A Number of Firsts!

The Long Island City Pier behind our apartment

Well today we got to experience our first snow in NYC! What would have shut down Atlanta for days and caused a run on bread and milk, barely registered a blip here in the city. A couple of inches of snow does nothing here but get your feet wet and cold if you don't have the right snow boots (mine haven't arrived from Amazon yet!).

This previous week we have also had a number of NYC firsts for our family as well. PJ and Natalie both had their first meetings with their prospective schools. Natalie has been accepted to attend Evangel Christian School. Evangel is located about 2 miles from us and easily accessible by subway. It is the largest Christian school in NYC, yet is only has about 500 students in pre-k through high school. Natalie will be one of 25 seventh graders at the school. She is really looking forward to starting classes on Tuesday. She was even excited about getting her uniform!

Frank Sinatra School of the Arts

PJ had an audition with the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts on Friday. It was an answer to prayer that he even got a mid-term audition. Prior to our move the correspondence we had received from the school had not made us hopeful that they would have any seats available and that he would even get to audition. However, God continues to open doors. The Tuesday after we arrived I sent his updated grades and information to the school again. The called me the next day to schedule his audition. We won't know the results of the audition until Tuesday.

We also have had a lot of first time guests at our apartment. Over the last couple of weeks we have had Jon and Bonnie Carr, Trey and Caitlan Eitel, Christy Dyer, and Jason and Jerri Jasper over for dinner. We have three other couples scheduled to come over next week. God has been so faithful to bring new friendships into our lives. Each of these individuals has been such an encouragement to us and has really connected our families. The Jasper's have three teenagers, so it was great for PJ and Natalie to have some kids their age to hang our with. Having five teenagers in the house last night brought back a lot of youth ministry memories!

Pray for me this week as I have a couple of important meetings scheduled. I'm meeting with the "I Have A Dream" Foundation here in Long Island City. They are an organization that does a lot of outreach to under serviced teenagers in this area. We are talking about how our church and teams coming up to serve with us might partner with them. I'm also scheduled to meet with a group called Mythic Bridge. They are considering me to serve on their board of directors. This organization is one that reaches out to under serviced youth all across this city and helps them connect through creative arts. While this is not a Christian organization, it would be a great opportunity for me to connect with the community here as a whole.

Thanks again for your prayers and support! Below are some more pictures of the snow and a recent trip to Times Square that PJ took: