Merry Christmas!

Family Christmas Photo
Originally uploaded by The Flener Family

A lot has happened since my last post - sorry for being a horrible blogger! We've moved, gotten settled, met some neighbors and celebrated Christmas.

The girls had a wonderful day. Alyssa spent the morning eating wrapping paper and Grace did a fabulous job of "playing Santa" and taking turns getting presents for she and Alyssa. Matt and I enjoyed watching them.

This year was the first time in our lives we haven't been with either the Fleners or Richardsons on Christmas Day. It was a little weird, but incredible all at the same time (Don't take that the wrong way, family!!)

I say it was incredible because we are now a family of 4. 4 people feels more like a complete family unit than 3 did. Being at our home freed us to establish our own traditions...that was my favorite part. For me, traditions mostly include food! So, we had breakfast casserole, cheese soup and made a birthday cake for Jesus. We didn't push the Santa issue and tried to make it more about Jesus' birthday.

I think we "succeeded" at our first Flener family Christmas. And tomorrow, we head to Illinois, Missouri and Kansas to spend a week with our extended families. We're looking forward to that as much as we looked forward to our first Christmas as a family.

I'll try to post about our visits, but no guarantees. :)

Alyssa is a-changin'

It seems like everytime the girls and I leave Daddy, one of the girls does something new. (Sorry Daddy!) Alyssa is now at that stage where it seems like she changes everyday. I don't want to take my eyes off of her for fear I'll miss something.

Alyssa loves to watch her hands. She looks at them and rolls her fingers from pinky to pointer finger. It's so cute. On Sunday, my mom and I were getting Alyssa out of the tub and I waved at her and said, "Hi!" She's been repeating that and saying something that sounds like "Hi", but this time she lifted her hand and rolled her fingers as she said it. ADORABLE!! We've gotten her to do it several times since then, so - no, it's not a fluke!!

Today she reached out for me and Uncle Jeff. I love that - it makes me feel so wanted and loved by her!! And, at ANY minute she's going to start crawling.

Poor Daddy. Fortunately we'll see him in STL on Friday. He can see all the new things she's learned at Minima and Bapa's house before we go to KC and she learns more there! :)

24 Season 7

If you're not a 24 fan, you ought to check it out. Carrie and I have watched 24 through its 6 seasons. And Jack is back for season 7.

Take a look...and see why we're hooked.

On the Road Again!

The girls and I are back in the Midwest. Since Alyssa was born in April, we've made 5 trips to the IL/MO/KS area. Wow. It's a lot of work - packing, managing the girls in the airport and on the plane, getting them to sleep in new places, being away from Daddy - but we have fun (except the being away from Daddy part). Good times, with good friends and family!

Yesterday morning Matt dropped us off at the airport and we flew to STL. We were able to meet up with Kate and Ryan at Sweet Tomatoes for lunch and see their new house in Affton. After a few potty breaks along the way, we arrived in Pawnee.

Grace has been excited to come. She's been talking about everyone she'll get to see. Riding a blue airplane. And, seeing Minima and Bapa's Christmas tree!!!

It finally feels like the holiday season to me. Christmas decorations are surrounding me and the temperature outside is freaking cold!!! After bundeling the girls up just to run inside Mickey D's for a bathroom stop, I was quickly reminded why I love living in a warmer climate!! A brief taste of the cold weather is a nice change of pace, but I'm already missing the 70 degree weather that Matt is enjoying this week! Last night I sat in the recliner, snuggling with a heated blanket, and eating soup just trying to get warm. It's amazing how quickly your blood thins!

I'll try to give updates these next two week on our travels. I have to apologize for no pictures, but I'll post them when we return home.

Holiness Coming Down in Grace

“Biblical holiness begins with the Holy. But the holy, by its very nature, can be approached only when we come as sinners. He is never accessible to us as consumers. We come in sackcloth and ashes, not as buyers. Indeed, we cannot approach the Holy at all on our own terms. We must see that the Holy has first approached us in Christ and, through him, reconciled us to himself.

The revelation of the Holy would be unbearable were we to see it in any other way than from within Christ. In Christ, what we are seeing is God’s holiness in its action on our sin. Without Christ we would have to bear that judgment in ourselves What we see instead is holiness coming down in grace and, in Christ, going forth against our sin in triumph.”

- David F. Wells, The Courage to be Protestant (Grand Rapids, Mi.: Eerdmans, 2008), 240.

The Vague Sense of Blah...

More and more, my goal through posts on this blog is to share some deep enriching biblical I am learning right now in my life. Many of you might know, but I am part of a discipleship group of men that feel called to teach at our church, The Austin Stone. It has shaken my faith in Jesus Christ more than any other season of my life. And this is all good!

The group is filled with very smart men - men that have a passion for the Word of God. We are studying some very rich ways to study the bible and it has challenged me more than any of my college classes ever did. At times, I have felt extremely encouraged by this group. At other times, I have felt extremely unworthy to take part.

This post by John Piper resonated with me today. At times, during this group, I have felt crummy feelings of not being good enough or smart enough to read the word of God on an intense level. Those feelings lead into this "vague sense of blah," as I like to call it, where it paralyzes me from taking any further steps toward the word of God because I feel unworthy to even approach it. But like Piper points out, there are some areas of sin in my life I still need to pray about areas that I must claim Christ has overcome.

