18 degrees above zero...

And it feels like spring. Well not quite. But it is nice to be out of the freezer. Regarding the smell in the house. It is so weird...it comes and goes. Some times it's so strong and then there are times we don't smell it at all.

In other news, we (being myself, and 8 of the young people) surprised Brother Nowling with a little surprise party. I had text everyone Saturday telling asking them to plan on going out after service to Village Inn (Brother Nowling's favorite restaurant as he likes the coffee). I asked them to bring cards and if they did get gifts, make them funny as after all he needs to know he can still have fun at 50. They did great. First off it was easy to make it a surprise as it wasn't unusual to go out after service, although it had been several weeks since we all did it. The only unusual part was no discussion as to where to go (we would some times be tired of Village Inn). Any way the cards were presented and they were hilarious. Then Micah and Megan got him and old person's survival kit (Raisin Bran, prunes, post-it-notes, a whistle, play money, rubber bands and I too close to 50, I can't remember the rest). He loved it. Then the girls I got him a new cell phone. A Leap frog one in an AT&T bag. He wanted a specific blue tooth ear piece and when he saw the AT&T bag he was so excited and he looked inside and what a sport, he didn't show a single sign of disappoint but cracked up laughing. But because I'm not that mean I then pulled out the real gift, his blue tooth ear piece. The girls and I went in together on it. I brought a DQ cake and gave it to the manager when I first came in (he went to the restroom making it so easy) so on my signal the waitress brought it and the manager brought out some chilled plates. All it went well. To top it off he had declared when we left the church that he wanted to leave by 10 pm and that we did.

We've got a great bunch. Oh and another neat thing. On February 7Th we would usually have our monthly Bible Study but we're having an Alaska USA financial advisor come in teach a class on finances. Getting out of debt, establishing good credit, fixing bad credit, and savings. Alaska USA is one of my advertising accounts and I met with the marketing director a couple of weeks ago and I was joking about needing an ATM machine at the church so our young people had money for the offerings and some how it led to the fact that they do these classes for all ages, all types of groups at no charge. So it's set. I hope to have more than just our people come. With the economy in the state it is in, the businesses that are prospering are your credit counselors. So this is very timely and I'm very excited.