... So are the days of our lives.
We had a great week of babysitting & spending quality time with our nieces. Angie, Katey & Madey were in Dallas for the week so Angie could attend a conference for work. Parisa had a chance to really spend quality time with the girls & they had an absolute blast. Pictures soon to come.
No updates on the move. The apartment we wanted didn't work out & no jobs for either of us yet. We're hoping our August visit will really help tie up some loose ends in regards to jobs & housing, although we'd hoped it would all have been taken care of by now. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts & prayers.
The search continues...
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
T Minus One Month
The countdown to move day continues... we are officially ONE MONTH out!
We are ecstatic... and terrified. We still don't have an apartment secured, & we still don't have jobs. It's not for lack of trying... we are just in waiting limbo. Jonathan was able to register for his classes this week, & now has a definite school schedule; we are very excited about that! We are really looking forward to his 4 day new student orientation, & Parisa even gets to go with Jonathan for two of the orientation days :) Pretty cool.
Please continue to really pray for us as we are heading down the home stretch. Parisa especially is getting really anxious & we are just really hoping to get work & apartment confirmations as soon as possible.
This weekend we headed to Austin to visit Parisa's best friend since freshman year of high school, Melissa (or as she is more affectionately known- Missa). We got to attend a Roller Derby Pillow Fight match, go to a birthday bash with a huge, adult-sized Slip N Slide, & go swimming in Barton Springs. We even ate kebabs from a stand at 2 am & Parisa tried her first crepes. It was an overall very relaxing, much needed & awesome trip. Thank you to Missa & Marcus for entertaining us & being such wonderful & gracious hosts.
We are ecstatic... and terrified. We still don't have an apartment secured, & we still don't have jobs. It's not for lack of trying... we are just in waiting limbo. Jonathan was able to register for his classes this week, & now has a definite school schedule; we are very excited about that! We are really looking forward to his 4 day new student orientation, & Parisa even gets to go with Jonathan for two of the orientation days :) Pretty cool.
Please continue to really pray for us as we are heading down the home stretch. Parisa especially is getting really anxious & we are just really hoping to get work & apartment confirmations as soon as possible.
This weekend we headed to Austin to visit Parisa's best friend since freshman year of high school, Melissa (or as she is more affectionately known- Missa). We got to attend a Roller Derby Pillow Fight match, go to a birthday bash with a huge, adult-sized Slip N Slide, & go swimming in Barton Springs. We even ate kebabs from a stand at 2 am & Parisa tried her first crepes. It was an overall very relaxing, much needed & awesome trip. Thank you to Missa & Marcus for entertaining us & being such wonderful & gracious hosts.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
No Better & No Worse
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), we have nothing new to report.
We enjoyed a fairly quiet weekend. Nothing dramatic has changed, nothing special has happened. We will officially be going to NYC from August 8th until August 14th. We were going to stay 2 extra days, but the weekend of August 14th will be our last weekend in Dallas, so we figured it would be best spent surrounding ourselves with friends & family. It'll be nice to get our bearings of the area before we move out there the following week, & we get to spend Parisa's birthday celebrating in NYC. That's pretty stinking cool, & something we're both really looking forward to.
Other than that, we are still waiting in limbo for the apartment to get approved & a job to be handed over. We have decided to get a 2 bedroom townhome, so we strongly encourage all friends & family members to seriously consider making a trip to visit. Parisa gets especially homesick & sentimental, so please know that this is not an empty offer. We mean it when we say come visit! We have to wait for approval for our home still, & are anxious to get that locked down. Hopefully we'll hear back next week...
We're also really looking forward to seeing our nieces next week! Parisa gets to babysit them for 2 days, & has already planned a list of activities to maximize their time together. We can't wait to see the girls! We'll also be heading to Austin this weekend to get some R&R with one of Parisa's oldest & best friends Melissa. Missa, as she's more affectionately known, will be moving to Chicago about the same time we are moving to NY, so it'll be a treat to get together before we all head to the north.
Please continue to keep us in your thoughts & prayers!
