Mission Safari: The Next Chapter(s)

Sarah To College, Earthquakes, and Hurricanes

Well, since my last post, we have had quite a bit of upheaval around here. It is funny how much can happen in a short amount of time. As I write this, I'm hoping that Hurricane Irene will only leave us with a lot of rain. We may have power outages but hopefully we will be spared the wind damage. Time will tell.

Anyway, over a week ago, on a Wednesday, we started saying our goodbyes to Sarah. It was a difficult evening, sweet, but hard, to see each one in the house try to figure out how to say goodbye. I probably cried the hardest, but wanted to get "that" out of the way so that when I said goodbye in NYC, it wouldn't be so awkward.  

On Thursday, Marti pulled out of our driveway with Sarah to head to New York City. They traveled up so that Sarah could have a day and half in the city with Marti to acclamate and ready herself for move in. They had a good trip up, and enjoyed walking around the city on Friday, going up Fifth Avenue, to the NYC Public Library, the Rockefeller Center, and Central Park. I spent Thursday packing the SUV to the gills with all of Sarah's stuff as well as ran around town doing last minute errands.

Friday, I traveled with the other 4 kids up to NYC. It was a good trip and we arrived around 4pm. We settled into our hotel, ate supper in Macy's, and then went up to Crumbs Bakery to celebrate the big weekend with cupcakes for everyone.

Move-in day was very interesting. Sarah is living in a one bedroom fully furnished apartment with two other roommates in an apartment building on the intersection of 6th Ave and 34th Street. The very idea of trying to unload an SUV full of boxes and suitcases on a busy NY street seemed a bit overwhelming, but the school had a well organized plan with plenty of students, faculty, and administrators helping out. From the time that we pulled up, unloaded the vehicle, parked the vehicle, and had everything up in the apartment was a total of 45 minutes. I was impressed. By that evening, Sarah and Marti, as well as the other two roomies and their families, had the apartment set up and looking good.

Sunday morning we hung out together as a family. We made our way to Central Park by the subway. It was a mostly painless event. We hung out there for a couple of hours until it was time to head back to the hotel for the girls to nap. Before heading back, we ate lunch at Chipotles. As Sarah had a few things to get, she, Marti, and Ben took the subway down to 14th Street, while I hailed a taxi to take the girls and Sam back. That was an adventure for the little ones.  

Sunday night, Sarah went to a Spiritual Life meeting at the school. Afterwards, we ventured out for our last meal together (for a while) in pretty heavy rain. Sarah was in the mood for burgers so Ben did a quick web search and found Jimmy's Burger Shack 3 blocks away. We headed out in the rain only to find out that the Shack was closed. Next door was Brother Jimmy's BBQ. We popped in there and hesitated for a minute as the downstairs was only a bar. But the host told us there was seating upstairs and we were quite glad that we stumbled upon Brother Jimmy's. It featured Southern style food - pulled BBQ pork, fried chicken, burgers, and sweet tea. The food was probably the best Southern food I've had north of the Mason-Dixon line. I think Sarah will be a frequent flyer there (especially on Wednesdays when they have Southern Appreciation night with a 25% discount for folks with photo ID from anywhere in the South).

After our yummy meal, Sarah said her final goodbyes to Marti and the kids. Again, it was a bittersweet time. I'm so happy that Sarah feels a real connected to home and all of us. But there was also a peace about her being in the City.

Monday was a busy day. Marti of course had to pack and travel back with the kids. Ben needed to be back for football practice and so we had arranged for him to fly back by himself. We put him in a taxi and he made the trip from Manhattan to the LaGuardia airport alone. He had no problems and got back to Williamsburg without a hitch. Sarah and I went to the convocation together and then to new student orientation. We hung out till about 2:30pm. It was hard to say goodbye for the final time, but again, there was a peace about leaving her there. It has become clear to us that she was made for this place and this time. It is time for her to see what God has in store for her.