When I pray and repent of those sins, "Prayer feels possible and right and powerful again," as Piper said. Even more, I believe approaching the word of God feels right and powerful again.

Austin News

So forget about the McDonald's effect on name recognition for young children!  You know how kids usually notice the Golden Arches at a very young age and persuade their parents to stop for a happy meal?  Well, Grace went one step beyond.  

She officially proved this morning that she also watches lots of TV (contrary to what mommy says).  

So, I received a new bag for a computer at work. I set it down on the ground this morning, and immediately, Grace came up and said "Austin News"

Carrie and I could not stop laughing.  Yes, she's watched daddy a few times on TV.

So, to end this story, we leave you with a sign-off.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Milwood - Here we come!

Don't even act surprised...of course the Fleners couldn't stay in one place for more than a year! :) Wish we could, but God has called us to go. Not from Austin...just from our current rental house.

This has been a hard decision. In fact, when Matt first suggested that we THINK about moving to another part of town, I was totally adamant about staying where we are. I LOVE our house. In fact, there isn't much that I don't like about our house - except for lack of trees in the yard and no patio. Otherwise, it's perfect.

Our church just finished its yearly Vision Series where they spur on the church and share the church's vision for our purpose. The Austin Stone wants to be a church FOR the city. Not OF the city or IN the city, but FOR the city. Everything we do is FOR the city. We don't just exist in this city or wish to satisfy our selfish desires - to become glutenous by filling ourselves with the truths of God and holding on to them just for ourselves. We want to learn and share our Jesus with this city.

Our dear friends, Jon & Morgan, live in a neighborhood very close to where our apartment was when we first moved to Austin. When we moved to our current house, we thought, "Oh, 15 minutes away is doable - to still see Jon and Morgan." Well, unfortunately, life is busy and a 30 minute round-trip commute can seem like eternity when you are always on the go. Our deepest heart's desire is to live in Biblical community with Jon & Morgan (along with Erika & Micah who live about 5 minutes from Jon & Morgan). We talked about all moving into one house together. While we still (seriously) joke about the idea, the next best thing would be to live within walking distance (or a short drive) from each other.

We set out with our Realtor (and good friend), Kelley, on Sunday to see what was available for the price that we currently pay. Because of great location, the Norris' neighborhood's cost-of-living is higher than where we are now, so it wasn't looking like we'd find what we wanted. We really wanted a house in their neighborhood, for the same price we pay now, with a December 15th move-in date, and to stay until May 31, 2010 (the end of Matt's contract in Austin). Our Realtor (and us) didn't think we would find it because the houses are currently vacant and the owners wanted them leased yesterday. But, after finding one we liked, we offered those terms.

To make a long-story a little shorter, we found two houses with the same floor plan on the same street. They were both begging us to rent their houses because we're a nice family with good credit history. :) Today, after looking at both houses again for the second time, one of the owners came down $100/month from their original price (which brought it down to the amount we are currently paying) and offered the move-in and move-out dates we wanted. SOLD!

All this to say...God is awesome. Literally. I am in AWE to think that while this seemed like it wouldn't happen, God is bigger than the box we put Him in. He is that powerful. He cares that much about us. He cares about the minor details for our lives and takes care of us.

Thank you, Lord. May we glorify You during this process of moving. May our house be used for Your Kingdom. And may our move allow us to join with the Norris' and Knox's to reach the city of Austin for You - MAY YOUR KINGDOM COME!!

After the election

“We are people that know politics is important, but not ultimate. We know that politics has its place, an urgent and important place where, in the City of Man, decisions are made that can make the difference between life and death, injustice and justice, mercy and no mercy, commonweal or common disaster.
But we also know that there is in this world at its very best only a hint of the kingdom that is to come, where God’s reign is supreme.
No government will ever be able to say, ‘Every tear has been wiped away.’ No government will ever be able to say, ‘The blind have received sight and the deaf have received hearing and the lame now walk.’…That power is God’s alone.”
—Albert Mohler, “After the Election”

Can it really be 7 months already?!

Yes, that's right. Our sweet little Alyssa turned 7 months old on Tuesday. Crazy. Does time really go that quickly?!



I love the stage she's in now, although I'm a little anxious for her to start crawling. While I'm enjoying who she is now and looking toward the future, I'm sad to think at how quickly the 7 months have gone. She's now closer to April 4, 2009 than 2008. Tear.



I'm going to brag a little. What else would you expect?!?

Alyssa is the BEST baby I know. Grace was an easy baby too, but Alyssa is even easier. She's so laid back and go with the flow.

Just today - she fell asleep in the car. I woke her up as I was getting her out of the car seat. She didn't cry, scream, or even make a sad face. She smiled with a wide-open mouth. It was amazing.



She's so good to let Grace poke her, squeeze her, and feed her. She's obsessed with Grace - can't get enough of her.

Alyssa watches Grace's every move and does what she does. Example - this morning Grace was crying because she didn't want to get her flu shot. Alyssa was watching her and then looked at me, stuck out her bottom lip, and cried. Hilarious.



Cheers to you, Alyssa! Happy 7 month birthday!! I'm so thankful for the 7 months that the Lord has blessed us with having you in our lives. And I'm looking forward to all the months to come.

