What else is happening?

Let's start with me since I'm the one at the keyboard. I'm teaching. It seems to be going fine. My class is starting to loosen up a little. They seem like good kids. Nothing much to report there. I need to make some friends, in other news. I find myself chatting to people on the bus because a) they aren't in my class and b) neither are they four years old. I actually have a bus friend--her name is An--that I see on my way home. The fact that I'm telling you this should communicate everything you need to know about my social state at the moment.

Meanwhile, a friend of a friend is taking a course on Islam at the local mosque and I've decided to take it, too. I have to teach Islam this semester, so it will be good prep. It will also be another social outlet. That starts on Sunday night.

Now for Joe. He's into his classes, which are kind of a mixed bag but generally everything seems to be going fine. He's managing everything with just the kind of understated angst a person should expect from Joe. He's also making some friends in the program, which is great. His fellow TA and officemate had a party for all the first year students, so I met everyone, too. He's got some good student colleagues and he's TAing with a couple of really nice people. He's got a couple of long days on campus that are beginning to include grabbing a beer before seminar and chatting about Aristotle. It's shaping up to be a pretty good life.

How about the children? The children, as you might expect, are loud. They are noisy beings all. Allison is enjoying school. Her drawing skills are already improving tremendously. They've been learning to draw people. She went from abstract scribbling to representational art overnight. Super fun times. I am going to photograph and post the text from her latest book, I think, which is called: Jewish People That Escaped from God. There are princesses in it. She is weird but don't tell her I said that. She hasn't learned to appreciate weirdness.

Frances is also quite fine. She gets very excited whenever Mama or Daddy comes home and greets us with squeals and kisses. She's a happy little girl. Except when she's screaming.

Finally, there's the church hunt. We took a break last week and visited a baptist church, which is where Allison will attend Awana. I'm really excited about Awana because she's got a smattering of bible knowledge but it's all jumbled up (see: Jewish People That Escaped from God). Anyway, it was big, it was baptist. They immersed someone, they did an altar call. In between, there was a long sermon about demons.

We've been to three episcopal churches so far. At the first, we were greeted at the door by a female priest who told us they were liturgically proper but theologically liberal. The former seemed to be the case. Can't say much for the former, although they did do Rite I.

Next, we visited a place that was really quite a lovely little community but it was very small. As in, I was recruited for the choir in the foyer after the service. That's okay with me, actually, except that they didn't have many kids in the congregation.

After that, we visited a place that belongs to the Common Cause Partnership, St. Luke's on the Lake. It is astoundingly beautiful.
















The glory of God's creation streaming in the windows. You can't tell it from this picture but the whole of the front of the church is windows and the building is situated on a cliff, overlooking Lake Travis.

The service itself was not bad for Rite II. That's the best way to put it. And people were extremely friendly. It is a very welcoming church. It is also, on the other hand, pretty evangelical. That isn't the worst thing--we're both from evangelical backgrounds, so it's familiar--but we'd prefer something a little more anglo-catholic.

We're going to try one more place, a continuing church, that looks a little more traditional. That will be Sunday. If it doesn't suit, we'll return to St. Luke's and stay there for a while.

Pictures of the kids should be coming soon. I have some pictures of the girls playing in a box. Isn't it so interesting when I tell you about pictures instead of posting them? It's thrilling, I'm sure.

So that's it. I promise to post pictures soon. Really.