Dear Friends,
What a year it has been! We are more than half way thru our second year of marriage and can’t believe that it’s already been that long. Seems like only a few months ago that we were splashing around in rainy Charleston on our honeymoon.
The beginning of 2010 Patrick changed positions at Transportation Insight where he has worked 5 years. He was working in the Marketing Department and honestly had one foot out the door. Upon moving to the HR department as Organizational Development Manager, he was blessed with a wonderful boss, great co-workers, and a position that fit his skill set perfectly. Since then Patrick has been instrumental in working to make Transportation Insight the “most envied place to work”, training, motivating, recruiting, and coaching employees.
May marked our One Year Anniversary and O how we celebrated! We received a complementary two-night stay at the Henderson Park Inn, where we were married and spent our wedding night. It was WONDERFUL! We enjoyed it even more the second time around, since we actually had time to enjoy the Inn and the beach. The rest of the visit was spent playing with nieces and nephews! My favorite...
The other big event in May was the purchase of our first home (Thanks to our Realtor Julie Wilson). Patrick likes to tell the story that he didn’t know it was “The One” until he stepped out the back door onto the porch. Then he quickly called me to tell me I needed to see this one. This house has been such a blessing and we have loved having visitors, parties, and just enjoying home-ownership.
We also made a couple of additions to our family – SweetT and CoffE. We rescued them from Mom’s house down in Florida, where they would have spent life being tormented by maniacal little children. Trust me – they have a VERY good life now! CoffE is the wiry crazy active one, and SweetT is on the thick side with a pension for laziness. We catch ourselves sometimes becoming those crazy cat people. But they really are entertaining little creatures sometimes.
Our big trip to St. Thomas was in September. My muscles begin to relax just thinking about it. It’s BEAUTIFUL there! If you haven’t been, you should go! I never thought I would find a beach that I love as much as Destin, but Maho Bay pretty much knocked my socks off! Several friends gave us tips on what to do and where to go, so we took their advice. Shout out to David & Meredith for the suggestion to rent a Jeep, and a special thanks to Bill & Missy for the tip about Breakaway cruise to Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke! Amazing! Thanks also to Mom and Dad for trading the Marriott points! Win Win! We’ve determined that next time we go we’ll stay on St. John. It’s just a little more laid back and natural, has better beaches and 80% of it is National Park.
Botany Bay - We felt like we were on the show LOST when we found this place. It's a master planned subdivision on the farthest west end of St. Thomas. There's nothing there yet, just a lot of roads and beautiful barely touched shorelines! Pipe Dream: Own a home in Botany Bay one day...
God has provided for me professionally too. I worked at Prudential Hickory Metro Real Estate during the first year. It was an awesome working environment and really got me acclimated to Hickory life and brought me some wonderful friends. In September I began working full-time at Broome Insurance, an independent insurance agency here in town. They hired me to work in the commercial lines department and put me on the fast track for training. I’ve been really blessed here and love the people with whom I work!
Our year was filled with other little trips to Charleston, Asheville, Boone, Charlotte, Bryson City, and Atlanta. I’ve kind of lost count. One highlight trip was the ticket Patrick bought so that I could go to Destin and meet my new niece Luna Jo Barbee, who was born November 12. What a sweet baby! She’s the kind of baby that makes a person REALLY want a baby!
Thanksgiving was spent in Boone and Winston-Salem with Patrick’s side of the family, which was really wonderful! Jason, Edyth, and Silas invited all of us to join the Greene Family Thanksgiving. We had a little run-in with a 10-point buck on Hwy 421. Let’s just say that he lived to tell about it. However, our SUV was a little worse for wear. Good thing we know some people in insurance ;) Great food and fellowship was had by all!
We’ve been blessed with quite a bit of snow this winter, with more to come, I’m sure. Christmas with the Berrys was at the Berry B&B in Hickory. We had so much fun watching Silas make out like a bandit! That kid got all the things a 2 year old boy could want from Santa. He must have been REALLY good this year!
Christmas with the Barbees was enjoyed at Jake and Amber’s new house in Knoxville. Though we missed Josh, Karin, and Mario, Ma, Papa & Aunt Sarah and all the Norman bunch terribly, we were able to spend some quality time showing the Barbee & Kelley kids what winter is like outside of Florida. Pretty sure they loved the snow as much as I do!
Now for the big news: We are moving to Edmond, Oklahoma! March 1st Patrick starts a new position at LifeChurch.tv, one of the most relevant, far-reaching and effective churches in the country. It was quite the journey to make the decision, but we feel strongly that God is in it and will bless it. We put our house on the market, let our employers know, and started wrapping our minds around the idea of living in the flat, windy plains of the Heartland. Already, we are seeing God opening doors that wouldn’t otherwise be opened. Through relationships, opportunities, conversations, and generosity we are getting confirmation that we are on the right track. As sad as we are to leave the safety and comfort of our life here in Hickory, we cannot wait to set out on this new adventure, taking each step with Faith in God our Provider. While we were there in January, finding a place to live, I interviewed for a job at LifeChurch as well. I knew that they gave me the interview to be kind to Patrick, but I told them I wanted them to hire me because of me, not him. Friday I got a call that they want ME to have the job! I also will be starting March 1st! O How He Loves Us!!! Our request is that you please pray that our home will sell quickly and that we will continue to lean in to the Lord for each decision.
We pray blessings for you and your loved ones! Please keep in touch and we’ll try to keep the blog updated so that those of you who would like to can follow along…
Living an Epic,
Patrick & Chesed Berry
What a year it has been! We are more than half way thru our second year of marriage and can’t believe that it’s already been that long. Seems like only a few months ago that we were splashing around in rainy Charleston on our honeymoon.
