Weirdos!

It seems that everyday we have some sort of random thing happen. Today we were trying to find a Hobby Lobby, and as we were pulling into the parking lot we see this car! Yes..this is typical of Austin. WEIRD! Their motto is "Keep Austin Weird" Here ya go...

Hilary with her "I'm a Pepper" T-shirt drinking a Diet Dr. Pepper. Funny huh?
She truly is a Pepper!!! hee hee!

We saw this random guy and of course decided to take a picture of it!
I was trying to imitate the expression on his face!

This is Soren, he came running into our room tonight spazing and wearing a rubber glove on his head! Yes he is 9 and wearing a Guns n' Roses t-shirt! AWESOME!
(he's the one that had the pink stripes in his hair)

This is Connor climbing on the railing. I think maybe they had too much caffeine tonight! Hilary and I went to the grocery store today. The last time we visited Austin we fell in love with HEB. It's a grocery store, just your average grocery store, but for some reason we just really like it. What is funny is that our first experience there we kept calling it HEB. Until we realized that it was actually the initials H...E...B...! We still like to call it HEB. So we went there today and we got stickers!! Here am I showing it off!
So we are weirdos, I guess we are in the right spot! I was told by Denise tonight that her and George voted me as the person that dresses most like Austin that's not from Austin. Cool!

Gecko, not Geico

When Hilary and I came home today, Connor was holding a small Gecko. He found it...inside the house...in his laundry hamper...in his room! AHHH!!
Here are some pictures...



It was just a little guy, and it looks like it's tail is missing. Gross. Connor thinks he might have bitten it off. Gross. I can't believe that it was in the house! Hilary said that she smashed some sort of thing the other day, and she thinks it might have been a Gecko now. It was dark in the house, and she said she wasn't sure what it was, but it splattered. Gross!
I don't ever remember ever seeing a Gecko in Iowa. Could be a Texas thing, I have yet to see a cockroach. Ewww! I hear they are BIG!

Extreme Houses

We went around town today and looked at some condos and houses. This is South Congress St. going into the city.
I love this view.

Here is a view as we are driving up to our house that we are staying in! There are some extreme houses out there. It is so beautiful.

The funny thing was that I sort of just stopped in the road so that Hilary could take these pictures for me. At the time there was no one else on the road. So we were sitting there and all of a sudden I look in my rearview mirror there are 4-5 cars sitting behind me!!! Hilary and I laughed so hard. Not only do we have Iowa license plates but we are taking pictures of the huge houses that we have never seen before. It was so funny!!







But we got some good pictures!

Reflecting part 2

Here are some more sweet memories...

These are my "sisters" Jenni and Amy. They are amazing women! Jenni just graduated from high school and will be going to college in Chicago. Amy will be a junior in high school this year and will be sticking around Solon. We have had so many great memories together...I will have to devote a special blog entry just to these guys very soon...:)
Here we are in Walmart at midnight making a special run to get this movie. I'm sure the Walmart camera crew had a great time watching the security cameras that night!!
More to come on that:)

Jenni and I singing to N'Sync.

My sweet Sharon and I on the boat.

Me, Amy and Jenni on the boat.

Me wiping out on the tube.

This is on my last day of work. This is Emily and I, my sweet sweet friend. I miss her so much. We shared everything together. Our lives, our struggles, our joys, our tears and OHHHH the laughter!!! I will never be able to find another co-worker like her. She is such a blessing and a sister. I admire her faith, she is truly a woman of strength and I have learned so much from her. We will always be the M&M's!!

So on my last day of work, it was really hard to get motivated to do anything,
so this is what happened instead...

Em and I went back into the charts and had a dance party! We had my CD on that they gave me called "Highway Tunes" and we were getting down! It was hilarious! I don't think I got much work done that day! Actually that was kind of typical for Em and I no matter what day it was! Especially from 3-5! Love you Em!

The World Record for Chair diving...49 seconds.

Today's adventures...The boys are loving us being here, especially when Denise and George are not there. They know that we don't know the "rules". We were watching them today and one of them was riding their skateboard through the house and Hilary asked, "So...does your mom let you ride your skateboard in the house?" and he said "Well, my mom doesn't let me use my big one in the house, but she lets me use my little one." Hilary says..."So if I called your mom right now she would say that it's okay for you to be riding your small skateboard in the house." He says..."Well, as long as I don't break anything." Funny!! So...later at dinner with George and Denise and no boys...Hilary says, "So tell me about the skateboard rules..." Denise says..."Oh, yeah, absolutely no skateboarding in the house!" We all laughed so hard. So clearly they were working it, knowing that we did not know the rules.
Also, we went to the lake today and they decided that they were going to play this little game with a plastic chair that they would set on the edge of the dock and sit in it and push each other in with the chair. Here are some pictures...


Then they started playing a game where one of them would hold the chair out and they timed each other to see how long they could stay on the chair before falling in. All probably not the safest things to be doing, so again Hilary says, "Umm...guys should you be doing that?" They yell back, "Yeah, we do it all the time, its the most fun thing to do. We're setting the world record!"
So back to our dinner time, we ask Denise and George, "So they do that all the time?" Denise says, "Yeah, they have never done that before...they have seen other kids do it before while their parents are in the pool, but they haven't done it!" Again, we laughed. They are stinkers!!!

Moe's

Here is a picture of Hilary at Moe's. It was a Tex-Mex place downtown on campus that we ate at yesterday. It was great!!! It wasn't like Taco Cabana that we ate at the day before that. (Taco Cabana is like a Taco Bell but authentic instead of fake:)) And it was similar to Panchero's but BETTER! It was very good. I'm starting to get more into spicy foods. I'm loving this Tex-Mex thing! I could eat it all the time! LOVE IT!

Check out that stringy greasy cheesy stuff coming from her Quesadilla! YUM! :)

Yoshi

I just have to share this blessing. The Lord put it in me before I left for Austin, to start praying for a laptop. At the time I was being an annoying sister-in-law and asking my bro Joe to borrow his computer ALL the time! But I knew that the time would come that I would have to leave and Joe wouldn't be coming with me! So I started asking God that if He wanted me to have one and this means of communication-emailing, blogging-that He would provide one. I went back and forth on thinking about just purchasing one, even getting a credit card just for that purpose, but something wasn't sitting well in me about spending that much money on one, when it really wasn't an absolute necessity and with the upcoming move I knew that my money would need to be saved for that. So it seemed so silly to pray for, and seemed impossible, but I was challenged to pray BIG. Realizing how BIG God is and not limiting him and His capabilities, knowing that if He wanted, He could provide one, but also knowing that if He didn't that did not change His bigness.
The Lord heard my prayer and a couple of my friends blessed me with a late b-day gift and gave me a laptop!! SO undeserving of such a gift but it was sweet to be reminded by my friends of what a sweet picture it was of grace.
I'm blessed by the people in my life who hold the things of this world loosely. God is glorified when we realize that our home is eternal and the things that will last are not those things.

In Jim Cymbala's book about prayer, he says...

"God says, "Pray, because I have all kinds of things for you; and when you ask, you will receive. I have all this grace, and you live with scarcity. Come unto me, all you who labor. Why are you so rushed? Where are you running now? Everything you need, I have." "
The cool thing, is not that I got a laptop (although that definitely has some coolness!) but most of all that God is GLORIFIED!!! I have been able to lift Him up and give Him glory!! My friends want to remain anonymous because it's not about them, it's not about me, it's not about a laptop, it's about JESUS!! Oh, I could shout!!
So I have been SOOO blessed these last several months owning a laptop. My sweet friends who gave this blessing to me. You guys have always been so special to me, (even before Yoshi!) You have shown me grace in more ways than this. You have walked me through life and through my failures, through different seasons of life. You are examples to me of a couple that is real and not afraid to admit weakness, and not afraid to shout to Jesus! I love you guys!!!
Here is a picture of the blessing during one of my quiet times this week!
Isn't it cute?! I feel SO blessed to have this. It has been great using it here in Austin to write to friends and to do this blog thing to keep people updated on what's going on!
Don't limit God. Pray for BIG things, pray for silly things. Just pray!

