Northwestern Hospitality

I've been overwhelmed by how friendly and welcoming everyone up here has been. On Monday, several of my coworkers took me to lunch at a wonderful restaurant called Beaches. We walked in the door and above was a chalkboard that said "Welcome to our Special Guest: Mary Carter"! Apparently my boss had told the resteraunt that this was a special lunch to celebrate my first day of work.

My aunt's prayer group has been praying daily about my move to Portland and my search for a place to live. I got an email from on of her friends inviting me to attend a college grad Bible study and meet her daughter who is my age. Another one of my aunts friends drove by a rent house that I heard about just to see if it was in a good neighborhood. So thoughtful!

Tonight a friend invited me to a gathering with his "community group" from church. We enjoyed an interesting tortilla, egg, tomato and cilantro dinner and then we played a fun "get-to-know-you" game called Big Happy Family. The game is actually one that my family plays at Christmas, so I had a slight advantage. (I ended up winning the game, but that's beside the point.) I'm getting connected with so many wonderful people around the city.

Everyone has been so welcoming to even me, a young Texas girl with an accent. No homesickness here!