When I think of how I would describe our last few weeks (heck, months even), I think of a rollercoaster…weeks are filled with high highs and low lows. I know this is true for most people and their lives, but it has felt more intense than normal these last few weeks (months).

Let me start with the low lows – Friends struggling with some pretty heavy things that I am entering into with them, having lots of hard conflict resolution conversations that are no fun but so needed, losing monthly partners with ministry partner development in our ministry, hard character things with kids that we are dealing with, and then most recently, more drama with St. John’s administration.

Lows – This past week, I went on campus with one of our staff ladies. As I was traveling to campus, I talked with our advisor who is actually a close friend of mine, and she warned me to be careful on campus that day because at the end of the previous week, some people were arrested for coming on campus and trying to sex traffic students under the ruse of having a Bible study. An email had been sent to students and students were told to be on high alert against anything weird. We met with a senior soccer girl for discipleship, we met to do a little coaching/training for her, and we had a great spiritual conversation with a boy and a girl. Then, I left campus to come home and she stayed to help a track girl prepare Bible study for the following evening’s AIA meeting. While they were meeting, campus security approached her and asked her to come to public safety office because someone had called in that we were looking suspicious. They essentially said that she hadn’t been vetted through campus ministry and she was put on the “No Trespassing List” and would have to leave campus and if they caught her on campus with her name on the list, she would be arrested. So….she went off campus to meet with the student.

After LOTS of convos there and since then, it will be a process to get her name taken off the list and she will likely not make it back on campus this semester. It is way complicated, there are lots of miscommunication, and though we somewhat have approval to be there, it hasn’t all been ironed out. Because of that, Ed is also being really cautious to only be on campus meeting with our students and has pulled back a ton from St. Johns. The great news in all of this is that AIA is getting approval to be an official organization under the Athletic Department, that there is someone in the athletic department who was involved with AIA at Rudgers and wants to help out, and that when AIA is approved, Ed and Erin (and possibly me as well) will have full access on campus through AIA, even if not through Cru. But again, highs and lows, even with her getting kicked off campus and AIA getting pushed through.

Highs – We got to experience a TV show first hand this week!  Last Monday, we started seeing signs go up for a TV show they were shooting on our block. Not a biggie, we see that all the time around here. Then, on Tuesday, they approached our house and asked us to move our car back in the driveway so its not visible since the show is based in the 1940s. They handed us a flyer saying what the show was and what it was about. Then, on Wednesday, they ask us if they can put a light in our front window and put a period car in our driveway, for a price of course (meaning they paid us for it). We said yes. Then, on Thursday, they started fixing up the inside and outside of the house on our corner that they were going to use in the show, including putting a Christmas tree inside, planting plants outside, and changing everything including the curtains.

Then, on Friday, they asked if they could use our bathroom all day for the crew to use the bathroom while setting up. Sure, we said! Who minds awkward when you are getting paid for it? Then, that night, they asked to rent our living room for the cast and crew to sit in between takes. They ended up using a bunch of other houses as well on our block so they only used ours for equipment and a person to do some downloading and editing of the film, but it was still cool for Ed to talk to them and hear more about what the process. They are shooting 100 days and this was only day 3, and because they hadn’t worked out all the kinks and were behind schedule, they didn’t finish shooting until 2 that morning. Poor Ed stayed up with them…though the excitement made it hard to sleep. Check out these fun pics of the cars, how bright our street was, the shoot at the house, and them taking away some of the cars the next day.

Early Friday morning set-up.

Cars arriving.

Check out how they changed the stop signs to make it look more antique. So fun!  Anyways, it was neat to see the process and it amazes me every time to see how much work goes into just one scene. Most people think TV and movie is so glamorous, but they were in the pouring rain, working insane hours, and so much work goes into it for just a little output. Whew!!

Because I have been posting so much about the St. John’s drama, we haven’t posted many family photos or updates on what we have been doing. So, hold on to your seats and be prepared for LOTS!!

This sweet first-born of ours turned 9!!  Oh man, I about flipped out when I realized that is halfway to 18!  She is so kind and considerate of others, she is super helpful, she is able to socialize with anyone and never meets a stranger, she loves schedules and routines and comfort, she likes for others to do what they are supposed to be doing and has no problem bossing them around, and she loves one-on-one time. I love seeing her heart for the Lord grow and I pray that continues as she grows more independent.

