i know. i'm sorry. the dramatic potential of the blog title drew me in. after a phone call to the super and a sniff test, jed said this is worthy of a blog post.
so i obliged. about five days ago i started smelling a bit of an odor in our home, particularly in one specific corner of the bedroom. the next evening when we got home from work, we both smelled it at the front door. na-sty! at that point, though, it was nothing that a little lysol and a wall-flower from bath and body couldn't handle. that night we opened the radiator in our bedroom to see if it just needed to heat up and make the stench go away.
that worked well for the time, but the next morning it was back with a vengeance. since it was obviously coming from the floor in the corner of our bedroom where the radiator is, we decided to call the super in the building and let him know it smelled like dead junk in our apartment. he sniffed it out and felt the same way, needless to say. after checking the vacant apartment below us, he didn't find any corpses, so we're thinking it's in the ceiling/floor in between.
fortunately, i'm guessing it's a small corpse - maybe a small rat/mouse - judging by the lack of intensity in smell. whew!
but make no mistake, it smells bad. very bad. we taped off the openings in the floor, put down towels around the gaps in the radiator pipes, and stuffed dryer sheets around. our plan is to wait out the decomposition process since tearing out the floor isn't a good option.
this is one thing we didn't expect to have to deal with. maybe live bugs and rodents, but not rotting fur. last time i smelled death like this was in africa when a king lizard died in the crawl space above our house in the 110 degree heat. but anyways....i'm just trying not to think about where the stupid rodent was before he died. sick.
more later on whether or not we get the cops involved. i'm not sure how much longer my psycho nose can handle it.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
the year we moved
this past sunday, valentine’s day, we celebrated one year of being in new york! one year ago, we quit our jobs, packed our duplex, ate all the el mocajete one could handle, said goodbye, and moved to brooklyn, ny. at that point, our expectations were quite unmanaged as we hoped/believed we would live with friends ‘til the end of february, find an apartment upon finding jobs just in time to move in march 1st. and then, we’d just go about our merry little urban lives, starting the process of finding a church to help while we got settled. march 1st came and went. april 1st came and went. our official job title became “restless” and our lease read “vagabond.” we had a few bites on our resumes here and there, but no solid promises from recruiters or interviews. for housing, we rotated between friends, family, and an available apartment space at a church in the east village. our goal was to have at least one of us employed before we looked for a place. finally, mid-april, i got a job offer and started on april 27th!
after a weekend of scouring craigslist and nyt.com, we decided on what was important to us and what we could afford and quickly scheduled a day of hunting with a realtor. apartment #1 couldn’t have housed a gnome. apartment #2 had a problem with sinking floors that made one slightly seasick. and apartment #3 was just plain ugly and ugly. apartment #4 was probably not going to work because when we called to schedule an appointment, the guy told us that the one we wanted to see had already been let, but that he had another one in the building that might work for us. we were, by then, learning to manage our expectations, so our hopes were slightly below average. it was under construction still, but upon seeing the space we could 100% envision our home to be apartment #4, hands down. It’s turned out to be the best apartment ever! after spending almost 9 months in the hood, we have grown to see our little place as a haven and comfort amidst the bustling of city life. God’s goodness in this blessing to us is incredibly undeserved!
for the first few weeks in our new place, jed worked tirelessly to make everything just perfect. he installed cabinet handles (never again), towel racks, blinds/shades, curtain rods, touched up some paint, unpacked, organized, ran errands to home depot, bed bath and beyond, and ikea, worked with the contractor to finish off a few details, and continually looked for a job. after almost a month of a non-stop to-do list, everything finally got checked off. that left an amazing home for us, but a guy still looking for a job. in july, after being in survival mode for several months, we both were excited about a job offer jed got with devry, a proprietary school with an open admissions position. since this was where his experience was and since the pay was quite comfortable, we were ecstatic! however, after six weeks of dealing with very long and late hours, some weekend work, and an unbearably psycho boss, we were both growing tired.
