As Micah and I begin the last month and a half we will have in Birmingham, we have been thinking about all of the things we will miss about it (and those things that we won't). In Birmingham, we have pretty much any restaurant or store we could ask for. When we first moved here, we missed our northern restaurants, but we have become avid fans of Sonic, Chick Fil A, Moe's, McAlister's, O'Carrs and many others. While we know these are chain restaurants and we know that we could see them again one day, we know that we will not see them in Boston. When we were in Boston we were shocked to realize that there aren't many chain fast food restaurants (which we often live off of). We know that once we get up there and learn the area, we will discover "hole-in-the-wall" and "mom and pop shops" that we will undoubtedly love. We are just not very patient about that right now (something God is definitely working on in us!). We also realized when we were there that everything is OLD! We are so used to living in the suburbs where everything is new and constantly growing. There just isn't a lot of this in the area we will be living. The base and the surrounding area is beautiful and historic, but we are so used to our new construction and new architecture. We really realized this when we toured the housing where we will be living on base. From the outside, I was less than impressed (to say the least....my best friend Mandy called while we were driving through the area and I was hysterically crying!). We spent most of the week up there looking for new construction areas that we might be able to live in off base. We were unable to find anything in our price range (we knew it was expensive up there, but a two bedroom, 1.5 bathroom apartment was $2400 a month!!!). So we decided to go back to the on base housing and give it a second chance. Once inside, they were quite nice- hardwood floors throughout, 3 stories (2 main and a basement). So we have decided to stay there, at least for a little while. We are very excited to get up there and get our new house all set up! We are ready to be out of the apartment and on to our real lives (away from school!).
I realize that in a month we are going to leave pretty much everything we know. I will graduate with my Master's of Education in Early Childhood Education at the end of May and I will be done with school for at least the next couple of years. I am so proud of Micah- he will be graduating Cum Laude with a Bachelor's of Science in Electrical Engineering. He will also commission into the Air Force as a Developmental Engineer. He is so intelligent and smart and I don't understand half of the things he talks about (relating to computers and electrical things). We are also going to be leaving our friends. We will especially miss our friends Mandy and Cole. Mandy and I met one of the first days I was in Birmingham in our Organic Chemistry (yuck!) class. We immediately started talking and have been friends since. We have grown very close, even to being in each other's weddings and going through our undergraduate degrees (early childhood and elementary education) together. She is definitely my best friend (aside from Micah) and I don't know what I am going to do without her (and that sweet little baby boy Payton!). We were able to be there for the birth of their child (in February) and we pray that they will be able to be there for the birth of our children (whenever that may be!). In the last year, we have also become very close with a classmate of Micah's, Matt, and his wife Tasha. Tasha and I have been able to relate (she is also a teacher) and we can let the boys talk about all of their engineering mumbo jumbo. We are going to miss the birth of their child (in the Fall) and we are so sad! We know that we will keep in touch with these two families, but we will be terribly sad when we move and do not have the comfort of them.
Anyways, enough of the reminiscing! We are looking forward to the next chapter that God will put in our lives. Please pray for us as we continue to ask for strength and understanding for why we will be where God is sending us!