She wanted to go the bounce house place, have an Incredible cake with a 9 on top, and she loved her older girl presents like a journal, alarm clock, and shirt.

Ed got to go with a friend to the NY Rangers game as his belated birthday gift. AND he finished another half marathon – the NYC Half. How fun that they run right through Times Square? We finally got to go and cheer him on and it was all fun and games until we noticed the dead rat on the sidewalk next to us 🙁

I had to say goodbye for now to a very dear friend of mine – Marie. Marie became a part of our family when she would come over and help with the kids and Brynn after I had Brynn, especially when Ed was away during the evening or had long hours. She loved holding and rocking Brynn and loved on my other kiddos when momma was busy feeding. Since then, we have shared so many great talks, fun times and laughs, and I have loved seeing her fall in love with a Boston man. She was a true gift to me – I value her friendship and will miss having her “nearby”. She is getting married this month to him and while are so excited for this next step for her, it meant moving to be near him. 🙁

My friend Jane and I took a long overdue trip to Scarsdale, NY (about 45 minutes north of NYC) to visit a close friend who moved away last year. Esther and I met through moms group shortly after moving to NYC and became fast friends. She is hilarious, authentic, direct, intentional, and a phenomenal cook! Jane met her at a mom’s night out we had and they quickly bonded. We have been joking about heading north to visit for a while, but I finally worked up the courage to drive further than my neighborhood (NY drivers are NUTS and their roads and directions are SO tricky!) So, these pictures are from our visit – complete with food of course since she knows how to do it right.

The last two weeks have been warmer temperatures, which have been very greatly welcomed!  When the winter starts wearing off, the sun starts coming out, and the weather gets warmer, I think we live outside. Here is Kinsley enjoying her new bike and Ed enjoying good weather to use our steal-of-a-deal yard sale find grill in – accompanied by Blake’s grill, of course.

Blake loves helping Ed out in the mornings when Ed runs sound at our church.

We have made some delicious food – the first picture is pileau – a South Carolina lowcountry favorite which Ed is slowly perfecting to taste like my dads. The second is my attempt at making Pad See Ew. I got Ed to go by an Asian market to pick them up when he left church and he definitely had a cultural experience as most of the people inside didn’t speak English and he was the only white person there. BUT, ya’ll, let me tell you, these fresh noodles that we used were AMAZING!!  I used oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, rice noodles which are ingredients I had never heard of, tried something new, and it was edible! So fun to be able to make authentic dishes with authentic ingredients.

This weekend, some friends from our small group invited us to travel out to Long Island with them to a State Park for the day. They did a great job planning a trip that had something for everyone to do and enjoy. They had fishing (which the kids enjoyed even though they didn’t catch ANYTHING), they had playgrounds, they had plenty of grass to run around in and play sports in, AND they had mud. Man, did I cringe at the mess that was made but of course, it was the kids’ highlight.

More adventures to come!!!

Thank you all so much for your prayers for the meeting last Thursday at St. Johns. We definitely felt the impact of so many praying for us.

Jake is one of our student leaders at St. Johns. He is a senior in the ROTC program at St. Johns and he will be in the military when he graduates. He has been very influential during his time at St. John’s, and while we were already so thankful for him, his meeting last Thursday left a legacy that will hopefully follow after he is gone.

When Jake walked in to meet Tori, he was amazed at how kind she was and how much she keep reiterating that she was for Cru at St. John’s. 40% of the student population considers themselves Catholic (though not all are practicing Catholics) and the next highest group is Protestant Christians, so she recognizes there is a need for our group on campus. As Tori learned more about the staff who are coming onto the campus, how we got there (students invited us), how we go about having spiritual conversations, how we personally know our faculty advisor, etc., Tori said we were fine to come on campus and operate as we have been (meaning reserving rooms and talking to people about spiritual things) and that if anyone gives us a hard time, we can tell them she said it was okay. She also knows Cru and respects what we do across the world, so that is in our favor.

However, because we, as well as 4 other groups on campus, aren’t official organizations, they are having a meeting next week with people higher up to talk about how to handle it and what the limitations will be (such as maybe we would be able to reserve rooms but not be at official events). She suggested we try to become an organization and she gave some guidance on how that could potentially happen (a little more complicated in practice than in saying it).

Would you pray for that meeting this week that they will be having? Would you pray for wisdom as we try to decide if we can indeed become an official organization? Would you pray for more student leaders as we can’t officially become an organization without more of them and having some of them return next year (most of ours with AIA and Cru are seniors)? Thank you for partnering with us and praying for God to move mountains at St. John’s!

