How God brought us to NYC: part 1

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During a recent Cool Chat, Amy confirmed what I knew has been needed for so long: a real update on how things are going here!

Life has been a good kind of busy, and unfortunately our blogging has dropped off a little. Much to the credit and glory of God, an elaborate and at many times uncertain set of circumstances has led to a new life for the Cool Fam here in New York City.

Here’s part one of how God brought us simple Floridian folk up to NYC:

This past summer, with my job in Florida ending in August, we figured that it’s time to start “thinking about the future,” which is what all the financial, investingy commercials say that I should do. I believe this involves inviting a financial advisor into the family and attending lots of little league games.

During a dinner at ‘our table’ in Chick Fil-A, the fateful question “What about New York?” came up. It sounded very fun and just about as realistic as the question “What about opening a Chick Fil-A in our kitchen, so we’ll never have to drive the long 5 miles to get here?”

However, CM later found a posting online for a year-long volunteer position in downtown Manhattan. Living in New York City for one year on a small monthly stipend sounded like a foolish, costly idea – something we would regret for years to come. So of course, I signed up. After the application and a phone interview, I was offered a great position that would use my technical experience as well as take on new creative responsibilities at a respected nonprofit agency.

To make things interesting, another job in our town, and even my office building, came available, and I think I had a good shot at it. It became Leave Everything We Know vs. Stay Safe and Comfortable. Safe and Comfortable was tempting and where all of our friends and family were, but we couldn’t resist the lure and excitement of The City. I accepted the year-long position, and our adventure was on its way.

However, our plans never seemed to solidify. As soon as I accepted the position, I was told that I had to wait two weeks to confirm that the position would actually be funded. I waited, and the position was funded. However, funding cuts had a small chance of cutting my year-long term in half. We stayed onboard, thinking that a few months in NYC would’ve been worth it, and then we could move back home. But with about two weeks to go, our plans fell apart.

Massive cuts in funding for the organization meant that my position would be eliminated sooner rather than later, like as soon as two weeks after I started. I was willing to stick things out during the uncertain times for the nonprofit, but the risk was just too great. I pulled out of my commitment. We had already bought plane tickets, train tickets, loaned out our 2 cars, made arrangements to move, and put our house on the market. With no job and no plan, we decided to move to NYC anyway and just let God sort things out.

All credit to Him, our much-talked-about frugality allowed us to build some savings, so we weren’t putting our futures on the line. Well, most everyone else said that we were, but we still felt good about it. And with my vast knowledge from that one undergrad macroeconomics class, I had a feeling that the US economy was ready for another financial boom, so who needs savings, right?

We emptied our house into our two families’ houses (thanks, guys!). We said goodbye to our friends-like-family that we’ve lived life with for 14 years (10 years for CM). And we packed two suitcases, a Pack-and-Play, a carseat, and Cool Baby (in a baby carrier, not a suitcase) moved to New York City at the end of August.

Next time: Give me your poor, your tired, your poopy-diapered…

Related posts:

1. How God brought us to NYC: part 2
2. How God brought us to NYC, Part 4: I get a job (sort of)
3. How God brought us to NYC: part 3
4. How God brought us to NYC, Part 5: No money to mo’ money
5. The rest of our NYC story: How we got from there to here, Part 2