So…
We’re all in Boston. I was so missing my family and I can’t tell you how nice it is to finally have them here.
We packed up on Thursday and loaded the truck on Friday. THANK YOU to those of you who helped us out. There’s no way we could have done it all without you. I can’t believe we packed our whole house in a 10’X8’X9’ space! At least we know it will fit in a New York apartment! Friday night we got the chance to hang out with our best friends for dinner and a major RockBand session afterward. Check out my Facebook page for the pics a bit later. It was so cool to be able to leave Portland on that note. I loved it! Meredith and I ended up sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags in our house that night since everything was already in the truck. Saturday morning we woke up early and swung by Stumptown Coffee one last time on our way to the airpot. It was an emotional moment. I flew out on Saturday morning so that I could be at the Gallery Church leading worship in the two services on Sunday. Meredith stayed behind with the boys so she could get the house all cleaned up and then walk our renter through and give him the keys on Monday. The boys all spent time with their best friends in the days leading up to their departure. They had such a great time and can’t wait to Skype it up with them from NYC. Mer worked like crazy trying to get everything ready and then hopped on a plane with the boys at 6am this morning to fly out to Boston where they will stay with her brother, Brian, until December 1st – when we hope to move to the city. It was quite a journey for them. They flew out from Portland to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City to Logan Airport in Boston, Logan to downtown Boston on a train, downtown Boston to the ferry by foot, the ferry to Cohasset, MA, and then a short car ride to their house. They loved it!
From here…
My schedule is a bit crazy from now until December, but Mer and the boys will be here homeschooling and hanging with family. It’s beautiful in Boston!
So I will hang with the family tomorrow and then leave early in the morning on Thursday for New York. I’ll spend Thursday – Saturday at a Gallery Church staff retreat to Greenwich, Connecticut. I’ll lead worship on Sunday and then spend Monday and Tuesday scouring NYC for an apartment. A bit on that though…
It looks like we might have found an apartment. Please pray with us that the details will come together. They are currently renovating it, but I’ll be able to see it on Saturday hopefully. It’s in the right school district for the right price with the right kind of space we need. So pray with us, please!
So after solidifying an apartment on Monday or Tuesday (we’re praying), I’ll head back up to Boston to spend Thanksgiving with my family there. It should be beautiful. I’ll head back down that Saturday for the Gallery gatherings. Monday, December 1st, Mer and the boys will hop on a bus, move to the city, and we’ll unload the truck into our apartment (again…we’re praying).
How you can pray…
- Pray for strength for me as I travel back and forth from Boston
- Pray for Meredith as she home schools the boys throughout the next weeks and for wisdom as to what happens school-wise after that
- Pray that things work out with this apartment
- Pray for continued support to come in – that God would burden hearts to partner with us in this mission to the city
Thanks for your prayers, your friendship and your partnership! We love you guys! Thanks for following us on this journey!
~Paul
Sorry about the silence…
Things have been absolutely nuts and I’m looking forward to sitting down and blogging it all out. But that time is not now. For now, please pray with us. We’re moving forward with the way we believe God has led us. Please continue to pray that our support comes in. Meredith and I believe that God has led us this far and that he will continue to guide us and provide for us as we follow him. So far this journey has been a step by step process. We take a step and he provides a bit more. This is, by far, the biggest leap of faith we have ever taken. And that is not a “check me out” pride thing, but rather a “please pray for us ’cause this is freakin crazy” thing. We are learning so much about faith and belief, along with many other things, and I’m looking forward to processing some of that here with you on the Urban Journal.
A quick update:
We load the truck up tomorrow. It turns out that we get to play Tetris with our stuff as we pack our whole house in a 12X6X8 truck. A good exercise since our apartment in New York won’t be much bigger. ;-] After we’re done loading everything up and cleaning the house we’ll go out for one last little get together with some best friends here in Portland. Saturday morning I fly out to New York for good. Crazy! Meredith will stay here with some friends and will walk our renter through the house on Monday. She and the boys fly out to Boston on Tuesday and they will stay there with her brother and sister-in-law and their kids for two weeks while I commute back and forth from there to NYC on the train. We’ll take the next two weeks to lock in an apartment and then we hope to be able to move in to the city on December 1. Our stuff will stay in the truck until that time. At this point in time we’re planning on moving to Brooklyn, unless God does a miracle and we’re able to get into the Upper West Side. Brooklyn is cool though. It feels a lot like Portland. And the train ride is no more than a half hour to the office.
