Art galore @ UMT - part 1

The view from the Fine Arts Building

The painting studio

The drawing studio

Student art exhibit

Student art exhibit

Charles is majoring in Art at the University of Montana and has been enjoying his exposure to a wide-range of artistic expressions. 

A frigid Thursday

This morning was quite an interesting one for us!  It started off with the lowest temps either of us have driven in, -22F!  It warmed up a bit later in the day but still didn't get over zero all day.

Charles was on campus this morning, finishing up his first class of the day, when word came that the campus was being "locked down" due to two robberies nearby in Missoula.  Two hours later the emergency order was lifted.  No word yet what the outcome was from the police. 

Groundhog Day in the Valley

Groundhog Day arrived on Sunday with the news that Punxsutawney  Phil had seen his shadow and with it, six more weeks of winter. We can attest to the accuracy of that prediction with this week's weather!!!

During the gathering music time before worship on Sunday, Charles introduced the congregation to the "Groundhog Day hymn" which was a big hit with the community.

The relative warmth of Mid-January has left us for the time being and has been replaced by an artic blast sending our temps plunging to single digits during the day and below-zero at night.

Charles first week at school

Charles has wrapped up his first week back in school and what a week it's been!  He is taking four classes - Drawing, 2-dimensional foundations, Art History (since 1400) and Digital Media in the arts.  It will be a challenge, learning a new language (art), but it is still fun to be back on campus again!

Friday & Saturday

We've had a quite busy weekend and Sunday is still to come!  Friday saw Charles leading a study in the morning, providing counseling in the afternoon and participating in the Stevi UMC vision retreat in the evening.  Belinda was hard at work, getting last minute details in place in order to make sure that the retreat participants got the full benefit of the experience!

Today was a 'dawn-to-dusk' whirl!!!  We were at the church at 7am, helping get everything in place for the 8 am kick-off.  Charles ducked out for a spell with several SUMC members to take part in a planning meeting for this year's National Day of Prayer event.

Belinda in the meantime helped coordinate the mission project for this weekend, preparing 120 bottles of laundry detergent for the community food bank.


In addition to the sharing of ideas regarding the Nurture-Outreach-Witness ministries of the congregation, we also had some fun!  We drew names for various donated items, an idea we'd seen at a UMW event.  It was so much fun!  Charles' name was drawn for a model of a horse (which he'll paint as an art major), Belinda got to take home a pretty purse!

All together it was quite a push to make this event such a success, it was worth it - but we're tired tonight!

Where has the week gone?

Charles was on campus in Missoula today, taking part in the orientation for the spring semester at the University of Montana (UMT).  It is going to be a great experience to be sure!

Belinda was at home with Wesley, doing some of the prelim work for this weekend's church retreat.  A lot of work has gone into this weekend, and Belinda has done a great deal of "behind the scenes" prep-work to make it a success.

Our week is in the books!

A pair of Sand Hill cranes in Stevensville

St. Mary's Peak

 We've come to the end of the week and with it came some delightful weather!  Belinda is just happy to have a three-day weekend to rest and recover from her accident!!