The beginning of 2010 Patrick changed positions at Transportation Insight where he has worked 5 years. He was working in the Marketing Department and honestly had one foot out the door. Upon moving to the HR department as Organizational Development Manager, he was blessed with a wonderful boss, great co-workers, and a position that fit his skill set perfectly. Since then Patrick has been instrumental in working to make Transportation Insight the “most envied place to work”, training, motivating, recruiting, and coaching employees.
May marked our One Year Anniversary and O how we celebrated! We received a complementary two-night stay at the Henderson Park Inn, where we were married and spent our wedding night. It was WONDERFUL! We enjoyed it even more the second time around, since we actually had time to enjoy the Inn and the beach. The rest of the visit was spent playing with nieces and nephews! My favorite...
The other big event in May was the purchase of our first home (Thanks to our Realtor Julie Wilson). Patrick likes to tell the story that he didn’t know it was “The One” until he stepped out the back door onto the porch. Then he quickly called me to tell me I needed to see this one. This house has been such a blessing and we have loved having visitors, parties, and just enjoying home-ownership.
We also made a couple of additions to our family – SweetT and CoffE. We rescued them from Mom’s house down in Florida, where they would have spent life being tormented by maniacal little children. Trust me – they have a VERY good life now! CoffE is the wiry crazy active one, and SweetT is on the thick side with a pension for laziness. We catch ourselves sometimes becoming those crazy cat people. But they really are entertaining little creatures sometimes.
Our big trip to St. Thomas was in September. My muscles begin to relax just thinking about it. It’s BEAUTIFUL there! If you haven’t been, you should go! I never thought I would find a beach that I love as much as Destin, but Maho Bay pretty much knocked my socks off! Several friends gave us tips on what to do and where to go, so we took their advice. Shout out to David & Meredith for the suggestion to rent a Jeep, and a special thanks to Bill & Missy for the tip about Breakaway cruise to Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke! Amazing! Thanks also to Mom and Dad for trading the Marriott points! Win Win! We’ve determined that next time we go we’ll stay on St. John. It’s just a little more laid back and natural, has better beaches and 80% of it is National Park.
The views from our Resort
St. John - Turtle Bay
Virgin Gorda
God has provided for me professionally too. I worked at Prudential Hickory Metro Real Estate during the first year. It was an awesome working environment and really got me acclimated to Hickory life and brought me some wonderful friends. In September I began working full-time at Broome Insurance, an independent insurance agency here in town. They hired me to work in the commercial lines department and put me on the fast track for training. I’ve been really blessed here and love the people with whom I work!
Our year was filled with other little trips to Charleston, Asheville, Boone, Charlotte, Bryson City, and Atlanta. I’ve kind of lost count. One highlight trip was the ticket Patrick bought so that I could go to Destin and meet my new niece Luna Jo Barbee, who was born November 12. What a sweet baby! She’s the kind of baby that makes a person REALLY want a baby!
Thanksgiving was spent in Boone and Winston-Salem with Patrick’s side of the family, which was really wonderful! Jason, Edyth, and Silas invited all of us to join the Greene Family Thanksgiving. We had a little run-in with a 10-point buck on Hwy 421. Let’s just say that he lived to tell about it. However, our SUV was a little worse for wear. Good thing we know some people in insurance ;) Great food and fellowship was had by all!
We’ve been blessed with quite a bit of snow this winter, with more to come, I’m sure. Christmas with the Berrys was at the Berry B&B in Hickory. We had so much fun watching Silas make out like a bandit! That kid got all the things a 2 year old boy could want from Santa. He must have been REALLY good this year!
Christmas with the Barbees was enjoyed at Jake and Amber’s new house in Knoxville. Though we missed Josh, Karin, and Mario, Ma, Papa & Aunt Sarah and all the Norman bunch terribly, we were able to spend some quality time showing the Barbee & Kelley kids what winter is like outside of Florida. Pretty sure they loved the snow as much as I do!
Now for the big news: We are moving to Edmond, Oklahoma! March 1st Patrick starts a new position at LifeChurch.tv, one of the most relevant, far-reaching and effective churches in the country. It was quite the journey to make the decision, but we feel strongly that God is in it and will bless it. We put our house on the market, let our employers know, and started wrapping our minds around the idea of living in the flat, windy plains of the Heartland. Already, we are seeing God opening doors that wouldn’t otherwise be opened. Through relationships, opportunities, conversations, and generosity we are getting confirmation that we are on the right track. As sad as we are to leave the safety and comfort of our life here in Hickory, we cannot wait to set out on this new adventure, taking each step with Faith in God our Provider. While we were there in January, finding a place to live, I interviewed for a job at LifeChurch as well. I knew that they gave me the interview to be kind to Patrick, but I told them I wanted them to hire me because of me, not him. Friday I got a call that they want ME to have the job! I also will be starting March 1st! O How He Loves Us!!! Our request is that you please pray that our home will sell quickly and that we will continue to lean in to the Lord for each decision.
We pray blessings for you and your loved ones! Please keep in touch and we’ll try to keep the blog updated so that those of you who would like to can follow along…
Living an Epic,
Patrick & Chesed Berry
3 comments:
Love you blog. Pleas blog often and keep us up to date on your Epic Life. God is Good all the time. Love you both.
I enjoyed reading every word of your blog. You have a BLESSED life. Thanks for taking the time out to write all of this down for us to read. Love ya'll so much and we are looking forward to watching what God is going to unfold for you as you begin a new leg of this Epic Journey. Love, Mom
Wishing you the best in your new adventure. God is good.
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