Please be praying as we take this step out. Here are a few things you can pray for today for those of you who are:
- Pray for strength for us as we finish packing the house and load the truck tomorrow (Friday).
- Pray for strength for Meredith as she takes the boys to Boston and homeschools them there for two weeks on her own.
- Pray for strength for me as I fly out on Saturday, lead worship twice on Sunday, head into a full day of ministry on Monday, head up to Boston Monday night, head back down to New York Wednesday night for a Gallery Staff Retreat Thursday, Friday and Saturday, lead worship twice on Sunday, look for apartments on Monday and hopefully have one solidified by that point in time, head to Boston for a Thanksgiving by ourselves as a family. Pray also for strength and energy as I head into the Advent season and the workload that will bring at the Gallery.
- Pray that our financial and prayer support would increase in these next few weeks. This is vital! If you would like to support us click on the tab in the upper right hand corner of this page.
Release Date: October 21, 2008
Copyright 2008 Indelible Creative Group
Oh He’s A Wonderful Savior off of my album, Alright, was released on this Top 20 Indie Worship CD on iTunes as well as stores everywhere. Check it out at iTunes by clicking on the image album image above or the iTunes link below.
I’m guessing that the person who will be the MOST surprised to see me posting on this blog is my very own husband. This is for you, Paul…
I’d love to give all of you a little update from the Ramey homefront, about how we’re faring through this transition. Truth is, we’re learning that one day at a time is plenty, thank you, and that God is sustaining our faith in this small increment. Some days are more difficult than others, and we are thankful for the encouragement we are receiving from all of you, our family and friends. God is using all of you to keep us going in this uncertainty!
Today, we are mostly WAITING. Our house is up for rent (we have a potential renter- pray that this works out!), we’ve sold most of our things, our support letter is in the hands of everyone we know, and whew! Paul is meeting with people, continuing to wrap things up at Ethnos, and finishing up a few house projects. I’m finishing the cleaning/painting, spending time with friends, and doing Mom-work. That’s one thing that never changes, and I’m honestly glad for the routine.
As far as New York is concerned, and the timing of our trip, we’re considering a few options. The first is, of course, that we’d be in the Upper West Side on November 1st, which would take a miraculous work for God to provide all of the finances we need in just the next few days. We’re praying for this, but also trying to wisely plan in case that doesn’t happen. We’re working on option #2, which is to get to New York mid-late November and rent an apartment in Brooklyn, which is significantly less expensive. Paul and I sat down and prepared a “bare-bones” budget that we could live on short-term. I’m sure there are options 3,4, and more, but this is as far as we’ve gotten.
I hope this helps all of you catch a glimpse of this process, and leads you to pray for us in specific ways. We are praying for all of YOU too, and thank God for your partnership in this journey. Here’s our family memory verse from last week, and we’ve been reciting it over and over to ourselves… “And my God will supply every need OF YOURS, according to His riches, in glory in Christ Jesus.” Phil 4:19. God is faithful to us AND to you, and we are counting on that.
Today
So I’m sitting here looking at my computer in a kind of delirium. It’s been a long weekend and very long 27 hour day. It’s hitting Mer and I that this is happening and that things really need to get moving in the next few days and weeks. Here are a few things you can pray for RIGHT NOW:
- Pray we will find someone to rent our house to. We do not want to sell our house in this market, and since the rental market is better we are trying to make that happen. If you know of someone, please have them call or email me. We would like to have someone who is trustworthy and will make their payments consistently and on time. The rent will be in the $1200-$1250 range.
- Pray for those at the Gallery Church who are looking for an apartment for our family. We spent part of the weekend narrowing down the school districts that will be best for the boys, so that has helped narrow down the neighborhoods we’re looking at. Pray we can find the right place for our family to call home.
- Pray for our financial support. Right now we are 3 weeks out and support is just starting to come in. Pray that we would rest in God as the provider of all our needs, not man. Again, if you have questions about the budget and our finances, please do not hesitate to email or call!
