Honestly? This city has really grown on me. It took awhile, but it is slowly becoming home for me.
When we first got married we lived 1 mile from my parent's house in Colorado Springs, CO. My husband was looking at grad schools at the time and we had plans to move wherever God might lead. Well, God led us to Chiang Mai, Thailand (a far cry from what my husband was hoping for, but a gift from God that I never expected he would give [silly me!])! We lived in the city and worked at Breanna's House of Joy (a home for orphaned hill tribe girls) teaching English, working on a new building, and hosting ministry teams. This time was formative early on in our marriage and also instrumental to where we are today.
After 9 months in Thailand, my husband was accepted to Yale Divinity School to pursue a Master of Arts degree in Religion (which, has nothing to do with Theology). We moved to New Haven, CT where we experienced total culture shock in every way. We always joke that our time living in Thailand could not have prepared us for the driving and culture of the Northeast! In retrospect, I think I had a lot of growing up to do and it just happened to be in a culture I was not accustomed to, which seemed to intensify the shock.
I worked for a year as a daycare director for a daycare in a small town that was pretty much a suburb of New York City. This was a huge time of growth for me personally and professionally. I learned a lot about myself, my identity and my priorities. This job played a huge role in making me who I am today. Unfortunately, it also burnt me out and after much prayer and discussion, I convinced my husband that I should pursue a career in teaching music to children.
Through this experience, I discovered a passion for music in early childhood development that I never knew I had. I was finally doing something I loved and making a decent living doing it!
Shortly after that our first child came in to the world and I have been loving every minute of being his Mommy. I am blessed by his sweet spirit and learn so much about life from him.
This is where Boston comes in. We moved to Boston so that my husband could finish school. By the grace of God, we found the perfect job managing a house of International Students in the Boston area. This allows us to live in the city without struggling to pay the bills each month. It has it's downsides for sure and I will be the first to tell you that this job IS NOT EASY! But, we are blessed to be here and we feel we are right where God wants us to be.
After living in Boston for a year, we decided it was high time we expand the family. This one bedroom apartment just wasn't cozy enough yet!
We found out we were pregnant in March and by June had discovered we were having twin girls! We named them Amelie Marie and Livia Joy (there is a great story behind those names here!). We found out at the 27 week ultrasound that Amelie Marie's heart had stopped beating and we were completely devastated. I gave birth to both of our girls 4 weeks later and embraced life and death in the same moment.
Livia Joy is truly a miracle to us and we thank God every day for her life!
I write here about my joy, my pain, my identity and my life. I love to cook, organize (a little on the obsessive side I think!) and hang out with my kids. Thanks for sharing life with me!
Through this experience, I discovered a passion for music in early childhood development that I never knew I had. I was finally doing something I loved and making a decent living doing it!
Shortly after that our first child came in to the world and I have been loving every minute of being his Mommy. I am blessed by his sweet spirit and learn so much about life from him.
This is where Boston comes in. We moved to Boston so that my husband could finish school. By the grace of God, we found the perfect job managing a house of International Students in the Boston area. This allows us to live in the city without struggling to pay the bills each month. It has it's downsides for sure and I will be the first to tell you that this job IS NOT EASY! But, we are blessed to be here and we feel we are right where God wants us to be.
After living in Boston for a year, we decided it was high time we expand the family. This one bedroom apartment just wasn't cozy enough yet!
We found out we were pregnant in March and by June had discovered we were having twin girls! We named them Amelie Marie and Livia Joy (there is a great story behind those names here!). We found out at the 27 week ultrasound that Amelie Marie's heart had stopped beating and we were completely devastated. I gave birth to both of our girls 4 weeks later and embraced life and death in the same moment.
Livia Joy is truly a miracle to us and we thank God every day for her life!
I write here about my joy, my pain, my identity and my life. I love to cook, organize (a little on the obsessive side I think!) and hang out with my kids. Thanks for sharing life with me!