Smile!

Today Hilary and I looked at some properties around Austin. It's a little overwhelming. We were sitting at Starbucks waiting for the realtor to come and we were discussing what we were looking for and Hilary was sharing about how she was reading again in Isaiah 42:16-17 "I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. But those who trust in idols, who say to images, "You are our gods," will be turned back in utter shame."
We were talking about what things we need to surrender as a part of this process of finding a place. What things were we holding onto that could be our "little gods".
As I was thinking about stuff in my head and feeling a little overwhelmed I looked over and right next to me on the railing was this...I took a picture....(yes, now having a camera I WILL take a picture of ANYTHING!)

Okay, cheesy moment...Zach you will love this...but it was fun because it was right at my eye level and it was as if God was like, "Smile!! Everything will work out!" God has His cool ways of making me smile!!

Funny Quote

So today's funny quote from Soren:
Hilary and I were talking to Soren about how funny he is and how we have been sharing stories with our Iowa friends and how he was going to be famous in Iowa. He throws up his hands in the air and says "Word up to my homies in Iowa! It's a place to grow!!" Like he was shouting out to a crowd of people from the stage. Again, he will be a rockstar someday. Maybe not play like one, but defintely look and act like one!

Reflecting

I'm sitting in a coffee house in Austin reflecting back on sweet memories. Thought I would share some pics with you.

This picture was at Easter last year. I'm not exactly sure what was going on, but my mom is laughing really hard, and it's so cute! I LOVE her!! Isn't she cute!! That's me and my sister Laura, I think maybe I was showing her an egg that I found in the hunt!:)

Here are the kids!! Oh, I miss them!! From tallest to smallest...Jack (10), Will (6), Noah (5), Sam (3), and of course sweet Lily (1) Aren't they adorable!!

Here is my lovely at the swimming pool. She is so cute in her little bikini!

This is Lucy. She is very sweet!
Will passing the time at our going away party! I love this picture!!
Me and the boys, this was after Will came up to me and said with tears, "I'm going to miss you". It was very sweet, and sad.
Cute picture of Will and Sam

Here is Noah being a stinker because he didn't want his picture taken!
My heart is just full when I look at my pictures and think about memories! Sweet Sweet family!! I love you!
Laura, I need more pictures of the kids!!

Duck, Duck, Goose

Today we ran some errands and I got a camera! Praise the Lord! He has provided the money for one, and felt like now was the time to get one so that I can share with y'all some pictures!

Here is the beautiful house that we are staying in!

Here is a side view with a cool picture of the moon!

Here is a picture of the kitchen

Living roomSitting room

Tonight we played duck, duck goose! It was me, Hilary, Denise, George and Holland (the three year old). Yes we actually played duck duck goose! We sat in the living room in front of the TV and whoever was the "ducker" went around but instead of saying duck duck Holland liked it better when we said her friends names..."Agatha, Miley, Kip..." and so on! But the thing was, was when you were called "goose" you had to run through the kitchen around to the front of the house, through the office and through the sitting room area, back to the living room. George liked to take you around the wooden table in the kitchen a few times before heading through the whole house!!! It was a lot of fun! Holland just kept giggling and giggling! It was very cute!
This morning Denise and the kids went to the grocery store and Soren, with his own money, bought a coconut because he wanted to see what was inside of it! So we spent a good time trying to figure out how to crack it open. Then he also decided that he wanted to get an MC Hammer CD. He is into 80's music and he is 9 years old! FUNNY! Both Connor and Soren want to be rockstars. They dress and act like rockstars. Connor is 10 and he plays bass guitar, and very good, and just bleached his hair. Soren doesn't play anything, he just like to wear the clothes! He has pink stripes in his hair! They actually went to a "Rock Camp" this summer! How cool is that?! Kind of like School of Rock maybe! I wonder if they did "rock squats"!

