Tyler: The Three Week Update

We've been in Tyler three weeks now!  It's so hard to believe... Living in New England feels like it was a dream, although we spent three awesome years there.  So far, Tyler has been a mix of things.  I read back over this post recently, and it's interesting to see how things are both the same and completely different than I thought they'd be when we first made our decision to move here.

First, we are still looking and praying for community but, surprisingly, it feels like we've already met a lot of great people.  I have had some lonely moments, and I had a day last week where the loneliness really overshadowed the whole day.  Nick and I have also had many moments where we usually would have called someone up to hang out, but just didn't have that option... so we hung out by ourselves.  In other words, we have a long way to go before we really have community.  But through random connections, we have gotten to hang out a handful of different couples/families here that we really like.  Because they've been here a while, they are understandably already established with friends and church and life and aren't necessarily looking for new friends.  But still, just meeting warm, godly people that we could see ourselves having a relationship with has been encouraging.  We also recently decided to attend this church and we're excited to get more involved.     

I have discovered that there are mercies hidden within loneliness and lack of community.  I feel God wanting to pull me closer to Him when I feel lonely.  There is a lot of silence throughout the day as Ellie naps and I'm housebound.  Although its tempting to fill the silence with getting things done or just staring at my computer, I just can't use the "too busy" excuse to avoid reading my Bible, thinking, or praying.  Nick and I have had lots of time alone together because we just don't have the option of busying ourselves, and that has also been a very good thing.  We've had some good conversations and I'm reminded of when we were dating :).

I won't act like its been the easiest transition in the world, but I do see the good in it - that much is true.  I do feel hopeful that community is something God will provide in time and that we will have some great friends here eventually :).  Who knows?  Maybe one day I'll have some pictures on the blog to prove it!

Swimming, Smiling, and Eating My Feet

Here are a few recent pictures of Ellie.  She is pretty fun these days!  

She's already been swimming three times since we've been in Texas, and her new things are chewing (read: slobbering) on her hands, playing with her feet, and rolling over.  The rolling over thing is causing problems with falling asleep for her naps and waking up in the middle of the night because she can't get back over... literally just days after we had almost fixed those problems.  Dang it!

I have gotten her to laugh a couple of times too, but those are pretty rare right now and Nick is not totally convinced that she's laughing.  But I'm telling you, she definitely is. :)

My Sister's Cool Project

My sister Marlo is an awesome artist, culture buff, world traveler, sister, daughter, wife, mom, and so much more!  She did an amazing thing for our family recently and had a lot of mom and dad's old family pictures and documents made into high quality digital files.  Here are some of my favorites...

My maternal grandparents were part of a triple wedding!  

Here are the three brides throwing their bouquets :).  

My mom's dad, Papa.  I love the picture of my grandmother on his desk.

My dad and his three sisters.  I think he kind of looks like Abran here, Marlo!

Another fun one of my dad, this time looking just like Ridgeroo!

My pretty mom with Marlo, and the newly married mom and dad.