Halloween 2008

We had the joy and pleasure of Ben, Becky & Emmaline (Matt's sister and her family) coming to visit us for Halloween!! It was their first trip to Austin and we had fun!! They enjoyed leaving their hooded sweatshirts behind and bringing shorts. :)

Here are a few pictures of the girls from Halloween.



Nana & Papa sent a package for all 3 girls to open. Included in this package were matching candy corn outfits - adorable!!

We had the cutest ballerina/princess, monkey, and bumble bee in town!!




We weren't sure the girls were going to make it past the first 3 houses. At the first house, a dad (who was trick-or-treating with his kids) was dressed up in a scary mask. This freaked the girls out. At the second house, a man dressed in a black robe, with red-beady eyes and holding a sword opened the door. "No more trick-or-treating!!" is what Grace told us. At house #3, they had converted the garage into a haunted house. From the street the girls were saying "I don't want to trick-or-treat! I want to go back home!!" Poor girls. Unfortunately for them, their parents were eager for candy and made them "persevere" through the scariness!! We also didn't want to end on a scary note for fear that they would be scarred for life and never go trick-or-treating again. And, sure enough, after going to several "nice" houses, they were on a roll and didn't want to stop. They would spot a light on and say "More candy!!" It was awesome - the Mommies & Daddies were thankful for their eagerness and our waistlines are now 3 inches bigger. :)

I'll put more pictures from Halloween and the Heimann's visit to Austin on our website soon.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/flenerfamily/

Princesses Invade Gymnastics

The past few weeks, Miss Brenda (Grace's gymnastics teacher) has had the girls wear something other than a leotard. A few weeks ago they wore their favorite team jersey (of course she wore her Pujols shirt!! Thank you Uncle Jeff & Aunt Loran!!) and the next week they wore pajamas. Today they wore their Halloween costumes. I know you'll have a hard time believing this...but all the girls were princesses for Halloween! :) Here are some pics. Even Alyssa dressed for the occasion.

Poor Old Mizzou

I've already been told by a few family members that Matt and I are no longer allowed to go to "big games." We were at the game when the Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals in game 4 of the 2004 World Series. We were at last year's Big 12 Championship when Mizzou was blown out by Oklahoma. And, yes, we went to see Texas embarrass our poor old Tigers.


While the game was over in the first quarter, we made the most of our time out. Our sweet friends, Adam and Amber-Rose, went above and beyond the call of duty. They were gracious enough to watch our 2 girls (in addition to their 4 children!) for 7 hours so we could go to the Mizzou Alumni Tailgate and the game. They were even brave enough to take all 6 kids out for frozen yogurt!!!

The next morning I gave Grace some "memorabilia" from the game. She was so excited!!


And, just to clear up any questions - Yes, Matt and I still bleed BLACK and GOLD!!!

Sweet Moments in My Life

I'm so thankful for video cameras!! I was able to capture this sweet moment with my girls. Grace wanted to feed Alyssa her cereal last night. I was hesitant at first...I just wanted to feed her and get the bedtime routine started as soon as possible. But, I decided to let her - I would have missed this! It was so precious to watch them interact with each other. I hope you enjoy it too!!

MacGyver

Wow...Click on this post's title and you'll find out why...

Neighbors

Tonight, we had over some friends to grill out. Yet we didn't grill in our backyard. We chose our driveway.

Jon, Morgan, Travis, Laney, Anthony, Katie, Grace (Alyssa was sleeping) along with yours truly ate hot dogs, chips, cookies, all in our driveway.

Quite honestly, it was a surreal experience to be outside in our driveway. Nobody comes outside in our neighborhood...it's quite sad.

We did it with two intentions.

1. Get to know our new friends in our new vision series group better.
2. Get to know our neighbors better.

It's amazing what stepping out into your driveway (and staying there) can do.

Our Vietnamese neighbor to the right, came over. They actually brought us some Vietnamese food they had cooked earlier that evening. Tofu...I'd never had tofu, but they cooked it up like it was the best darn chicken I'd ever had. It does taste like chicken...yes.

And we invited our neighbor Adam over too...It was great. We prayed specifically for our neighbors to interact with us. God answered our prayers.

For the city,
Matt

Dr.'s Report

Big Smiles
Originally uploaded by The Flener Family

We took Alyssa to see Dr. Kuhl (pronounced "Cool" - isn't that the best name for a pediatrician!?!) for her 6 month check-up. Dr. Kuhl is great and always makes jokes (along with us) about Alyssa's chunkiness. :)

Here are the stats:
Weight: 19 lbs. 4 oz. (95%)
Length: 26 3/4 inches (90%)
Head circumference: 44 1/4 cm (95%)

I try not to compare my girls too much because they are both individually fabulous!! However, I've been "glancing" at Grace's stats to compare them to Alyssa's.

So, to give you a "reference" point for how big 19 lbs. 4 oz. is - Grace weighed 19 lbs. 5 oz. at 10 months old!!! And, at this weight, Grace was 29 1/2 inches, so that is 3 inches longer than Alyssa.

WOW. We're so proud... :)

Grace's new car

Grace is the driver's seat
Originally uploaded by The Flener Family

She calls it her "Pilot." Even though she loves her new ride so much...she still asks about her silver car every once in awhile. I guess eventually she'll move on. :)



Since I gave an update on Alyssa, I also wanted to give an update on Grace.