If you have read this blog or read our prayer letters over the last few months or seen us in person, we have probably shared about some of the issues we are having with the administration, and particularly the Catholic campus ministry, at St. John’s University. St. John’s is a private catholic school and they have tight control on what groups can and can’t become organizations. There is currently no group that is a place for protestant students to practice their faith, so when we were approached by students to mentor and lead them and help provide that, we jumped on it.

However, we have consistently faced opposition from the campus ministry – them telling students behind our backs not to get involved with us, kicking us out of rooms, kicking us off campus during the student activity fair even though we had permission to be there, campus security calling our advisor and trying to take away the room she had reserved for our students, and even telling staff and our spring break students (who came from other campuses) that they would have to leave because they aren’t allowed there. It is quite a lengthy process to become an organization and at any point, they can block us and not allow it. In fact, we were told that only 4 groups were given organization status last year out of 80 that applied.

After much prayer, deliberation, talking to Cru’s legal department, we have decided the best thing moving forward was for our students to meet with the associate vice president for campus ministry (she hasn’t returned any of the staff’s or our advisor’s phone calls or emails about meeting with her) and present their case. They are going to share about how they have invited us on campus (campus ministry thinks we just showed up and started recruiting students), how they want us to mentor and advise them, and how they want a place to practice their faith just as other religious groups on campus like the Muslim group. They also want to be afforded the same privileges to reserve rooms and hold events as are other groups that aren’t official organizations, if we can’t become an organization.

Here is where we need you!!  We desperately need prayer warriors who will intercede for us –

• pray for Jake (second from the left in the top row) and Mecara and Ann-Marie (in the front row in the red shirt and the colorful sweater respectively) as they share their hearts and their desire that their school, who prides themselves on diversity, will in fact allow them a place to practice their faith with other students and that they would have power, wisdom, and restraint in what they say;
• pray for the associate vice president on campus ministry, that her heart will be softened and she will have understanding about how Cru came to be at St. John’s (we were invited) and that the staff are only coaching the students to lead everything;
• pray for resolution and that it will provide clarity and next steps as to what we are allowed to do on campus and what we can do as a group on campus and that we won’t be singled out as the group to get rid of;
• pray that God will even go beyond this and allow this conversation to usher in a time where we partner WITH the campus ministry and work in good standing together to serve the campus; pray that this conversation doesn’t hinder all the good things happening on campus with AIA and Valor (ROTC students);
• pray that no matter what happens, we will continue to trust that God is good, that He loves St. John’s and their students even more than we do, that His timing and ways are perfect, and He is in control.

We were reminded a long time ago that when we consider the ministry partners, friends, and family we have, we have nothing short of a small army praying for us. Please join with us in praying that God will move mountains and pave a way through at St. Johns!

While some kids head to the beach to party and sit on the beach for their Spring Breaks, over 100 students decided to come to NYC to be missionaries for the week as they reached out to other college students. NYC staff hosted/will host college students from all around the country for two weeks and the first week is done!!

This first week was really fun for us as we had a lot of students from the South, including Ben (on the left in the glasses below) and Matthew (right behind Ed). Ben, who I have mentioned before, goes to University of South Carolina, is the brother of my brother’s college roommate, and has been in NYC for the past two summers on summer mission with us. He brought along 5 other guys from USC with him, and one of those guys was Matthew. Matthew is from my hometown, his mom was a teacher of mine in high school, and his parents are ministry partners with us. It was so fun that they were in NYC doing ministry with us, but even more fun that they got to go on campus with Ed almost every day AND got to come eat breakfast at our house one morning. It was also nice to have good, Southern people around 😉

Unfortunately, they did run into opposition from the administration at St. Johns, which we are continuing to experience, so please pray with us that our students at SJU are able to meet with the powers that be and smooth things over, and that we are allowed to remain on campus at SJU.

Over the week, students were trained in effectively sharing their faith, they attended a weekly meeting at NYU, they went on campus 3 days to share their faith, they partnered with other Cru ministries in the city to be exposed to and to serve with them, and they had free time to explore the city. They even saw 11 students place their faith in Christ!  Hopefully, local staff will be able to followup with discipleship with these students and get them plugged into a local church and a local body of believers.

We also had another big happening in our family this week – this man turned 36!  So thankful for him and his willingness to serve and provide for our family. We get to go cheer him on in a half-marathon in the city tomorrow morning.

