2010 Christmas Update

Merry Christmas!

What we love this Christmas
Inspiration: Advent Conspiracy Video
Non-traditional Christmas song: The One Who Saves…Hillsong Live
Living in Maryland close enough to spend Christmas with family and still sleep in our own beds at night!
Tommy singing Silent Night

Let us explain...no, there is too much, let us sum up...
Our year was proceeding normally until it hit hyper-speed in July when Jim interviewed at Crossroads Community Church in Westminster Maryland. He accepted a position as Pastor of Worship and Ministries 4 days later, so we staged our house and put it on the market 10 days later. The real estate agents shook their heads sadly as we asked about the potential of selling so we could move in September. Ten days later the little gray house on 1600 North sold in the worst real estate market ever to be seen in Utah Valley (confirmation from God, anyone?).
sigh, we miss you little house.
We packed up in 30 days, and on August 30th we loaded the moving van and closed on our house in the same day. The boys flew to Maryland with their Grandma and Jim and Kristen drove leisurely across the great states of Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. ALONE. As in, no children for the first time since 2006! A wonderful trip, needless to say, all 2002 miles of it. Jim started his new post on September 15th. He describes his job as crafting environments in which people can encounter God. In addition to leading worship and playing guitar, he oversees everything about the service that isn't the sermon. He loves it and can’t imagine doing anything else with his time! Unforeseen bonus: all three Powell boys got to be shepherds in the Live Drive-Thru Nativity which was a big hit, though freezing cold.
Westminster is a really good fit for us. Rolling hills, fall colors, history, charming old houses, apple orchards, pumpkin patches, and Christmas Tree Farms. Close to Jim’s family, really close to the (east coast) mountains, easy drive to the beach. Not quite as charming as Lexington, VA, but it has a Target. We’d like to stay here a while.
Oh, and did we mention there is a Pirate Ship that sails in Baltimore's Inner Harbor? Aarrrgh!


What we loved in 2010:

Jack (turned 4 on Dec 19th):
Drumming.
Playing “lectric guitar”
Mr. Cael
Songs: Sunday Bloody Sunday, Check Yes Juliet, Happy Day, Break Free, No Reason to Hide
Preschool (3 mornings a week)
The Battle of Gettysburg (he actually has an uncanny affection for everything about the Civil War—well, any war for that matter…)
Superheroes, Dinosaurs (inspired by the show “Dinosaur Train” on PBS), legos, and turning anything into a weapon.
Living in, as Jack puts it, "Westminster, Baltimore, Maryland" where we can eat crabs, ride pirate ships, and go to Port Discovery.
Playing with the neighborhood girls (refers to them as “my girls”)

Thomas (turned 2 on Dec 16th):
Drumming (“boom-bah”) (Jack called them: “bop-bah” when he was Tom’s age)
Guitar
Airplanes and Helicopters
Balls
Songs: Check yes Juliet (he calls it Wun, Baby, Wun), Tractor, Tractor by Andrew Peterson, and Happy Day.

Jim
Living in Ravens territory again.
Having tickets to the U2 concert in June.
Getting to do a job he feels like he was created to do.
Not owning a house anymore....ah, no more home improvement projects!

Kristen
Finally being finished unpacking
Singing with the worship team at Crossroads
Living on the East Coast again.
Legos (who knew?)
Listening to Thomas talk
Taking Jack on his first ski run at Sundance in Utah last winter.
Doing our taxes (really! Is that weird?)


Crazy things about living in Westminster, Maryland:
- Stinkbugs (we had to buy a special hand held vacuum and collected around 20 every day until colder weather set in)
- Ravens Enthusiasm (the Ravens do summer training camp here, and people here are CRAZY Ravens fans, unlike any fans we’ve ever seen - and we lived in Dallas for 4 years!)
- Stores and traffic go on as usual on Sundays* or We can go shopping on Sundays (all the stores are open) but, alas, so can everybody else…*
- It feels colder here (is that possible?...must be the humidity.)
- Wine enthusiasts abound*
- There are an abundance of grocery stores, but no SuperTarget (gasp! Poor Kristen…this might be the hardest part of her transition to MD)
- A lot of people drink a lot of coffee here* or Drinking coffee is now normal*
- No street runs East/West or North/South.* This hampers our ability to navigate. It is very strange.

*note: these things are only crazy if you have spent the last 4 years in Utah Valley in which a select minority drank coffee, wine, streets were laid out on a grid, and on Sundays most of the valley was closed and streets were empty.


Finally, we obviously need a new name for this blog. Think of a good one for us? Send it our way...

Best wishes, and much love,
The Powells