I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out in NYC. The plan was to be around Monday evening in case there was any last minute needs. Fortunately there weren't any and so I enjoyed the time alone. I spent the afternoon going to the NYC Public Library. Then, I went on a 10 mile run through the city up to Central Park. It was an interesting run as I started at the time of rush hour traffic. After cooling off, and showering up, I decided to eat at Korean restaruant since I was in a hotel one block over from Korea Town. Having never had Korean before, I had no idea where to go. I looked up the street and saw 8 or 9 different restaraunts. I finally decided on a place (Muk Eun Ji) because one, they had a guy outside giving out samples, and two, because when I looked in the windows, the place was full and I only saw Koreans in there. I figured that was a good sign. And I wasn't disappointed. I think I like Korean food better than Chinese.

Anyway, Tuesday I travelled back. I made the trip (without speeding mind you) in 6 hours and 50 minutes. I am good with that. Near the end of my drive, Marti called saying she thinks she had just felt an earthquake. Sure enough, we had a 5.8 quake hit near Richmond. Thankfully there was no damage at home. Interestingly, Sarah felt it too. She was inside the Empire State Building when it hit. She says she felt "a little off balance and got a little sick to her stomach." She had no idea what had happened. Again, we are thankful that she didn't experience any problems there.

Since Tuesday, Marti and I have tried our best to get into a new routine without Sarah here. It has been a bit weird. For the most part we are doing alright but we are already looking forward to seeing her at Parent's Weekend in 5 weeks. Thankfully we have been able to stay in touch with some texts, Facebook, and a few phone calls. So far, it seems like she is doing alright. She has had three full day of classes, has not starved yet, and is learning to live in community with her new classmates and roommates.

And as if we haven't had enough change and excitement for one week, we are bracing ourselves for Hurricane Irene. It is currently raining pretty hard here with some moderate winds. Sarah has reported that the school has put in place a Hurricane Action plan. They are in a relatively safe part of town, have flashlights and provisions, and are hunkering down for the storm. It will make for some good stories I'm sure.

Well, this has been quite a long post. We are truly thankful for how God is seeing us all through this transition. Continue to pray for all of us.

Time for a Family Update

It's been a while since I posted an update. Not that there hasn't been anything going on, but rather because it has been quite busy. Plus it has been so hot. The heat drains my brain. It's no fun. But that's just me whining. Let's move on to the update.

The big thing going on around here is Sarah is getting ready to move up to NYC for school. She leaves in 5 days. It is bittersweet for Marti and I. We've each had our turns at moping around a bit. Especially since Sarah has been such a doll this summer. Other than working 20 hours a week, she has basically just wanted to hang out here at the house. She has spent her time getting stuff packed, getting used to her Mac computer, and chillin' out. It has been a blessing to have low drama.

Ben has finished his first two weeks of football practice at Jamestown High. It looks like he will be a starter on the JV team as a Linebacker on Defense. On Offense, it looked like he might have a chance to start at Tight End, but the back up Quarterback broke his arm and so Ben has been taking snaps as a back-up QB. In addition to this, Ben was one of 7 JV players who were invited to suit up for the Varsity scrimmage last night. Ben got in the game for 6 plays as a LB (linebacker). Not only has Ben practiced 13 of the past 14 days 6-8 hours a day, he has participated in the Jamestown Settlement Junior Volunteer program. Needless to say, he has been one tired puppy the past two weeks.

Sam's big summer news is that he needed glasses. He got those a few weeks ago. Also, he spent time at Kaleidoscope Camp the first week of August at the Williamsburg Christian Retreat Center. He loves that camp. He has also spent time continuing with extra tutoring at the Discovery Program, Inc. It has really helped him with his spelling, writing, and math skills. He is starting to get excited to start 5th Grade at Greenwood Christian Academy here in Williamsburg.

Amy and Kate have been, well, Amy and Kate. They spend their days playing with dolls, coloring pictures (and themselves and occasionally the furniture), and making a mess of the house. Most evenings after supper they go out on the swing set. They keep us smiling (and crying) with their general cuteness of being 3 year old girls.

Keep us in prayers. This will be a good but hard week for us as we take Sarah up to school. Marti and Sarah leave Thursday and I will bring all the others on Friday. We look forward to spending the weekend in NYC helping Sarah move in. But we don't look forward to traveling back with only 4 of the kids.