I took this from the plane with my phone when we took off this morning.
- Pray for our relationships as a family - that the high stress during this time would drive us toward Christ and each other, not away.
By now many of you have received the first edition of our Rameytimes newsletter and Mer and I wanted to make sure to let you know that we really would like you to ask if you have any questions about it’s content. We recognize that it probably doesn’t answer every question you might have, so please don’t hesitate to either comment to this post, send us an email or give us a call. All the info you need to make that happen is on the newsletter.
Also, it would be cool to see who is following the blog anyway, so even if you don’t have any questions, throw down a comment.
Lastly, don’t forget to snag the RSS feed to the blog if you’re wanting to follow our journey. We really need our friends to go on this journey with us and this is a big part of how that can happen.
It’s good to be here in NY. Mer and I both feel that. But both of us also feel like it is very surreal to be here. As we walk around Manhattan we can’t actually believe that we are going to live here - God willing and if support comes in. We are excited, overwhelmed and sad at the same time. This is our new home and as we walked around today we were struck with the incredible need that is here. These people need hope and purpose beyond their jobs and money. That is why it seems like God is calling us at such a pivotal time in New York. We are smack dab in the middle of this national financial crisis and many who are most affected live in the neighborhoods we will live in and near.
Gallery Church had their Fall Festival today at PS9 (public school #9) and it was a beautiful New York day to do it. They ran a bunch of games for the kids in the neighborhoods and community and tons of people came. It was very cool to see the way the church is trying to be light and love in the midst of such a crazy time in the city. It was a ton of work, but a lot of people chipped in to make it happen and there was a church from out of state that brought a bunch of college students on a missions trip to come and serve the city by helping Gallery Church with the festival. Love that! After that we went back to the Coes for dinner and Freddy T, Susan, Jack (their 2 year old son) came over after a long day for them of unpacking their stuff in their new apartment.
Tomorrow I head to a breakfast meeting with Aaron Coe (lead pastor), Freddy T Wyatt (teaching pastor) and Tim Simpson (associate pastor) at 7am to meet for the first time with just the four of us. Should be a great time. Then I’ll head to where the church meets (PS9) to practice with the band. I’ll lead worship at 10:30 for the Gallery’s morning gathering on the Upper West Side (84th & Columbus if you’re interested in messin’ with street view in Google Earth). After the gathering Mer and I will head out and meet with the whole worship team for lunch. Looking forward to that. Once we’re done with lunch we’ll have about an hour before we jump on the subway and head down to Rustin High School in Chelsea where I’ll practice with a different team of musicians and ultimately lead worship at the evening gathering at 6pm. After that we’ll probably head out and do something with some of the people. Definitely a long day.
Monday Mer and I plan on hoofing it up and down the Upper West Side looking for neighborhoods. We have a potential lead on an apartment up near Inwood (once again, if you’re playing on Google), so we’ll see what happens with that and let you know.
Please pray as we continue to think through what we’re going to do with our house in Portland. Huge decision and one that is consuming us right now since we have to make a decision very soon. Pray God would give us wisdom as we move forward. Pray for peace in the midst of this tornado in our lives.
Thanks for reading and praying!!
This is the neighborhood the Wyatts and the Coes live in
You have to admire a woman who agrees to move her whole family to New York City while 7 months pregnant with twins. Susan Wyatt is Freddy T Wyatt’s wife. Freddy T will be the teaching pastor @ Gallery Church in Manhattan.
They just moved in today to a 750 square foot apartment and once she has the twins they will have 6 people in there. Welcome to NY life. Crazy!
We’re sitting here in Philly waiting to get on a little prop plane to jump over to NY but we’ve been here for 5 hours and still waiting. They keep pushing it back. By the way, if you ever have a chance to take a cheap US Airways flight, DON’T! This is the second time Mer and I have flown the airline and both times have been kind of a nightmare. This time vomit was almost involved. That is never good!!
Planning on a late arrival at the Coes. We’re exhausted.
The only Coffee People you’ll find in Portland is in PDX. Sad. Flight leaves at 8:45 and we get in to Philly @ 4 something.
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