I also attended a workshop about testing anxiety at Kinsley’s school. NYC is intense with their education and testing. With so many high achieving parents and surrounded by cultures that are really focused on grades and achievement, kids here are driven to succeed and there is lots of pressure to do well. Starting in 3rd grade, students undergo state testing in Language Arts and Math and the school’s ranking is determined by how well students do (aka lots of pressure to do well from the school as well!) and then in 4th grade, the scores students can determine where they go to middle school. Getting into high school here is like college application time, with schools sometimes requiring interviews, essays, portfolios, try outs, etc. Needless to say, poor Kinsley, our over achiever, type A, worrier, has already been stressing about the test since its pretty much all she has heard about all year. So, I went to this workshop hoping it would help me to help her better. It was good and I walked away with quite a few takeaways. Thankful for things like this that help us to help our kids, especially when anxiety and stress are so prevalent in our young people.

On to week 2 of Spring Break…..

It has been a full week and a half since returning back from Disney. Rather than bore you with all the details (you wanna hear about our dentist appointment or how much snow we have gotten?), I will show you a few highlights in pictures.

For part of my birthday present, we scored tickets to see the New York City ballet. This was a bucket list item for me so I convinced Ed to tag along 😉 It was so beautiful to watch them perform and I am so amazed at their talent to stand on their toes for about 2 hours straight. It was a performance of Sleeping Beauty and we found a great deal on our tickets so I wasn’t sure how good they would be, but it was perfect. The scenery at Lincoln Center was also amazing.

This little one is officially potty trained!!  We have been wanting to train her for a few months as she has been showing signs (asking to use the potty, aware of when she goes in her diaper, etc.), but we didn’t want to do it before Disney, so literally, the day after we got back, we began. It took her about 5 days to fully get it, including a regression after the first day when we went from a bare bottom to underwear, but she finally go the hang of it and is now telling us when she needs to go. Whew – those 5 days though are rough – I forget with every kid just how much I hate them! Just diapers at nap and night…so close to being done with diapers FOR GOOD!!

We had a little going away party at our house for Stephanie and Fady, who are leaving our small group because they are moving to Philly for a new job. They were the first ones in our church small group and are so near and dear to our family. In fact, our girls got dressed in their pretty dresses for their going away party. We already do and will continue to miss them – things won’t be the same without your smile, your directness, your kindness, and your laughter!

We had the head priest for the athletic department at St. John’s, Father Rock, join our Athletes in Action Bible study last week. Mecara, one of our student athletes, lead the Bible study and did a phenomenal job! Because AIA is newer and because we aren’t an official organization, we were a little nervous about what Father Rock would say about the Bible study and AIA. Turns out, he is super supportive and wants to push to make us an official organization and get the word out to other teams that we are at St. John’s so other athletes can join in.

We have been trying to win Hamilton lottery tickets since we moved here (tickets to see the broadway show Hamilton with usually great seats at only $10 a person!). We have friends who have won it before and got amazing seats up close to the stage, so we figured that at some point we would win it, right?

Saturday was our time and Ed won after entering!  Even better than winning was having some amazing friends babysit our kids – they had been offering for a while and it just so turns out (coincidence? I think not!) they were available Saturday as well. I did feel bad that they had the kids for like 5.5 hours since Hamilton is 3 hours long, but they were troopers and we are so grateful to them for making it possible. When we got to will call to pick up our tickets they handed us a little piece of paper that said “No drinks in the front row” so we knew we were in the front row, but we were even more shocked that we were front and in the middle. Literally, were you see us in that picture above? That is where our seats were. We got to see them dance, spit on each other (seriously, that close!), sweat, and even got to see the top of the head of the guy who lead the orchestra/band. It was SOOOOO good and I would have paid way more than $20 to see it. That picture above shows what tickets were going for on the day of the performance. So thankful for this very sweet blessing from the Lord!

And lastly, I finally caved into my family’s wishes and started watching Star Wars with them. Correction – they have seen them all but I refused to watch them and get sucked in and thought I wouldn’t like it. But after Hollywood Studios and all my kids loving it (and my mom’s push that I will probably really like them), I decided to give in. They have loved helping mommy discover and understand all things Star Wars.

Today, the kids are home from school due to our first snow day of the year, so I have to go referee some more, but more updates to come!!

