Our exciting stuff..

We got some new furniture! We're so excited! No more of that nasty particle board table that didnt stand up straight! And no more wicker chairs! We are now the proud owners of this beautiful round counter height table with the 18 inch leaf. And the chairs! They're so comfortable and attractive!





We also found a nice, simple bed frame and some side tables. We bought them separately but they appear to be the same color, so we got kinda lucky!





Next up on the list of improvements: Paint! These stark white walls are getting to be a bit too much. So we're adding a tiny splash! ..well, beige and a light to medium brown accent wall. ha! "splash" ..It's not much, but it will help warm the place up a bit!

In response..

Rob and Rachel. You guys have posted quite the blog. What I've written below was at first intended to be a response, but its too stinkin long for a "comment". Might as well blog it.

Finding a church here in Riverview/Brandon/Tampa, FL is dang near impossible. We've written a "review" on each church that we've attended so far. As of right now, we are keeping our opinions to ourselves, using our reviews more as a journal. But once we find that perfect-for-JoAndy church, we're seriously thinking about posting all our entries on the web. Not as a way to bash the local churches, but simply because we don't want someone that is from a similar background, same comfort level, to have to go through the same list of trail-and-error experiences. No matter what the sign says, out here, its Baptist. We've gone into Christian Supply/Bookstores and spoken to the cashiers to find out where they attend, and they all say the same thing. The only "non-denominational" Church around here apparently, is the mega church in Brandon, which we later tried- double thumbs down.

We've actually been invited to dinner to a very nice young couples house, and during the meal they brought up church. We both stated our views and our opinions on local churches, and we discussed one church in particular- the one previously mentioned. We felt very strongly (not necessarily in a negative way, but it wasn't really positive either)about this church and used it as a prime example of what we were NOT looking for. Come to find out, they attended this very church. The rest of the dinner was very enjoyable, filled with pleasant conversation, smiles and laughter. After two weeks we figured out that we were not going to be invited back, which is fine after we sort of discovered in a round about way that they were trying to recruit us to join them at their church. Which is, by the way, "Non-Denominational"

When we tell people that we prefer smaller churches, ones where the Pastor need not wear a microphone and be projected on a jumbotron, they stare. Just like when we talk about snow. They know nothing of the sort.

Are churches like River West and Trail Christian Fellowship a rarity outside of Oregon? Will we ever feel at home in our new community? There's only one thing we can do, really.. pray.