-- Loves to talk about rhyming words and is getting really good at it! Every night before we go to bed, she says a word and we go through the alphabet and think of words that rhyme. The other day I said something about our Uncle Doug - she said, "Doug and rug rhyme!"
- Sings "B-I-N-G-O" all the time and now wants to insert everyone's names into it. She can now spell Mommy, Daddy, Alyssa, Bapa, Jeff, Loran (minus the "o"), Nana, and Papa (Sorry, Minima, you're still "M-I-M-I"). What a great way to learn how to spell names!!
- She knows Isaiah 1:17 and John 3:16 because I made up songs to go along with it.
- A few weeks ago she was listening to her Veggie Tales worship CD. She wanted to stand on her step-stool in the kitchen and be right next to the CD player. During the song, "Better is One Day" I looked over and she had her hands folded and eyes closed. It was precious. It was the perfect image of what Jesus was talking about when he said, "Come to me like a little child."
- She is AMAZING at recognizing cars! When we see a Honda Odyssey she says "like Minima's van." When we see a Grand Am she says "like Nana's car." When we see a new Civic she says, "like Samuel & Laurie's car." When we see a Town & Country van she says, "like Gigi's van." When we see a Toyota Sienna she says "like Amber-Rose's van." And when we see an Oldsmobile Alero she says "like our broken car." The crazy thing is, she's ALWAYS right - it doesn't even matter what color it is!!
- She now knows 16 states when looking at a US map - Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Arizona, California, Oregon, and Alaska. When we point to the state, she can say the name - unbelievable!!
- When we read picture books, she wants me to read the word and spell out all the words. She's going to be reading by the time she's 3!
- This is my favorite - When we see a clock she asks what time it is. The other day it was "1:17." Without hesitation she said, "Learn to do what is right. Isaiah 1:17." It reminded me of John Drage because he always quoted a Scripture according to the time. :)

More on Alyssa...

So, since writing the previous post this morning, Alyssa has done two new things...

Tonight while I was feeding her some sweet potatoes, she grabbed my hand that was holding the spoon and pulled it to her mouth. You would think she was underweight and starving to death!! It was hilarious!

Also, I was putting her jammies on and started tickling her. She laughed so hard she snorted!! And this further proves that she is her mother's daughter!!!

What Alyssa is up to these days...

I can't believe she's almost 6 months old - WOW - time flies!! Every day we get a glimpse of her blossoming personality. This morning I realized that while we have the joy of watching her explore the world, you all don't. So, here is what we've been observing...

- Her favorite entertainment is watching Grace and she cackles at her all the time
- When we feed her, she lunges for the spoon and smacks away at the food
- If Grace laughs, she laughs. If Grace cries, she cries
- Repeats the sound "hey" when we say "hey" to her
- Grabs the passy and puts it in her own mouth. She's started scooting on the floor to get to her passy. Sometimes I put the handle of her passy in my mouth - she opens her mouth and reaches her hand up to grab it.
- She discovering the toys on her exersaucer and playing with them
- She loves looking at my red toenails
- Deep belly laughs when we kiss her face multiple times
- I started modeling the sign for "more" and she watches my hands intently
- Moves around (scooting and rolling) - we find her in different positions and in different places than how we left her
- Our friends all talk about how she "unhinges" her jaw to smile - she opens her mouth so big
- Alyssa is our little squealer - she squeals with she's hungry, poopy, happy, tired, frustrated, and bored. You haven't heard anything like it!!
- She takes an afternoon nap at the same time as Grace (thank you, Lord!) and goes to bed at the same time too (can I get an "Amen"?!) And, she sleeps until about 6am!!
- She's so easy going (like her Daddy) and such a good baby!!

A few highlights from the past week

Since I haven't posted on this blog in the past week, I thought I would give a few "snippets" into our world.




Alyssa has enough hair (just barely!) to have a mohawk. After giving her a bath, I didn't brush her hair. By the next morning, her hair was standing straight up!!









Alyssa has a new bath seat that attaches to the side of the tub. So, now we have "bath parties" (that's what we call them to make Grace think it's cool that she's sharing her bath time). They both love it and giggle at each other most of the time.









Our little "chunky monkey" loves to sit in her high chair and eat food!! Even though we've moved to Texas, even the smallest member of our family is still a HUGE Cardinal fan (she's wearing a Cardinal bib)!!










Grace continues to ask me EVERYDAY where her "silver car" is. It just about breaks my heart. But, we've promised her there is a new one coming!! Once that happens (and it should be very soon), I'll post pictures!








The girls love being silly on the floor together. Really it's Gracie being silly and Alyssa being entertained by her silliness.

On Saturday, we took Grace to see Veggie Tales Live here in Austin. WOW! If you know anything about our daughter, you can only imagine what she thought of it!! She's been talking about it ever since.

















Grace picked flowers in our backyard yesterday. As she picked each one, she said, "One for Mommy, one for Daddy, one for Alyssa, one for Minima, one for Bapa, one for Nana, one for Papa, one for Grandma Richardson, one for Grandmom..." So, know that you are all loved and have a withered flower waiting for you on our kitchen counter. :)

Our car is "broken"

Today brings us to the end of an era...a car era, that is. I have driven a 2000 silver Oldsmobile Alero for the past 7 years. Today I drove it for the last time. While I'm excited to get a "new to me" car, I'm sad to say good-bye to the car that has been with me for so long.

