"hope for a life and future here"

Chris and Sarah, parents to one, took time to tell their story about coming to York City six years ago and finding themselves still here!

CF: When did you first move to York, and what brought you here?
C+S: We moved to York in 2006.  Craigslist, a U-haul, God, or all three brought us here. If that sounds overly simplistic, it’s because it was and is.

CF: Did you feel you had a level of calling or mission when moving to the city?
C+S: We were getting married and only had a mission to move to this region from the places we were living before. At the time, we didn’t plan to stay in York for more than 8 months or so. We decided to stay until Chris finished his master’s degree, and in 2008 we took a road trip for 9 weeks across the country looking to see if the “grass was greener” somewhere else (which it was), but we were surprised to return to York from our road trip and feel at home with hope for a life and future here.
Maybe not in a direct or external way specific to York, but we feel called to love our neighbors anywhere we are.  We've come to love this city and hope for it to thrive.

CF: What is it that a city offers your family?
C+S: This city offers cultural diversity with a great small town feel, but enough to explore and discover that it doesn’t get boring. Great farmer’s markets, restaurants, small businesses, churches, people, architecture, opportunities for community involvement and parks.

We are still discovering exciting things here 6 years after moving here. We've also seen major changes in the positive direction.  We love the close proximity of this city to the surrounding east coast cities, the mountains, the ocean, the countryside etc.. It is in a very good location to get to a range of different places easily.

CF: What questions or worries do you have as a family about city life? 
C+S: Property taxes are high, and we're concerned about what our daughter's education will look like. We would like to see the city turn it’s focus on making itself a wonderful place for children to learn and grow. Now that we do have kids, we've embraced the parks even more. It has caused some concern over the state of the city schools too, though there is a good International charter school that we are eligible for, because we do live in the city school district.

CF: Have you considered leaving the city and why?
C+S: Yes.  Job change has made a very long commute to a neighboring city an unwelcome part of our daily family life. At the same time, living in York has led to lots of opportunities for volunteerism and community involvement with downtown groups, and a church that we love.