You can't make this stuff up

Travis and I went to visit family in 3 cities (2 states) over the Christmas holiday. On Christmas Eve, we celebrated with my mom's side of the family, the Stockalpers. Below is a picture of my Uncle Ben rocking the Alp Horn. Yes, an Alp Horn. Yes, this is what they play in the Ricola commercials.





Holidays at the Stockalpers typically deteriorate into a karaoke-dance-party with yodeling and funny hats. Yes, yodeling. More pictures to come as soon as I can get photos off of my mom's camera.

This city

You're the God of this city,

You're the King of these people,
You're the Lord of this nation
You are
You're the light in this darkness,
You're the hope to the hopeless,
You're the peace to the restless
You are

For there is no-one like our God
There is no-one like You, God

GREATER THINGS HAVE YET TO COME,
GREATER THINGS HAVE STILL TO BE DONE
IN THIS CITY
(Copyright Bluetree 2007)

Last week was the five year anniversary of our church, the Austin Stone Community Church. It was amazing to celebrate those five years with our Body. The longer that someone had been with our church, the greater the joy that they expressed as we worshiped together.

At the end of the service, we sang this song written by a band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. The song was written about Belfast, but it was so appropriate for our five year celebration. God has been powerfully moving in our Body; he has transformed lives, redeemed relationships, cured diseases (literally), and captured hearts. But the words to this song are a challenge to me. Don't stop dreaming big about what God can do. Yes, He has done incredible things so far, but we must not stop dreaming and praying and longing for Him to do more. Greater things have yet to come in our city.

(I hijacked this picture from Sarena Green off of facebook. Isn't it amazing?! Thanks Sarena!)

Christmas time is here

"And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. " Luke 2:10-11

Tis the season, and it is our first Christmas together! We started by putting up our tree.

A Christmas season MUST do is going to the Zilker Park Christmas tree. I went with a group of our incredible friends on Thursday night. (Trav couldn't go because he was working hard studying for finals. Bah humbug.) The Zilker Park tree is a giant Christmas tree made of lights near downtown Austin. The BEST way to experience the tree is to stand underneath, look up, and spin as fast as you can until you fall over. If you have never done this, you are really missing out. This is a true rite of passage to becoming an Austinite, in my humble opinion. This video does not do it justice.



Christmas festivities yet to come: gingerbread house making, Trail of Lights, 37th street lights, and more!

Hello, world!

Well, here we are. Our lives, out there on the web for all the world to see...or at least our parents.

There are a few reasons that we have decided to do this web-logging thing. (When I say "we decided to do this" I really mean "I decided to do this and Travis went along with it").

1) I must admit, I am not much of a scrapbooker. This will have to suffice as a substitute.

2) The working world is making my writing painfully boring, so I need a creative outlet. (I realize that it is a stretch to refer to a glorified Word document that is posted on the web as a "creative outlet," but bear with me).

3) Our being in Austin has become a bit more permanent (Travis got a job at a law firm here, yay!) , and we want to be able to keep up with friends and family in as many ways as possible.

So, here we are folks. Let's rock and roll.