I drove that car to South Carolina (for Leadership Training), Colorado (for The Rock's ski trip), a million trips to Illinois from Missouri (to visit family), Ohio (for The Rock's National Convention) and then Texas (when we moved). I have put 115,00+ miles on that car. When my parents bought it for me, I was just finishing my sophomore year of college at Mizzou. Now, I live in Texas, am married and have 2 babies. We drove the Alero to bring both of our girls home from the hospital. The Alero was our "getaway" car when we left our wedding reception. I love that car. But, after writing all this, I've realized...I really need to move on. :)

Many of you have asked the details of our accident, so here it is:

Friday afternoon we went to run some errands. I had to go to David's Bridal to be measured for a bride's maid dress, we dropped some clothes off at Goodwill, bought milk at Whole Foods, and then I wanted to make one last stop. For the past week I've been trying to find an opportunity to go by Toys R Us to get a bath seat and baby swing for Alyssa. I thought we could make that stop on our way home.

We were driving through the shopping center's parking lot going south. Another car was driving through an aisle of the parking lot going west. I was talking to my cousin, Mindy, on the phone and looked up just in time to see a white car hit the driver's side of our car. Fortunately for all of us, Matt (he was driving) had the instinct to swerve to the right and drive up on an island (you know how they have those random areas with grass, tress, etc.) in the parking lot.

Alyssa had been asleep, but woke up and cried for about 10 seconds and then fell back asleep. Grace was immediately terrified and screamed, "No! No! No, Mommy!" I jumped out as fast as I could and got her out to hold her. Once we explained what happened, she kept saying, "Our car is broken. That other car is really broken." She was also impressed that the police officer that came to the sight was riding a motorcycle!

Our car is pretty scratched up on the driver's side and dented in a few places. The driver's window won't roll down all the way, the doors don't completely close and I'm sure there is more damage. Fortunately it is drivable, but the insurance company declared it "TOTALED.

The other car was worse than ours. The entire front bumper and front parking lights fell off.

We were pretty sore for the next couple days. My chest and upper back muscles hurt and Matt's back muscles hurt as well.

A funny thing...the police officer and Matt were talking about TV and police stuff. They soon realized that Matt did a story about police officers catching speeders in a "hot spot" in Austin and this officer was part of the story! What a small world!!

Well...now starts the process of finding a REALLY cheap car for the same amount of money the insurance company gave us for my precious Alero. :)

Destination: Austin

Yesterday our pastor, Matt Carter, spoke right to my heart through his sermon. For the past year and a half, we have lived in Austin. Because we are so far from the life we've always known (aka the Midwest), we've had moments of "this is so fun to go somewhere different!" and moments of "why did we decide to do something different?!" We've definitely had more moments thanking God that He brought us to Austin - we LOVE our friends, we LOVE our church, and we LOVE how God has used this time in our lives to change us and make us more like Him.

Matt Carter shared two passages in his sermon that removed any doubt.

Acts 17:26-27 - From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

Psalm 139:15-16 - My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

God knew that we would live in Austin, Texas, at this exact time. He knew this before time began - before ANYTHING or ANYONE was created. We are here in Austin today for a purpose. His purpose.

Only God knows how long we'll live here. We could be here until Matt's contract is up in 2010 or we could be here forever. All I know is that I'm excited to be here. Not because Austin is a cool place to be and has great winter weather (although this is quite true), but because God wants us here.

"Ike hit Tina harder than Austin"

That's what a billboard says here in Austin. It's true. Yesterday was a little windy, but no more than the common windy day. However, Ike hit the Gulf Coast in catastrophic ways.

Matt's station, KXAN, sent a crew to Clear Lake City - thank God that "crew" didn't include my husband!! Even though he had to go to the station Saturday morning to anchor the news, at least we were in the same town and both out of harm's way. During his Saturday shift, he called home to warn me that they were sending him to the Gulf Coast today to relieve the team that was there. I had mixed emotions.

You see, one thing you have to understand about my husband is that he's a journalist to his core. As much as he LOVES anchoring, all he wanted to do was bust out of the station doors and drive into the eye of the storm to report on the news. In my opinion, that's the stupidist thing I've ever heard! I always yell at the TV when I see journalists standing out in the wind and rain telling all of us to get as far away from there as possible! But, that's what makes Matt, Matt. And, I am the one who was glued to my TV all day wanting to see what was going on. :)

So, while I knew Matt should go and that he wanted to, I (selfishly) just wanted him home. The girls and I just got back last Tuesday after taking a 10 day tour of KC and Illinois. While that trip was super fun, we missed Matt/Daddy. Now, Grace just doesn't understand why Daddy is "at work," but his car is still in the garage.

Praise the Lord that He has placed us here in Austin for a purpose (more about this in my next post) and given us fabulous friends that have stepped in and offered to hang out with us the next few days.

You can check out a blog about Matt's trip on KXAN's website.
http://blogs.kxan.com/newsroom/

St. John's Drive

Tonight, I decided to drive through the St. John's neighborhood here in Austin. Our church, The Austin Stone, has targeted this neighborhood and will build a permanent church home there in the coming years.

I've walked through St. John's during the day, but it's a whole different neighborhood at night. At nearly every house, people stood outside, leaning on their cars, smoking, talking, having birthday parties.

I turned my radio down and rolled down my windows, just listening. Here are my raw emotions: scared, intimidated, wrong cultures for me.

