Pictures continued

Artemis-our baby Colombian red-tail boa is about to shed again

Joel's new pet

Entry way

More Livingroom

Some More Pics

Another angle of the living room.

Yep it's big and I like it that way.

One angle of the living room

Laurie's kitchen

Our dining room

Sorry, no pictures from the outside, it is raining today, plus the outside pretty much looks the same anyway.

A picture or two

Here is a street view of our new house!

Honestly we haven't taken and recently so I will need to take some pics and then will post some more. Hopefully soon!

If anyone is still reading this...

Hello all! If you are still checking this thing for updates, then I guess it means that you really love us. I know I have done a terrible job of keeping this thing up to date, but it just doesn't seem to come naturally to me. I am home right now with at least my 4th or 5th outbreak of shingles so I figured it is about time I just did it. I keep getting e-mails and comments about needing to do it so here it goes. Laurie and I moved into our first house in the beginning of June. God has really been leading us on a great adventure of faith and trust. During the Summer Laurie and I went to Mexico to help lead a mission trip. While on the trip Laurie's temp job ran out of work and so she came back to no job. Shortly thereafter my Summer job ended and real estate has been really slow. We decided that I needed to look for a real job that would pay money immediately instead of 2 months after selling a home...
Anyway the most recent news is good, in fact it is great! Laurie found another temp job that will keep here at least through the end of the year. For me things have gone a little differently, and the Lord has fulfilled a dream for me. About a week and a half ago, the senior pastor and the elder over student ministries at our church asked me to meet them for lunch, where they asked me to come on staff part-time as the Student Ministries Pastor. The church was not expecting to be able to hire a SM pastor this soon, so it was kind of unexpected. After much consideration and prayer Laurie and I accepted the position and I started last week. This is something that I have been waiting for for a long time, and although only part-time, there is nothing else I would rather be doing. The sad part is that it was announced this past Sunday that I had been hired, and I missed the announcements, because I was at home with shingles which we discovered Saturday evening. So now I am looking for another part-time job that will have insurance benefits. If you guys would pray for God to provide that for us it would be awesome. You all are awesome too! We really miss all of you back in South Carolina and surrounding areas. If anybody is planning a trip to Texas, just let us know we would love to see any of you. If you don't know how to get in contact with us I will put it in this post. I lost a lot of your phone numbers because my cell phone died while on the Mexico trip and they weren't able to retrieve the contacts. Our home number is 512-538-1888; (Joel's cell) 512-417-6357; (Laurie's cell) 512-417-7041.
An our new address is: 131 Flinn Street, Hutto TX 78634
We love you guys! Let us know how things are going.
Joel and Laurie

House news.

Hello everyone. I know that the postings are few and far between at this point, but we have been very busy of late. I have taken and passed the State and National real estate exams and am now a licensed Realtor. I started work a little over a week ago, and have been doing a lot of training. It is tough getting started, but the Lord is taking care of us. I wanted to post quickly to let everyone know that Laurie and I have decided to put a bid in on a HUD owned foreclosure. We will meet with my training manager tomorrow who will help us through the bidding process, as it is pretty complicated and I am just learning it (although I have learned a lot already). We would love it if you would pray with us about this big step. If we win the bid then we should know by Monday evening or Tuesday. The house would need some work but nothing major. The best part is that after a little research I found out that the home is listed for $30,000 less then it sells for brand new, and it was built in 2005. The house is only a couple of miles from out church, and about a mile from the church office so that would be nice. We have to drive 40 minutes each way as it stands right now. Anyway, we would definitely love to have your prayers with us if you read this soon. Thanks! We miss you all. At least I will be back in Columbia probably on May 8th for a week. Laurie may be able to come too. See some of you then.

News

I know that it has been an incredibly long time since an update, but things have been very busy and I wasn't sure that anybody was still reading this thing. I have been assured that at least my Mom and grandmother are reading it still so here is new info at least for them. I started my real estate career yesterday with orientation at my new firm, and will be doing a lot of training in the coming weeks. I would love your prayers, as it is a lot to learn, and of course I don't make money until I sell something. This Sunday will be the first official service at our new church. We are very excited. Please pray though as the youth ministry definitely needs some work. With it being new there is no youth staff, and most of the volunteers are very busy as is typical. It looks as if Laurie and I will be taking on some additional responsibilities and I will like be assuming the point person role shortly to try and help bring some better structure to the ministry. This is very exciting, but very challenging as well.
We no longer have South Carolina numbers as my mobile will be the primary way that my clients can get a hold of me. Our new cell phone numbers are as follows:
Joel= 512-417-6357
Laurie= 512-417-7041

Feel free to call us! For some reason I can't think of much else to say right now, but I love and miss you all. We (or at least I) will be back sometime during the beginning of May. I would like to be home for 2 Sundays if possible, but don't know if I can practically afford to miss that much work. We'll see.
Thanks for your prayers!!! Keep them coming

Update

Sorry it has been so long since the last update. A lot has happened. Last Saturday Laurie and Joel attended the very first membership seminar for Hill Country Bible Church Hutto, and became members of the church. Also on Saturday we went to a work day at our new church office. It is so exciting to see how the Lord is providing for everything. We have a early 1900's house (I think around 1940 or something like that is when it was built) and it is awesome. We have fixed it up and it is a cool place. There are a couple of offices as well as a kitchen and living area. The living area is going to be open for people to come and just sit when they want and it will have free wireless internet so people can even work from there. It is a great location and easy to find. On top of that most of the furnishings for the house we free! It's awesome when God works the way he does. This coming Sunday night we will have our charter service where we will sign the charter and vote for the elders and officially become a church. It is very exciting to be a part of all this. I (Joel) am especially excited because right now Hutto only has 1 high school and 1 middle school (and we are meeting in the middle school) so we will have easy access to the students in Hutto since there isn't really any happening youth programs in Hutto (only one youth group in the whole town!) This will provide lots of opportunities.

Other than that, we decided yesterday that I am going to start classes to get my real estate license and work for a broker here in Austin. I will actually start my first class today, and hope to have all my classes finished by this time next week (I am taking them by correspondence). Your prayers would be much appreciated during this time, as it is uncertain when I will be able to start making money. For the past week Laurie and I have been praying and talking to people and doing research, thanks Mom, and feel that this is what the Lord has for me next so we know He will provide. I hope people are still reading this, I know it has been a while since I updated it. Thanks for being part of our lives! We love and miss you all very much!