Signing off,
Jonathan & Parisa
We enjoyed a fairly quiet weekend. Nothing dramatic has changed, nothing special has happened. We will officially be going to NYC from August 8th until August 14th. We were going to stay 2 extra days, but the weekend of August 14th will be our last weekend in Dallas, so we figured it would be best spent surrounding ourselves with friends & family. It'll be nice to get our bearings of the area before we move out there the following week, & we get to spend Parisa's birthday celebrating in NYC. That's pretty stinking cool, & something we're both really looking forward to.
Other than that, we are still waiting in limbo for the apartment to get approved & a job to be handed over. We have decided to get a 2 bedroom townhome, so we strongly encourage all friends & family members to seriously consider making a trip to visit. Parisa gets especially homesick & sentimental, so please know that this is not an empty offer. We mean it when we say come visit! We have to wait for approval for our home still, & are anxious to get that locked down. Hopefully we'll hear back next week...
We're also really looking forward to seeing our nieces next week! Parisa gets to babysit them for 2 days, & has already planned a list of activities to maximize their time together. We can't wait to see the girls! We'll also be heading to Austin this weekend to get some R&R with one of Parisa's oldest & best friends Melissa. Missa, as she's more affectionately known, will be moving to Chicago about the same time we are moving to NY, so it'll be a treat to get together before we all head to the north.
Please continue to keep us in your thoughts & prayers!
Signing off,
Jonathan & Parisa
Friday, July 10, 2009
You're the Target That I'm Aiming At
Warning to Readers: You will see Coldplay quoted entirely too much in our blogs, as Parisa is obessessed. If the blog titles don't always make sense, now you know why, & we apologize in advance. :)
Now that that's out of the way... Quite a bit has happened over the course of the past few days!
First, we got to spend Fourth of July weekend with Parisa's favorite person in the whole world, her little brother Cyrus. We all hung out at home, watching movies & eating waaaaay too much junk food. Then we geared up our picnic basket & coolers & attempted to watch fireworks in Williams Square in Las Colinas. Going to Williams Square for Fourth of July is a Bahrami family tradition. However, we were pretty disappointed by the fireworks display this year (or lack thereof) and how poorly the event was planned. Despite that, we all shared a great weekend together. We even managed to fit in a trip to Yogurtville. Of course. :)
The Buckles family reunion was in Virginia during this same period, & we were sooo sad to have to miss that. We really wanted to go but the expense was something we couldn't afford right now, as the move is our priority. We have heard wonderful reports of how much fun everyone had & the pictures all look so awesome! We're really sad we couldn't be there but have already started planning a trip to visit the Buckles family when we move to NJ, which will be an infinitely shorter drive.
It feels like we made some serious "NJ Move" progress this week (although we haven't technically been able to cross anything off our To Do list). We found the perfect apartment! It's right in Madison, half a mile from Jonathan's school (walking/ biking distance! Hooray!), they have 1 & 2 bedroom units, they're pet friendly, and both units are available on our move in date! It almost seems too good to be true. We filed our application this week, & they will be doing a thorough renter's and credit history check. Please pray that we are approved for this apartment complex. The price & units are exactly what we've been searching for. It would be such a huge blessing to have this major task marked off the list. I know we would both feel a huge sense of relief.
Also, previously (in fact, in the last post I think) we had mentioned that we were praying for a financial blessing or for an opportunity to present itself that would allow one of us, if not both, to return to NYC/NJ once more before we move there. Well, ask & you shall receive. The family Parisa works for has decided to take a family vacation the entire week of her birthday. Therefore, they are giving her one week's paid vacation time. This is huge because we didn't have any days off that would give time or opportunity to leave Dallas for more than a weekend at a time, & most places in NY/NJ are closed on the weekend. Furthermore, Parisa has been gifted a plane ticket to NYC for the entire week!!! This news is HUGE for us. Now, we can take the money we were going to use to buy one ticket & put it towards a ticket for Jonathan, so we can both go! To say we are happy is the world's biggest understatement. We couldn't have asked for this to come at a better time. Now, we can go really get an idea of what is in the area we are going to live in, how far things are from our apartment, get more familiar with the roads, etc. We are so freaking happy & excited about this. It's funny, you always hear the cliche "ask & you shall receive" but I've never had such a blatant answer to a prayer before. God is good :)
Parisa has a few good leads on jobs in Nj thanks to a great friend of ours, Kelly. She was able to provide us with some "insider" information which has been invaluable & we can't thank her enough for all the extra time & effort she's put in to helping out with the job search. Thank you all for your continued thoughts, prayers, & support, and definitely keep them coming. Like I said before, it feels like we really made some good progress this week but we still have much to do :)
Now that that's out of the way... Quite a bit has happened over the course of the past few days!