out of the blue one day in september, a recruiter emailed jed a job description for a position she thought matched his resume. it was in customer service, but the pay, benefits, and hours were significantly younger and better looking than the old hag of a job he had gotten used to. we figured an interview wouldn’t hurt, so jed rushed together a cover letter and updated resume and scheduled an interview. within a week of that email, he had a job offer! the relief of knowing that the days of devoting late evenings and some weekends to a job were soon over was wonderful! one of the particularly distasteful characteristics of his job at devry was the frustration of not having any time to give to a ministry. being in survival mode taught us much, and one prominent thing we came out of that time with was an intensified desire to be involved in a local church.
jed started his new job in early october, and he quickly impressed all of his co-workers and management by catching on so easily and being a stable, kind employee. they really love him there, which makes it much easier for him to appreciate his job. we are both so thankful for the low-stress jobs that God has given to us. we’re able to focus more on life outside of work rather than bear the frustration of difficult employment. he’s so kind!
one other major milestone of the last year was finding out about an eventual addition to our family. in fact, jed got his “good” job offer less than 24 hours after we found out about the baby, which made our hearts completely overwhelmed again of God’s undeserved kindness to us. in mid-january, we found out that we’re having a girl. she’ll join us sometime around the end of may - we know our lives are forever changed. we’re pretty excited about introducing a little one to the city we’ve grown to love so much.
back in november, an opportunity opened up for us to become involved in the church that was kind enough to house us during our vagabond stage. tompkins square gospel fellowship is a small church in the east village, and they were eager and kind enough to welcome any help that we could offer. jed leads the worship, i (try to) play the piano for the service, and we both are looking forward to becoming more involved as we get our heels dug in further. the pastor and people of this church have grown to be our family, and we love each lesson that God is teaching us through being in a smaller church.
writing this post reminds me all over again how much we’ve grown to love the city and love our new life here. of course, life is different and sometimes full of ups and downs, but the overall feeling we get of waking up each day knowing that we are where we’re supposed to be because he is taking care of us is so comforting. words can’t describe how thankful we are for the love and sovereignty of our God! the year we moved was truly a great year!
after a weekend of scouring craigslist and nyt.com, we decided on what was important to us and what we could afford and quickly scheduled a day of hunting with a realtor. apartment #1 couldn’t have housed a gnome. apartment #2 had a problem with sinking floors that made one slightly seasick. and apartment #3 was just plain ugly and ugly. apartment #4 was probably not going to work because when we called to schedule an appointment, the guy told us that the one we wanted to see had already been let, but that he had another one in the building that might work for us. we were, by then, learning to manage our expectations, so our hopes were slightly below average. it was under construction still, but upon seeing the space we could 100% envision our home to be apartment #4, hands down. It’s turned out to be the best apartment ever! after spending almost 9 months in the hood, we have grown to see our little place as a haven and comfort amidst the bustling of city life. God’s goodness in this blessing to us is incredibly undeserved!
for the first few weeks in our new place, jed worked tirelessly to make everything just perfect. he installed cabinet handles (never again), towel racks, blinds/shades, curtain rods, touched up some paint, unpacked, organized, ran errands to home depot, bed bath and beyond, and ikea, worked with the contractor to finish off a few details, and continually looked for a job. after almost a month of a non-stop to-do list, everything finally got checked off. that left an amazing home for us, but a guy still looking for a job. in july, after being in survival mode for several months, we both were excited about a job offer jed got with devry, a proprietary school with an open admissions position. since this was where his experience was and since the pay was quite comfortable, we were ecstatic! however, after six weeks of dealing with very long and late hours, some weekend work, and an unbearably psycho boss, we were both growing tired.
