New Jersey Assignment

We have been living in New Jersey for 5 months already. Time has flown by with the help of all the holidays, birthdays, and short trips to visit family on the east coast. Michael has been doing a fantastic job of operating his store. They've been reaching goals and breaking records for this particular location. He really likes the opportunity that this Chick-fil-A growth market offers to serving the local community as well as the people here. But let's be honest, Michael can make friends everywhere he goes and can fit right in. 

We have met all kinds of people, tried out so many new restaurants, driven all over the state and surrounding states, and have connected with a local family here who we love so much and will hopefully be friends with forever.

My favorite part of living in New Jersey is definitely our close proximity to New York City. We have spent many Sundays in the city and made it over for a few date nights with our cousins Caroline and Hewitt. How lucky are we right now?! We can drive into NYC within 35 minutes on the weekend. It's amazing. We've driven our car most every time and have had no trouble finding street spots. Michael loves the crazy driving of the city. I tend to get scared and sink down into the passenger seat and try not to watch. I know Carmen and Brooks are probably too young, but I do hope that Carmen has memories of driving down Broadway, walking around the Rockefeller Center at Christmas time, playing in Central Park and driving through the Lincoln Tunnel just like Buddy the Elf.

This past year has been full of new adventures, first and lasts, new hellos and sad goodbyes, packing/moving/leaving/unpacking/resettling and we feel like we have grown and learned so much as a family and as a businessman. Some of the fun, more tangible things we've experienced have been
- Living in many different types of homes and neighborhoods
- Experiencing different cities and cultures
- Being a part of many churches and seeing how things are done differently but with the same passion and purpose
- Driving all types of cars, which has been a fun way of trying out cars to see which ones we like the best when the time comes to buy a new one. We've driven a Chevy Equinox, GMC Terrain, Ford F150, Ford Edge, Ford Explorer, Dodge Durango, and a Chevy Tahoe. By far our favorites have been the F150 and the Tahoe. I'm currently driving the massive Tahoe around Jersey and have become quite the expert at parking and navigating through small spaces.

I have been able to work some shifts in the store too. I started out cleaning and hosting in the dinning area as well as taking orders at the cash register. I really like interacting with guests - probably because I'm home all day with the toddlers - but good customer service and relations are a huge chunk of what I miss about running my wedding business.

We know that we are assigned to this same location in Jersey for the month of February, so if you want to come visit us act quickly because this month will fly by! And yes, we still love eating Chick-fil-A as much as we can.