Alia made this hand bag. We think it is pretty neat.  Click a picture to see a larger view.

– John

Click the photo to see more from Katie's 16th birthday.

We celebrated Katie’s 16th birthday last weekend. We all dressed up and went out to dinner at the Jade Garden.  We had a great time.  We were put in a back room with a couple of other large parties, and one couple.  One of the parties began to sing “Happy Birthday” to someone at their table.  As soon as they were done, the next party started singing “Happy Birthday” to someone at their table.  Of course, we couldn’t resist, we started sing “Happy Birthday” to Katie.  By that time, the entire room was singing “Happy Birthday”, laughing, and having a great time.  At home, she opened some presents, which included a nice Hope Chest.

The next day, Katie had a couple of friends over for a small private party.  They had a good time too.

Unfortunately, we forgot to bring a camera with us when we went out to dinner, but here are some pictures of Katie dressed up, and of her small private party.  Click the picture to see more photos.

Happy Birthday Katie,

We Love You!

On May 3, we lost power for several hours due to a severe wind storm. Power was out in areas from Helena to Basin, MT, in which we are in between.  As the evening drew on, we new we needed to make some plans as the kids still had homework to do.  We lit some candles, and fired up our oil lamp.  The kids mentioned that this is how it must of been in the old days.  NOT EVEN! 🙂

The worse of all though, was the fact that we had no Internet!  Oh My!!  Back in the “Old Days,” when we had to do a research project, we hoofed it to the local library and did “research.”  Now, it is mostly done on the Internet, and a report was due TOMORROW!  It is kind of funny though, as I asked the same questions that were posed to us in the “Old Days.”  “When was it assigned?”  “How long did you have to work on it?”  “When was it due?”  And, you know the answers to all of those questions.  Some things never change.  Click a picture for a larger view.

– John

Click to see more pictures of Ana in Robinson Crusoe

The Missoula Children’s Theatre, with Clancy School, presented Robinson Crusoe.  Or, more like a very loose, funny version of Robinson Crusoe.   The team comes in on a Monday, does auditions, and practices with the students Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  The students then perform two shows on Friday.  They always do a great job.  This year, Ana made the part as “Myrtle the Turtle.”  Last year, Ana was asked, the day before the performance, if she could play one of the leading supporting roles on their rendition of the “Little Mermaid.”  Click the picture to see lots more from Robinson Crusoe.

– John

We went to a wedding recently.  The wedding ceremony was at the St. Helena Cathedral in Helena, MT.  It is such a beautiful building.  Afterwards, we went to the reception.  Here are a few pictures of how serious we were.  Click one to see larger views.  No, the bubble eater is not me! 🙂

– John

Well, it happens to all of us.  Another birthday. When we are young, we look forward to our birthdays, as we get older, we don’t really care to be reminded that we are growing older.

This year, though, I was looking forward to my birthday.  Look at the pictures, and you will notice that one of the presence I got was a new laptop computer.  Yeah!  I am using it now to write this up.  It is a nice Acer Aspire 7740 laptop with a large 17.3 inch screen.  And of course, I promptly put the newest version of Ubuntu Linux on it as I use Linux instead of Windows.  Very nice!

– John

We spent Easter at home this year. Easter is always a good time of the year, as we remember what Jesus did for us.  If you don’t know what Jesus did for us, here it is in a nut shell.

• God created man in a prefect world
• The first man and women rebelled against God and brought sin into the world.  All have sinned and rebelled ever since.
• The penalty for sin is death – physical and spiritual – eternal separation from God
• God loves us so much, that He doesn’t want to be separated from us, though no sin can be in his presence
• God took it upon Himself to come to save us from what we are powerless to do.
• He was born a man – a sinless man.  He was killed for our sin, and suffered the consequence of our sin
• It didn’t end there,  He also overcame death and rose to new life, so those that believe in Him will also be raised to life after we die.

We will all be resurrected when He comes again.  Those who put there trust in Him will be raised to eternal life, those who continue to rebel against Him will be raised to eternal damnation.

He doesn’t desire that ANY should perish.  He loves us so much, He wants us all to choose Him and Life.

Click to see more from Easter 2010

What will you choose?

Please, don’t take my word for it, read it your self in the Bible, from the beginning to the end, and …. BELIEVE!

Click on the picture to see a slide show of us coloring eggs and having a good time.

The youth of our church did a small “human video”.  Click play and watch the video.

– John

As I travel around the state of Montana for my job, I come by some interesting sites.  One of my favorite subjects, is the interesting “Fence Post Art” around the state.  Here are a couple more fine examples.  Click one of the pictures to see larger views.  Click HERE to see more pictures that I have taken from around the great state of Montana.

– John

Click for a photo slide show of the 2010 Missions Banquet

On March 20, Neighborhood Assembly had its annual Missions Banquet. Our guest speaker as Rick Allen, National Coordinator for the future Church Transformation Network.

Our missions emphasis this year is Missoula’s Teen Challenge.  Our church has partnered up with Teen Challenge to support their cause.

Click the photo to see a slide show from the Missions Banquet.

– John