Oh my.... Has it been that long since our last post?

Wow, has it really been 3 months since I last posted something. I guess it is time for an update. Here is the short version, important stuff first. We will be in DFW for an entire week before, during and after Christmas. Plans are, pending how the trip up goes, for us to be at Calvary for the Sun PM service. We hope to see as many of you as possible during that time.

Emma and Elijah are both doing well you would not believe how they have grown and changed. Rachel and I are both doing well at work. Rachel is enjoying teaching and our team went 7-3 this year and missed the play-offs by one point on a tie breaker.

Recently, Elijah and I took a trip to Fort Worth to see TCU play their final home game. Below are a couple of pictures. In the one with SuperFrog, Elijah is trying to be Batman.

One final story before it is time to go. Rachel took Emma and Elijah to a book fair last weekend that featured Clifford (the big red dog) and Santa. As soon as Elijah saw Clifford he ran up to him and said in a sing-song/whimsical voice, "I read your books every night!" Later was the conversation with Santa:
Santa: Have you been a good boy?
Elijah: I've been awesome!
Santa: So have you written me a letter telling me what you want for Christmas?
Elijah (with a quizzical look): No, I just met you????

Oh, the mind of a 4 year old.

No More Drama

It seems like everytime I write something that there is more drama to tell everyone about. This time I have nothing really exciting or dramatic. We have settled into the new home very nicely. The home is more than we could have ever asked for and we already have a large amount of equity in it. God has really turned a difficult situation around into a testimony. Catherine(Rachel's Mom) came and stayed with us for about a week to help us unpack and get settled. If it had not been for her we would still have boxes everywhere. As with the rent house, we have a spare room for people to stay, if you are in the Austin area we would love to have you. We pray that you all and your family are doing well.

Again God is taking care of us...

Our faith has really been tested recently. Not only have we had to deal with the death of a beloved family pet, but we have also had to deal with a strained relationship with our landlord. There is to much to go into detail about but lets just say that we have had several disagreemets and several reasons not to trust our landlord. About 2 weeks ago we asked out of our lease and after a rollercoaster ride of yes and no we are finally released from our lease.

Several good things have come out of this. We are learning to fully rely on God, especially in situation where we feel like we have been wronged. We have met some wonderful neighbors and fully expect them to be good friends for a long time. And finally, we have found another home(this time to purchase) that is much better than we could have ever expected. In a few short weeks we will be moving in.

The best part of this whole thing is that we have found a church home. We walked in on a Sunday morning and God's presence had absolutly filled the place. Both Rachel and I were touched and ministered to in an amazing way and after service the pastor and his wife took us out to lunch. We are starting to build relationships and really feel like God has confirmed that this is where He wants us to be.

Bear

We had a family tradgedy occur last Monday. Our beloved family pet Bear died. For those of you who have ever loved a pet you understand that our family has truly mourned this loss. Even Emma will bang on the back door and call for Bear to come. What a desperate feeling to lose a member of the family (even if he wasn't quite human) and know there is nothing you can do about it. We don't know how he died just that he was laying outside of the backyard fence with a head injury. Bear was 8 years old. He died the day after Matt's b-day- August 4th. He was so great with our kids and had the kindest soul. We pray that he's in heaven right now doing his favorite thing- chasing tennis balls.

The quest for a new church begins...

We visited a new church for the first time today. We explained to Elijah that we are too far from our old church so we need to find a new one. The new one we visited had a great message but the worship service...let's just say it was lacking. Part way through the 'worship' service Elijah realized that he was the only one trying to clap or raise his hands (we would have if the songs had a beat) and he leaned over and whispered, "No one is moving." He was later won over by the playground and the fact that a nice lady gave him a donut. What more does a 3 year old need, right?...Needless to say we will try another one tonight.

I encouraged Elijah as he was taking a nap to get plenty of rest because we would be visiting another church tonight. He asked if it was the same church we went to this morning. When I told him it would be a different church he sat straight up in bed and said in complete frustration "That's 3 churches, how many churches our we going to have Mommy?" Ahh, nothing like Mommy guilt on a Sunday afternoon.

Once again God provides

God's timing is always perfect. We had been praying for our house to sell before we moved and on the day we moved we signed a contract on our house. God has always come through for us. The best part is after only being in the home for 10 months, we were able to make a profit on it!!!

As for the move, we are almost completely moved in. My (Matt's) mom has been here helping with the kids and unpacking and we never could have done it this quickly with out her help.

Down below, per request, you will find a picture of the new home and the outdoor seating area that is adjacent to the backyard.

We hope that you are all doing well.

Matt, Rachel, Elijah and Emma

Moving Day!!!!

Moving day is finally upon us! There are sometimes that we have looked forward to this day and other times that we have dreaded this day. For those of you that are helping us (AGAIN!!) you will here it many times, but here it is again THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We really can't tell you how much we appreciate your help.

Good news on the "house for sale" front. We think we will be recieving an offer very soon. There is a couple that has seen the house twice and they are asking a lot of questions about everything. They haven't offered yet, but we are praying that they will. It will be another answer to prayer and another amazing way that God has worked in this entire situation.

Finally, our new home has lots of extra room so we expect to see many of you (family and friends) when you come to the area. You will always have a place to stay with us.

Is God dead?...deep thoughts from a 3 year old

Through this hairy process of moving we have lost a few (okay...ALL) of Elijah's fish. The last one to go was Moby, aka the biggest sucker fish in Parker County. Elijah was pretty upset and wanted to know what happened to sucker fish. I told him that Moby was in heaven with Jesus and happier there than he ever was here. Elijah didn't care that Moby was happier in heaven- he wanted Moby here with him. I explained that all things die sometime and when they do hopefully they get to go to heaven to be with Jesus.
Elijah pondered this for a while and then asked "Doesn't Jesus live in our hearts?" I started to explain this to him when he asked "Who's God?" I explained that God was the Father of Jesus and the Maker of Heaven and earth. Elijah asked "Where does God live?" I told him that God lives in heaven. His eyes got bright that it all finally made sense and then said "Ohhh, then if God lives in heaven He is dead right?"
Let's just say that we had a lengthy conversation to straighten it all out but I couldn't help but laugh at the deep thoughts from my vivacious 3 year old!

Welcome to our family blogspot!!!

We have set up this blogspot to keep in touch with "our-people" back home. We will do our best to keep pictures posted along with our latest and greatest news. We are no Sarah H. but we will do our best to match her blogging mojo.

We will be moving down south this weekend. The pictures below are of the lake that our new home and schools back up to.

We are very excited about this new adventure. For those of you who don't know, Rachel will be teaching 5th grade and I will be teaching High School Science and coaching Football and Track. Keep us in your prayers as we move and try to sell our home and make this major change.