options. Please pray that God would give us guidance in choosing the right home.

It also turns out that we've been getting quite a few calls on our home in California. Unfortunately, there seems to have been a mix up on the pricing and our flexibility. Please also pray that the home would sell a a good price to allow us to buy up here in Montana without a lot of hardship.

Made it to Helena Safely

We and the truck made it to Helena safely. I guess the decision is final now :-) It took longer than it probably should have, but with two kids and two cars, we still made good time. Driving separately from the guys in the truck, you might suppose they got to Helena about 6 hours earlier.

Unfortunately, we got into Helena so late we had to spend an unexpected night in a hotel here instead of going directly to the rental home. Tomorrow we get to got to the rental as well as find somewhere to store all of our junk from California (the rental is fully furnished). As I've said above, please pray that our house would sell soon. Either way, we know that God has some fantastic plans for us. (In the mean time, I NEED to get this paper done as soon as I get settled.

Before the Move...

AUGUST 19:
The load up day for the truck has been changed to Sunday afternoon after worship and the farewell event at FBC. For now, we have about 85%-90% packed up. Everything else has gone along nicely, except I have not had an opportunity to work on my paper. We have also not had any offers on the home. Please continue to pray.

AUGUST 16:
Whew! This last week was quite eventful. I was quite busy, still juggling a full-time graphics job, with freelance work, school, and the position at FBC. Friday was my last day at the full-time position so now I can focus this last week on getting packed and wrapping up. At the same time, we had several new developments and events this week:

• Pastor Dick called from Hannaford and suggested the idea of sending a truck down from Helena to load us up and drive back. Two men from the church will come down, but would plan on arriving and loading up Saturday, August 21. That works great, but we still need to stay for worship and the postluck at FBC on Sunday. Andrea and I can then drive our own cars.
• Our agent in Helena, Deb, found a fully-furnished, short-term rental in Helena. We now have a destination. Actually, the home belongs to someone at Hannaford. Praise God!
• We also had a yard sale on Saturday, August 15 and made a decent amount. We've been stretched pretty far on finances lately so it will really help out. Please pray for us that we can afford all the transitional costs such as stopping and starting utilities.

The moving date is getting closer and everything seems to be coming fast now. I just pray we can keep up and keep on schedule. This week I have some FBC meetings to take care of, a Wednesday rehearsal, a family lunch with my Mom, a term paper (#4) and other school assignments to complete, a freelance gig all day Friday, AND we have to get everything in our house packed by Saturday! Like I said...Whew!

AUGUST 7:
We had our first "open house" today, but not much traffic though. Fortunately, we do have a couple of possibilities. One broker said that their client wanted to view the house again, and a family that visited the open house said that they would contact their agent to make an offer. We'll see as the week progresses. Meanwhile, I am struggling working on my third major assignment for the "Reaching Your World" block of my master's program. It's due tomorrow and I'm having difficulty. Please also pray for me because I have two more major papers due in the next three weeks.

AUGUST 6:
PD mentioned that U-Haul is not renting trucks for interstate travel until September 8. Something about not having enough trucks in California. At this point, we really would need to start making some reservations for trucks, so we're thinking Ryder, Penske, National, Budget, etc.

AUGUST 5:
We made an offer on the house we liked in Montana, today. We might have offered more than we can comfortably afford. We were countered much higher and cannot pursue this home. This turn of events gives us clearer direction on how to plan a move. We're still trusting in God.