Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Goodbye Flower Mound...Hello Baytown!!

After the visit from the Carrs we headed to Valera to spend Christmas with the Roddens. We drove back to Flower Mound on Christmas night and continued packing. On Friday several friends came over to pack the U-Haul truck once again and Saturday morning we drove to Baytown through some rough weather. We are finally getting settled at our new house. We are actually about 80% unpacked (this ain't our first rodeo when it comes to unpacking!) but still have plenty to do. Joe's first duty for the church is a Lock-In tonight (New Year's Eve) so we have been running around getting stuff done for that as well. We have included some pictures of the big move...these will be the LAST pictures of U-Hauls, boxes, and other moving-related items!

Joe went on and on about how great this U-Haul was! Only 6,000 miles and practically new...we have been in too many U-Hauls when we can compare them!


Our last night in the Flower Mound townhouse. We are FINISHED with sleeping on a mattress in the living room!!


Our new house!!! Our new address is:

8010 Sugar Cane Drive
Baytown, TX 77523

Come visit and send us mail!! :)


This is the view from the front door. On the left is a formal dining room and to the left is the staircase. As you walk through the hall straight ahead there is a bathroom on the right and the master suite on the left before you enter the living room that is open to the second floor.


Coming in from the garage is a large utility room and then the kitchen/breakfast room. The kitchen looks into the living room which Lindsay LOVES! We have unpacked the kitchen already but have been amazed that we still have some empty cabinets! That has NEVER happened before!


This view from the second floor shows how open this layout is. You can see the sink in the kitchen on the right next to the breakfast area which all opens to the living room. Joe officially has his first wood-burning fire place. Hopefully that will get some good use!


This is the master bedroom which is downstairs. We knew it was big but didn't realize just how big until we got all of our furniture in it!


The master bathroom is through the bedroom and has a huge closet.


There are two bedrooms upstairs which are great size.


The two bedrooms have a full bathroom in the hallway between them. This is the view from that end of the house looking at a sitting area and on to the game room. This will be ideal for youth from the church coming over to hang out. All of this looks over to the entryway on one side and the living area on the other side.


Needless to say, we are really excited about this place! We got it with the idea that we may be interested in buying later. Baytown is definitely a place that we plan to stay for awhile!

A Texas Christmas

What an exhausting couple of weeks! It all started with a trip to Baytown to meet some of the youth from the church. We were there a few days and finalized some details for our new house! (Pictures to come!) Saturday the 20th Lindsay's parents flew into Dallas and spent a few days. There was some shopping, some packing help, and Christmas presents! One of the highlights of the visit was the present from us to Lindsay's dad.....a ukulele!!!! Lindsay and her brothers (and her poor mother) grew up listening to the same two songs every time they visited family. All of the Carr uncles knew how to play these two songs so we figured that it would be hilarious/necessary to carry on this Carr family tradition.
As SOON as we gave him the box he started strumming! What in the world?!?

Even though Becky dreaded this moment, she was happy to help Frank tune the Uke!

Joe originally thought that the idea was funny and that Frank would get a quick laugh....little did he know how much Frank would LOVE the present! He must have played it for 20 minutes before anyone else got to open another present!

Enjoy this short video of Frank enjoying his present!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

A Place to Call Home...Finally!

Well, we are officially moving...again...as you know. At this point we are really excited to be in Baytown with a family that is welcoming us with open arms, Faith Presbyterian Church! In two weeks we will be packing/driving another U-Haul/unpacking, etc. We do ask for prayers as we are still waiting to hear a final answer on a house to rent. We are extremely excited about one house in particular especially as we don't want to continue the process of looking. There are very few properties to rent in the area as we are not interested in an apartment. We are looking for a place that we can call home and that is welcoming to friends, students, and visitors. Please pray about our home situation. We have been trusting the Lord to bring us to this place for a long time, even when we didn't know that it would be THIS place! We are now trusting His provision for a place to do ministry. Thanks to everyone for all of your prayers through the last few months especially. We love you all and appreciate all that God has done through you. 

By the way, the Carrs (Lindsay's mom and dad) are coming to Texas! They will be traveling next Saturday, December 20 and then heading back to the tundra on Tuesday, December 23. Please pray for safe travel and a time of rest and fun. Also pray for good weather. We have no doubt that Becky has been diligently watching the forecast since she booked their flight months ago and it is looking promising as of now. We are hoping for days like today...77, sunny, BEAUTIFUL! Lindsay has discovered that she was made for warm weather and Becky has always known that she was made to live at the beach...warm weather in Texas will be plenty sufficient for now! 

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Moving Again!!!

Brothers and Sisters,

    Jesus loves you!  I wanted to update you all about where Christ has taken Lindsay and I.  We left our jobs at ETBU in September and I have been praying and searching for our calling since.  I have applied to over 700 jobs, but all the while I was crying out to our God that the next job I have would be a calling, not a career or just a job.  I have knocked on many doors, but all the while Christ has been whispering that my call continues to be firm and that I must work with students and help them see Jesus and serve Jesus.  

   Long story, very short, I have just accepted the call to be the youth minister at Faith Presbyterian Church of Baytown, Texas.  It is a very loving church of 300 that has a heart for passionately pouring into the next generation.  So Lindsay and I will be packing our things, again, and moving for the fourth time since June.  We believe we are being called to plant our lives in Baytown and plan to be there for a very long time.  

   Please lift us up in prayer, it has been an interesting three months of prayer, refining, and growth.  We will be in place there before January first, and after that you are all invited and encouraged to come and visit us.  There will always be a guest room with your name on it.  You're awesome, so enjoy our awesome Jesus this Christmas season.  Thank you for all you are to us and to our brothers and sisters in the faith.  We love you all!

Joe and Lins