Just a bit earlier, I spent some time at the Domain walking through the outdoor mall; staring into windows that showcased David Yurman Jewelry, Louis Vuitton accessories, and Apple 3G I phones. I had just sipped an Iced Coffee from Seattle's Best.

I wanted, though, to travel to St. John's directly after my Domain experience to realize the dichotomy that exists between just 5 miles of earth.

I'm praying that God would expand my heart for the people of St. John's since our church will be there for a LONG time to come. I realized tonight...God has a LOT of work to do on my heart.

That Random Helicopter...

As I write, I'm listening to a helicopter circling above our house. From my time at KXAN, I know that it's the Austin Police Department chopper.

Putting two and two together (I saw about 4 police cars near our pool as I drove back home tonight) I called our Assignments Editor, Hal, at the station.

Hal called APD's watch command and they told him an armed robber had just ditched his car at the pool parking lot in our subdivision.

So, as a curious journalist, I decided to stick my neck outside. (Sorry Mom and Gail). And the helicopter directed its spotlight on me. Then it shone the light in our backyard, and it circled our house for about five minutes.

I called 911 because I saw two guys two yards away from us. After a few nervous minutes, they said it was the K-9 unit.

Because of all this activity, our neighbors all came out of their homes (I wasn't the only one). Neighbors I'd never seen before. Neighbors who live right by me, and I haven't seen or heard from or even knew existed. I saw my neighbor Adam and his roommate I had met about two months ago. They all came outside because they wondered about the commotion. Praise God for this.

For a moment, I thought about my safety. Only for a moment.

And then I thought of this silly book I posted about earlier tonight called the Irresistable Revolution. In fact, in this book, I had just read a chapter about "the danger of safety."

"Some Christians take so few risks, it's no wonder folks have a hard time believing in heaven," said Shane Claiborne, the author. "Most of us live in such fear of death that no one really believes in the resurrection any more."

As you learn in the book, Claiborne lives among the poor and destitute in the inner city sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that puts aside any idea of personal safety for the sake of the Gospel.

"Sometimes people ask me if I'm scared of the inner city," Claiborne says. "I usually reply, 'I'm more scared of the suburbs.' The scriptures say that we should not fear those things which can destroy the body, but we are to fear that which can destroy the soul (Matt. 10:28). While the ghettos may have their share of violence and crime, the suburbs are the home of the more subtle demonic forces - numbness, complacency, comfort - and it is these that can eat away at our souls."

Tonight we had a bit of the 'inner city' come to the suburbs in the form of a random helicopter and a bit of crime.

I took a risk of sticking my head out the door to figure out what was going on.

As hard as it is to say, I tried to take a practical step out of my personal fort of safety. Had the girls been home, I might have thought differently to stay inside right beside them, but tonight, as I was alone, I decided to step outside my house, even with an APD chopper above shining its light on me. Was it the safest move? Nope. Probably not. But I got to meet a few neighbors and establish an avenue for relationships in the future.

Some of you might get mad at me for making the move I made tonight to step outside. "Why even blog or post about this?" you might ask. I'd submit that I made a few new friends because of the ordeal. I'd also submit that it's made me question how numb or complacent I've become living in my little part of suburbia.

These are questions I wouldn't have been able to ask myself had I just stayed inside and listened to the helicopter above, watching Jay Leno.

I stepped outside on faith. As I prayed, God protected me. Thank God for that random helicopter

Don't Fall Asleep in the Light

I've found myself riveted to a book lately at the urging of a small group of guys I meet with on Wednesday mornings. The book, Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claiborne has affected me to my core. Claiborne talks about his life in Chicago and Philadelphia living simply and humbly with the poor...defending them, and even standing up to injustice with them.

His quotes have really started to get me to think about how I'm living life. I know it's shaken up the group of guys I meet with as well.

Claiborne says,

"Christianity can be built around isolating ourselves from evildoers and sinners, creating a community of religious piety and moral purity. That's the Christianity I grew up with. Christianity can also be built around joining with the broken sinners and evildoers of our world crying out to god, groaning for grace. That's the Christianity I've fallen in love with."

The questions I am asking (and I hope you do as well)

What kind of Christ follower are you? What are you doing to join with broken sinners and evildoers of our world?

Are you stuck in your weekly routine of comfort and coffeeshop Christianity?

To that, Claiborne offers this analysis.

"We can crawl up into the hands of God and fall asleep in the sweet aroma and cozy warmth, asleep by the fire. And so much of the world lies in the cold, clammy darkness of human suffering, oppression, inequality. My friend John Francis Maher sings a beautiful song that whispers to the groaning masses, 'Don't let your eyes adjust to the dark.' Perhaps we could also add for those by the fire, 'Don't fall asleep in the light.' We must neither get used to the darkness of human suffering or fall asleep in the comfort of the light."

Two are definitely better than one

When you get married, people always say "two are better than one" and they are SO correct!! Besides having Jesus as my Lord and Savior, getting married is the next best thing that has happened to me!! Life is so much sweeter with my husband as my partner going through this life together.

The next best thing is having 2 sweet daughters!! After having Grace, I couldn't imagine loving another child as much as I love her. (I know everyone says this, but it's true). I wasn't sure how people could love their children equally especially because the first child is so special. By the time we had Alyssa, we knew Grace's quirks, habits, likes/dislikes, manurisms, personality, etc.

