Life Stories: June 2006 Archives
Yep, yet another Life Story post. Take it or leave it!
Anyway, I'm really scared about moving here! The state is beautiful and everyone is really nice, but... wow, it's a huge change for me. I wasn't at all scared of getting married, but this move is really intimidating. I'm not good with big changes. I'm very adaptable when it comes to small things, as long as I've got a secure foundation. However, even moving across Los Angeles used to scare me, and now I'm moving across the country! Still, I know that my real foundation isn't where I live, it's God, so I'm trusting him and trying to use what wisdom he's given me.
Has anyone else moved across the country? Were you scared? Did it work out? Any regrets? I'd especially like to hear from anyone who left Los Angeles for a fly-over state.
Well, it looks like we've decided to go with a Type 2 house, as I indicated in the comments to the previous post. The grounds are absolutely amazing, and the commute is about 20 minutes door-to-door. That's a little longer than I'm used to in the mornings, but about how long it took me to get home in the evenings from my job in Los Angeles.
Concerns: The house is in a very nice neighborhood, but most of the neighbors appear to be older folks. I like old people just fine, but it doesn't seem likely that we're going to meet many people our own age that will live close by. Of course, I don't know many people our age who live near our house in Los Angeles either, so maybe that won't be a problem. I'm used to braving the streets of LA to see my friends, so it shouldn't be any more difficult to drive a little here in Missouri. I'm hoping that the drive (maybe about 5 miles farther out than other, less nice areas) won't deter whatever new friends we make from visiting. DeoDuce knows people here, but they're down in Chesterfield, which looks to be about 20 miles away. Still, there have to be cool people closer by....
Also, there are a million churches here, but we have no idea yet where we'll join. We aren't centrally located in the metro area, so it could be that we end up going to church somewhat far away. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see. Pray for that, though, because we really need to find the place God wants us. We haven't had the mental energy to spend on this problem yet, but once we're here we're going to start looking around. If anyone knows any good Baptist churches in STL, let me know! We're not necessarily restricted to Baptist churches, but those are probably the most likely ones that will match our beliefs ( / the truth).
Does anyone have any experience flying dogs across the country? We've pretty much decided we're going to drive because we're scared that our dog will get killed or hurt himself, but does anyone know much about it?
It's my last day of work at my current job, and the middle day of the continuing prep to sell our house and move to St. Louis. Yay!
I figured that leaving Los Angeles for St. Louis would trade earthquakes for tornados, but now reader JV informs me that St. Louis is on the New Madrid fault line.
Most people think that destructive earthquakes only occur in the western United States. To the contrary, St. Louis is located in the most active seismic zone east of the Rocky Mountains. In the winter of 1811-1812 the Central Mississippi Valley was struck by three of the most powerful earthquakes in U.S. history. The Great New Madrid Earthquake was actually a series of over 2000 shocks in five months, five of which were 8.0 or more in magnitude. Eighteen of these rang church bells on the Eastern seaboard. The very land itself was destroyed in the Missouri Bootheel, making it unfit for farming for many years. It was the largest burst of seismic energy east of the Rocky Mountains in the history of the U.S. and was several times larger than the San Francisco quake of 1905.Emergency planners, engineers and seismologists believe that an upheaval equal to the Great New Madrid Earthquake of 1811-1812 only occurs every 500-600 years. Their greatest concerns are the 6.0-7.6 events, which do have significant probabilities in the near future. A 6.0 shock has a 90% chance by the year 2040. Damaging earthquakes of this magnitude are a virtual certainty within the lifetimes of our children.
Well that's nice! Gotta avoid brick houses.
My big announcement is... the Williams are moving to Missouri! I gave my two-week notice to my boss today, and we're listing our house ASAP and getting set to move to the outskirts of St. Louis. Crazy, I know, but true.