out of the blue one day in september, a recruiter emailed jed a job description for a position she thought matched his resume. it was in customer service, but the pay, benefits, and hours were significantly younger and better looking than the old hag of a job he had gotten used to. we figured an interview wouldn’t hurt, so jed rushed together a cover letter and updated resume and scheduled an interview. within a week of that email, he had a job offer! the relief of knowing that the days of devoting late evenings and some weekends to a job were soon over was wonderful! one of the particularly distasteful characteristics of his job at devry was the frustration of not having any time to give to a ministry. being in survival mode taught us much, and one prominent thing we came out of that time with was an intensified desire to be involved in a local church.
jed started his new job in early october, and he quickly impressed all of his co-workers and management by catching on so easily and being a stable, kind employee. they really love him there, which makes it much easier for him to appreciate his job. we are both so thankful for the low-stress jobs that God has given to us. we’re able to focus more on life outside of work rather than bear the frustration of difficult employment. he’s so kind!
one other major milestone of the last year was finding out about an eventual addition to our family. in fact, jed got his “good” job offer less than 24 hours after we found out about the baby, which made our hearts completely overwhelmed again of God’s undeserved kindness to us. in mid-january, we found out that we’re having a girl. she’ll join us sometime around the end of may - we know our lives are forever changed. we’re pretty excited about introducing a little one to the city we’ve grown to love so much.
back in november, an opportunity opened up for us to become involved in the church that was kind enough to house us during our vagabond stage. tompkins square gospel fellowship is a small church in the east village, and they were eager and kind enough to welcome any help that we could offer. jed leads the worship, i (try to) play the piano for the service, and we both are looking forward to becoming more involved as we get our heels dug in further. the pastor and people of this church have grown to be our family, and we love each lesson that God is teaching us through being in a smaller church.
writing this post reminds me all over again how much we’ve grown to love the city and love our new life here. of course, life is different and sometimes full of ups and downs, but the overall feeling we get of waking up each day knowing that we are where we’re supposed to be because he is taking care of us is so comforting. words can’t describe how thankful we are for the love and sovereignty of our God! the year we moved was truly a great year!
Friday, January 22, 2010
life is good
the time that has elapsed between the sensory overload called the first trimester and the current honeymoon phase of the second trimester has been full, busy, and fun. life is good.
not just because there’s a little girl that has stolen our hearts and amazed us with her prenatal soccer skills, but because we are settled. well, i should say “settling.” are we truly ever settled? life is good like that – never a dull moment. though we get worn out, complain about subtle discomforts, or grow impatient with circumstances, life continues for each of us, growing our soul through both pain and pleasure so that we can handle the next phase. without that happy medium of both pain and pleasure, would we truly appreciate the next day without the previous day’s experiences? with our kind God’s grace, the growth opportunities are so refreshing and exciting and illuminating!
since the beginning of december, our days have been highlighted by getting used to an urban, northern winter. man it feels good! it’s like living in a vintage painting or something – whistling radiators, waking up to the sound of a metal shovel on the sidewalk, dirty dirty streets, every winter accessory you can wear, etc. when the outside is so despairingly cold and the inside is so warm and cozy, a perfect winter ensues. if only we could guarantee a snow storm every weekend or at least a soup chef in our house!
another rewarding aspect of our winter has been the ministry God has opened up for as at a church in the east village – tompkins square gospel fellowship. the pastor, his family, and the people there have been such an encouragement and help to us as we’ve been dunked into learning more about the rigors and lessons of ministry. as we take just one day at a time, we’re thankful for the family God has given us there!
i could write everyday on the funny happenstances on what goes on when you’re pregnant; jed could write a short comedy about his co-workers; and our neighbors could more than likely fill columns about all the traffic we’ve been getting in our little brooklyn home; but we’ll spare you the details and just suffice it to say that God is good, and life is good.
