Well, we are in our ninth month at St. Paul’s and we are feeling right at home.
It is always exciting and interesting when your journey brings you back to a place that was home years ago. For us, Wilmington has been home for a long time.
Allen grew up here and her family has been here for multiple generations. Caleb lived here as a young child and has always called Eastern NC home.
We met at NC State and moved to Wilmington just after graduating in 2004 and got married. Our first child, Caleb James, was born here in 2007. We then moved in August 2009, when Caleb became a student at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA. Caleb went to Episcopal High School, so it was fun for him to be back in Northern VA. In August 2011, we welcomed Hazel Rhett to the family.
Caleb graduated in 2012 and accepted a position in Beaufort, NC, taking us back to Eastern NC. We lived in Morehead City for 2.5 years and welcome Isabel Lang in May of 2013. In November 2015, we moved to Charleston, SC, when Caleb took a position at Grace Church. We settled into Charleston quickly and loved living there for close to 7 years. When the opportunity to return to Wilmington arose, we knew that there were so many benefits to moving back “home.”
We have loved being close to family … grandparents, great-grandparents, cousins, and old friend are all priceless. All three children are at Cape Fear Academy, where Allen and her mother both went as children! Allen is working at St. James Day School (where she went years ago also) as a teacher in the toddler class.
We are excited about this new chapter for our family and look forward to many great times at St. Paul’s!