But, God has expanded our hearts. We LOVE Alyssa and that love grows more and more as we get glimpses into who God has made her to be. I can't imagine our lives without her. I can only imagine what a zoo this place will be once she's moving around! She and Grace LOVE each other. As you can see from this video, Alyssa smiles and laughs at Grace and this only encourages Grace to be sillier.

One of Grace's favorite things to do is bounce on the bed (our guest bed doesn't have a frame, so it is on the floor - this is her "bouncy bed"). Alyssa absolutely loves to watch Grace bounce on the bed and deep belly laughs at her. This makes Grace start laughing and encourages her to bounce higher! (I'll try to video tape this and post it!)

So, back to "two are definitely better than one" - they are. Our lives are overflowing with love, laughter, joy, fulfillment, excitement, patience, grace, and hope all because we have 2 girls. Even as a mom, I feel more fulfilled with two kids. I love my life.

Matt's Murrow Compilation

This is my Edward R. Murrow compilation from last year. I got the award for writing. I'm posting this because some of the family hasn't gotten a chance to see it.

The Chase is on...

Check out the fun we had tonight. You've got to love a two year old's energy. Much more than a 26 year old's energy. And then listen to the end of the video. The 26 year old talks like a two year old...

I am beautiful

Pretty girl
Originally uploaded by The Flener Family

Grace is our girly-girl - and that is an understatement!! She loves jewelry, boas, silky nightgowns - any nightgown, hats, tiaras, purses, lip gloss, shoes, swimsuits, blow-drying her hair, tea parties, baby dolls, looking at herself in the mirror, and looking at pictures of herself.

As any parent would do, Matt and I have told her, "Grace! You look so cute (beautiful, sweet, adorable, etc)!"

In the past couple weeks I've seen her look in the mirror at herself and say, "I am beautiful" or "I look so cute."

As her Mom I have several reactions to these statements from my 2 1/2 year old daughter. My first reaction (of course) was to think, "I don't want her to be conceited! I need to tell her that she shouldn't say that about herself. It's rude to say that you're beautiful!" My second thought was, "I'm so thankful that she thinks she's beautiful. She loves the way God made her. I love the way God made her. I hope as she gets older she continues to look in the mirror and say 'I look beautiful!'"

After having these two conflicting thoughts, I'm left with inner turmoil. How do I help my daughter continue to see herself as beautiful while not coming across as conceited to the outside world? I so desperately desire to help her do this!! Too many girls in this generation look in the mirror and see themselves as "ugly" because of what we see in the media and Hollywood.

In the meantime, I would rather error on the "beautiful" side than the "ugly" side. I'm going to continue to tell both of my beautiful girls exactly what I think of their outer and inner appearance - they are beautifully and wonderfully made in God's image by their Creator.

I will just have to pray that God will bless my motives and give us humility and balance.

Fun with my 2 girls

Grace's new favorite activity is to play Hide & Seek. It's really funny to play with her - she watches you while she counts and usually hides in the same place we do. That being said, you can imagine how surprised I was when I didn't find her in the bathtub (my previous hiding place). When I rounded the corner, I had to keep myself from bursting out with laughter. I couldn't believe she thought of hiding on the shoe rack!! She moved all the shoes off the rack and crawled on to the bottom shelf. Hilarious!

Grace can now count from 1 to 10 in Spanish. So, before coming to find her I said, "Uno, dos, tres." She got really frustrated with me and said, "No, Mommy! Count! One, two, three!" I don't think she's made the connection that "Uno, dos, tres" is "One, two, three."

Alyssa is by far the happiest baby I've ever met in my life. If you wake her up, she'll look up at you and smile. She laughs out loud - the biggest belly laugh you can imagine! In this picture, she's really happy because I fed her a bowl of rice cereal. Anything involved with food keeps a fat baby happy!!

The only time she's sad is when she's hungry, tired or scared. Yes, that's right, scared. She can be easily scared by loud noises, sudden movements, and Daddy making strange faces with weird noises. Her eyes get really wide, her bottom lip comes out and she screams. It's quite funny, actually.

Alyssa's first kiss

Going in for a kiss
Originally uploaded by The Flener Family

Last Thursday night we had a cookout with our Community Group at church. We set Alyssa's car seat down in the middle of the room and immediately Jack came over to greet his new little friend. He practically crawled into Alyssa's car seat with her to plant a kiss on her. They are 7 months apart and are already great buddies.

This interaction reminded me of my daily prayer for my girls - that people would be attracted to them not because of who they are or how they look, but because of Who lives in them.

At our church they have a parent/child dedication. Parents are to give their children life verses at the dedication.

When we dedicated Grace, the verse we gave her is 1 Peter 3:3-4 "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." This verse is so appropriate for her because she is so girly - loves jewelry, silky dresses, anything frilly.

We are going to dedicate Alyssa in the fall and have already picked out her life verse. It is Philippians 2:14-15 "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe."

This verse takes me back to the picture - I pray that Alyssa will shine like a star in this messed up world, which is only going to get worse. I pray that she will radiate God's love through her life and that people are drawn to her because of that Light.

Oh, and watch out Jack Powell - Alyssa's daddy & I are watching your every move! :)

"So they all ate and were filled"

Banana Lover
Originally uploaded by The Flener Family

This is Matt. It's really Matt. The posts before said I posted, but it was really Carrie.

