The move to New York

Last February we found out we were moving to New York to finish Adrian's residency. He matched into a dermatology program in Far Rockaway, Queens. This came after a whole year of upsets and unknowns for us. The year prior we did not match at all into any residency program and that was a big fall for us. The path we had planned our life down was not working out. So, we moved to Florida to do a transitional year thinking it was going to put us a year behind in residency. That it was essentially an extra year. I had prayed when this happened and I knew the Lord's hand was in it. But I did not know what the Lord had in plan.

So, Adrian applied again for residency positions and he did interviews again, this time so unsure of himself that he applied to several different fields of medicine. He had a good doctor mentor in Cedar City, R. Colbert, who encouraged him to apply to dermatology. Adrian reluctantly did thinking he did not have good enough grades to get any interviews. He ended up getting one single interview. The chances of matching there was very very slim. He had other offers for residency positions that would start him out as a second-year and essentially count our year in Florida. They seemed promising. In fact, he was very close to signing a contract with one.

But to our great surprise, we matched into dermatology, which was a huge blessing from the Lord. We can now see the Lord's hand in many many things. Dermatology will give us a great family life with weekends off, allowing Adrian can go to church with us and serve in the church. There's no weekends, no holidays, no emergency calls. It really has the best schedule. This is a better path then we could have made for ourselves. We had to not have matched for the first match and done and transitional year to be able to get into dermatology. Adrian had some good letters of recommendation that he thinks got him that single dermatology interview. As an added blessing, I have a friend who I knew from Kirksville who moved here at the same time. She has two boys the same ages as mine. We were visiting teaching companions in Kirksville and now we are visiting teaching companions here. H. Christenson has been a good friend.

This has proved to us that if we live the way God wants us to, he will put us down the path we're meant to be, even if we cannot do it ourselves.

Moves are always hectic. This move proved to be as well. Adrian had to go to New York and start his new job June 20, 2016. We could not get into a house in New York until July 1. So he had to go early to start. My parents came to Florida to help me pack up and move with the kids. The house we are renting in New York the previous tenants ended up leaving a week early, so we got in the house a week early but still not in time for Adrian to start. So, Adrian left to New York and stayed with Christenson's while my parents and I finished packing and moving. The best moving scenario we came up with was for my parents and I and the kids to drive to Jacksonville Florida (where flights were cheaper) which was four hours north, towing our cargo trailer with all of our stuff and dropping my mom and I and the kids off at the airport to fly to JFK. Adrian flew into Jacksonville Florida at the same time to meet up with us and help my dad drive. So that is what we did. We left Florida at 11 PM June 24 to catch a flight in Jacksonville at 6 AM. We had one of the trailer tires blow at 2 AM. But quickly got that changed. My mom and I flew with the The kids no problem, and Christenson's picked us up from the airport and took us to our new home in Levittown, New York. Adrian and my dad's trip was not so smooth. They had several tires on the trailer blow due to the axels being bent from the trailer being overloaded. They had to move the load around in the heat of the day in the South and it was hard to get the trailer to work being so loaded. One funny story is they stopped to rest for three hours and sleep. Adrian laid down on the back seat of the truck and when it was time to go my dad could not wake him. My dad accidentally opened up the truck door which set off the truck alarm which startled Adrian and woke him up quick. 

Adrian and my dad arrived and they were so hysterically exhausted it was actually pretty hilarious to see. We unloaded and had help from the ward to carry the big heavy things. The next day, Adrian had to go back to work and my parents had to leave, so that left me to finish unpacking the whole house. It was nice to get here. The neighborhood is really nice and the weather was not so sweltering hot. I remember talking to the neighbor about how the cool breeze felt so good. He chuckled and said that it was a warm breeze to him. We ended up selling the trailer a little bit later, but we still have the truck that I drive the kids around with, having three car seats in the back.

 

 
  Here's a last photo of our home in Florida. Along with the trailer we used to move with.

 

The boys on the airplane. They did so good. They just watched movies and ate snacks. Maya slept the whole time. It was a pretty good flight. I do remember at one time when it was silent on the airplane, and Levi burst out in one of his big laughs and people around us looked at us and chuckled 😀.