February Madness

(A picture of the boys with Shelley at the Bible Conference in B'ham.)

You've heard of March Madness, haven't you? Well, we have been in the midst of what I will only call February madness. There have been many things happening in the Downey house this month.

On February 4th, we signed papers for what you could call our "youth wing". Since Bethania doesn't have any space to have youth activities, we have rented a small building here in town. We are trying to come up with a name to call it, so that the local people will know what it is. Any name ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Along with that major thing, we have had lots of other things as well. There was Pastors Wives Retreat, Ronnie's birthday, a youth camp planning meeting, a MIDAS course, Valentines Day, a Bible Conference in Birmingham, a CRB day, a trip for Breanna and some of her friends ice skating, as well as 1 whole week with no school. All of this in only 3 weeks. At that doesn't include all the "normal" weekly things like church, school, grocery shopping, and visits.

All I can say is, "Will things ever slow down?." The kids go back to school on Monday, so at least they will be back to a normal routine. Starting Monday, it will be full time work on the building. Monday the insurance man is coming to look over the building and sort the paperwork. We need to find someone who can teach us how to work the boiler and heating system. We need to plan the layout of each of the rooms as well as source the last few things we need to finish it off. We need to have the local fire fighters come out and tell us what kind of fire and safety equipment we need. There is still so much we need to do before we can open it. We hope to have it up and running as soon as possible, but we must have all the safety stuff sorted first. We will keep you posted to any new details and I will post pictures as soon as the deep clean is finished.

Oh, by the way, it is still SNOWING! We are beginning to think that spring has forgotten where Rhayader is, so winter has just camped out here.

On a silly excited note, the new local Tesco is opening on Monday! And to top that, as I was walking in town yesterday, I saw the front page of the local newspaper and it said that the other Tesco looks set to open in July! Right now, I have to drive 80 minutes to get to a Tesco. Monday, I will only have to drive 45 minutes to get to Tesco. And in July, I will only have to drive 13 minutes to get to a Tesco! At present, our little village only has a Spar, which is like a 7/11 or a Pantry in the states. It will be so nice to have a cheaper place to shop that isn't so far away. I am greatly anticipating next weeks shopping trip! I might even have to take a picture. : )

We are looking forward to opening the building, and will keep you informed of our progress.