not just because there’s a little girl that has stolen our hearts and amazed us with her prenatal soccer skills, but because we are settled. well, i should say “settling.” are we truly ever settled? life is good like that – never a dull moment. though we get worn out, complain about subtle discomforts, or grow impatient with circumstances, life continues for each of us, growing our soul through both pain and pleasure so that we can handle the next phase. without that happy medium of both pain and pleasure, would we truly appreciate the next day without the previous day’s experiences? with our kind God’s grace, the growth opportunities are so refreshing and exciting and illuminating!
since the beginning of december, our days have been highlighted by getting used to an urban, northern winter. man it feels good! it’s like living in a vintage painting or something – whistling radiators, waking up to the sound of a metal shovel on the sidewalk, dirty dirty streets, every winter accessory you can wear, etc. when the outside is so despairingly cold and the inside is so warm and cozy, a perfect winter ensues. if only we could guarantee a snow storm every weekend or at least a soup chef in our house!
another rewarding aspect of our winter has been the ministry God has opened up for as at a church in the east village – tompkins square gospel fellowship. the pastor, his family, and the people there have been such an encouragement and help to us as we’ve been dunked into learning more about the rigors and lessons of ministry. as we take just one day at a time, we’re thankful for the family God has given us there!
i could write everyday on the funny happenstances on what goes on when you’re pregnant; jed could write a short comedy about his co-workers; and our neighbors could more than likely fill columns about all the traffic we’ve been getting in our little brooklyn home; but we’ll spare you the details and just suffice it to say that God is good, and life is good.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
my life as captain supernose
WARNING: this blog post may be explicit and potentially harmful for pregnant women to read
as a pregnant woman in an urban, highly populated environment, i have taken it upon myself to offer a suggestion to you inventors, patent-earners, and entrepreneurs out there. you can steal it fair and square, and i promise you it will be worth the steal. i won’t even request royalties.
here is my idea: stick-on nasal fresheners. ta da!
no, these fresheners are not for other people to smell you. they are for the sole purpose of aiding pregnant women in their march against nausea. and believe me, at times it is a fight for life.
you see, an urban mother-to-be starts every day with the daunting task of hiding a secret: the secret that everyone you come into contact with smells bad (except for jed or the occasional man on the train wearing curve – bless his soul). everything you pass by carries a distinct odor! no longer does the cigarette smoke from a chain smoker provide a welcome deviation from the typical body odor that can be sniffed, they are both equally repugnant and puke inducing.
one of my biggest fears is ralphing while i’m on the train. not only would i deeply offend every person on that train, but i believe a chain reaction would for sure ensue (think “cheaper by the dozen” levels). my solution has been to carry a plastic target bag in my purse, ready to whip out in a moment’s notice should the urge arise. fortunately, this has not happened yet, but i’ve come dangerously close. i’ve already figured out what i would say should such an event occur: “don’t worry, i’m just pregnant. i don’t have swine flu.” then everyone could breathe easy and even offer a little sympathy should they be so inclined.
back to the invention. hopefully by now you understand the necessity of such an invention. my vision is to have several different flavors on one set – kinda like stick-on earrings. maybe 28 pairs on a card, organized by smell or color. a variety pack is the only way to go in this situation due to the adhd nature of a pregnant woman’s tastes. (i can eat a bite of something because it’s what I HAVE TO HAVE at the moment, and by the time i’m done chewing it’s all i can do to swallow without gagging!) if you love the fresh smell of strawberries, put a strawberry sniffer in your nose while you cook. if you take a fancy to the smell of windex, put a windex sniffer in your nose for your commute. the possibilities are endliess!
no longer would i have to rely on a layer of vick’s vapo rub coating my nostrils in order for the dishes to get done. my gag reflex would get a break from the overtime shifts it’s been pulling, and jed would have freedom to open the fridge door whether i was in the apartment or not. can you imagine the worldwide success of nasal fresheners?!
i now hand over the baton. make it your duty to help the pregnant women of society. take the idea and run with it! it’s all yours.
ps: in case you haven't heard, jed and i are expecting a baby may 27th and we're very very happy!
