1. First, it's pronounced AWS-TUN. It doesn't matter how they say it in other places.
2. Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere. Austin has it's own set of traffic rules. There's no book about them. All you can do is get in your car and hope you survive to learn them.
3. All directions start with "Go down Mopac...'cause you don't want to get on 35."
4. Burnet, Braker, and Lamar have no beginning and no end.
5. It's impossible to go around a block and wind up on the same street that you started on. The Chamber of Commerce calls this a "scenic drive"
6. The 8:00 am rush hour is from 6:30am to 9:30am. The 5:00pm rush hour is from 3:30pm to 7:15pm. Friday's rush hour starts on Thursday morning.
7. If you actually stop at a yellow light, then you cannot be from Austin. You may only apply your brakes when the end of a yellow light and the beginning of the red light create a "burnt-orange" hue
8. If you like being an individual, don't even think of working for Dell. You'll be branded like cattle and made to walk all over town with your "Dell tag" around your neck or clipped on to your belt loop. 98% of the people within a 200 mile radius work for Dell. When someone says "Michael Dell", Dell employees are trained to face Round Rock, hit their knees, put their face to the ground, weep, and rock back and forth.
9. Just remember that Mopac IS Loop 1; Capital of Texas Hwy IS 360; and 183 IS Research, Anderson, Ed Bluestein, and Old Bastrop Hwy. 2222 IS Northland or Allendale or Koenig. Don't try to figure it out. Just accept it. If You question the intelligence behind this naming convention, people will Simply tilt their heads to the right and stare at you.
10. If moisture is determined to be rain, not sweat, all traffic must immediately cease. Ditto for daylight savings time, a girl applying eye-shadow across the street, or a flat tire 3 lanes over. Do not attempt to access any road after an apocalyptic event like snow or South X Southwest.
11. Construction on I-35 is a way of life, and a permanent form of entertainment. Get used to it!
12. Keep in mind that the sloppily dressed, tattooed "hippie" in sandals with multiple piercing is probably the latest IPO millionaire around here.
13. Stay away from the CongressBridge at sundown if you do not like the thought of being in an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
14. And, yes, we all know that's a man in a teddy and a tiara on Congress Ave. It's Leslie, he did run for Mayor and he probably makes more money than you do.
I received the following email from Sharla, the founder of MAKARiOS.
The Makarios staff has an amazing opportunity to go as a team to Mexico City in October in association with the Passion Conference. We would love for you to partner with us to make it happen. The Austin Stone is behind us and suggested that I email you, since you know our staff and have seen our ministry in the DR.
Here's the deal. The people at Passion asked if we would help facilitate the "Do Something Now" campaign for their Mexico City event on October 3-4. Some of the Passion staff and worship leaders were also interested in bringing their kids to this event and wanted them to be able to serve in the local community while there. They asked if we could lead that aspect of their trip. As we looked into these opportunities, the Lord led us to a church in a poor neighborhood that is reaching out to an even poorer village. We love what they are doing and are unified in approach to ministry and outreach.
As a church, they tutor and teach Bible classes to about 50 kids in this village on the weekends. They would like to start a program for them every afternoon, but lack teacher training, materials, and school supplies. The Lord has given Makarios the vision to begin helping local churches in impoverished areas of the world set up educational programs as a means of reaching the community for Christ. God has made it clear that this is our first such project.
We are very excited to see what God has for us and are thrilled to be able to use what we've learned and the supplies that we've collected to minister in other parts of the world. We will volunteer with the Passion team at the event, lead the Passion family team in a service project, bring supplies that we have collected, and train the church volunteers in working with kids who are years behind in their schooling. We know we're not experts, but God has blessed us with an abundance of resources and we look forward to passing along the blessing and giving all the glory to Him for what He accomplishes through us, weak vessels that we are!
You can find the team members' names below. If you're willing to partner with us in prayer, please respond to this email and let me know. I'll keep you posted on prayer needs. If you're willing to partner with us financially, please send your gift to the address below with a note that it's for Mexico City. We need to raise about $7,500. We may still need school supplies, so if you're able to help with that, please let me know.
