Florida

I'm going to try and keep my blog updated now that my life has gotten a little more interesting. This will be an easy way for family and friends who are interested in what we're doing here in Florida to stay up to date. 

A month or so ago, Brig was provided with a job opportunity here in Florida. After a lot of discussion, we decides to take this chance and have ourselves an adventure. There were a lot of unknowns, but we felt it would be fun and exciting to take a risk and move to Florida! When would we ever get a chance like this again?!

Two weeks ago, we packed up our car and left our home in Orem to move to West Palm Beach, Florida. We could only pack anything that could fit in our trunk and backseat of our car. We did not yet have a place to call home in Florida, we were "flying by the seat of our pants", so to speak. 

The first day we drove to Albuquerque and stayed the night at a super 8 motel there. It certainly wasn't the four seasons, but we survived. 

Broken locks, scotch tape holding the floor down, holes in the wall, most likely bed bugs.... Glad I didn't have a black light with me. It's all part of the adventure, right?

The next day we drove through Texas and stayed the night in Dallas. Thankfully our hotel was much nicer. We were just sad that we couldn't stay longer and experience more of the Dallas area. 

Our last day of the road trip was the longest, although after driving for 2 straight days, you get used to the car and 12 hours doesn't seem so bad. We drove through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and finally arrived in Florida. 

Brig's friend and former mission companion Eric has been living in Destin, Florida for the past year, and was kind enough to let us stay at his apartment for a few days. We had just missed the first meeting in West Palm, and the next one wasn't for a few days. Eric had already gone down to West Palm to start working, so we stayed with his wife Ashlie and hung around Destin. 

Their apartment is literally right on the beach. To say it is gorgeous there would be an understatement. The sand is white, water is blue, and the temperature is 75 degrees. The sand is so fine it squeaks beneath your feet. We spent those few days laying on the beach, getting sunburned, eating as much BBQ and fried seafood that our bodies could handle, and having so much fun taking a much needed vacation, even if it was only for 2 days. 

On Friday we left Destin and headed down south. We stayed in Gainesville for the night, then arrived in West Palm Beach on Saturday. While in Destin, we spent a lot of time looking for housing, but were having a hard time finding anything temporary. We aren't sure how long we will be here; it could be as short as a few months, but finding anything with less than a 1 year lease was nearly impossible. We eventually found a place in Wellington, just 20 minutes outside of West Palm. Thankfully it is fully furnished, so we actually have a bed to sleep in! (We were convinced we would be sleeping on an air mattress for 3 months.) We couldn't move in for a week though. So we lived from hotel to hotel, trying to find the best deals on Hotwire. 

It has taken a while for things to get started with Brig's job, but we have only been here for a week and are patient. :)

We are now in our place and starting to settle in. We have noticed that in general, the people here are just so kind and friendly. We feel very lucky to have this opportunity to break out of our comfort zones and grow through different experiences. 

We're still getting used to some things... Like the bugs. We ran into this beauty on our walk the other night. Brig almost ran right into it. 

One thing we can't deny is the beauty of this place. 

Sometimes it is difficult not knowing where we'll be or what's going to happen, but it sure is exciting! Sometimes you just need to take a risk. The journey is always worth it!