Wow, how time flies! I always have good intentions to post regularly and then . . . BOOM!!! . . . life happens and weeks fly by.

Well the road was long and the road was flat, but we finally made it to Texas. We rolled into town at 1:00am after driving straight through without any major glitches in our plans. We made great time--aside from the hour stuck in Memphis traffic after a truck pulling a backhoe decided he wanted to ignore the clearance height of an overpass slamming into it, sending the backhoe flying off the trailer and spreading concrete from the overpass across almost every lane. This did make me me feel much better about my truck driving skills.

Anyway, let’s rewind a little bit. We finally got everything packed up and loaded on to the trucks . . . and yes, I said “trucks” . . . we had two of them. Luckily, the children’s minister for Fairway and her husband flew to Nashville to help us drive the trucks back. What a blessing! We set out early that morning expecting to stop and finish up the next day; however, after 10 or 11 hours, we all still felt really well, so we pushed on arriving in Wichita Falls at not-so wide-eyed 1:00am.

The next day we unloaded the bare essentials into our apartment and then met with a crew (and when I say “crew,” I mean “crew!” About 20 or so) to unload the trucks into our storage unit. Let me tell you, that was impressive! They unloaded BOTH 24 foot trucks into the storage unit in under an hour. WOW!! Under an hours!!! We thought it would probably take, at least three.

My first day on staff was the June 4th, and along with it came excitement, anticipation, nervousness, joy, and peace about how God had led us here. That night, the church held a homemade ice cream social (which, by the way, was scrumptious) and were planning on “pounding” us while we were there. We weren’t quite sure what a “pounding” was, but from the sound of it, we thought we would probably be sore the next day. But, luckily for us, there was no beating involved. It’s actually a tradition of inviting someone into the neighborhood by giving gifts of food and essential “life” items (e.g. flour, sugar, vegetables, paper towels, toilet paper). What an overwhelming gesture!! Danielle and I were both blown away by the outpouring of generosity by the church members.

We are trying to get settled into the groove of things. Danielle is focusing on looking for us a house and taking care of the details of life—getting insurance set up, bank accounts, groceries, etc. And I’m working (it has yet to feel like “work”) on worship sets, websites, etc. I still can’t get over the difference between working and doing something you were created to do.

Anyway, we are getting used to Texas. We love the area, the weather (although hot, very little humidity), and mostly, the people of Fairway. In just over a month being here, we already feel at home. It feels like we’ve been here for years. It’s just another affirmation of God calling us here.