Attitude of gratitude

I would be ashamed of myself if I didn't take a moment to share a few words of gratitude for the all the help we have received in making this transition to New York City. We have certainly felt the Lord's guiding hand and are so grateful for His influence in our lives. We had many wonderful friends who helped us pack up a storage pod that was left behind in Austin (Thanks to Palmers, Hazens and Soelbergs), the Hazens babysat our car until we found a place to keep it here, the family who bought our home couldn't have been nicer about helping us get our tv shipped out here, and our new friends in New York have been very gracious to welome us to the city. A special shout out to Paige and Brent who helped with those last minute moving details, always the hardest part of the move. And thank you to all of our kids and our family members who offered so many prayers on our behalf. And there was evidence that our parents were looking down from the heavens watching us and wondering what in the heck we were doing, but we also felt of their strength and confidence in us. There were some discouraging days in this process, but one day I was reminded of my ancestors who left homes far away and traveled to this city, landing on Ellis Island. They didn't have jobs, homes, some had left family behind and some didn't even speak English. But they came because they wanted to join their fellow Saints. They didn't stay long in New York, but were resourceful and found ways to travel across the country in wagons and handcarts experiencing difficulties beyond my imagination. Our arrival in NYC was very different---we had a job, a place to live, we spoke the language (with a touch of a southern drawl), but we had one thing in common with our ancestors. We arrived with great faith and a desire to find fellow Saints. This is going to be a great adventure and there is none better to do it with than Paul.

Up, up in the sky, where the little birds fly

We made, we really did it, we are in our new home! It hasn't been without its ups and downs, but now we are up, up on the 29th floor. Our closing had been postponed three times, but Friday I got a call saying "we are 80% certain it will happen, but don't get the certified check yet." So I wait and wait and then get a call at 1:00 saying, "we're going to do it!" I email my banker who is on email speed dial, he gets the check ready, I literally run to the bank which is 7 minutes away, grab the check, hop in a cab, and ask the cabbie if he knows how to get to the address? He can't understand me, I can't understand him and we are 20 minutes before the closing is to start and getting no where. Finally I explained where I thought we should go and he turned around and said, "will you trust me?" What was I to do? So I said "yes" and he turned around and went 14 blocks in the opposite direction. We hopped on the FDR, zipped down the east side of the island, past the Brooklyn Bridge, hopped off the FDR, went down some crazy side streets and at 1:59 he stopped and said, "there's your building." Wow, we'd done it! I dashed into the attorney's office and found not just our closing, but six others going on at the same time. We were each in a little cube with two attorneys and the title company representative and the paper signing began. It was like one big assembly line, and six of us walked out two hours later hoping we had made the right decision. I met Paul at our new home, we picked up the keys, he carried me over the threshhold (that would be a virtual carry) and we did a dance in the living room. Saturday the movers delivered all of our things from a storage facility in New Jersey and at 4:00 we bid them a fond farewell and began the process of moving in.
We are officially New Yorkers, but always and forever Red Sox Fans.
We would love to have you come and see us and share our lovely views of the Hudson River, Central Park and the NYC skyline.

We need a "guy"

We mentioned to our banker that we were going to buy suits for Paul and his immediate comment was "I have a guy." Then we mentioned to someone else that we needed a carpenter and he said, "I have a guy." Everybody seems to have "a guy." And let me tell you right now we need "a guy." Our closing on the condo has been postponed twice because the city can't seem to find time to issue the occupancy permit. We need a "guy" who can get this done. We are now scheduled to close on July 25 and really, really hope it happens. Our investment adviser called the other day to ask if we wanted to have him make some calls on our behalf to see if he could make this happen. He's not sure he has a "guy", but he is going to see what he can do. Anybody out there have a "guy?"

Pumped up

Today I timed my work-out in Central Park to coincide with the first annual "High heel-a-thon" sponsored by Regis and Kelly to benefit the March of Dimes. Over 600 women (and 11 men)lined up in 3 inch or higher heels and ran 150 yards to compete for a prize of $25,000.00. And when I say "ran" I mean it. It was amazing to see the four or five women in the lead tearing down the street in their heels. I didn't take any photos, but I'll bet YouTube or the Regis and Kelly website would have the race if you wanted to watch it. And yes, I did get within handshaking distance of Regis and Kelly.
Even the Goodyear Blimp was on hand to monitor the event. I guess you could say, watching events like this is another reason we are "soled" on New York. (I had to do it)

Do you speak English?

Four simple words you should always ask your hair stylist. A picture's worth a thousand words.

Make new friends, but hang on to the old ones!

We had a happy 4th of July weekend and celebrated with the best kind of friends---old friends. Paul's missionary companion, Bruce (Sporto) Nelson and his son Spencer joined us for the weekend and were gracious enough to join us in our wanderings around the city. The night of the 4th Paul and I walked just a couple of blocks to watch the fireworks from FDR Drive and we were not disappointed. Lots of good explosions lit up the night sky. Saturday we visited the Upper West Side and showed off our new digs then made it back in time to catch the subway to Yankee Stadium where we watched the Red Sox lose is a very close game. Andy and Karen Esparza from Austin had invited us to join them in the luxury box they had purchased in honor of Andy's 50th birthday celebration and it was great fun watching the game with them and their friends and family. A weekend of friends, what could be better!