Drew just sent this website to me.  you are welcome.

if there’s one singular thing that causes my heart to absolutely break into a million gooey pieces, it’s to see my wife cry.  i mean it.  i’m useless…worthless…it literally destroys me.

if we’re ever arguing about something, all she has to do is cry and i’m suddenly won over to whatever she was trying to convince me. i could be completely 100% RIGHT in my argument, but all she has to do is shed one tear and i’m finished.  unfair!  i would rather her yell, scream, throw things across the room, shout strings of prafinities…anything besides crying!!

when she cries at the thoughts of not having Amos and Story in our house, i’m literally tempted to take a black ops extraction team to some remote village in Haiti.  it could cost a billion dollars, but if she cries, i’ll figure out a way to borrow it.  maybe i’ll hit up all my rich blog friends.

frequently she’ll be in the other room reading some book and i’ll hear her sobbing.  it kills me.  i’ll walk in, and her eyes are full of tears as she reads some autobiography about a really sad story, etc.  then after my heart starts beating again, it just makes me laugh.

last night, was one of the most devastating.  she has some issues with her back.  it seems like every 4 months or so, she’ll throw her back out of wack.  when she does, she’s in an immense amount of pain for a day or so.  she tried out a chiropractor in murfreesboro, but didn’t really see much progress.  just last night, we were talkign about how it’s been a really long time since she had a back “episode.”  we talked about how it may be because we have a new mattress, etc.  then, she bent over to plug something in the wall, and i could tell her back had just jacked up.  she nearly fell to the ground and burst into pain.

i finally got her into bed… it destroyed me to see her in such pain.  got her some muscle relaxers and good pain medication.  she hasn’t moved much since then…. i know she’s really hurting right now, and it messes me up!

i’m not sure what we need to do, but we gotta get her some help soon.  it’s not cool that she has to experience this 4-5 times a year.

sometimes people ask what songs and what kinds of set lists we’re currently doing… so weekly (if we’re either leading at The Stone or on the road), i’m going to post the songs we’re singing…

Sunday, Aug 24

MIGHTY TO SAVE (Hillsong)
MY SOUL SINGS (Delirious)
MAJESTY (Delirious)
FOUND (Ivey)
THE STAND (Hillsong)
–Matt Carter spoke in I Corinthians 9
HOSANNA (Hillsong)

if you go to a church that doesn’t have a permanent space, you should know that it takes a lot of work to set up and tear down every single week.  our church meets in Austin High School downtown.  four services every sunday.  9:30, 11:15, 5pm, and 7pm.  hundreds of volunteers meet incredibly early to begin the load in and set up process each week.  they are valuable and appreciated people!

sunday was an amazing day at The Stone.  i’m humbled to be a part of this community.  God is doing great things in the city of Austin, and we consider it a real privilege to serve here.  all of the college students are not back in town yet, and we still were almost out of room in the morning services.

here’s what the hundreds of volunteers do each week to turn a gym into a worship area:

and here’s our humble little green room.  (which, by the way, is neither GREEN nor a ROOM).  however, the Cobbs hook us up with great snacks, foods, drinks, and home made cookies.  they rock.

so, if you’re a volunteer at your church…THANK YOU.  it doesn’t happen without people like you.  and if you’re a volunteer at The Stone… THANK YOU.  you are my hero.

as most of you know, jamie and i are passionate about adoption.  it’s become a central theme to our life, marriage, and ministry.  Deacon was adopted (our 2 year old), and we’re currently in the process of bringing Amos and Story home from Haiti.

our friends, and house-mates, Bush and Maris have been pursuing adoption for the past few months… they’ve been waiting to be chosen by a birthmom.  this week, they were chosen and have a date for the birth!  we’re really excited for them.  you can go read the story here.

jamie and i have made a few new AUSTIN RULES for the next few months of living here. we don’t eat out a ton…we try to eat at home as much as possible, but about once a week or so we enjoy eating at great restaurants. plus, we love finding new places that are local (not chains like Chilis, etc).

these rules will be in place as of Monday, August 25, 2008 and will be in effect until December 31, 2008.

• RULE #1: to try out local places in Austin, we will not eat at the same *restaurant or coffee house twice. we’re going off recommendations from friends and bloggers. (*Chuy’s and P.Terry’s are exempt from this rule)

• RULE #2: we will ride the bus at least once a week.

• RULE #3: when i say, “yeah dude, we should hang out sometime…” i will make every effort to initiate that actually going onto the calendar and not just being something i throw out.

• RULE #4: i will not be wearing those tight tight Austin-rocker jeans that are tapered all the way down to my ankles. sorry, i just can’t. speaking of…i also will NOT succumb to the culture of wearing those Chaco sandles.

• RULE #5: i will continue wearing a v-neck every day of my life.

• RULE #6:  date night (without kids) once a week.

deacon and i had such a great time riding the bus on Saturday. we started out at home, and waited for the bus which is literally 20 steps from my front door. here’s deacon eager to see the bus:

once on the bus, we sat and watched people and sites. his eyes stayed glued to the window. i loved being around such diversity. had about 5 conversations with strangers. they all stared at Deacon… probably wondered why he didn’t look anything like me.

after the trip to downtown, we got off the 1L at 6th and Congress. deacon was eager to ride the stroller to our pizza destination spot.

we walked a few blocks east on 6th street to Frank & Angie’s Pizza. we love this place. great Margherita pizza. he ate as much as i did.

after lunch, we walked to 6th and Brazos to catch the bus to Jimmie and Laura’s house near the Arboretum. he instantly fell asleep, and didn’t wake up until we ended up at their house an hour later. rock and roll.

there you have it… adventure around every corner. it was awesome……

forgot to tell you this……there are few things i REALLY want to see/hear happen in my lifetime. one has always been a real-life cable guy that acts like Jim Carrey on “cable guy.” (which is one of my favorite movies). sunday afternoon the cable guy came buy to turn on the cable. he rang the doorbell. i answered it by opening up the door. to my suprise, he look at me and said (in the Jim Carrey voice), “CABLE GUYYYY!!!!!”

i laughed out loud and congratulated him on completing on of my life-long goals… it was beautiful. we are friends now. i wish he would have given me free extra channels, but i’ll take the Jim Carrey voice anyway

i’ve never been happier to see a cable guy in my life! today at 2:30, the guy from Time Warner showed up at my house to install the cable/internet in the new house. it’s lame how helpless i’ve felt without internet in my house. it’s been 9 days without internet, and i’m now realizing how dependent i’ve become on something… and i’m not necessarily proud of that. ha.

so, we now have internet! woohoo!!

in other news, jamie and i have decided that every time we go out on a date or out to eat we’re going to eat somewhere new in Austin. and i’m going to do reviews of each on here. so if you’re into that…great… if not, well, sorry.

before we get started…any suggestions in austin? restaurants and coffee houses… (already been to P.Terrys, Chuys, Shady Grove, Hipnotics, Mozarts, Frank & Angie’s, Manuels, Siloutte Sushi, Thai Passion, Austin Java, Iron Works)

i’m not sure why, but when we’re soundchecking, i always feel the urge to take a picture like this and post it on my blog…

annoying? waste of blog reading? deleting me from your blogroll now? even if you say yes to all of the above, i’ll probably always take pictures like this during soundchecks. it just feels necessary. plus, it makes it look like i’m doing something important on my computer… like checking important files… or backing up highly classified files. changing codes to the mainframe. debugging the “system.” i’m done.