Life As We Know It

When we decided to move down here, it was because we wanted to be close to our family.  I am very happy to say that we have made the most of our month and a half here and have seen lots of family and it has been absolutely great.   We had a great time with my sisters Becky and Charis at the state track meet in Austin and my sister Debbie rode the train down from Ft. Worth to spend a couple of days with us.  What a luxury it has been to be able to see them for a day or two and not feel like we have to make the most of every second because it will be another year before we see them.   

We have also gotten some great time in as our little family of 4.  

Memorial Day weekend was spent at home, exploring the city.  There is a mini-golf place (called Peter Pan golf) people tend to flock to so we flocked as well.  While looking back at the pictures, I discovered that a lot of the cartoon-like characters at each hole are rather odd and creepy.  Oh well - a good time was had by all and we rounded out the afternoon with a stop at Amy's Ice Cream (which is AMAZING  if you have not been there).   Little did I know, we have a location just a stone's throw away from our house - that is a dangerous thought.  

This past weekend, we had our first long road trip to Wichita Falls for our niece (and cousin) Katelin's high school graduation.  It was so great to have so many in Tim's family make it to the happy occasion. Tim's brother and sister-in-law have several horses so the boys had a great time visiting and riding horses (bareback no less) for the first (and won't be last) time.  

Katelin, the lovely graduate

Grandma (lovingly referred to as Maw Maw) and Cindy.

The 5 siblings - Tim, Daniel, Bill, Cindy and Barbara.  So great to have them all together. 

School is almost out and I am really glad we made the decision to move mid-year so Brendan could meet some buddies and get settled in to Doss Elementary before the summer.  He has had a great time and really enjoyed the school.  We look forward to more time at this special place.  Last week, his class took a field trip to the San Antonio Zoo and I was thrilled to be able to join him.  At the end, of our time, I realized I didn't take many pictures of the animals but I did get some great ones of the kids and some special ones of me and B.  Brendan said his favorite was the snake (he had a good time with the monkeys too).  The bears were my favorite.

We are surrounded by woods and often see some really great birds and more often than not we will see 3-5 deer on our way to school in the morning (we really do live in the city).  However, one afternoon, Tim was driving down the long road to the end of the apartment property and came across this friendly critter.  If you didn't know, I am NOT big fan of spiders and posting a picture of a tarantula is very out of character for me but it was so shocking that these are around I just HAD to post.   Tim assures me that they are not a danger to us.  (shiver)

What we have been up to....

I realized it has been a week since my last post and we have had quite the flurry of activity so I dutifully took my camera to the computer to download all that had happened in the last week or so.  I had forgotten that it had been since before Christmas since I transferred my pictures.  Wow!  It created such a wave of emotion seeing a few snipits of the last 5 months of our lives - Christmas, trip to Portland, Easter with our church family, Easter egg hunt and dinner with our neighbors, Jeff Nelson's birthday party, bowling party with Brendan's school friends, arrival to Texas, moving in, and a few things we have done since arriving in Austin.  I have included some pictures below of the last week.  The pictures start with a train ride at Zilker Park (friends from out of town, we will take you there when you come to visit) and ends with an excursion on a trail that is literally right outside our apartment complex, complete with beautiful wild flowers, creeks and a small waterfall.  However, the biggest event was Brendan's 7th birthday.  We had the pleasure of celebrating with dinner and Blue Bell ice cream on the actual day and then this weekend, my sister Becky and her husband Joe and daughters Keeley and Keira came to spend Friday night.  Then on Saturday, Nana Boz, Daddy Boz, Maw Maw and Paw Paw (great-grandparents) came to celebrate with us too.  I had my first run at making cake pops (they were a HIT!) and we got to do exactly what we came to do - spend some good time with our family.  We really enjoyed the time and look forward to more of it in the very near future.  

Train at Zilker Park

Train at Zilker Park

Brendan's sweet reaction when we gave him his helmet as a birthday present.  He was genuinely appreciative and happy. 

His reaction when he realized his big birthday present was a new big-kid bike!

Ahhhh, the wonder of fire and anticipation of Blue Bell ice cream. 

Cousins playing MineCraft is so much fun!

My first attempt at cake pops!

Brendan may have gotten the new bike but Dylan is enjoying big brother's old one!

It's great to celebrate with Aunt Becky!

Family celebration - Brendan can always keep their attention.