This is Sally, she is very cute and sweet!

When Denise and the kids were at the grocery store I found her in Connor's room eating a sucker! It was funny because she lifted her head up when I walked in and it looked like she was sucking on it like a little kid, it was cute but naughty!

The Lord has sustained me another day. I'm thankful for the challenge of being here. I feel stretched in many ways. In ways that are affecting more of my character. I'm seeing weaknesses in me that I have not noticed when being in a comfortable place or else are magnified when being in an uncomfortable place. But I know that our weaknesses make God Bigger so that's cool.

Lord I desire more of you and less of me. It seems that in my weaknesses, that are being revealed in piercing ways, have come bringing more of myself in my view. Father bring my eyes to You, help me look past my weaknesses and my feelings of being inadequate, or feelings of intimidation, Lord You see me and You see beauty and righteousness and clothing that is strength and dignity. It's because of You. I don't deserve such a title as child of the King. But You delight in giving me that name that covers my weaknesses, inadequacies, even my failures. Thank You Jesus. Your love fills me up and I delight in You, because You first delighted in me.
You are BIG, much BIGGER than my mind can comprehend.
I Love you.

Pee Wee, Church, Sushi

Today was a good day! This morning Denise made us a delicious breakfast of waffles, eggs, bacon and fruit. Hilary shared this funny story with me, her and Denise were talking and the boys were watching Pee Wee's Playhouse on TV...Soren all of a sudden shouts out..."I'm watching Pee Wee's Playhouse..I'm the luckiest kid in the world!!" It was hilarious! These kids are really really funny! I think they are liking the attention that we give them when they "perform". It's making me miss my kiddos. Sisters...send me pictures, email me or call me with stories, I'm going through withdrawal!
After breakfast they did their "Family Church", since the boys have football Sunday evenings and aren't able to come to church they do "Family Church". It was great to sit in on that and here them talk about ways to love each other.
Tonight we went to church at Austin Stone. It was awesome! Chris and his band were not there, but we had the pleasure of worshipping with Andy, who is on staff as worship leader and leads worship while Chris is traveling. It was an amazing night of worship. We sang some really good songs, one that is on Chris' new album coming out in Sept/Oct. It's a good one! The music was loud and rockful! There is so much freedom in worship there. It feels great to come to a worship service and feel freedom to raise my hands and dance!! I felt such release.
Brad spoke tonight on John 14 and talked about the Holy Spirit. Great teaching. It was a great night of being fed.
After church Hilary's friend Jason took us out for dinner.(GREAT guy, sweet brother and REALLY funny!) Hilary has known him since they were kids, so it was fun hearing about their stories. We ate at a Sushi place. It was my first experience with Sushi...I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, so I also ordered some "potstickers" (they were like those little dumpling guys that I ate with the Witthofts and the Nelsons, see a previous post) as a back up in case I didn't like the Sushi. Good decision!
The sushi was very fishy, and the texture was strange. I actually didn't mind it that much but was glad to have the "potstickers"!
As we were driving back home, Hilary and I again, were overwhelmed at the fact that we are NOT on vacation, although it still kind of feels like it since we don't have to go to work tomorrow morning!! But this is our "home" now for awhile.
What a blessing it has been being here in an amazing house that God provided and an amazing family to stay with and so many people that we are meeting and a great church. God provides in abundance His blessings. Again, I feel so undeserving of such sweet blessings. But what sweet ways to give Him glory!
There is a possible job opportunity coming about that I am getting more information on. It's exciting...but I am really enjoying having some free time! I'm excited to see how God will provide in this area. I'm open to wherever He would have me. I know it won't ever compare to Peds Assoc.!! I miss you guys already!!!
Something hard that I am going through, as being in unfamiliar surroundings, is that a lot of feelings are arising of inadequacies. It's not from God, I have recognized that, but I think just being in a vulnerable and humbled spot has brought that out of me.
Hilary blessed me with these verses this morning:
1 Corinthians 1:4-9
"I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way-in all your speaking and in all your knowledge-because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful."
What a blessing she is to me!
Oh, yeah...and it's REALLY hot here! LOVE it!

We're Here!

We're in Austin!! What an amazing adventure so far! We left on Friday morning after some hard goodbyes to my family and we stopped in Des Moines and had lunch with Kelli B!! It was so great to meet her in person! We met through blogging! We had a mutual friend and we started connecting through our blogs and through our comments. AND she knows Hilary really well. What a blessing it was to meet with her and to see her heart, she shines and she overflows with His love, giving and serving. Thanks Kelli for everything!! I'm praying for you!
We then headed for Kansas City to stay with Joe and Missy. What a blast! It was great to see them and be goofy! Joe was showing us his pirouettes and we also played a nice game where Missy and I would call out genres of music and he would have to dance like that. It was hilarious! We also sat and played guitar and sang. It was really fun, but way too short.
We got up at 6:00 and were on the road for Austin at 7:00am! It was a long drive, but a good one.
It was amazing leaving that morning, knowing that we were going to be in Austin that evening. I just kept praising God and saying, "Lord You are good, You are good, and Your love endures, You are good, You are good, and Your love endures, You are good, You are good and Your love endures, TODAY!"
As we drove into Austin about 6:00pm my heart was overwhelmed as I thought about this being my new home. It wasn't a vacation...I wasn't going to be coming back home after a week or two...this was my new home. It was such a strange feeling. I kept thinking, "Lord, this is what you have prepared me for over the last year and a half." Am I really ready for this?!!
We were welcomed by such a sweet family, Denise, George, Connor, Soren and Holland. We have gotten to know them through Austin Stone and some friends of friends. We met with Denise when we came down over spring break this last year and have kept in contact through email. They are letting us stay with them in their gameroom until we get something figured out with our housing! They are such an amazing family.
We laughed so hard last night, they are a fun family, there will be lots of fun stories!
It's hard to believe that we are here. I am overwhelmed, still tired from the drive yesterday, my stomach feels a little in knots, but I'm excited. Actually, kind of excited to be un-employed right now!!! That will probably change soon when my bank account starts getting a little low!
I'm excited to get to know the town and mostly to spend some good time with God.
The Lord has provided and He provides blessings in abundance. I am truly overwhelmed by him.
I don't have a camera (I had been borrowing my sister and bro-in-laws) so I don't have any pics yet, but hopefully I can get some from Hilary or eventually get a camera soon. (maybe after I get a job!:)

"Ouchy Mama!"

As I was sorting through my things, getting ready for the move, I came across my "evangecube"! Awhile back a group of us went to San Antonio, TX for missions trip. We receieved this tool to use in talking to people about Jesus. It walks through the "steps to salvation". It's actually a pretty cool way of talking through it. Especially for kids or for people you don't speak English very well. Anyway, my nephew Noah (who is 5 years old), LOVED it! He not only loved playing with it because you can open it up and turn the pictures around, but he loved talking through each step. He was doing really good with it, and really understanding it. It was so cool! This is what he would say, "There's man and there's God, and Jesus came and died on the cross, they put him in the tomb. And then he came out. And someday we can go to heaven and we can be friends with God."
It was so precious! Later he was showing my sister, and walking through each step.



There is a picture of flames to represent hell, and he asked about it. We were trying to explain that it was a bad place and that is where people go if they don't know Jesus. He looked at it and said "Ouchy mama! "
It was hilarious! Exactly..."Ouchy mama!"