How are we doing?

Well...

Troy has begun work now. I think he is really going to like it. He works just a couple of minutes down the street. Today he got to come home for lunch.
He is going to have to learn alot to get going, but I think it will be good for him. The guys he works with will be good I think.

Our apt. is great. We are all settled in now. I did realize in the move that we have LOTS of stuff! Much of it is still boxed and in the closet. We decided not to get out all the stuff we don't need for this year, hoping that we will only be in this apt. for a year and then we can look at buying. But the place is looking really nice and homey like we like it. I have beautiful plants on the porch with our table out there so we can enjoy the sunshine (and boy is there lots of sunshine.)

Audrey is doing well. I am glad that we are settled now. She needs a normal schedule. She sleeps GREAT at night which we are really thankful for. Now we just need a regular nap schedule. Man, is she precious. She is smiling and talking so much.

And me? Well, I think that is yet to be seen. I am at home with Audrey and Nettie. I am enjoying taking care of our home. I do think, though, that this is going to be quite a different thing for me. I have always had a job when I have moved somewhere new. A built in way to connect and make a place my own. I think this is going to take me a little longer, especially since I can't get out a whole lot with Audrey. Mostly my view of this is that I want my husband to do really well and I am really excited for him to have this job. And I sure have been able to do alot over my years of ministry in PEI, SF and Boston. Troy deserves this time of pursuing his career and I can work at helping him and taking care of our family.
I am doing a Bible study with my friend Kelli via phone from Boston. This is good to keep me accountable.
I've looked online and found a moms group here in North Austin. I would like to join a group like this, particularly a group that is not churched.
Our neighbors seem to be quite multicultural. I think we have a good number of Hindu families here in the apartments. The ladies have young children and seem to be out alot. I would LOVE to find a way to get to know some of them.

And...we are looking for a church. Last Sunday was our first attempt at finding a church home. We were excited about visiting this particular church because it is said to really seek to reach seekers.
It was a great facility. Very cool looking. We put Audrey in the nursery and she did great. They seem to have the children's stuff down.
The service - we must have come in after a song or something because we were only there for 2 songs. But we weren't really late. After "worship" they talked about Father's Day and played a funny video about Father's Day gifts. I admit it was funny, but I was so disappointed that worship culminated in a video having nothing to do with worshipping God. It was actually a bit distasteful I thought. and then they had "special music" which was the Dave Matthews song Space Between. Now, I am not one of those who thinks you shouldn't have any secular music within worship. If it fits, if it honors God, if it edifies the body or causes us to think about God in a different way, then sure. But this song was a stretch.
And the sermon was good, but not the challenge that Troy and I were looking for.

So Troy and I went to lunch (happy Father's Day to Troy at Chuy's Mexican Food...Yum!) and we discussed our thoughts about church over enchilidas and what Troy claimed to be the best refried beans he has ever tasted.

It seems to us that some churches seek so much to be seeker friendly that they go too far and the truth and edification of the body is lost and certainly the focus on worshipping God is lost.

We talked about what is important to us as we look for a church.
We want a church that really seeks to build up and edify the body of Christ. A church that is discipling the body. A church that takes worshipping God seriously. A church that preaches the word. And as a result of the previous the church lives out the gospel and reaches the lost.

Man, we are hungering for that.

Next week we are trying a Bible church that meets near UT. I am listening to a podcast of their sermon series on Colossians right now. Good stuff. And it looks like a graet way to reach out to UT students (which is part of the reason we wanted to be in Austin.)

So...that's where we are now. We will keep you posted. We appreciate your prayers as we seek to dig into life here.