Summertime and the Livin's Easy, Part One

Welp, we've been in Atlanta for about a week and a half now. Oh, didn't you hear? We moved to Atlanta to work at Peachtree Presbyterian Church and let me tell you, it's been a whirlwind - almost like a tornado, you might say.

Since we southerners like to impress each other, we will now impress you with a list of everything we did during our first week in Georgia. So grab a rocking chair and a mint julep, y'all, and prepare to be blown away. I apologize that this will be a little long-winded but hey, life is slower (and stickier) down here. What's your rush?

We moved into our condo fresh off the plane last Thursday. Almost immediately, we unpacked a hundred and fifty boxes and painted a huge shelf country red. We still have quite a few boxes left and a lot more furniture to buy. We're using Craig's List like a treasure map but with or without it, we've already gotten lost in midtown.

In our first week, we sat at our shared desk for a total of thirty minutes. Between the two of us, we went to Six Flags, the zoo, and a Braves game (Atlanta lost). We learned to drive a minibus. We got in a water balloon fight, bounced in a bounce house, served sandwiches at a homeless shelter, and enjoyed a delicious pancake breakfast. We followed a Rod Stewart look-alike in worship, helped with Vacation Bible School, memorized the names of 300 kids (ok, I made that one up - but we've met almost as many), and brushed our teeth every morning and night. We drank lots of Caribou coffee, sweat off half our body weight while reading by the pool, joined the gym, and licked our chops at the local Pig n' Chik. We unintentionally used the word "y'all" in a sentence. We went to the movies with fifty students and were yelled at by an ornery bus driver with eight cats at home. We watched twelve episodes of Lost (ok, just Brynn did that. Don't judge me - we have to wait a whole 7 months for the next season of 24). And we finally found our coffee pot right when we were starting to form a search party.

We went out running on the street where Elton John, Ludacris, and the governor of Georgia live. Or driving. Or whatever. It's just a block up. We lost count of all the BMW's we've seen cruise past our place, the teenagers with i-Phones, and the beautiful moms who while away the hours under big magnolia blossoms, gossiping over sweet tea and sugar cookies.

We shared meals with new friends. We've made more than we can count with all ten fingers - which means we've already made at least nine more than last year.

Since we've been here, we've heard the word "milestone" rhyme with "gallstone" and "men" pronounced with two syllables. The "rebel flag" was mentioned to me casually last night. We saw a guy riding on the highway in the back of a pick-up and a few days ago, Aaron actually heard someone exclaim, "Why Thomas, you look hot as coffee!" We think Atlanta is a little like Moscow, a little like Oxford, and a lot more southern then we remembered.

We have not eaten a peach.

Dinah's been busy, too. If you haven't met our kitten yet, she is a firecracker, even if she is sometimes a sleepy, cuddly firecracker. Dinah's smattering of accomplishments includes attacking and building forts out of at least thirty moving boxes and rearranging all of the packing tissues around the floor. She has also eaten and uneaten one rubber band. Thankfully, she has finally learned to sleep with us without soiling herself (and our bed). We think she just doesn't want to be alone - in the dark - with the boxes. Dinah's all talk.

Next week, I'll be gone with the wind up to Camp Rutledge (held in nowheresville at Hard Labor Creek State Camp) with the High Schoolers, a camp I've been told by many a church-goer (always with a raised brow and a smile) is like no other. Apparently, it is Peachtree at its best and worst and I will be the hottest and happiest I've ever been. And afterwards, the tiredest.

Yesterday, Aaron drove up to Camp Ducktown in Tennessee with the Middle Schoolers - a much cooler camp with white water rafting and cell phone reception. And I'm staying here in our condo this week, unpacking books and goblets and pot holders, glad for Dinah's company because I'm kind of scared after watching all that Lost.

Next month, we're going on domestic mission trips to Los Angeles (go figure), N'awlins, and inner city Atlanta. Aaron will be helping to launch an adventure ministry in the next few months and I will be doing everything I can to write and play music and other things good for my soul.

See? I ain't just whistlin' Dixie when I say we've already experienced one of them famous Georgia tornadoes. But seriously - we get paid for all this!?

We were told that this is the "crunchest" (busiest) time of year for our ministry and life will get slower very quickly. However, if you contact us in the next month and a half and we're a little slow on the response, we're sorry. We might be on a mission trip, getting to know a student, unpacking, or taking a nap (probably that last one). But until we hear from you, we'll just be singin' that old sweet song. We've got Georgia on our minds.