Transitioning (Nuthaus news, the name of our new place, and dating... sort of)

We're all unpacked and getting settled in, but there are still a few things that are in flux.

First, we're still in the last month of our lease at the Nuthaus. We signed the lease here on May 25, so got to pay double rent in June and July. It's been real. When James was unemployed, we didn't take anything out of our savings, but for the past couple of months, we did have to draw on that. We can replace it by the end of the year, most likely, but still. Urgh.

Well, the day we moved, I turned off, unplugged, and opened the refrigerator, then I turned off the air conditioner. Someone came and cleaned it two days later, and I feel really bad because I didn't think about the climate control for the cleaner. As it turns out, she didn't do that great of a job, anyway. I got the following email recently:

"Hi Laura,
"I am at the Nueces and wanted to make sure you knew there were a few items still here. Also I'm not sure if more cleaning is going to be done, but there definitely things that were missed... When you come back, be sure to not lock the top locks.
"Thanks Laura, have a great 4th!"

Those "top locks"? They are the tenant deadbolts. You lock them to keep management out when you don't want them in. We'd locked the one in front because, frankly, it seemed more safe to go out the back door and have the front as locked up as possible in order to avoid having someone break into a vacant house.

But the tone of the email made me angry. It's still our house. We can lock the deadbolts if we want.

Anyway, yesterday, I received another email from her:

"Have you been back to Nueces yet?    If not, that is fine since you technically still have the property through this month, I was just wanting to check."

Heh. Um. No.

We don't "technically" have the property. We actually, legally, and fully "have" the property through the end of the month. We have paid for it. It is ours. Does it need work to be made ready for the next tenant? YES. Should you be in there getting it fixed up now so that you can rent it quickly? Probably. Were you willing to let us stop paying rent early to facilitate that? Nope. So TOO DARN BAD.  I'm not going back until July 31, and I told James I'm tempted to start taking our trash over there and storing it in the middle of the living room.

That is *definitely* not WJWD, though. I need to get over it. Here's a song to help us all feel better.




So.

Oh, here's something; We'd been thinking about what to call this new place, and we decided upon...

*drumroll*

VOGELFUTTER!

Yes, that is from henceforth the name of this here apartment; Vogelfutter.

Also, some people have asked me about "Team Dave's" and what that means. It's our family. We don't all have the same last name, so we can't go by our collective surname. How did we come up with "Team Dave's"? I don't know that I'm at liberty to explain that. You'll have to ask James. I mean, you know I'd tell you. But I think he likes it being our secret.

Now...

Before Daphne and I moved to Austin, I found New City Church (then Soma) online. I knew if the church were as its website seemed, we'd end up staying there. And we did. Week One, and, bam, it was the place we were supposed to be. Hard to believe that was nearly three years ago!

When we started, there were a very few kids around Daphne's age. Now, there are none. It's been that way for a couple of years, actually. The nearest to her age is more than two years younger; older, it's at least 7, meaning young adult.

I've heard and read that parents should go to church wherever their kids feel comfortable (and the truth is being taught, obvs), because whereas I, as a mature believer, can find camaraderie and/or spiritual "supplementation" on my own if need be, my teenager is unlikely to do that. I need to make it as available for her as possible.

When I first realized she wasn't meeting anyone her own age, we did BSF for a year. She did meet a friend there, but that friend had to move suddenly over a year ago. We homeschool and Daphne is not interested in many extracurricular activities, so I need for her to be somewhere that she can meet actual people at her stage of life, and she's just not.

So, it's with a great deal of mixed emotions that we've started visiting churches around Vogelfutter. And now I remember how much I *hate* visiting churches. It's like dating, but worse. Thus far, we haven't had any of the "ten minutes in, I can tell you this is a big 'no' but how do we leave without being rude?" situations.

The church we visited last week I liked immensely and would love to go there. I didn't put Mal in the nursery because it smelled like poop, and I could barely get him signed in without my eyes watering from the stench. I mumbled something (true) like, "He can't make it the whole time, so I'll bring him in when he gets restless" and ran out of there knowing I wasn't going to condemn him to the odor.

They had a cry room, and they had a lot of songs and responsive readings and even a children's sermon, so there was plenty of activity and moving. We spent about 8 minutes in the cry room, not because Mal was crying, but because he was ready to crawl everywhere.

I liked the atmosphere of the church, and enjoyed the service (as much as I could focus and participate), but Daphne "wasn't really feeling it."

Today, we visited a place that is pretty literally across the highway from our apartments. It took longer to strap Mal in than it did to drive to the building.

Daphne said it reminded her of "where we used to go to church in Sherman, but not as big." She doesn't remember that when we started going to church there, it was actually about the same size (300 people). The temperature in the sanctuary was about 64 degrees.

Mal LOVED the nursery, actually. I went in and sat with him for about 15 minutes, then left for the rest of the message (only about 15 more minutes) and he didn't even notice I'd gone. He had fun playing.

There was a middle school gathering during that hour, but Daphne stayed in service instead. Besides, I think she'd be starting 9th grade if she were in school, so she'd probably be in with the high schoolers. The high and middle schoolers actually meet every Sunday at 4, so next week I'm thinking about taking Mal to the earlier service (this one fell in the middle of his usual nap time) and then taking D to the student service.

Anyway, there wasn't a definite "no" today, or really last week, either, but there wasn't a giant neon "yes!" And the whole undertaking is... ehhhhhh. I just want to magically be somewhere that Daphne feels she's a part.

Oh, one thing going for this place today, besides the fact that it's less than a mile away, is that they have a mother's day out program, and when Mal is 14 months, he'd be able to do that for a few hours two days a week. Especially if he likes the nursery and is in the same general vicinity, that might be a good way to transition him to hanging out somewhere besides under my mammaries for a bit. (Sorry if that was too graphic.)