as a pregnant woman in an urban, highly populated environment, i have taken it upon myself to offer a suggestion to you inventors, patent-earners, and entrepreneurs out there. you can steal it fair and square, and i promise you it will be worth the steal. i won’t even request royalties.
here is my idea: stick-on nasal fresheners. ta da!
no, these fresheners are not for other people to smell you. they are for the sole purpose of aiding pregnant women in their march against nausea. and believe me, at times it is a fight for life.
you see, an urban mother-to-be starts every day with the daunting task of hiding a secret: the secret that everyone you come into contact with smells bad (except for jed or the occasional man on the train wearing curve – bless his soul). everything you pass by carries a distinct odor! no longer does the cigarette smoke from a chain smoker provide a welcome deviation from the typical body odor that can be sniffed, they are both equally repugnant and puke inducing.
one of my biggest fears is ralphing while i’m on the train. not only would i deeply offend every person on that train, but i believe a chain reaction would for sure ensue (think “cheaper by the dozen” levels). my solution has been to carry a plastic target bag in my purse, ready to whip out in a moment’s notice should the urge arise. fortunately, this has not happened yet, but i’ve come dangerously close. i’ve already figured out what i would say should such an event occur: “don’t worry, i’m just pregnant. i don’t have swine flu.” then everyone could breathe easy and even offer a little sympathy should they be so inclined.
back to the invention. hopefully by now you understand the necessity of such an invention. my vision is to have several different flavors on one set – kinda like stick-on earrings. maybe 28 pairs on a card, organized by smell or color. a variety pack is the only way to go in this situation due to the adhd nature of a pregnant woman’s tastes. (i can eat a bite of something because it’s what I HAVE TO HAVE at the moment, and by the time i’m done chewing it’s all i can do to swallow without gagging!) if you love the fresh smell of strawberries, put a strawberry sniffer in your nose while you cook. if you take a fancy to the smell of windex, put a windex sniffer in your nose for your commute. the possibilities are endliess!
no longer would i have to rely on a layer of vick’s vapo rub coating my nostrils in order for the dishes to get done. my gag reflex would get a break from the overtime shifts it’s been pulling, and jed would have freedom to open the fridge door whether i was in the apartment or not. can you imagine the worldwide success of nasal fresheners?!
i now hand over the baton. make it your duty to help the pregnant women of society. take the idea and run with it! it’s all yours.
ps: in case you haven't heard, jed and i are expecting a baby may 27th and we're very very happy!
Friday, September 25, 2009
A Story by Jed
Yes. It's me. Jed. I'm finally writing an entry. For all of you Amy fans out there, I apologize if you're disappointed that this is not an entry written by her, but please read it anyway. I'll attempt not to bore you. I just couldn't help but be the writer of this entry.
Once again, God has proven Himself ever faithful at the perfect moment. We were floored by God's provision not a day late (particularly from a health insurance perspective) when He provided Amy her job back in May. Well, God did it again! Why am I surprised? I shouldn't be. But that seems to be the status quo for a sinner always in need of a Savior and in need of Holy-Spirit-given faith to believe in that Savior of mine. So here's the scoop of God's most recent out-of-nowhere provision for us.
Where do I even begin? Well, I’ll begin Tuesday, September 8. After a long, late, stressful (stressful in many ways upon which I will not elaborate in order to protect the identity of those who made it thus) day at the office, I got on the subway for my commute home. My stomach was in knots, my back was killing me, I was in atrial fib, my eyelid was twitching, and I knew something had to give, but I didn’t see a way out. I arrived home about 8:45pm, Amy was so lovingly preparing dinner at such a late hour, and I broke down in tears. Here we had spent 6.5 years of our lives in seminary, we had moved to NYC to be more involved in church ministry, and my sales job was turning out to be my life. I had very little family or church life, just work, work, work, sales, sales, sales, whatever it took to get the next student. I cried out to God that evening. I knew we needed the money I was making, but I also realized I only have one life to live, and every day that went by was another day less that I had to live (thank you, John Madden). That night, Amy gave a good old-fashioned spiritual pep talk to me (I definitely had an intense “woe is me” Jonah syndrome at the time), I tried snapping out of it, and I went to work the next day trying to trust God that He had led us to this valley and would lead us through and out of the valley at the appropriate time. I also knew that God would not give me more than I could handle. If I had this job, then that meant that God knew I could handle it for the time being.
