Hello, Goodbye.

Kelly & I decided that the Beatles song "Hello, Goodbye" (the one in the Target commercial) was very appropriate for this time in our lives. While we are saying goodbye to so many friends and family, we are saying hello to our new lives and our new friends and family here in NOLA. Saying goodbye to Kelly & Paul and my mom was one of the hardest things I have had to do in a long time. (Okay, I'm tearing up now). Kelly & Paul were our first married friends and have been in our lives though so many good and bad times. I will always cherish their friendship. So, hello New Orleans, goodbye South Carolina.

Today was our first day of work with the girls (by ourselves) and it went pretty smoothly. For the most part, they were cooperative and very helpful to us. We had shrimp & hot sausage (with okra and tomato sauce) on rice tonight for dinner. Despite my distaste for shrimp, okra, peppers, and onions, I ate it. It wasn't too bad--couldn't eat the okra though. Okra just makes me gag. Hehe. Tomorrow one of our assistants will be working with us, so it will be nice to have her around to help out and answer any questions we have. We are so blessed to have gotten this job and to be able to impact these girls in such a huge way. Please continue to pray for a smooth transition.

If you want to see all of our pics from our life in NOLA so far, you can go to our picasa web album here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mattjparks