We have been saving, planning, preparing, and dreaming about this last week for a long time – and it finally happened!  We took the kids to Disney! We are so grateful to so many people who made it happen – Ed’s parents for donating time at their timeshare to give us a place to stay, Shane and Ann for donating 2 airline flights to make our trip down more affordable, my parents for meeting us and dealing with the crazy and letting us pile into their car for the week so we could avoid a rental car…it wouldn’t have happened without all these pieces coming together. We wanted to go when our kids could remember it, and while Brynn is still a little young and most likely won’t, we didn’t want to want a year or two because then Kinsley would be too old to really enjoy the princesses and magic of it all. But, overall, our kids were at a great age and we are so glad we did it now.

I was a little anxious about flying with Brynn, especially since our last flight was marked by her screaming for the last 15 minutes uncontrollably. But, overall, she did great and what a difference 6 months makes when flying with toddlers/babies. We went to Magic Kingdom one day, Animal Kingdom one day, and Hollywood Studios one day. While we enjoyed all the parks, Hollywood Studios was probably our first favorite, followed closely by the Magic Kingdom. We went to Magic Kingdom on one of the busiest days of the year (we didn’t know this when we booked it!) and I think had it not been as busy, it may have been our favorite.

Before I share an overload of pictures, let me give you some of the lessons/tips I learned from our trip.

1 – If you need a double stroller and don’t want to fly with yours, I would highly recommend renting one. We used Kingdom Strollers and their price was pretty comparable to the price of renting strollers in the park, but you got a nicer stroller with storage underneath, they deliver to your resort and pick it up when you are done, and you can use the stroller when you are commuting from your cars to the park (versus the park strollers which you can only get once you get into the park). It was worth paying not to have to lug our huge double through the airport.

2 – You can’t do it all. Seriously. There were things at almost all the parks that we wish we had time to do, or things that the adults would have liked to do but waiting in line for an hour to an hour and a half didn’t jive with their schedules or what the kids needed. Unless you go when the park is just dead (is that ever??!??), you will not be able to do it all and will need to prioritize what you what to do. Especially if you aren’t spending multiple days at the park.

3 – Were I to go back again, I would consider staying at a property on the resort. I know, I know…it is so much more expensive than staying off property. But, when you have small kids, staying really close by and being able to get back for naps or get to the park quickly is a huge plus. And, if you stay at a resort property, you get to reserve fast passes 60 days in advance vs. those who stay off property can only do them 30 days in advance. When I could book 30 days in advance, fast passes for the really popular rides were all gone and when we got to the park, if we had fast passes for some of those things, it would have meant getting to ride them versus not getting to ride them at all. Plus, some of the parks have early hours for resort guests and this would have been a huge perk. I think I would consider this option more if we ever went back.

4 – If you are staying more than 3 days, especially with littles, I would recommend having a rest day in between park days. By the end of day 3, we were whipped and it has taken us multiple days since getting back to feel back to normal. It would have been nice to have 2-3 days at parks, then a rest day, and then another day at a park.

5 – If the park is busy, take advantage of all the ways you can ride rides. Fast pass, single rider line, parent swap so after one parent waits in line, the other parent can go straight to the front of the line (made for those with little kids that can’t ride the rides).We didn’t realize or think about a lot of these things until the very last day and had we thought or taken advantage of them more, I think we would have gotten to ride more, even with little kids.

6 – Disney is SO expensive but there are so many resources out there that share how to save money. Bringing in your own lunch and drinks, staying off site and not at the resorts, online sites to buy discounted entrance tickets, so on and so forth. It is worth it to do your research as every little bit counts.

So, now for the abundance of Disney pictures (sorry it will make this post really long!)

Emerson loved Space Mountain with Ed, even after waiting over 2 hours to ride.

Can you tell the grumpy ones in this pic? At this moment, Disney was not the most magical place for them.

What to do when waiting in line? Selfies, of course.

Brynn LOVED meeting Mickey and Minnie – she jumped up and down and grinned from ear to ear. The day before, she ran from all the princesses, but when she meet Mickey and Minnie, she ran straight into their arms.

This picture just shows how you have to learn to love each of your children where they are at – Emerson wanted to ride ALL the rides, Blake wanted to meet Kylo Ren and the Star Wars characters, and Kinsley was so excited about collecting all these badges for doing different things at Animal Kingdom and learning about different things. None of the other kids wanted anything to do with these badges, but it was a highlight for Kinsley.

