The Next Ten Days and The Next Month

The next ten days are pivotal in our journey to New York.  We are heading to NYC for the last time as tourists!  Our goal is to find our first apartment in the city, which will determine which pieces of furniture will move with us, which will determine which moving company we will use.  So many decisions hinge on this apartment search.  Josh and I will leave Tuesday morning and will start viewing apartments and meeting landlords on Wednesday.  Because I'm a psycho planner, we've created tiers for the amenities in an apartment.  Tier One includes every (reasonable) feature in an NYC apartment:, laundry in the building, full size refrigerator, close to the subway, to name a few.  Tier Two still includes a few luxuries, but we compromised on some features.  For instance, a laundromat on the same block, close to a subway station or a bus stop.  Tier Three's features are minimal and include: "has a door that locks."


We're committing the first two days to Tier One apartments.  Then we'll give Tier Two a couple of days.  By the weekend, we'll probably be desperate enough to sign on just about anything!  As Josh mentioned in the latest newsletter: "Pray that we are able to find a place that is both affordable and inhabitable (sometimes a trade-off in NYC)."  I'm also praying that we are able to both agree on an apartment earlier in the trip rather than later.  We would love to find something the first couple of days, then have the rest of the trip to start making preparations for the move, enjoy the city with our friends, and get to know our new neighborhood a little better.


Josh was praying recently and reminded me again that our God owns the universe, including every inch of New York City, and every piece of real estate in Astoria.  We are trusting Him to place us in exactly the right apartment with exactly the right landlord and neighbors.  And that reminder is the sole reason I get any sleep lately!


Upon our return to Birmingham, we will celebrate Thanksgiving with my family and begin packing.  Our sending church, The Church at Brook Hills, will commission us on December 4, during the 9:00, 11:00, and 6:00 services.  If you're in Birmingham and would like to join us in praying for NYC, please feel free to attend any of those services.  (Speaking of Brook Hills, they produced this video for us, and it is amazing!)


On December 14, the moving truck will load all of our household items and head toward the city.  Josh is officiating and I am directing the wedding of a good friend of mine that following weekend.  So we will head to Decatur on the 16th for the rehearsal, and will leave after the reception on the 17th.  We'll drive through the night and, hopefully, beat the moving truck to NYC.  


We'll have a few days in our new apartment, and then we'll head to western NY to spend Christmas with Josh's family.  We'll return to the city on the 28th, when a group of friends from our church will be visiting to help us get settled in.

We are so grateful for your love, prayers, and encouragement during this intense exciting time in our lives and ministry.  We know that we are utterly dependent upon the Lord to order our steps, and we are excited to watch how His plan unfolds.  Thank you for joining us on this journey!