Just have to

Just have to show you these pictures of Audrey. She's ready to go on our morning walk. This hat was Emma Stump's. I LOVE it!

On the brighter side...

Well, it's been a good day.

It started out this way...



(I think Hillary gave her this outfit...SO CUTE!!!)

And then we went back to Hill Country UT for church.
We've really been thinking through and praying about what we need in a church. Last week we visited the "mother church" for Hill Country Bible. It was a good church. Big, but good. Very Christ-centered. But I think we have decided that the most important thing for us is to be somewhere that is really missional in trying to reach out beyond it's doors. And that's what this church at UT is for sure. They are gearing up for the 52,000 students who are about to be on this campus. They are praying for 40+ "missional communities" to be started on campus, seeking to reach lost students who may not come to the church. They have students who are ready to start these groups. And they need more adults to pour into these students.
And it seems like they do have a good core group of adults who are all about reaching these students. There are many close to our age with young children/babies. The nursery isn't so big that Audrey will get lost in the shuffle. She is going to be loved at this church AND she is going to get to grow up as part of a church that is serious about ministry.

Here are a few things we are looking forward to just in the next few weeks:
helping to serve over 500 international students BBQ to welcome them to campus.
Maybe even going to a square dance for these students (we haven't decided on that one yet.)
Helping students move in to the dorms.
And prayer walking the campus as a church for the next 3 Sundays before church.

I also got to talk to the pastor. We are going to have dinner with him and his family (they have a 1 yr. old) soon.

So Troy and I both feel really good about this. We both felt very comfortable and that they just need adults that love college students to come and invest.

We also can see ourselves really growing and being fed. The sermons are very scriptural and challenging. (They are just finishing a study of Colossians after 16 weeks...that's pulling apart the scripture! good stuff!) And we will be trying a community group soon.

So thank you to all of you who have been praying for us in this area of finding a church. Please continue to pray as we seek to plug in there.

Next...we looked at houses in Round Rock today. We found 1 that we really really liked. We are going to move ahead in the process and see what happens.

And finally...we end the day in the pool, grilling Troy's famous "zesty chops" and watching the Sox and the Yankees. What more can you ask for? (except that the Sox whoop up on the Yanks!)

Let's end today's post with Audrey's rendition of "I'm a little Teapot."

Good morning

Thought we might show you what we get to wake up to every day (after a full night's sleep I might add.)



She's such a joy!

New friends and big decisions

Good morning all. Hope you are doing well. We have alot going on here. My neighbor, Zayatre, just left from our tea together. She is Indian and has a 1 year old girl named Suruthi. They are very kind. When I visited them they gave me some lotion and when they came here today they brought Audrey some rattles and a book. I am behind in giving them a gift. If you have any suggestions on what I could give them I would love to hear them. She is also going to bring me some Indian pickles this weekend.

We had a nice conversation over strawberry lemonade. They are definitely Hindu. It was nice to talk to her about Indian culture and their life here. They are very tied into a group of Indians here in the apartments. All of the women walk together in the evenings. I would LOVE to get in on that somehow. Not sure if I would be invited into a group thing like that or not, but it sure is worth praying about.

I would appreciate your prayers for my relationship with Zayatre and any suggestions you have on how to be hospitable to her.

On another note... we are looking at houses. We have decided that it is not wise to pour money into renting when we can pay less for a monthly mortgage and can be putting our money into something that we own. You can definitely pray for that as well, that we will be wise in this decision and that we will find the place that God wants us.

And lastly, we are really thinking through where we should be in church. I would love your thoughts on this. As you may remember, we found a church a few weeks ago (and have been out of town every weekend since). This church (Hill Country Bible UT) is a plant, about 4 years old. It is very strategic in reaching the UT campus, which we really love. They are starting these missional communities on campus and the adults are mentoring the students who are leading these groups. The leaders were very interested in us helping to mentor these students. This is right up our alley. The church is majority college students. like 75%. The church is downtown right across from campus. It will probably be a 20 minute drive from where we will live...it is 20 min. now. And there is not much for kids. Nursery, yes, but not too much to offer.

As we think about church we aren't quite sure where we need to be right now. Do we need to be in a place like this where we would definitely be plugged into a vibrant, strategic ministry? Or do we need, at this place in our lives, to be in a church that has more people our age - in the same place in life as we are? A place where Audrey could grow up with a great Sunday School and friends her age. We do really long for friends that we can share life with. And we really want a solid place for us to be taught God's word. The preaching is good at the UT church. Very solid and scriptural, but there is no adult Sunday School and we kind of want that for ourselves. We've missed that. It's been awhile.

And do we need to be in church near where we live or right downtown?

So we are asking the question - what is more important for us now?

In moving here we wanted to be involved in reaching the lost in Austin (both through friendships outside church and Troy's job). The campus is a pretty lost place. But so is the city in general. We aren't totally sure that we have to be working with college students. I just want to disciple women - whether college or not isn't so vital to me. I am also hoping to have opportunities to teach more.

We do know that this is something we really need to pray about and seek direction in. We would also love your thoughts.

???