She just HAD to get this Mickey that was just as big as her. We all enjoyed going on an African safari.

Emerson didn’t so much love Tower of Terror – and lets be honest, a ride I used to love I now hate. Funny how things change over time.

Dancing with the Incredibles. Our kids are obsessed with the Incredibles right now. And Star Wars. Hence the reason that Hollywood Studios was their favorite.

We were first in line to see Sofia the First so the girls got to walk her in – it was a highlight for them.

I love how he signed his autograph so he could see. So many of the characters struggled to sign and a few didn’t sign – for instance, Olaf couldn’t read of write and Kylo Ren and Chewie didn’t sign so the other couldn’t “see” their enemy was next door. When the characters didn’t sign, their reasons were creative, to say the least.

Toy Story Land was one of our favorite areas because it is so fun and bright. This ride, Toy Story Mania, was probably one of my favorites out of all the parks – its a shooting game that is fun for everyone in the family.

Because my birthday was the day we headed home, we went to eat Japanese our last night to celebrate. It was good but not as good as our local place in Myrtle Beach that we love so much. It was still fun to celebrate with my family and to feel loved and celebrated. Notice the Mickey ears made of rice?

The kids loved swimming in the pool any free time we got. Which wasn’t a lot, but they fit it in somehow.

For our trip home, we were supposed to fly out about midday on my birthday, but we started getting travel alerts that winter weather was going to hit in NYC, so we got moved to an earlier flight. Blake watched Star Wars while playing with his Star Wars characters on the way home. About an hour after getting back in NYC, it started snowing. It was so weird that the kids went from 80 degree short sleeve, short pant weather to THIS. Ahhh, welcome back, NYC.

I heard a quote from someone yesterday, “My mom jokes about having a medical degree just from being a mom.” I am beginning to feel exactly the same way. Besides all the medical mess and drama that has happened before now, just since January we have been to the Urgent Care or doctor’s office 7 times (just the kids!).

First, there was this:

Emerson hit it on the TV stand when she was climbing to sit into our reclining chair. It required 3 stitches and two of those doctor appointments. Emerson has been having jaw pain that we weren’t sure was an ear infection or jaw issues but turned out to be her 6-year-old wisdom teeth coming down that haven’t even broken through yet. That was 2 visits.

Blake had a well appointment, which was drama free. And then this week, all 4 of our kids have come down with the flu. It has spread like wildfire through our house even with Lysol and washing hands and keeping kids away from each other. The doctors thought it may be a stomach bug because they were vomiting, but because I knew we have had flu with vomiting before, and I knew that how lethargic they were pointed to the flu, I insisted they do a flu test. It was positive for Type A. I also insisted against their advice that they give Tamiflu, even thought they say it doesn’t really help. It has ALWAYS helped my kids get over it quicker in the past, so I made a point to insist that we wanted it. Now Ed and I are also on Tamiflu as a preventive measure. Ugh. We have Disney in 4 days so we HAVE to get better.

It is interesting, when the kids start with some kind of something, I am becoming pretty good at diagnosing them. Or I ask another mom or my mom and then we can diagnose. Here is to hoping we all recover quickly and no more doctor visits are required!!

To counteract the bad, we had something very fun happen in our house this past week – Brynn turned 2!!  Our little true New Yorker who is sassy, full of fun, independent but still loves to snuggle, smart, adventure-loving girl turned the big 2!

We let her pick out her cupcake flavor and icing, and because she LOVES Jack-Jack from the Incredibles, we watched the Incredibles as a family to celebrate. She had a blast opening her presents and even today, she got another one (thanks Aunt Barbara and Uncle Larry) – one of the best things about her turning 2 is she has no idea that presents are late, early, or any of that! Here is her blowing out her candles, opening her presents (including a pretty soft unicorn from our good friends here), and just being cute. In some ways, it is so hard to believe our youngest is now 2, but in other ways, it is hard to remember what life was like without her.

We also got to participate in “Orange Sunday” at our church – a whole Sunday dedicated to sharing about why our church invests so much into our next generation. Blake and the girls go to sing on stage and they loved getting to dress up for the photo booth afterwards. And who am I kidding? The doughnut wall and snack stations were probably their all-time favorites. We are so thankful for our church, our kids’ small group leaders, and how our kids are being raised to love church and learning about Jesus. So thankful for how they partner with us as parents and pour into the next generation!

