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(almost) all moved in!!
We were able to move into our apartment on Friday, and thanks to cousins Rob & Renae, it only took one trip! We don’t have furniture yet, but the couches are on their way, along with our dresser and coffee table. We got two small bookshelves, and there is one built in, so all the books that have been packed away for the past three years are now able to breathe!! Too bad we have three more boxes of books coming with our shipment! 
So, as promised, here are a few pictures.
leaving New York… with absolutely no extra room!
moving in! Den… Kitchen
bedroom (with air mattress from the Petersons - thanks!!)…
dining room - living room reflected
if you want a video tour, let us know… we’ll walk our webcam around the place for you!
moving in…
If all goes well, we’ll be moving into our new apartment today! Details and pictures to come… 
Funny Pic: the new iPhone
The NYTimes recently posted this picture taken the day of the 3G iPhone release. You won’t appreciate it unless you’ve seen Wall-E…
HT: Mike Monteiro and Rafael Torales
moving update
I have business cards! I must be official, or something. J
Between accompanying for the Neighborhood Chorus (of the Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas) and my almost-acquired position teaching lessons through the Providence Music Academy, I think my dream to remain in the free-lance world is becoming quite possible! I plan to take my spiffy business cards to Southern Methodist University this week and at least put up ads, if not meet with some faculty in their music department.
Something else that is “almost-acquired” is an apartment! We signed application papers and paid deposits on a place REALLY close to the seminary. After taking a tour around downtown with Kevin and Allison on Sunday afternoon, we are even more excited about Dallas city-living. There are so many neat opportunities and events - it’s a beautiful downtown area. The question is… will we have the time and money to enjoy it all once school and work and rent payments start. Hmmm… I’m thinking yet again that Chengdu spoiled us. J
Hangin’ Out in the USA
So we made the trip to Texas about a week and a half ago, and life has been relatively quiet since then. We toured my future school and got set up there; Sarah got an accompanist job; we spent time with extended family for the 4th of July; we saw a touring team from our alma mater perform; we scoured the internet for nice apartments in great locations for low prices. On the Dallas apartment front, we have made one trip to the city to tour potential living situations and will do the same this weekend. We also purchased cell phones somewhere in there. In short, we’re doing those things needed to turn us back into Americans again. Which, being consumerist America, requires money. Or plastic. So we’re learning to deal with that too.
Here’s a couple notes on the past week:
- Television shows have too many commercials. Having watched DVD television series while in China, this has quickly become obvious.
- Freedom is nice. While in China, as many as half of the hyperlinks on my igoogle page were inaccessible. I still have to remind myself that it is not necessary to take additional steps to see the webpage I want to.
- On that note, it has been enlightening to read posts of late from friends like Josh, Denise, and Laura, as well as Frank and others.
- In my internet wanderings over the past week, I also found a Pastor for sale on Ebay.
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One political note: the media has focused recently on evangelicals “enlarging their horizons” and becoming more than one-issue candidates, turning to such issues as the environment and social justice. I really liked what Joel Belz has to say on the subject. Here’s a snippet:
…if some argue that the rising generation of younger evangelicals is a bit embarrassed by what they think is an out-of-balance focus by their elders, and thinks it’s time to get equally exercised over issues like racism, economic justice, and the environment—well, if that’s the case with our twentysomethings and our teenagers, then maybe we need to go to work and do a better job of explaining to them why we’ve put the emphasis where we have for the last generation and why we believe that it’s time not to lower our voices.
So that is the scoop in our corner of the world. You can see some updated contact info for us on the contact page. We felt it prudent to omit our new phone numbers, so email me if you want them.
Happy summer!
HT: World on the Web
1900 miles later…
WE’RE IN TEXAS!! We drove south through Kansas and O—klahoma! yesterday. Unfortunately, neither of us knows the rest of the song, so we just had to keep singing “O—-klahoma where the….something….something….la..la..plains!” That stopped being fun after a while, so we just sat and took in the beauty of the aforesaid plains. There’s really not much else to take in, although we did find the cheapest gas price of the entire trip. Thank you, Oklahoma!
So now we are taking a breather day, reveling in the fact that we don’t have to get in the car, and if we do, we will be able to see out the back window. Bailey is also happy to be in one place, even though he did great in the car each day. We have multiple “to-do” lists, and we look forward to crossing things off as they come to pass.
We have enjoyed so many good gifts over the past three weeks (can you believe we’ve only been back for three weeks!). Our car, which showed up on the lot when we went back to test drive something else and had a lower price and lower mileage. A low gas price on the first night of our trip which was 30 cents higher when we left in the morning. Great weather and no delays until Oklahoma. A random cop at a Kansas gas station who handed me his cell phone because the station’s pay phones were out of service. Anyway, the list goes on and hopefully you can see that we have been blessed on this trip. Keep your eyes open for God’s blessings in the everyday, and you will be amazed!