Train ride?

Ride the rails of a miniature train that travels the 1 1/3 mile long track at Williamson County's Southwest Regional Park. The train operates on weekends from 10 am to 6 pm, weather permitting. The cost for the 15 minute ride is $2.50. For more information, go to www.cedarrockrailroad.com.


Southwest Regional Park is located near the intersection of 1431 and CR 175 (on the north side of 1431 ). The total park encompasses 800 acres, with about 100 acres built for fun and fitness. The first phase, which is complete, includes 10 soccer fields, 2 softball fields, cricket field, 8 tennis courts, 6 basketball courts, picnic shelters, disc golf, and a playscape, along with the train rides on the weekends.

There is also a 1.75 crushed granite hike and bike trail along the perimeter of the developed park.

Girls Night Out Canceled

Hi Ladies. This month girls night out has been canceled... we will try to get everyone together again soon!

Storytimes

Baby Bloomers at the Austin Children's Museum Children ages 3 and younger only between 9 and 12 a.m on Mondays. Storytime at 9:30; sing-a-long 10:30, The Little Explorer's Lab 11 a.m. $8 per parent/child pair.

Toddlertimes at Round Rock Public Library Children 18 mth to 3 yrs. Tuesdays at 9:30 and 10:30 a.m and Thursdays at 10:30 a.m.

Babytime at Round Rock Public Library Children 0 to 18 mths on Thursdays and 12 to 18 mths on Fridays at 9:30 a.m.

Monkey in the Middle Storytime at Wells Branch Community Library Children ages 1 to 2 who are not ready for a traditional sit down storytime. Fridays from 12:15 to 12:35 p.m.

Mother Goose Lap Sit Storytime at Wells Branch Community Library Children 0 to 18 mths. Fridays at 10 a.m.

Toddler Storytime at Wells Branch Community Library Children 18 to 36 mths. Fridays at 10:45 a.m.

Storytime at Family Connections Meeting Place (825 E. 53 1/2 St. E-101.) All ages. Fridays 10 to 11 a.m. This is a great resource for toys and other materials as well.

Baby Sign Time at Wells Branch Community Library Pre-verbal children. Tuesday April 29 2 p.m. I think this takes place every other Tuesday.

Ice cream anyone?

Baskin Robbins is honoring America 's Firefighters by selling ice cream for $.31 cents per scoop on Wednesday, April 30th between 5 and 10 pm. Grab your friends, and/or the kids and have a cool one! This fundraiser for the firefighters is an important one for them, so let's go out and have ice cream and support a great cause.

http://www.baskinrobbins.com/Promotion/31cent.aspx

National Day of Prayer

National Day of Prayer

Thursday, May 1st

First Playgroup!

Playgroup Tomorrow! April 14th

Hi Everyone. Just a reminder that tomorrow, Monday the 14th we will be having afternoon playgroup! Everyone meets at Northwest District Park at 3:45pm. Google the park for a good map! Hope to see you there.

Upcoming Events

Hey guys! We had so much fun at playgroup today and thanks for coming. The Birch's were so nice to host and had yummy snacks to share with everyone. There should be a group picture of our first playgroup on the blog soon.

We have an exciting few weeks ahead of us in HomeBuilders with tons of events. Here are a few of the events listed below...

PLAYGROUP: Monday, April 14th @ 3:45p @ Northwest District Park located just off of Shoal Creek in Central Austin

GUYS NIGHT: Friday, April 25th @ 7:00P @ Pluckers at Burnett and 183.

GIRLS NIGHT: Saturday, April 26th @ 7:00p @ Chez Zee (no kids allowed, yay!!!)

We really hope to see you there and please invite your friends!!!!

*Playgroup will be weekly so please stay tuned for future outings.

a song...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=E-v309XcfeA

This is my best friend, Blake (singing harmony), and his little brother, Ben, singing at GUTS church in Tulsa on Good Friday a couple of weeks ago. He and his brother were in a group called Shadowalk back in the day, and his brother was in a band called Hero Factor more recently...now he is a worship leader at GUTS. Both guys are immensely talented.

This performance has incredible meaning as both songs they sing have to do with God's peace in the midst of suffering. Their dad (like family to me too) passed away about a month ago unexpectedly and it understandly was devastating to the family.

I probably am not very objective given my relationship with the brothers and their family...but I find this performance amazing. I hope it blesses you too...

casey

Bible 101 feedback

I think most of you were there that first Sunday when Caleb and I were proposing topics to be covered in class. I mentioned the idea of a Bible 101 series...the primary purpose of which is to give everyone the foundation of understanding they need to read, understand and apply the Bible for themselves and their families.

It's not like a 12 week course (30-45 minutes per week) is going to turn everyone into Bible experts and scholars, I realize that. But this can be the starting point or a refresh on some of the foundations. I know you are likely to have very different backgrounds, as far as your familiartiy with the Bible. Some have been taught it their whole lives...others may still be relatively new to it. I believe this diversity in our class will really enrich our discussions.

I'm targeting this series to appeal to both folks starting from scratch, and those with a lot of knowledge already. Some of the things I plan on covering are requiring some heavy research for me, so I don't think anyone will be too bored. :) I want to focus on three main topics, which I've listed below as questions:

1. What is the Bible about? What's in it? What's the big picture story?

2. Where did the Bible come from? Who wrote it? Who compiled it and how?

3. How do I study go about studying and understanding it?

Obviously, discussion on these topics will dive into more specific questions and details. So, my question to the class...and what I would like to discuss on Sunday is...what are your thoughts and feedback on this Bible 101 series? More importantly, what are questions you have about the Bible yoiu would like answered or discussed (we don't have deifntie answers for everyting)? It may be that you have some nagging doubts you sturggle with. Doubts are nothing to be embarrassed about. Any believer who takes time to think about their faith will have doubts...especially in cultures that are increasingly hostile to faith.

[TOPIC CHANGE ALERT]
I saw that some folks responded to Caleb's survey that they have some doubts they would like to discuss. Some level of doubting, in my opinion, is evidence of faith. Please don't let that fact that you struggle with some doubt make you lose heart! To me, faith is not the blind acceptance of anything that is revealed to you. Unless you have worked it out and contemplated it for yourself...done some real soul searching...I'm not sure that belief is really valuable faith. If then, true faith requires questioning and introspection, it is inevitable that some doubts are raised in the process. I think true faith is, on one level, an informed decision to believe despite not having all of the evidence or information you might like to have. To believe despite doubts. Anyway...I suspect Caleb or I will discuss doubts in general one day in class.

[BACK ON TOPIC]

I look forward to discussing this with you all in class. If you want to give some immediate feedback, leave some comments on the blog. Or if you would rather provide some feedback anonymously, I think you can do that here on the blog as well.

See you Sunday...God bless!

casey