Sipping hot coffee with the windows open sure starts my day off right. The Texas breeze feels good. Soon it will be so hot that opening windows will not be an option. It's spring time and in Austin, things seem greener. In fact, it's so green here that my whole family seems to have developed allergies we didn't have back in Dallas. I think it's worth the trade.

Everything is different here. Everything. People are friendlier, more approachable and move a bit slower. I guess I didn't realize how fast pace things were in Dallas until we got here. I am getting used to the new roads I have never traveled, the grocery stores I have never shopped and smiling at the people I have never met. A new trash day, a homeowners association and their rules, a mailbox down the road instead of in front of my house (I miss that) and the HARD water in Austin. As soon as you move into a new home, people begin knocking on the door for alarm companies, pest control, and here in Austin, men offering a water softener because the water is so hard here. It's kind of fun being the center of every one's attention!

Right now I hear the train passing through town (makes me want to sing the Johnny Cash song). There's a train track about a mile away and it's a very busy one. Josiah loves it. His obsession with Thomas the Train has not let up and since he has a grandfather and an uncle that work for Union Pacific Railroad (the track by our house is a UP track), he gets super excited when he hears the train. Just this morning Ava Beth heard the train and started screaming, "PawPaw's train! PawPaw's train!" Some would be annoyed by the busy train track, especially if they are stuck behind it trying to get to Wal Mart. But there is something about those trains blowing their horn that brings me comfort. I don't know what it is, but when I wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom or check on the kids, I often hear the trains driving in from Taylor. When I do, I feel safe. Something about trains makes me feel like I am in a movie, or a dream or in a safe place. I love it. This may be as close to Stuckeyville as I get.

If you love football, Texas is a great place to live. If you love High School Football, Texas is the only place to live! In this town, "Friday Night Lights" is the perfect phrase to describe the heart of this town (the show has even filmed episodes right here in town). The mascot is everywhere you go! People have the mascot in their yards, on their t-shirts, ball caps, on their cars, it's everywhere. It's not even Football Season and I am already anxiously awaiting the Friday night games. The marching bands, the cheerleaders, the players, the cheap nachos and the town "Gods", aka, the coaches! I already bought myself a t-shirt with a Hippo on it. That's right, we are the Hippos! The only Hippo Mascot in the United States and I am pretty sure the only Hippo mascot in the entire world! My husband is actually considering buying an orange Hippo for the yard (everyone has one). Of course it's Orange, just like the University of Texas! I keep trying to talk him out of it but now I think it may be fun to join in and be a part of the Hippo Cult. For those of you that have been to College Station, Texas, you know that it looks like the color burgundy threw up all over the town. Those Aggies are serious about burgundy! So serious that the mailboxes, the cars, even some of the homes, are burgundy. Well, it seems the same kind of insanity is here too. And I think I like it. I feel like I belong to something important.

And what is a small town outside of Austin without a pie shop? It's next door to the "Everything Hippo" Store. Yep, we have a Hippo store! I am hoping my husband will take me over to the pie shop today for Pie Happy Hour. That's right, PIE HAPPY HOUR. Can it get any better than this? I feel like I am living in a town that you read about in Fictional books. People here love their community, they are serious about their community and I can't think of a better place than this to plant a church. The more I am here, the more I realize that we are a part of a major "God thing". I have been saying it a lot lately and I will continue saying it for the rest of my life. There is no greater place to be than in the center of His will.

(outside the Texan Cafe and Debbie's Pies)

And here comes another train...

Labels: prayers answered