About eight years ago, Chad and I were dating and took a day trip up to Charlotte to hang out and check out what Charlotte was like. When I was in high school and trying to map out my life and decide where I would go to college. Charlotte was where I wanted to be. I had my eyes set on Winthrop University, which is right outside of Charlotte in Rock Hill, SC. They have a wonderful and challenging arts program there.
Charlotte was perfect. Not too far away but not too close either. Just right! Charlotte has been on my brain since I was 16 years old. It's crazy to even think about. And here we are, in the city that I dreamed about and then fell in love with when Chad and I visited here that spring 8 years ago. I decided to finish my degree at USCA but this was still where I wanted to be in the future. Do you think God calls you to a city? Puts that burning desire in you and that peace to know you are home?
I think so.
Charlotte has so much to offer. It has a great arts scene, tons of activities and places to go for kids, IKEA (Oh my goodness how could we live without IKEA being 15 minutes away?) LOL, diversity, sports, Lake Norman, etc.
I love the diversity - I've met people from Romania, Brazil, Africa, Italy, etc just in the six months of living here. It's so enriching to learn about other cultures. There is a sweet family that live two doors down from us. They are from Africa and have only been in the states for about 2 years. Our youngest are actually the same age... only two weeks apart! They were ministers in Somalia and started a church there. The kids play together and we have such a good time talking about parenting and what life is like in Africa.
I know God has so much in store for us here and I can't wait to see it all come together.
It took us eight years, but it's good to be home.
