getting started at first

How do you know it's time to update your blog? When you come back from lunch and find a note from someone asking you when you're going to get to it.

Okay, so here it is...

Last week on Tuesday, the moving truck arrived at our home in Lansing and they shoved everything we own onto it. It disappeared over the horizon and we hoped and prayed that we would see it again someday a week later! We couldn't wait to get rolling so we took off at supper time and drove half of the trip to Alabama and made it pretty close to Louisville, Kentucky on the Indiana side. Wednesday night we pulled into Tuscaloosa with thoughts of Chick-Fil-A and Bama football on our minds.

The next few days involved getting the house ready for all of our stuff to arrive. Tracy started cleaning. The previous owners had left the house in pretty good shape. But there is a difference between "clean" and "tracy-clean".

I treated the yard for ants as the family began to get acquainted to Southern "Wildlife". The first night in our house, I noticed the scurrying creatures out in the garage. I was hesitant to tell Tracy, but she found them for herself soon enough. Cockroaches don't bother me quite so much, but my beautiful wife draws the line when a bug is big enough that a toddler with a saddle could ride it down the driveway.

We also have begun to meet some of the neighbors. Marcy across the street gave us the low-down on the nearby rattlesnake and scorpion population. The neigborhood is great with lots of children around the age of our kids, Kate and Seth. One of the neighbors even said he might come to church this Sunday! That's what it's all about!

The food has been amazing. I believe that the people of First Wesleyan have a goal. They have decided to fatten us up with the most wonderful food you could imagine. I'm really going to have to thrash out some serious miles on the bicycle to make up for the recent mass consumption of goodies. And the best is yet to come. Sunday night they're throwing an old-fashioned potluck and POUNDING to fill our cabinets. Our 7 year old Seth had never heard of a pounding and it sounded rather frightening to him. But we told him to leave his boxing gloves at home. All he needs for this event is an appetite.

This past Sunday was a great day for worship. Most people didn't know that we were going to be around this weekend. At the end of the service I slipped onto the platform and said a few words of greeting. We closed with a powerful time of prayer. There are exciting days ahead at First Wesleyan Church. You can sense the enthusiasm. There is an electricity that we believe is the Spirit of God preparing us for a season of great impact.

Oh, by the way. Our moving truck DID arrive yesterday so now we have actual furniture. The kids loved sleeping on camping cots and sitting on folding chairs, but last night I slept in a real bed...and it was VERY good! Now we just have to navigate our way through the maze of boxes stacked in every room.