This week, I heard a bunch of facts about NYC that absolutely blew me away. I have heard some of them before, but some of them were brand new. We we first moved to NYC, our transition was hard. It wasn’t just going from two cars to no cars, or going from suburban/rural living to city life, or adjusting to public transportation, or transitioning from polite in your face but talk behind your back Southern culture to I-say-it-all-to-your-face NYC culture, but mostly I think it was we felt like we had literally moved overseas to a different world where it felt like hardly anyone was like us. Granted, not all parts of NYC feel like this, but Queens for sure does.

Part of this was exciting. We knew that God was calling us to move here to impact this city that we felt impacted our country and the world, and even realizing that the world is literally here in Queens was exciting. But learning about so many different cultures and languages and people groups was (and still can be) absolutely exhausting. So before I continue, let me share the facts I learned via this website:

• With a July 2015 population of 8,550,405, New York is the most populous city in the United States, more than twice the size of the second largest city, Los Angeles.
• About 1 in every 38 people living in the United States resides in New York City.
• New York has the highest population density of any major city in the United States, with over 27,000 people per square mile.
• Over 3 million of New York City’s residents are foreign-born; over one-quarter arrived in 2000 or later.
• Nearly 2 million New Yorkers are under the age of 18.
• New York City has more people than 40 of the 50 U.S. states.
• New York City comprises over two-fifths of New York State’s entire population.
• New York City has grown by over 1 million people since 1990.
• There are nearly 400,000 more women than men in New York.
• There is a birth in New York City every 4.4 minutes.
• There is a death in New York City every 9.1 minutes.
• The borough of Brooklyn on its own would be the 4th largest city in the United States; Queens would also rank 4th nationally.
• Approximately two-thirds of dwelling units in New York are renter-occupied, over twice the national average.
• New York City has the largest Chinese population of any city outside of Asia.
• More persons of West Indian ancestry live in New York City than any city outside of the West Indies.
• New York has the largest Puerto Rican population of any city in the world.
• More Dominicans live in New York than any other city in the world, barring Santo Domingo.
• Over 2.4 million Hispanics reside in New York City, more than any other city in the United States.
• The Black nonhispanic population of New York City numbered 1.89 million in 2014, more than double the count in any other U.S. city.
• Half of all New Yorkers speak a language other than English at home.
• Over 200 languages are spoken in New York City.
• Queens has over 2.3 million residents and more than one million of them are immigrants.

Were you shocked by any of these? When we say that the world literally lives here, we aren’t kidding. Two nights ago, we had dinner with a couple who are Puerto Rican but they are actually part of a group called Nuyorican, which are people of Puerto Rican descent who are born in NYC. Even when they go back to Puerto Rico, their dialect sets them apart and Puerto Ricans automatically know they are Nuyoricans. Tonight, we have friends coming over for the Super Bowl from China and Korea.

With all these great things, there are other hard things. Becoming aware of just how much we have white privilege. Empathizing with those who are very much being affected by our country’s immigration policies. Hearing the stories of how Christians have treated people in the past (and sometimes the present) and have even ignored their plights. Waking up to facts that weren’t taught in history classes in school, like American banned Chinese immigration for 80 years with the Chinese Exclusion Act and horrific acts occurred during this time. Learning what it means to use your privilege for others. There is so, so much more.

Despite the hard learning we are doing, I absolutely love the diversity in NYC and learning about so many different cultures and languages. Kinsley just shared this morning that she knows how to say hello in 3 other languages besides English because of learning from people in those ethnic groups. I think it is a blessing that my children will grow up beside and learn from people who look so different from them and have so many different cultural traditions. I think its so inspiring to think that if so many of these people come to know Jesus, they can go back to their country (which most usually travel back to once or twice a year) and spread the name of Jesus all over the world. While it can be so exhausting to continually cross cultures, it is such a God-given blessing to be able to see the beauty He has created in all people groups.

If you have been following my blog for any length of time, you will know that I occasionally do posts titled “My Favorite Things” sharing 5 things I am loving right now. In the past, I have raved about the book “Present Over Perfect”, Dateboxes with Ed, puzzles, Black Friday ads, having a laundry room in our basement (which we don’t have anymore and I miss 🙁 ), Halo Top ice cream, Motivated Mom’s Chore Planner, Kanki Japanese Restaurant, and so much more. The last time I did a post like this was almost a year ago, so I decided it was time to take it back to the old school. So, without further ado, here is my list….

