We are in Tejas!

Well, hellloooo there!  It has been a month since I last updated you guys, but it feels more like a lifetime.

I really do want to write a post about our last night in Boston, our hellacious experience with the movers, and our drive across the country.  But that will have to wait for later.  For now, I just wanted to give a quick shout out that we are here and surviving.

So far this experience has been hard, dang hard.  There is a lot of heartache, uncertainty and wondering why in the world we dragged our family to this hot place.  Moving is truly a full-time job for at least a month. as we set up utilities, register cars, register for new school systems, order school uniforms and books, learn when trash day is, find places for all the essentials things, and try to make our house feel like our home. Our neighbors across the street have been fantastic, inviting us over to swim, filling me in on everything I need to know and do, and introducing me to others in the community.  Just tonight, a bunch of seven kids from the neighborhood knocked on the front door to meet the new neighbors.  When they left, Theo exclaimed, "Yes! We have FRIENDS!"  Love the way he thinks.

The weirdest things have made me cry.  We went to the public library last week, and I just wanted to weep because it was so small and ill-equipped compared to Cambridge Public Library.  As John rightly pointed out, VERY FEW towns have as great a library as Cambridge, Massachusetts!  In any case, the transition from city mouse to country mouse is going to take a while.

I am SO VERY grateful for my in-laws being here.  They have bent over backwards to help us.  The first week, we spent nearly every evening at their house so that we could watch the Olympics.  I didn't want to miss that just because our TV wasn't set up yet!  In fact, my in-laws are away this week and I am feeling quite lonely, as my one friend is not here!  I am so grateful for a mother-in-law that I love to be with.

The kids have been struggling.  The days are long when all your mom does is unpack boxes.  We bought a trampoline, so that has been a great source of fun, especially when the sprinkler is turned on.  There have been tears from Lucy and Theo almost every day, and anger from Walter.  Clayton will most certainly have the smoothest transition.  After church last Sunday, as we walked into Cracker Barrel for lunch, he told me that he needs a pair of boots to wear to church.  Yep, he's going to fit right in. Oh, and he already bought two air-soft guns with his birthday money.

We have been well-loved by our new church launch team here.  On the first day that we could get into our home, they all surprised us with a "pounding".  Do you know what that is? It's when neighbors bring a pound of all the essentials so that you can set up house.  They loaded us up with toilet paper, chips and salsa, kitchen staples, cleaning supplies, tools, and lots of yummy snacks.  It was great fun, and SO very helpful!  What a blessing to not have to run out for so many of the things we needed to get up and running.

Additionally, our cousins who live in Fredericksburg (one town north of us, very quaint and great for shopping) have loved us so well, inviting us to swim, play with their kids and just feel kind of normal for a little bit.

Friends, if I write much more tonight, I'm going to cry, so I had better sign off here.  While this move has cost and will cost us much, we have been encouraged to see and feel a real need for the Gospel here.  It is SO weird to go from a place where no one claims to be a Christian to a place where EVERYONE seems to be one.  I mean, the local paper has several columns about Christian faith.  Christian music plays in stores on a regular basis. I know I will have more to write about that as time goes on.

Love to all of you in Boston; know that we miss you more than we can say.  Love to you here in Kerrville; we are honored to be here and know that God is going to glorify Himself in Christ Church Presbyterian.

Can't wait to be more caught up with all of you!