There is nothing more important to us than family life. It is the center of who we are. That being said, we keep ourselves very busy, which means it takes a lot of discipline to make sure we put each other first. Here's a few things going on:

It's been a couple months since we updated this, but all is well, and busy in the Hansen household. It seems, since our last update, we have had several things happening personally and occupationally, besides the normal serving, being pastor, husband, father, etc. We are doing well as a family. Still serving (above is Ashton being part of building a community garden), studying, and trying to find our footing in this new rhythm. But more specifically, below is a list of a few of those that we have done in the last couple of months and what we are coming up to:

So here are a few things we are praying about:

• Moving: Back in December we posted the following: "we are thinking one of the smartest moves we could make is to move from South Austin to East Downtown Austin." Well, we are one step closer to do that, we have found a trusted realtor who has been helping us, and another that is helping us get our current house on the market (pray that God would help this go smoothly). As we stated before, our reaon for doing this is to make it feasible for us to live where we do life, put us closer to UT and the kid's school, and help us move one more step into community development.
• School: With the New Year come and gone, school is in full swing. Sarah has started her second semester at UT, the kids are all back at City School, and I took this semester off due to my work load, but have transferred to Redeemer Seminiary here in Austin, to continue my masters work in world religions. So, needless to say, we are busy every night with homework and school projects.


• Fitness: I just finished my 5th half-marathon, here in Austin, and always, it was great. I am so tempted to train for fall marathon, but on the other hand I am a bit scared, because, let's face it, even with my best half-marathon time and my running to resistance training ratio, I'm not a real runner; plus I know I would have to cut even more weight than I already have. That said, it is tempting and I am beginning to look into it.


• RESTORE Haiti: RESTORE Haiti, is our anti-trafficking work in Haiti. In 2012, we hoping to build 12 homes in northern Haiti right next to the Dominican/Haitian border, on some land we were were granted for this very purpose. These homes will be for teenage girls (12-14) who have "aged out" of the local orphanages, and are the most vulnerable to being trafficked into the Dominican Republic. Each home will house 3-4 girls and will be overseen by local churches, along with each house having 1 house mother. To know more, click HERE.


• SlaveFree City: We have launched the website, SlaveFreeCity.net. SlaveFree City is not a new organization we are starting rather it is more like a campaign of sorts, that helps other faith communities start a SlaveFree City campaign in their city, to know more click HERE.

I'm sure there is much more I could have talked about, but I figured this was enough for now. Let me finish with this: I started this year (2012), with a reflection/prayer/writing trip to New Orleans. I know, that seems like an odd place to "reflect", as NOLA is often times synonymous with loud, crazy, and partying. But NOLA is where it all started for me, 18 years ago this week (Feb 205h-25th). It's where God really opened my eyes to serving a needy and broken people as the church; opened my eyes to his idea of what the posture of the church should be to a broken world. I hadn't been back since, and let me say, I would recommend, that if you have those places in your life, it would do you some good to go back to those, and spend some time reflecting on what God may be saying to you now... it will be good...

The Hansens