Family

One of the reasons that we were so happy to move to Austin was to be closer to family. I have realized recently that it has been 10 years since I lived in Texas. That means, essentially, 10 years of missing lots of good family stuff. So, we are really looking forward to birthdays, watching cheerleaders, volleyball players, Thanksgiving, going to the State Fair with family and such.

This past weekend was one such event. My family celebrated Dad's 65th birthday with a surprise family party. I went home a day before Troy and helped mom cook (I made the best cake I have ever made I think...butter pecan...yummy!) I also got my hair cut and colored. Then Troy came on Friday, the party was Saturday, Troy played golf with his friend, Sonny, on Saturday and we went to dinner Sonny, his wife Jennifer, and their new precious baby girl after that.

It was a nice weekend with family. Something I am looking forward to way more of.

Here are pics...
Audrey with her Aunt Sarah















Uncle Eddie put her to sleep


















She loves her Grandpa!





Audrey got a new "big girl" toy and she LOVES it!



















Just a few more pictures to show you how big Audrey is getting. She wants to sit up all the time, she is talking like crazy, and almost rolling over...it could be any day.





















And finally, the new hair. It is so much cooler in this heat (and easy to do). Kelli asked for pics, so here you go. (keep in mind that I have been home all day and am not in any way fixed up)
Here is front and back...



















And with Audrey...showing off her bald spot in the back. :)

The Weekend

Well, we had a great weekend visiting with some of Troy's friends in Leakey, TX. Now, if you know Troy well you have heard him talk about spending time in Leakey on the river and in Garner State Park. He LOVES this place! I've heard about it since we met and now I have finally been there. AND I've heard about Troy's friend Ashley for a long time as well and finally got to meet him and his sweet family. We stayed with them in their cabin right in the beautiful hill country. It really was gorgeous with the mountains and rivers all around us.

Troy got to fly fish (with Nettie right by his side), while mommy and Audrey sat on the deck and read (one of us read and one of us slept), we barbequed, played in the river (which Nettie loved every minute of...not sure if Audrey loved it, but she did fine), ate at a neat steak house, and ended the weekend back in Austin with Troy bathing Nettie in one bath while I bathed Audrey in the other.

The video at the end is Audrey talking to her daddy about the weekend. :)

A little push in the right direction

I know many of you may be wondering what I am doing with my days since I am not working (and that is a new thing for me.) Well, I am really enjoying taking care of Audrey. She is growing so much and really getting into a good daily schedule. I love playing with her. She is so vocal now and smiles at us all the time with her little puffy cheeks. Right now she is sitting over on the couch playing with her toy and I am listening to her talk to it (and try to eat it.)
I am also enjoying taking care of our house. Troy comes home for lunch most days and I get to have a little time with him during the day.
We've also been enjoying some walks in the morning before it gets too hot.

I have been working through a Bible study with my friend Kelli. We are studying the Sermon on the Mount (which is a continuation of the study we did last semester in our women's group.) It's been good to dig into that daily and to discuss it with Kelli.

Kelli and I have been praying for eachother (now getting to the real reason for this post)and my prayer request seems to continually be my adjustment here and that I will see what God has for me here. Specifically I have been praying for ways to connect with ladies here in our apartments. I told you in an earlier blog that there are numerous Indian families living here. They work at Dell and IBM which is right around the corner. Our next door neighbors are a family from India with a little one year old girl and I have been praying recently for an opportunity to connect with this lady. I wanted to get up the guts to just go knock on her door and invite her to tea at my place.

So yesterday evening we were coming in from a drive (we spent our anniversary getting ice cream at DQ and driving around looking at houses.) I got out of the car and was bringing Audrey in with Troy and Nettie a bit behind me. My neighbor saw me out her window and waved at me and then came around to the door. Then she came out and said hi, asked how Audrey is doing, and motioned for me to come in. I took off my shoes and left them outside and then went in to visit. She was so sweet and hospitable. She immediately got me some juice. I asked her what she was cooking and she showed me this new vegetable I had not seen before. Apparantly her husband works for IBM and is out of town for most of the week and she is there alone with their baby. She said it is hard on her. We chatted a bit and I told her I was so glad that she invited me in because I had wanted to invite her to tea at my house.
I asked her if she would like that and she nodded her head yes. So next week I am going to knock on her door and we will make plans for tea. Then I decided I needed to get home because Troy might be worrying that I vanished. But before I left she went in her room and brought out a bottle of lotion as a gift for me coming to her home for the first time.

How exciting is that???
Isn't it neat how God sometimes gives us a little push in the right direction?

I will keep you posted on how tea goes. I would love it if you could pray for this relationship. (and a lady named Sue who is also Indian that I met at the pool.)

We are off today for Garner State Park to celebrate our anniversary and the 4th!

Have a great 4th!
amy

Couldn't resist

Our friends Amy and Aaron came to town last week. We had such a great time with them. I couldn't resist putting up some of the pictures that Aaron took of Audrey. This so captures her facial expressions that we get to see everyday. The last one is our favorite look. She has her head down and looks up at you with this shy/flirty look. It's precious!