First, we got to spend Fourth of July weekend with Parisa's favorite person in the whole world, her little brother Cyrus. We all hung out at home, watching movies & eating waaaaay too much junk food. Then we geared up our picnic basket & coolers & attempted to watch fireworks in Williams Square in Las Colinas. Going to Williams Square for Fourth of July is a Bahrami family tradition. However, we were pretty disappointed by the fireworks display this year (or lack thereof) and how poorly the event was planned. Despite that, we all shared a great weekend together. We even managed to fit in a trip to Yogurtville. Of course. :)
The Buckles family reunion was in Virginia during this same period, & we were sooo sad to have to miss that. We really wanted to go but the expense was something we couldn't afford right now, as the move is our priority. We have heard wonderful reports of how much fun everyone had & the pictures all look so awesome! We're really sad we couldn't be there but have already started planning a trip to visit the Buckles family when we move to NJ, which will be an infinitely shorter drive.
It feels like we made some serious "NJ Move" progress this week (although we haven't technically been able to cross anything off our To Do list). We found the perfect apartment! It's right in Madison, half a mile from Jonathan's school (walking/ biking distance! Hooray!), they have 1 & 2 bedroom units, they're pet friendly, and both units are available on our move in date! It almost seems too good to be true. We filed our application this week, & they will be doing a thorough renter's and credit history check. Please pray that we are approved for this apartment complex. The price & units are exactly what we've been searching for. It would be such a huge blessing to have this major task marked off the list. I know we would both feel a huge sense of relief.
Also, previously (in fact, in the last post I think) we had mentioned that we were praying for a financial blessing or for an opportunity to present itself that would allow one of us, if not both, to return to NYC/NJ once more before we move there. Well, ask & you shall receive. The family Parisa works for has decided to take a family vacation the entire week of her birthday. Therefore, they are giving her one week's paid vacation time. This is huge because we didn't have any days off that would give time or opportunity to leave Dallas for more than a weekend at a time, & most places in NY/NJ are closed on the weekend. Furthermore, Parisa has been gifted a plane ticket to NYC for the entire week!!! This news is HUGE for us. Now, we can take the money we were going to use to buy one ticket & put it towards a ticket for Jonathan, so we can both go! To say we are happy is the world's biggest understatement. We couldn't have asked for this to come at a better time. Now, we can go really get an idea of what is in the area we are going to live in, how far things are from our apartment, get more familiar with the roads, etc. We are so freaking happy & excited about this. It's funny, you always hear the cliche "ask & you shall receive" but I've never had such a blatant answer to a prayer before. God is good :)
Parisa has a few good leads on jobs in Nj thanks to a great friend of ours, Kelly. She was able to provide us with some "insider" information which has been invaluable & we can't thank her enough for all the extra time & effort she's put in to helping out with the job search. Thank you all for your continued thoughts, prayers, & support, and definitely keep them coming. Like I said before, it feels like we really made some good progress this week but we still have much to do :)
And this random picture goes out to our nieces, whom we miss terribly & cannot WAIT to see in less than 2 weeks! (This is from our last Buda visit, when Uncle Jonathan thought it'd be funny to sit Madeline's princess chair while playing Katey's guitar. It was a hoot.)
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Trying To Figure It All Out
The big move is about 6-7 weeks away, and we are still apartment-less & job-less. Not exactly what we'd been envisioning or hoping for.
