Murphys Take Austin: Days 3 & 4

We stopped to mark the moment we were driving out of NY state.

Slowly, I'm beginning to shed this zombie feeling and coming back to my normal senses. I say slowly because I have not yet gotten out of bed today and this may be only a very short-lived state of being. I've had a chance to pray and ponder with my Maker this morning and feel a bit like my right mind is being returned to me. I say right mind in that I'm more attentive to my state of utter need and brokenness. Funny how that works, huh?

When we visited Austin as a family for the first time we discovered, among many wonderful things, that our "new normal" for this season includes a family-sized emotional meltdown on a rhythm of approximately every other day. On our return to Austin, we're keeping that rhythm pretty strictly. Last evening would be a good example.

While I won't share the details here, you can probably imagine pretty well what two depleted parents, four emotionally-drained teenagers and one slightly stressed-out doggie hitting a new city tired, hungry and out of clean laundry might look like. We hit a wall where our desire to feel like we're on a great adventure and our desire to curl up in a ball in our old bedrooms and watch Spongebob ran smack dab into each other. It wasn't pretty.

It's a good reminder that we are finite. Yes, we were made for glory. But we still need a good meal and clean underwear. These are the facts. And, while I'd like to report that we've experienced the grand old town of Louisville, mostly we've been holed up in the Residence Inn on East Market Street, thankful for laundry facilities and a free soup and salad supper served at the same time we checked in last night.

Here's the photo diary of our first days on the road:

1. Endicott, NY to Marion, OH