Let’s jump two days (only two days) later to Thursday, September 10. I was mentally digging my feet into the ground for the long haul at my current job. If nothing else, I knew that God had given me this NYC sales job to help me fulfill one of our desires in moving to NYC (i.e., understanding the life [and trials therein] of a person working in the cut throat NYC corporate culture). Midday on that Thursday, I looked in our gmail account as I often do, and out of the blue, there was an email in my inbox from a permanent hire job recruiter I hadn't had contact with in 4 months. And unless you don't understand how odd this was, I hadn't sent my resume to anyone since I began my current job 2 months ago! And, until I received this email, I also hadn't heard from any companies in those 2 months either. In the email, the recruiter presented me with a potential job opportunity that was more amazing than any other job opportunity that any recruiter had ever come close to presenting to Amy or me. And let me tell you, Amy and I (especially Amy though) had been given the run around from a bunch of "helpful" recruiters. This particular job opportunity presented me with suitable pay, full-time 35 hours per week, daytime weekday hours, the best health benefits on the market (even better than Amy’s current health benefits), 16 vacation days, 4.5 personal days, and 12 sick days per year, plus holidays. I told her I’d definitely like more details, and she got me an interview with the company on Tuesday, September 15. I interviewed that morning, and had no idea what they thought about me coming out of the interview (especially because I was with my current company for under 2 months). It was then a waiting game. God caused the children of Israel to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. How long was I going to have to wander, I thought? I would go from getting my hopes up to trying to keep my hopes in check so as to not have a “hope deferred” situation on our hands. This past Friday afternoon I got a call from the recruiter. She said the company really liked me, and 30 minutes later I had the job offer. I immediately accepted, gave my 2-week notice at my current job this past Saturday, and I’ll be working here through the end of today. I’ll then begin at my new job October 5, and I'll have many, many more hours per week to devote to family and church. Wow! And for those of you out there who are curious, I will be working in Manhattan 2 blocks from Penn Station. My title will be Benefits Rep for a company called the Committee of Interns and Residents (i.e., medical doctor interns and residents).
Just another NYC situation that has grown me/us and shown us that God is going before us and has been since we moved February 14. Tears of pleading changed to tears of joy! I had the opportunity to preach at a church out on Long Island this past Sunday. I preached from the Book of Habakkuk (great study), and in that sermon, I read the following William Cowper hymn (wish I had the worship leader talent like Bob Kaughlin so we could've sung this, but oh well):
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
The words of this poem have been the happenings of our lives since we moved here on Valentine's Day 2009. God is so good to us, even when we can't always make sense of what His good Hand is working in and through us!
Once again, God has proven Himself ever faithful at the perfect moment. We were floored by God's provision not a day late (particularly from a health insurance perspective) when He provided Amy her job back in May. Well, God did it again! Why am I surprised? I shouldn't be. But that seems to be the status quo for a sinner always in need of a Savior and in need of Holy-Spirit-given faith to believe in that Savior of mine. So here's the scoop of God's most recent out-of-nowhere provision for us.
