today is day number 85 of our adventure. the last two weeks have been good times of adjustment and learning. it's still awesome to us how God is showing us in big and little ways that he's taking care of us. on day 78, we vagabonded once again to our fourth temporary place of abode. it's in a mission house with some friends of ours in the east village. it's fun living on the 5th floor in manhattan! there's much more noise outside our windows because of the constant traffic and excitement in the city that never sleeps, and the quaintness of the east village with all of its mini-gardens and bicycles has been entertaining and enjoyable. the only negative is living on the fifth floor. i don't care if you're richard simmons or not, walking up that many stairs with a 17.5 pound watermelon is not easy. add to that a gallon of milk and you're done.
friday ended the first two weeks of work for me at polytechnic institute of nyu. the entire package of working there continues to floor me. the benefits are crazy good, i'm already somewhat familiar with the very basics of this type of job, i get to work in downtown brooklyn, and it's in an exciting educational field! i still haven't mastered how i plan on spending my commute, though. i'm still new enough that i continue to be endlessly entertained by all that goes on in the city during rush hour. and by the way, don't ever tell me new yorkers aren't friendly. i've seen many people pry a closing subway door off of a stranger so their arm/leg/head wouldn't get caught.
jed has been workin hard at getting our addresses updated everywhere, switching to a new bank up here, transferring our medical records and getting new doctors up here, and also still looking for a job. this past thursday, he was able to get in with our new primary care. we weren't sure if the doctor would refer jed to all of the different doctors that he sees for his back, etc., but he did and jed already has 3 appointments set up for next week with some of the best doctors in the nation! with our insurance, we were able to tap into the nyu doctor system, and so far we're impressed. this was a burden on our hearts, and God has smoothed the wrinkles in what could be a very bumpy situation.
next milestone is day 93. if everything can go as planned, we’ll actually move into our new home on may 17th. with the way the timing worked out with jed's parents to get the truck, pack it, and drive it up, we're moving in sunday morning and we can't wait! not only will it be a symbol of stability in our lives, but we'll finally be able to host our friends and family that come up to see us (*hint*hint* you know who you are). we're looking forward to seeing everyone then.
ninety-three days of instability has taught us a lot - the biggest lesson being how gracious God is. in our times of recklessness, he has been our comfort; in seeing our weak and unable hearts, we have seen him strong and secure; in facing the unending unknown, we have come to know him as trustworthy and loving. our continual prayer is that somehow we will be able to be effective tellers of Christ to other people who are around us and watching or experiencing this with us.
with the people who have been praying for us and keeping up with us via phone and email, the guys who are volunteering to pack our truck for us (once back in april to move it into storage and then another time on may 14th to pack our truck), the people here in new york who have been letting us sleep in their apartments and eat their food and play their rook, and also jed’s sister and her family in pennsylvania who have taken us in for weeks at a time, we have been the recipients of so much. it’s incredibly awesome to see how God uses people to be a blessing to other people! we only hope that someday we can pass on that help to other people who will need it.
