By Vicki Lyn James

If you read the Advertiser on Thursday, CCUMC and the Bastrop Presbyterian Fellowship were on the front page in an article Terry Hagerty wrote. As Cedar Creek continues to grow, so do the places to worship. Bruce J. Wilson – leader from Bastrop Presbyterian Fellowship had this to say, “The Bastrop Presbyterian Fellowship is excited to relocate to Cedar Creek! The fellowship begins Sunday morning worship services at 10:30 a.m. at the historic white Chapel of the Cedar Creek United Methodist Church on Pearce Lane at FM 535.”

One member of CCUMC stated, “God doesn’t like an empty house so it’s great to have the Fellowship come in.” Welcome to Cedar Creek!

Belly dance classes resume

Mary Beth Gradziel e-mailed me and asked me to pass the word on that the Women’s Belly Dance classes will resume at Bastrop Gardens on Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. and will continue every Wednesday from 7-8 p.m.

This stress-relieving folk dance has helped women since Biblical days and these classes are free for all fire survivors, first responders and law enforcement and by donation for everyone else. Everybody’s busy, so just be there as schedule permits and call (512) 601-2381 with any questions. So if you need to “shake” off some stress, give them a call and go relax.

Community computer lab

How about this folks? A community computer lab right here in Cedar Creek. Austin Free Net has donated computers to the community of Cedar Creek and these computers are now housed at Cedar Creek United Methodist Church, located at FM 535 and Texas 21 W.

They are forming an oversight committee to oversee the specific requirements attached to this generous donation and are seeking volunteers to help us keep these computers available to our community.

We need: advertising, computer training/teachers, techies, concerned volunteers and lab hosts and statistics and accounting oriented volunteers. The first meeting was Saturday, Feb. 4 to test drive the new computers, review the contract for compliance requirements and form a specific plan to meet those requirements. So if any of the above “jobs” fits you, please give the church a call at 303-1393.

Cedar Creek pets online

“I Once Was Lost Animal Advocacy,” in Cedar Creek has joined other animal welfare organizations in the area that list their homeless pets on Petfinder.com, the oldest and largest database of adoptable animals on the Internet. The site currently has more than 359,000 homeless pets listed and it is updated continuously.

More than 13,500 animal welfare organizations in the U.S., Canada, and other countries post their pets on the site. “I Once Was Lost Animal Advocacy” pets may be viewed at http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/TX1612.html.

A potential adopter enters search criteria for the kind of pet he or she wants and a list is returned that ranks the pets in proximity to the zip code entered. Adoptions are handled by the animal placement group where the pet is housed and each group has its own policies.

Petfinder.com was created in early 1996 as a grassroots project by Jared and Betsy Saul to end the euthanasia of adoptable pets. Since its inception, the site has facilitated approximately 20 million adoptions, making it the most life-saving initiative in animal welfare.

White Owls in Texas

Karin Lockwood helped me understand that I am not crazy. My husband and I were driving down Texas 21 in Cedar Creek and I saw a white owl sitting in the tree and it was pretty big. My husband saw it, too, and neither one of us said anything to anyone else so they wouldn’t think we were crazy.

Then Karin e-mailed me that they, too, saw a white owl at their residence in River Crossing off old Hwy 71 and that she mentioned it to a couple of people but got this look of disbelief, so she quit talking about it. She said NBC Nightly News reported that white owls are migrating south and showed them as far south as Oklahoma. She wanted people to know that they are as far south as Texas. And now I know that I’m not nuts or seeing things.

No room for a recipe this week, folks, so keep reading ‘til next week. I will also reveal how Cedar Creek was named. So God Bless for now and keep those emails coming to  cedarcreek50@yahoo.com

I wonder “When does it stop being partly cloudy and start being partly sunny?”