Brendan reading to Paw-paw

Brendan and Daddy Boz checking out the presents.

Brendan loves his Maw-maw

And loves his Nana Boz too!

Dad and boys ready to blaze a trail

Mom will come along too.

Brothers gotta hug

This is super close to our apartment!

Church Shopping

Most people that know me, know how important my church community is to me (if you don't, I apologize that we have never gotten in to a discussion that might indicate as much).  Growing up as a pastor's daughter, I always had a built-in church community and the bar was always set high to find a pastor that could live up to the expectations I had (because dad was the best pastor in my eyes).  Once I entered college, I found myself in a position where I was going to have to find my own church home.  I found places that were alright for a time but nothing I really sank my "teeth" in to for long.  When Tim and I moved to Seattle, we found a church to serve in for a couple of years but then decided that commuting to Bothell from Federal Way (or even West Seattle once we moved there) wasn't quite the community experience we were looking for.  It took us 3 years to find Bethany Community Church but once we found it, that was it.   We spent 10 wonderful years with Bethany and the last 5 probably had the most impact.  I had finally found a church community that lived up to my high standards, especially once we started our West Seattle satellite branch.   We connected with many wonderful people in our neighborhood and found some very, very dear friends.  We also found wonderful leadership in our pastoral staff.

Our last Sunday there was especially poignant and emotional for us as we had the honor of serving communion and saying good-bye (or see you later as I prefer to think of it) to the church community that was our family.  It was (and is) very difficult knowing that we will not be sharing community with them on a regular basis in the same manner we have.

Now that we are in Austin, I recognize  the task we have ahead of us - finding another community where we can invest our time and our talents and that wants to invest in us and the community around us.

I always thought "Church Shopping" had a bit of a crass sound - and I still think it does.  Really it is better categorized as searching for a community to share faith and life and share the Good News with others.   That search started today.  It may or may not be a long road.  Tim found a church to try out so we went and at the beginning of the service, I prayed for discernment and that we would be able to find the right place for our family.  Once again, the bar is set very high.  Within the first 5 minutes, I found myself comparing everything.  Finally, it dawned on my that I will never get anywhere if I compare everything.  In the end, we liked it enough to go back another time.  We'll try out some other churches, I'm sure but we did enjoy our time there.  My prayer as we search for a church home is that we find a place where our family can serve, be ourselves, learn more about Christ and what it means to have Him in our lives and that we can share His love and mercy with others through the community.  It might take us a while so I also pray for patience.  I ask you to pray for us too.

Fortunately, I know there is a place for us.

Licensed To Say Y'all

When I set out to get my car registered with the state today, I didn't expect the wave of emotion that would come with changing my license plates.  Don't get me wrong, there is typically some type of emotion associated with process and procedures related to renewing car tabs, etc.  However, it is usually frustration, relief of another task done or surprise (you are asking me to pay how much?).  I walked in to the title office, met some nice ladies who quickly processed me, presented them with the appropriate documentation, wrote my check and handed it over.  In turn, the nice woman handed me my registration sticker and new license plates and said "Welcome to Texas".  I immediately teared up.  They were very sweet about the unexpected reaction.  I told them I was going to have to Facebook about this and she said she wanted to be my Facebook friend so she could see what my friends said about me crying at new license plates.

While we are settling in quite nicely and our apartment quickly felt like home, this was a big step in realizing that we are not simply on some extended vacation.  We are here.  We have been led here, and after a very long journey, our dream is a reality.  This was just one more step in that process and I can't wait to see where the journey takes us.  My car is officially Texanized. I'll still hold on to my pretty Washington plates so I can still see Mt. Rainier when I want.

Silence Is Not Always Golden: Letting The Perfect Be The Enemy Of The Good

Don't get me wrong, in a house with two boys age 7 and 3, I definitely welcome it when I get a silent moment.  However, the silence I'm talking about is mine.  I started this blog in 2009 and I have published very few posts and after 2010, I went radio silent.  I even wrote a couple that went unpublished but at the time, I thought they were not quite perfect enough so I didn't post.  As I look back on those posts, I discovered they weren't half bad and wondered, why didn't I hit "post"?  Well, after moving half-way across the country and having left some very dear friends in Seattle, I have decided I need to post more so I can communicate in as many ways possible.  Whether or not anyone reads it, I don't know, but it will be out there. It may not be perfect but at least I won't be silent.  More to come...