1. the Babbel language app – I took Spanish classes in high school, college, and tried the website Duo Lingo, but even with all of this, I am far from fluent. So, my goal this year, is to become fluent in Spanish (which I mentioned in my goals post a few weeks ago). A money saving website I follow raved about this app and the best part? They were having a great 6-month sale. Well, after doing it for about 6 months, I am still loving it and I am learning so much. I definitely wouldn’t say I am fluent and I for sure need more in person practice, but I am getting so much closer than I have been before. They do all kinds of languages, so if you love learning languages, I highly recommend!! Like I said, I have seen them run sales twice now, so I think you could wait for that and get 6 months for $31…which is great for a paid language app!

2. Mercari – This is another app that I have found myself using a ton. After moving to NYC, I quickly discovered how hard it is to sell and buy second-hand and used items here. For one, getting to places to pick things up is more complicated and is often not worth the discount you get versus ordering full price and delivering to your door. Second, for me, if I am going to travel 30-45 minutes to pick up something, I want to know it is in great shape, and unfortunately, a lot of the things I have bought second-hand here aren’t, which discourages me from continuing to do that. Third, consignment shops are almost non-existent here. Fourth, people do Craigs List for big items, but for buying small items, it isn’t worth listing.

So, I found this app that someone had recommended which works similar to Craigs List and sells small things (and big things) from all around the country. You can make an offer on items, ask questions, get more pictures, and after you buy, you have to confirm that the item is in good shape before you are stuck with a final sale. So, if something isn’t in great shape, you can return it free of charge to the seller. Plus, you always have to rate the buyer (and the seller) after purchases, so you know how trustworthy the people are you are buying from. I have bought lots of kids shoes and clothes from the website and have never had a problem – most things are good as new!

3. Ramen – Sure, I had ramen noodles as a pour college student, but until moving to NYC, I had never had real, authentic Japanese ramen. Let me just tell you, it is soooo good!  There is a restaurant in NYC named Ippudo that has the best ramen I have ever tried. If you haven’t tried real ramen, you are missing out!

4. Plan to Eat menu planning service – Again, another app (well, its a website too) – whoa, I usually am not all about apps, but it is working out that way this time. A friend told me about this at our Baltimore Winter Conference – actually, while we were waiting for students to start coming in to register them for housing, she jumped online, planned her whole menu for the week when they returned, and had a whole shopping list made for the store. I was so impressed.

So, I began thinking, how great would it be if most of my menus were online, I could list out our menu plan for the whole week no matter where I was (even if I didn’t have my recipe book), Ed could log in to see recipes and the menu plan too, and I had a whole shopping list being automatically made as I listed out what recipe I wanted for each night. And, if I sent him to the store for some last minute things, he could just pull up the shopping list to see what we needed. I have been doing it for 3-4 weeks now and I LOVE it! I love that I can be anywhere and pull up to see what I am having that night. I love that I have forgotten way less things from the grocery store for menus because they automatically list everything. I love that I can even separate my shopping list into different stores so I know what I need from each store. I love that I can pull up the recipes with a click of my finger and if I needed to change and add a recipe while I was out and didn’t have the actual recipe, I could pull it up on Plan to Eat and buy what I needed. I love that as I find recipes I like online, I can just import then and then add to my week without having to retype everything or pull up the website. It is fabulous!  And while it does cost, again, I got a great deal on it which made it reasonable enough for me. Thanks Kiley for recommending it!!

5. Pediatric Urgent Care in NYC – Emerson is going to make all of my brown hairs turn grey. Seriously, this kid just now turned six and has already had a broken foot, broken arm, stitches in her toe, and now, add to that, stitches in her eye. Whew!

In NC, when our kids would have needed stitches, we had to go to an adult urgent care or go the children’s hospital. Here, we have an amazing pediatric urgent care that is open 12 pm-12 am (which is amazing considering most things happen with kids after the doctor’s office closes). They are great with the kids, they are quick, and they know what they are doing. I seriously think every one of our kids has been at least once.

So, when Emerson had a ugly encounter with our TV stand this past week, the pediatric urgent care came to our rescue! Here was her nasty cut before 3 stitches.

This kid. She is totally following the whole second-child stereotype. I don’t know if I am going to make it..haha.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my favorite things right now. I would LOVE to hear about those things that you are loving, that are making your life easier or more efficient (outside of Marie Kundo), or that I should absolutely try or include in my life. Leave suggestions!!