Where do I even begin? Well, I’ll begin Tuesday, September 8. After a long, late, stressful (stressful in many ways upon which I will not elaborate in order to protect the identity of those who made it thus) day at the office, I got on the subway for my commute home. My stomach was in knots, my back was killing me, I was in atrial fib, my eyelid was twitching, and I knew something had to give, but I didn’t see a way out. I arrived home about 8:45pm, Amy was so lovingly preparing dinner at such a late hour, and I broke down in tears. Here we had spent 6.5 years of our lives in seminary, we had moved to NYC to be more involved in church ministry, and my sales job was turning out to be my life. I had very little family or church life, just work, work, work, sales, sales, sales, whatever it took to get the next student. I cried out to God that evening. I knew we needed the money I was making, but I also realized I only have one life to live, and every day that went by was another day less that I had to live (thank you, John Madden). That night, Amy gave a good old-fashioned spiritual pep talk to me (I definitely had an intense “woe is me” Jonah syndrome at the time), I tried snapping out of it, and I went to work the next day trying to trust God that He had led us to this valley and would lead us through and out of the valley at the appropriate time. I also knew that God would not give me more than I could handle. If I had this job, then that meant that God knew I could handle it for the time being.
Let’s jump two days (only two days) later to Thursday, September 10. I was mentally digging my feet into the ground for the long haul at my current job. If nothing else, I knew that God had given me this NYC sales job to help me fulfill one of our desires in moving to NYC (i.e., understanding the life [and trials therein] of a person working in the cut throat NYC corporate culture). Midday on that Thursday, I looked in our gmail account as I often do, and out of the blue, there was an email in my inbox from a permanent hire job recruiter I hadn't had contact with in 4 months. And unless you don't understand how odd this was, I hadn't sent my resume to anyone since I began my current job 2 months ago! And, until I received this email, I also hadn't heard from any companies in those 2 months either. In the email, the recruiter presented me with a potential job opportunity that was more amazing than any other job opportunity that any recruiter had ever come close to presenting to Amy or me. And let me tell you, Amy and I (especially Amy though) had been given the run around from a bunch of "helpful" recruiters. This particular job opportunity presented me with suitable pay, full-time 35 hours per week, daytime weekday hours, the best health benefits on the market (even better than Amy’s current health benefits), 16 vacation days, 4.5 personal days, and 12 sick days per year, plus holidays. I told her I’d definitely like more details, and she got me an interview with the company on Tuesday, September 15. I interviewed that morning, and had no idea what they thought about me coming out of the interview (especially because I was with my current company for under 2 months). It was then a waiting game. God caused the children of Israel to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. How long was I going to have to wander, I thought? I would go from getting my hopes up to trying to keep my hopes in check so as to not have a “hope deferred” situation on our hands. This past Friday afternoon I got a call from the recruiter. She said the company really liked me, and 30 minutes later I had the job offer. I immediately accepted, gave my 2-week notice at my current job this past Saturday, and I’ll be working here through the end of today. I’ll then begin at my new job October 5, and I'll have many, many more hours per week to devote to family and church. Wow! And for those of you out there who are curious, I will be working in Manhattan 2 blocks from Penn Station. My title will be Benefits Rep for a company called the Committee of Interns and Residents (i.e., medical doctor interns and residents).
Just another NYC situation that has grown me/us and shown us that God is going before us and has been since we moved February 14. Tears of pleading changed to tears of joy! I had the opportunity to preach at a church out on Long Island this past Sunday. I preached from the Book of Habakkuk (great study), and in that sermon, I read the following William Cowper hymn (wish I had the worship leader talent like Bob Kaughlin so we could've sung this, but oh well):
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
The words of this poem have been the happenings of our lives since we moved here on Valentine's Day 2009. God is so good to us, even when we can't always make sense of what His good Hand is working in and through us!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
sidewalks of brooklyn
the sidewalks here continually intrigue me, so tonight on my grocery run (jed works late) i decided to bring along my little olympus and tell you about it. maybe you'll find the hilarity in it all as well.
