After putting off recruiters for well over a year (because we knew it wasn't the right time, especially after Andrew was born), Will surprised them by applying for a job early 2015. The next several months brought hours and days of preparation and sacrifice for the whole family. (I wondered how my friend could be surviving having her husband working full time and in school and gained a greater admiration for her. Lucky for me this wasn't a semesters or years long commitment.) It helped that we both knew that it was all for our good. After many interviews, other proceedings, and just plain waiting (sound like adoption, anyone? : ) Will was offered a job different than he had originally applied for and certainly a different location. Rural New Mexico vs. New York City.
We made all the necessary preparations to leave California and begin again on the East Coast. We were really excited to experience new surroundings and it's proved excellent so far. There have been many adjustments, but we're loving this grand adventure so far. Never having moved growing up this has been my first real experience moving away from people and places and not really having plans to return to visit. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that. BYU was different, I guess, because everyone planned to move on. I have some dear friends in Tracy that I miss a lot, but thanks to the internet and phones I can keep in touch easily. Now we're working on getting to know new friends out here.
Adoption/sealing, new job/moving. Those are the main ways we'd sum up 2015 and it was all totally awesome.
Now, the new year is here! I always love the talks and lessons in church about goal setting and the new beginnings that everyone thinks about with a new year. Looking forward to new opportunities and planning to become better is exciting! It's true that through our Savior's Atonement we can begin again and try to become better at any time - what a blessing! But I also think it's great that we can collectively reflect and look forward to improvement with a special time of year. All that along with enjoying the life experiences that come our way makes the new year an exciting time!
Here's to the next happy year! We haven't lived it yet, so we can't give any spoilers as to how it turns out... But we can say that we celebrated the new year eating treats and making it to midnight. Except Andrew. He went to bed as usual, and then woke up at about 12:05 (thanks neighbors? who are really very nice!) so then got to sleep in mom and dad's bed snuggled up with us and made sure we didn't sleep in the next morning. We hung around home new year's day morning, then in the late afternoon/early evening we went to see some mini "homes" that were decorated as different homes or other buildings from A Christmas Carol. They were neat, but it was pretty cold. Those were only about 15 minutes away from a zoo we went to see the holiday lights at after. Of course it was even colder there, but we had a good time seeing the handful of animals we could and the lights. We also got to ride on their cute little zoo train with lights and Polar Express music. Andrew loves trains, so that made it fun, but with the breeze I think we all haf second thoughts once the train was going. When we couldn't stand the cold any longer (and we really were done otherwise) we left.
Yesterday's fun was satisfying our (nearly) life-long curiosity to see the Harlem Globetrotters! Will said we were going to see a game. I said we were going to see a show. We were both right : ) Not exactly what I had expected, but we had a good time. Andrew just thought it was great to see so many basketballs! We got to go to the new arena in Brooklyn to see it, so that was nice. And how convenient that there was a Shake Shack right across the street! We're looking forward to the rest of 2016!
Sounds like you found some fun ways to celebrate the New Year!
ReplyDeleteHere's to another great year in 2016!
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