So I wanted to write about a cool thing that's happened with our budget over the past month or so. God has provided for our family in abundance...not in a televangelist kind of way. But he's given us our daily bread in a way that we did not expect.

Carrie and I have tried to remain extremely disciplined with our finances in order to honor God by paying down some debt, and focus on simpler things rather than extravagance. For instance, I'm taking the bus three to five days a week to cut down on gas expenses. That discipline also forced us to cut our food budget to the bare necessities to make dinner and lunch and breakfast. We were not cooking gourmet meals.

That led us into discouragement for a while. We got stuck in a rut of mac and cheese and hamburger helper because it was cheap.

Feeling like we needed something different, Carrie and I independently felt a call from God about two months ago to shop more naturally and organically.

So...that brings us to this picture of Grace with the banana. We have more produce, more food, more provision, than we've had in a long time. Here's the ironic part (especially when you think about organic food prices). Our pantry and refrigerator are more full than when we shopped at Wal-Mart or H.E.B. We've only increased our grocery budget by a few dollars a month with some savings in other areas. No longer are we eating hamburger helper or mac and cheese trying to stretch our food budget for the week. We have eaten wonderful shrimp stir-fry meals, granola cereal, and we have run out of room for fruit and vegetables in our refrigerator. I don't believe we are buying more, but our switch to healthier things has trained our mind to think about what we're eating, and allowing us to enjoy our food more...thus stretching our food budget in ways we didn't expect.

This provision has forced us into a thankful attitude and posture with God. We have truly found the meaning of praying for daily bread, and God has provided in abundance. I wonder and daydream about the parallel to Jesus providing bread and fish to the masses to blow everyone's mind (Mark 6:32-44). Mark 6:42 says, "So they all ate and were filled."

Even more, this wonderful abundance in our lives has driven me to God's word.

Deuteronomy 8:3-4 puts this idea perfectly. Moses is talking to the Israelites about the wonderful abundance of manna. Moses said that the Lord provided manna (which neither the Israelites nor their fathers knew about before the desert) "...that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Your garments did not wear out on you or your foot swell these forty years," the verse says.

Manna did not last for more than a day because it became rotten and smelled (Exodus 16). The Israelites had to trust that God would provide food every day.

Thus the Israelites had to trust the Word of God that He would provide food every day.

My daily bread, truly, must come from the Word first. I have been convicted to spend more time in the Word than ever before. This experience of God providing more food in our lives has only driven me back to the word to become even more full.

I pray that God would continue to provide both Carrie and me an abundance of time in His word.

We're still at the rookie stage of this whole organic and natural thing. We don't want to do it to be cool or because it's the "in" way to live here in Austin. We wanted to do it because we felt the call of God in our lives to eat healthier. In turn, we've been blessed by God with an abundance of time in the Word and with food.

We are truly full of our daily bread.

Two New Accomplishments!

Sitting in her bumbo
Originally uploaded by The Flener Family

Alyssa is growing up so quickly - I can't even believe it!! She's now almost 5 months old...my oh my how time flies by!

Accomplishment #1: Over the past few months, we've been trying to get Alyssa to take a bottle. She refused it every time. Unfortunately for Mommy, that meant I couldn't go far. We have two different kinds of bottles and I had tried both kinds. A friend at church told me to try dipping the nipple of the bottle in maple syrup. 3 days ago I tried doing this with the Dr. Brown's bottle - no luck. The next day I tried it with the Avent bottles and she took to it like a pro! Oh sweet Mommy freedom

Accomplishment #2: This morning Matt was getting ready for work, I was getting the 3 girls ready to go to a friend's house, and Grace was sitting on the couch reading a book. I put Alyssa in the middle of the living room floor and left the room. When I came back, I turned around and noticed Alyssa was on her TUMMY!! She finally rolled over and we all missed it!!!

Side note: Alyssa is no longer allowed to sit in her Bumbo. Yesterday she arched her back and almost pushed herself out of it. She's so strong!!

This video was filmed during the fall of 2007. The "main voice" in the video is Tanya Kerr, former morning anchor at KXAN here in Austin. She knew that we taught Grace baby sign language and asked us to be a part of this educational video. We just found this video on-line.

Nap Time oh Nap TIme - Where have you gone?!

Banana Lover
Originally uploaded by The Flener Family

About a week ago Grace wanted to read a book about giving up her passy. She only used a passy for sleeping, but oh my was she attached to it!! The book suggests that the child send the passy to babies who need it. Grace thought this sounded like a good idea. So, we put the passy in an envelope, sealed it, and addressed it to "Babies Who Need It" with promises of putting it in the mail the next day. Well, bed time came and after fighting with her for 2 hours, we gave in and let her have the passy back.

We decided to take another approach. Over the course of 3 nights we slowly cut away at the nipple of the passy. After one snip, she hated it and said it was "broken." By the time the nipple was reduced to a nub, she refused the passy. As of two nights ago, she goes to bed fairly easily. However, naptime has been a huge challenge. In fact, she has only taken a nap one day out of the last 5! What is up with that?!

Matt keeps telling me it's a phase. I'm praying it's not forever. I NEED nap time. I LIVE for nap time! Nap time is what helps me get through until 7 o'clock when Matt gets home! What will I do if nap time is gone for good?!? Oh no! I was so proud of myself because 4 out of 5 days I get both girls down around the same time for nap. Go Mommy! But what do I do about no napping!?!