Powell Summer Update

We've got the whole summer to catch you up on, so here goes. Be sure to check out the new Summer Photo Gallery we just added in the ePhotos gallery.

HANNAFORD VBS & DRAMA
Well, at the church we had VBS and Drama Camp. Those photos can be seen in the Hannaford Photo Gallery. However, we do have a special gallery in e|Photos that only has VBS photos with Kellin and Andrik. Yes, it's a bit self-serving, but hey!

HANNAFORD WEBSITE
You'll also notice that the new Hannaford Street Bible Church website is up and running. Check it out and let me know what you think. While you are at the Hannaford Photo Gallery looking at the VBS photos, make sure you check the latest construction photos of our new auditorium.

TRIP TO CALIFORNIA
As you probably know, we came down to California to visit in early July. You may have also heard that we hit a deer on our way out of town. Unfortunately, the van was damaged so we had to return home and drive the Corolla. Several had asked about the damage so check out our featured photo. (That brings up another point. It's obvious we can't put up a photo each week. And I felt pretty silly calling it a photo of the week, so I finally decided to change the name to "featured photo.")

OUR HUGE YARD
I'm pretty sure that Andrea mentioned our large grassy yard when we visited. The difficulty being the "large" part. Ever since it thawed here last Spring, the grass has been growing out of control and is very difficult to mow (we're saving up for a ride-on mower). When we visited California, we thought we'd try not watering the yard for two weeks, but it didn't help much. Anyway, there is a photo of Andrea battling the yard in the Summer Photo Gallery.

MONTANA WEATHER
I know it's been hot in California, but it's been pretty hot for Montana, too! The average is in the 80s for this time of year, but we've been sustaining the 90s for a few weeks. Every once in a while a thunder storm comes in for a few afternoon hours and drastically cools things off. One day it was in the high 90s and the next day was in the mid 60s. Andrea and I were commenting how, in California, we used to call that kind of weather "earthquake weather." Surprisingly enough, we DID have an earthquake here the next day. Hmm...

OUR NEW DOG, SHADOW
We also got a dog before we left for California. It was kind of odd getting a dog, and then leaving it with friends just a week after we brought him home. Anyway, his name is Shadow and he is about 11 months old now. Since he is a puppy, we are still having problems with digging and chewing, but we're working on it. He's obviously been hurt before we got him, because he is quite skittish when someone even raises their voice. There are a couple of photos of Shadow in the Summer Photo Gallery.

ANDREA PLAYING SOFTBALL
I think I mentioned that Andrea has been playing softball this Summer on our quasi-church team (the team is sponsored by Dairy Queen and about half of the ladies are from the church). Well, as the season has come to a close, the team did quite well. Check out the photos in the Summer Photo Gallery for photos of Andrea in action and also to find out how well the team did.

KIDS SWIMMING LESSONS
The kids have also just finished swimming lessons this Summer. They're not great swimmers yet, but maybe Don won't have to jump in any pools after Andrik anymore. Actually the kids really improved and are much more comfortable in the water now. They also made the evening news here when the local NBC affiliate was shooting a story at the city pool. We will soon be posting some photos (and maybe a couple movies) of the kids' swimming lessons.

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...

Andrik's Science Project

It just seems that all the things Andrik does in school, I didn't do until I was older. I remember him having homework in Kindergarten, book reports in first grade, and now a science fair project in fourth grade. I didn't do one until I was in Junior High - and even then, my dad did most of the work :-o

Well, Andrik's project, specially chosen by Mom and Dad and agreed upon by Andrik, was to drop water balloons from different heights and then to measure the splatter. I could explain the whole thing to you, but you know how much I love photos!

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 :-)

Easter and Beyond

Well, our last entry was just before Easter. Easter Sunday, Good Friday, all the postcards inviting residents to Hannaford – it was a busy time. All in all, Easter went well. The postcards went out. On Good Friday, we watched The Passion of the Christ again and then had a quiet time of communion and worship. It was nice and really set the mood for Easter morning three days later.

Easter was not as packed as it might have been. It seems we had several visiting families, but at the same time, we had a number of regulars out visiting family for the week or weekend. All in all, we numbered about the same. It was a couple of good services, though.

Prepping for Easter...

We've got some new photos in the photo gallery. Be sure to check them out - kind of cool are the photos of the new foyer. It's really nice and more than just a hallway. Also check out some of the photos of worship in January. These are during our second service. Things have gotten so packed, we've been running a video and audio feed to our fellowship room so people can sit in there, too.

Anyway, things are pretty hectic this week in bringing everything together for Easter: An Easter worship choir, two DVD features, a creative reading, the praise team music, decoration, and more. I can see already (on Wednesday) that I've got my work cut out for me. Andrea's working hard, too. We've decorated the sanctuary with symbols of new life - our theme for Easter is Alive Again! A Celebration of New Life. Instead of gloom and sadness of the death on the cross (very much an important element of the Gospel), we want to focus on the rest of the story, the resurrection, and what it means for those who embrace Jesus.

Still, it seems pretty exciting. On Friday, we're having a worship ministry gathering at our house to celebrate Good Friday. We're going to view The Passion or the Christ followed by the breaking of bread and then some reflective worship. On Easter, we're prepared for a larger group than usual, especially since we sent out an Easter invitation of over 10,000 post cards to the growing areas of Helena. A 0.5% response would mean 50 people!

Last week, it was beginning to get warm for around here (in the high 60's). Tonight, however, a new storm blew in - pretty heavy and icy in town and at the church. It will probably linger through Easter. It's not so bad at home since we're situated differently in the valley.