A Week in the Life...

It's been a week since I last posted, not because I haven't wanted to, but because we STILL don't have internet in our apartment. The guy from Verizon was supposed to come yesterday and install it, but there was a mixup and it didn't happen. Hopefully tomorrow. Once again, I'm at the Brooklyn College library, using the internet while Aaron's in class. I'm such a criminal! ;-)

Things are going pretty well for us. I believe Aaron's spirits are lifted, even though things in his classroom are still difficult. He has good days and bad days with the kids, which is to be expected. I know things will keep getting generally better, however, as Aaron continues to learn and grow as a teacher. I can't wait to see where he's at by the end of the year; he'll be a pro, I'm sure. ;-) In the meantime, however, if any of you educators, especially those with experience in Special Ed, can offer him any advice on how to plan lessons for kids on such opposite ends of the behavioral and learning spectrums, I know he'd appreciate it.

Aaron and I spent all day Saturday working on our apartment. We got the loft bed all set up, which was a huge help, because then we were able to basically arrange the furniture. I'm actually very happy with the way it's set up. It took me a while to figure out the best scenario: should the bed go against the brick wall and cover part of the window? Or should it go against the white wall and cut into the walkway? Where will the "living room" area be, and where will we put the desk and the dressers? It was tough, and I was really wishing my mom was there to help, but I eventually did it all on my own! We still have some furniture to buy, and more unpacking to do, but hopefully within the next week, I can post some pictures of the apartment. We need to get it squared away quickly, because we are both so tired of tripping over boxes.

On Sunday, we slept in and spent most of the day at the library, using the internet and working on Aaron's lesson plans for the week. We then went to the 6 p.m. service at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, which meets at Hunter College on the East Side of Manhattan. The pastor there is Tim Keller, and we'd heard of him from a few different people, including Aaron's uncle David and our friends Nathan and Erica. Aaron had visited there while he lived in the city over the summer, but this was my first time. We ended up being late and missing most of the music because of subway issues, but we still enjoyed it. I had seen pictures of Tim Keller before, and from his appearance, as well as what I'd heard from others, I expected him to be very academic and stuffy. I knew he was a good pastor, but I thought that was maybe from a theological and academic standpoint. However, I was really surprised when I heard him speak. He was very conversational and, even though he spoke with much depth and conviction, I felt that even those who were "unchurched" could easily understand and appreciate his message. His sermon, incidentally, was about when David sinned by counting the fighting men and then was given a choice of punishment. Dr. Keller made some excellent points, and Aaron and I left there feeling both convicted and encouraged.

As far as church goes, we still want to visit several places, but we really liked Redeemer. In my opinion, it is exactly what an urban church should be- extremely focused on outreach and very passionate about both church-planting and social justice issues within the city and beyond. There are also so many different groups that meet throughout the week- groups for lawyers, educators, etc.- and these are in addition to their "small group" ministry. It was definitely a neat thing to see church done this way, in a city so huge and so needy. I'm looking forward to going there again, and also to visiting other churches (even though I miss Maranatha so much already).

On Sunday night, I was excited to get a text from my friend Brandon, who I went to high school with. He's been living in Florida, but had lived in NYC prior to that, and is back and forth fairly often. He works in Theatre and is about to go on tour with Young Frankenstein so he's in the city for the week preparing to leave. Another high school friend, Jameson, lives permanently in the city and also works on Broadway. The three of us met up and had dinner on Tuesday night while Aaron was at class. We met in midtown and they took me to a Mexican restaurant in the area of Manhattan known as "Hell's Kitchen." The food was delicious, and the company was wonderful. It was so fun to spend time with them and catch up! A former roommate of Brandon's also joined us, and it was nice to meet a new person. Aaron and I are hoping to be able to see them on Friday or Saturday before Brandon leaves, especially because Aaron wasn't able to join us on Tuesday. I can't even describe how nice it was to actually have "plans with friends" here in the city. So far that's a luxury I haven't had since we moved. It made me feel more at home somehow, like I actually live here and know some people.

Just before I met up with them, I got a phone call from a place I had sent a resume to. They wanted to meet with me about an Assistant Teacher position at an afterschool program affiliated with a church in Queens. I had an interview with them yesterday, which generally went very well. I think the interviewer was happy with me, and she asked me to come back later in the day for a sort of "trial run" working with the kids. I originally told her I would, but I ended up calling and cancelling. I really think I would have liked the job, and it seemed like a nice place to work, but the position was very part time (only 4 hours a day), the pay was very low, and it took me an hour to get there. After talking with Aaron, as well as my mom, I decided that the 2-hour commute wasn't worth it.

I have to say, I'm really thankful for people who talk sense into me sometimes. People who make me slow down and consider everything before making a decision. If I would've made the decision myself, with no advice from anyone else, I probably would have taken the job, and then ended up regretting it. If I'm not careful, I can tend to rush into things out of a sense of urgency and necessity. In other words, my thought would have been, "I need a job! This is the first one I've been offered and it seems fairly decent so, even though it's crazy far away, would cut significantly into my time with Aaron, and pays nothing, I'll take it!" This is where I need people to remind me that the first offer is not always the best offer, and that God is in control and will provide for me. I just need to wait on His timing.

Well, I'm going to move on to other things (like more job-searching) while I've got the internet at my disposal. Thanks to everyone for all the comments, emails, facebook messages, text messages, phone calls, etc. You have no idea how much that all means to us, especially now, while we're still so "disconnected" here in the city. Hearing from you and talking with you is so refreshing. We love and miss you all so much!