What a whirlwind these past few months have been! At the end of May we flew to New York City for two weeks and we knew RJ was going to be offered another position at the company he was working with. He had turned down the last two offers because we didn’t feel that moving to NY at the time was the thing to do. And we really wanted to complete our motorcycle trips to the state capitals.

Two weeks later we flew home with a job offer on the table and we didn’t know what to do. RJ wasn’t sure he wanted to leave the family business. I had a brand new kitchen that I had barely been able to use because we had been back and forth to NYC and had taken our last big motorcycle trip. It would mean leaving the animals behind. It would mean saying goodbye to our families and friends and church.

We had many conversations with RJ’s parents about leaving or staying. RJ would be leaving the family business and Robert and Amy would be left with an empty guest house, the animals, 26 acres to keep up, and no daughter-in-law to walk up daily and drink coffee with. 🙂

Between the conversations about us moving, RJ’s parents starting talking about moving as well. They had been thinking about getting a vacation home in Tennessee but now the possibility of moving there was being talked about.

Two weeks after returning from our trip to NY, it was decided that we were all going to move. Dad, Mom and Jessie were moving to Tennessee. We were moving too, but we still didn’t know where. Was New York the right place to move? Or do we move to Tennessee, somewhere in the same vicinity as Dad and Mom? Another week went by and RJ was talking with the company in NY, trying to negotiate a contract. I was busy selling almost everything in our house. I didn’t know where we were going but I wasn’t about to haul every bit of our stuff across country.

A week later, a contract was signed and we were moving to New York City. I bought one-way plane tickets and starting packing. We had three weeks to pack, sell and sort everything out. RJ was becoming more irked by the day because every morning there was one less place for him to sit and work. One day his desk was gone and another day the couch. Finally, he resorted to walking to Mom and Dad’s to work with Dad while I packed and sold things.

I ordered a couple of small moving pods and enlisted the help of my dear mother and sister to help me pack. I designated one pod for storage, things I didn’t need to have in an apartment in the city and the other one was for everything else that was coming with us- clothes, kitchen, sewing, some books, etc. I sold the truck, our dirt bikes and last of all, our car. The only furniture that went into the pod were two living room chairs.

On July 26 we said goodbye to our little house. I walked out and gave my little Emmet goat one last good scratch on the head and a hug. (The animals went to Tennessee with Dad and Mom.) We walked up the hill to say goodbye to RJ’s parents and Jessie. Mom cried while she hugged her favorite child;)

My folks dropped us off at the airport with our two suitcases and our backpacks. We gave each other tight hugs and said, “Love you, see you soon!”

We had to move some things around from our suitcases to our back packs so our big suitcase was under 50 pounds. That meant carrying our sleeping bags and stuffing things into our already heavy backpacks. Cue RJ going into some speech about how this-happens-every-single-time-we-fly-and-I’m-always-stuck-lugging-that-heavy-suitcase-everywhere. Not sure what he was talking about…definitely don’t remember anything about that…

We ended up using our sleeping bags on the flight. We were on a red-eye flight and it was freezing cold on the plane. We took out our sleeping bags and each burrowed into them. It had to look absolutely ridiculous and we are the ones that other people take pictures of and post them online for others to make fun of but we didn’t care. I was warm and, of course, RJ slept like a baby with his sleeping bag over his head.

We landed early in the morning and headed to the Airbnb we had booked for the next two weeks in Brooklyn. During our stay, I searched online for our new home and RJ helped me look on the weekends or evenings when he got home from work. I emailed and called so many people and looked at so many different places. Finally, with only two days remaining at our airbnb, we found the perfect place in the perfect location. The only thing was, the move in date was a week away! Well, what were we going to do?! We had become friends with one of the roommates at our airbnb and he said we could stay an extra day or two. I found another airbnb close to our new place for the remaining few days while we waited for our apartment to be ready.

A couple days later, we signed the lease, got the keys and we were able to move in. And so we walked our 2 measly suitcases into our new place. I aired up our sleeping mat and laid out our sleeping bags. We went to bed that night in a very empty apartment.

The next day we had our little moving pod delivered. RJ had left for work around 6am for early morning meetings and the pod showed up at 8:30. I called RJ and asked if he could come home to help me unload it because it was going to take all week if I had to make little trips up and down the stairs by myself. Not that there was much in the pod, but it wasn’t parked directly in front of our door and the pod door needed to be closed every time we took something out. RJ took the rest of the morning off and we sweated our way through the morning. It just so happened to be one of the muggiest days we had had so far and boy, we were drenched by the time we unloaded everything. It took about 3 hours. That was my workout for the day. We walked over 3 miles just going up and down the stairs.

I spent the next few days unpacking, organizing, buying groceries, cleaning supplies and walking around the neighborhood to check out the grocery stores and restaurants.

Life has been good here in Brooklyn.

— We bought a couple bikes off Craigslist and we bike everywhere we can. It’s most of the time faster than taking the subway, depending on where you’re going and if you need to change lines. RJ bikes to work every day. It’s about a 5 mile ride. We live a block from Prospect Park and I try to get out every day and take my bike for a couple rounds on the 4 mile loop in the park while RJ is at work. Or we’ll take a ride in the evening after supper.

— We found a church close to us the day after we arrived in Brooklyn. It’s exactly what we were looking for and everyone is so welcoming and friendly. There are quite a few couples our age and it’s been great getting to know them around the dinner table and Bible Study. At the end of September, the church is going upstate to go apple picking. We are looking forward to that.

— RJ is loving his work and all his coworkers are awesome. They moved to a new building because they were outgrowing the one they were at and the new one is fancy shmancy. Security guards make sure all workers badge in and out. I can’t go inside unless I have been cleared the day before. The company is on the 18th floor so everyone has awesome views of the city.

— I’ve been scoping out the best coffee shop in our neighborhood. I haven’t found a favorite yet but I have a few more to check out.

— There is a dine-in movie theater right down the block from our apartment. Servers bring you your food while you watch your movie. We’ve gone a couple times on the weekend. The tater tots and popcorn bowl is solid.

That’s about all for now! This was a lot to scrunch into one post so I’m sure I’ve forgotten to mention something.

We have a spare bedroom! Come visit us! We’d be happy to have you:) And I’ll show you around the city and take you to tasty food spots.

~Em

-A few miscellaneous pics from around the neighborhood.