Thank you for being a part of Makarios in whatever way God calls you to be!
so i like to listen to sermons while i exercise because it keeps me from focusing on the things that stress me out. i exercise anywhere from 4-6 days a week. most churches only have 1 or 2 sermons a week. so as you can see, i quickly run out of sermons.
so a few weeks ago i subscribed to another church series - mars hill church in seattle. i'm not really sure where i first heard of mars hill or its pastor, mark driscoll. i probably saw a quote somewhere or something like that. anyway, i began downloading the sermons, listening to them regularly, and quickly became a fan of the Truth I was hearing.
it just so happens that about 2 years ago, mars hill went through 1 Corinthians, just as is the Austin Stone currently. this past saturday i just happened to come to chapter 7 - something we have currently bypassed until spring '09. i look forward to what our pastors at the stone have to say on this subject. for now, i enjoy mark driscolls commentary.
anyone who is single knows how annoying it gets when people come to 1 Corinthians 7 where Paul talks about the benefits of being single. we get yelled at about how we should treasure all of the time and freedom we have. and we're almost guilted into christian busy work. but i finally heard a message that makes sense. you definitely need to listen to it yourself, but the highlight is this:
those of us who are single are not such in order to drown ourselves in christian busywork. we are single because there is something else the Lord has for us right now.
in other words: don't go looking for some way to use your time, energy and resources. recognize how God has already provided these ways, live in them fully, and be thankful for them.
some may say i'm addicted. i think that's a little too strong.
i do, however, enjoy that both the internet and my iphone help me stay connected - through email, IM, blogs - i can stay connected with people no matter where they live or what their, or my, schedule is like.
i was reminded of this yesterday as i was waiting to meet up with someone at a nearby coffee shop. she happened to be running late, and as austin traffic would have it, i ended up with about 30 minutes on my hands with not much to do but sit and wait. i didn't have a book with me. there were no newspapers laying around. and the wait staff weren't the type to provide interesting conversation.
but i just so happened to have my iphone with me. so i pulled it out, searched for google reader, and looked up all the blogs written by people i love. from Austin to Pennsylvania, to the Dominican Republic and Australia - i spent 30 minutes reading about what was going on in the lives of all of these people all over the world. and it was beautiful. none of them sat right in front of me during that time, but it was almost like they did. seeing their pictures, reading their words, is as close as i can get to many of them right now.
and for that i am thankful for the internet and my iphone.
it plagues us all. but i think we all, in some way, think we're the only one who deals with it. but we're not. inf act, it's been plaguing the human race for, well, quite a long time.
...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers [and sisters], whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ...and the God of peace will be with you. ~The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians
i don't like it. it only seems to cause problems. we never have enough. and when we get more, we have even less.
i've grown up hearing that if you're faithful to give your tithe, the Lord will bless you. i've heard stories of people making sacrifices to pay their tithe and then anonymous checks or envelopes of cash just showing up so they can pay their bills. awesome, and truthful, stories of God's provision.
my church just finished a three week Money Matters series. and something finally clicked. it never quite made sense to me that we should give in order to receive. doesn't that seem a little selfish? of course there is a lot more you could explain so that it isn't, but on the surface it is selfish. but then it was explained this way.
in the old testament, the people were commanded to give in order to be blessed. in the new testament, we give because we ARE BLESSED. God has given us a lot. and it's all his anyway. why wouldn't we want to give some of it back to him?
and now another one of those crazy stories (but not quite so crazy as others). i have a very large expense coming up. one that's pretty unavoidable. one that has been on the horizon for some time, i just didn't know quite how much it was going to cost. when i was given the total cost, i almost cried. it's almost 1/3 of my yearly salary.
but then the insurance jumps in and brought it down appx. 35%. and then the payment option. it's still quite a large chunk each month. more than i'd like to give up at one time. but here's the crazy thing. when i crunch the numbers - i take my monthly salary, subtract the monthly payment, minus rent, school loan, other bills - even my tithe - and i still have just enough to live on for a month. now it's not like i'll get to go to all the fun concerts with my friends for about the next year, but i will be able to eat (and if gas prices keep going down, i might just be able to go to work so i can keep getting this salary! ;-) but then again, the Lord never promised fun concerts. he DID promise my daily bread.
now i do feel the need to add that all of this is in addition to what i have in my savings for just such emergencies. i thought i was going to have to deplete my savings and go into debt. now i can give out of my abundance.
The boy is Jeffrey. He was adopted from Korea and raised in several places before landing in Central Texas at age 10.
The girl is Alexia (the blog author). She's a white girl raised in West Texas and had some adventures in CA and the Caribbean before landing in Central Texas.
Our dog Sunshine is a labradoodle. She is 6.5 yrs old and the best dog anyone could ever want.
Jack Hudson will be here on or about 10/29/2013. I'm sure he'll be the best kid anyone could ever want, too. Who doesn't love a half asian baby?!
This blog is a random compilation of the goings on in our lives, the thoughts in my head, and whatever else I might feel like writing about on any particular day.