first of all, let me just tell you about the dangerous unevenness of the sidewalks. many times have i gone propelling forward in what could've been a fatal trip, thanks to my tendency to watch the sky, not the ground. some would blame distracted concrete pourers, while others would blame the weather. i blame it on the preservation of just one more attribute that i love about the city: it's quirkiness.
here we have a sure-fire way to stub your toe in sandals.
next, a stroller's nightmare.
at times, walking down the street is like eating popcorn out of those huge, variety pack, christmas tins. three flavors available - the first two are nice but the third tastes like tin.
as i mentioned before, you'll end up in an underground storage unit if you're not careful. caution signs are so early 90's, man.
i almost died of fright one time walking in heels across one of these subway grates. i thought i was tip toeing but i wasn't tipping enough, and the only thought in my mind for a millisecond was "she's going down people."
once in a blue moon, you'll come across a 21st century wonder - pavement. call me crazy, but it's boring, flat, straight, and clean from lack of wear. pppshhht.
there is one thing about the sidewalks here that jed and i can't seem to figure out. see those black dots? this is a shot of a very young and pale piece of sidewalk that hasn't yet been around the block, mind you, but it's still pretty full of black dots, right? well i say it's careless tar workers. jed (with the more likely possibility) says it's decades of gum users. the black dots are ev-er-y-where. seriously. i guess it's impossible to have that many careless tar workers, but on the flip side jed has a chip on his shoulder against people who spit out their gum on the sidewalk as a gift for your shoe.
no matter the story, it's a distinct sidewalk character here.
and you know, it's so funny to me sometimes that this
can be next to this.
who plans this?
one more thing.
does anyone need a bed frame?
first of all, let me just tell you about the dangerous unevenness of the sidewalks. many times have i gone propelling forward in what could've been a fatal trip, thanks to my tendency to watch the sky, not the ground. some would blame distracted concrete pourers, while others would blame the weather. i blame it on the preservation of just one more attribute that i love about the city: it's quirkiness.
here we have a sure-fire way to stub your toe in sandals.
next, a stroller's nightmare.
at times, walking down the street is like eating popcorn out of those huge, variety pack, christmas tins. three flavors available - the first two are nice but the third tastes like tin.
as i mentioned before, you'll end up in an underground storage unit if you're not careful. caution signs are so early 90's, man.
i almost died of fright one time walking in heels across one of these subway grates. i thought i was tip toeing but i wasn't tipping enough, and the only thought in my mind for a millisecond was "she's going down people."
once in a blue moon, you'll come across a 21st century wonder - pavement. call me crazy, but it's boring, flat, straight, and clean from lack of wear. pppshhht.
there is one thing about the sidewalks here that jed and i can't seem to figure out. see those black dots? this is a shot of a very young and pale piece of sidewalk that hasn't yet been around the block, mind you, but it's still pretty full of black dots, right? well i say it's careless tar workers. jed (with the more likely possibility) says it's decades of gum users. the black dots are ev-er-y-where. seriously. i guess it's impossible to have that many careless tar workers, but on the flip side jed has a chip on his shoulder against people who spit out their gum on the sidewalk as a gift for your shoe.
no matter the story, it's a distinct sidewalk character here.
and you know, it's so funny to me sometimes that this
can be next to this.
who plans this?
but alas. at the end of the day, our sidewalks are merely foundational stories describing the people who pound them.
we just happen to think its a privilege to read those stories.
one more thing.
does anyone need a bed frame?
Friday, August 28, 2009
let the games begin
flat screen tv in possession (jed's well-earned "mancheivement"), slight hints of fall already in the air (yay for the north!), and the newest member of the eagles' family recently welcomed to the flock. as espn so nicely put it, a "new eagle has landed."
our jerseys are clean, we've been practicing the fight song, and every press conference has been analyzed. it's going to be a good season. possibly the season. only first downs will tell. what do we have to lose? nothing. what do we have to cheer for? philadelphia history, familial and brotherly love, the most riveting sport of all time.
all we can say is:
GO EAGLES!
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