A Year of Change

It dawned on me the beginning on June that we had been here for a year. Wow, we did it, we survived! If you would have asked me at this time last year what I thought of NYC I would have said:
-its interesting
-dirty
-unfriendly
-fast
-different
-crowded
-smelly 

Now I would say its:
-never without a dull moment - lots of interesting people to observe, sights to see, food to try
-dirty - lots and lots of people mean lots and lots of trash
- mildly friendly - people are lonely even though there are so many people very few people take the time to make eye contact or connect with others. When you find the rare few who are willing to make eye contact, smile, have a small conversation they are seeking connection they just don't know how to go about it
-fast - now I just drive and walk fast as well
-different - I've never lived two blocks from the beach, I'm used to seeing an sea of corn not a sea of waves with surfers
-crowded - I now try to avoid the grocery store at certain times just so I can get through the check out lane in less than 30 minutes
-smelly - summer is not the nicest time to smell the city it has a strange aroma of cooking trash and urine, yes its quite the treat when you're in the city

So all in all I feel like we've "adjusted" to life in the big city. We will probably always be mid-westerns at heart but for the time being we are becoming east coasters. 

The Lord has been so faithful to us this past year. He's provided a church home, carried Gabe through his first year of residency, blessed us with sweet Micah who is such a good little boy, provided me with a job where I can work a couple of days a week and stay home with Micah, brought us visitors at the perfect time when we were lonely!

I look forward to the years ahead to see what the Lord will continue to do in our lives. We feel like He has brought us here for a reason, I pray that we will fulfill his purpose for our lives.