We found out that Jonathan cannot register for classes at Drew until orientation- which is the week after we move to Madison, NJ. Not knowing your school schedule makes it impossible to apply for & be hired at a job, as most employers like to know when you will actually be able to work. Crazy, I know. As for Parisa, she's applied to countless positions in nearby Madison area hospitals & clinics, but to no avail. She's been pushing hard to find a job in the healthcare field & job searches daily, but you either need just a high school diploma or your PhD. It seems like there's no in between anymore. She continues looking daily at job boards, but if this continues, we'll both be happy to take any "starter" job we can get, & really make connections & find more permanent work once we are actually in Madison. As Angie said, Parisa could be a barista, & a good one :) Again, not ideal, but income is income. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts & prayers, as the job market is obviously not great right now.
As for the apartment situation, Parisa has found a few great places right near Drew, but we'd still really like to make a weekend trip to Madison to see it for ourselves. Financially it doesn't look like it'd be possible, although we have been discussing Parisa going to Madison alone for a weekend to figure out our living situation. Jonathan would rent us a shack if it were cheap & close to Drew, which is why Parisa will be (hopefully) making this trip :)
Other than that, there has been no changes in the Kennedy family. We are house & dog sitting for Jonathan's parents while they are in Virginia for the Buckles family reunion. We SO badly wanted to go but with all the upcoming trips & moving, it wasn't possible this year. We were really looking forward to spending the week in VA with the Buckles family, & for Parisa to get to meet & know them. Hopefully we'll be able to make the next family reunion! We can't wait to see pictures though.
We have posted about 200 pictures from our Greece honeymoon on Parisa's facebook page. For those of you who are interested, please feel free to check out the photos at the following link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072070&id=44406868&l=33a56b4d7d
We'll leave you with a few of our favorite shots of Greece:
This is a shot from outside the Acropolis, with the city of Athens behind us
Standing at the Temple of Zeus (Olympion)
Sunset in Naxos. This is a shot from our hotel, looking at the Temple of Apollo
We found out that Jonathan cannot register for classes at Drew until orientation- which is the week after we move to Madison, NJ. Not knowing your school schedule makes it impossible to apply for & be hired at a job, as most employers like to know when you will actually be able to work. Crazy, I know. As for Parisa, she's applied to countless positions in nearby Madison area hospitals & clinics, but to no avail. She's been pushing hard to find a job in the healthcare field & job searches daily, but you either need just a high school diploma or your PhD. It seems like there's no in between anymore. She continues looking daily at job boards, but if this continues, we'll both be happy to take any "starter" job we can get, & really make connections & find more permanent work once we are actually in Madison. As Angie said, Parisa could be a barista, & a good one :) Again, not ideal, but income is income. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts & prayers, as the job market is obviously not great right now.
As for the apartment situation, Parisa has found a few great places right near Drew, but we'd still really like to make a weekend trip to Madison to see it for ourselves. Financially it doesn't look like it'd be possible, although we have been discussing Parisa going to Madison alone for a weekend to figure out our living situation. Jonathan would rent us a shack if it were cheap & close to Drew, which is why Parisa will be (hopefully) making this trip :)
Other than that, there has been no changes in the Kennedy family. We are house & dog sitting for Jonathan's parents while they are in Virginia for the Buckles family reunion. We SO badly wanted to go but with all the upcoming trips & moving, it wasn't possible this year. We were really looking forward to spending the week in VA with the Buckles family, & for Parisa to get to meet & know them. Hopefully we'll be able to make the next family reunion! We can't wait to see pictures though.
We have posted about 200 pictures from our Greece honeymoon on Parisa's facebook page. For those of you who are interested, please feel free to check out the photos at the following link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072070&id=44406868&l=33a56b4d7d
We'll leave you with a few of our favorite shots of Greece:
This is a shot from outside the Acropolis, with the city of Athens behind usStanding at the Temple of Zeus (Olympion)Sunset in Naxos. This is a shot from our hotel, looking at the Temple of Apollo
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