Long Awaited

Hello dear friends.  Thank you for those of you who care enough to still be here.  Here is the BRIEF update of what has happened in this long absence of writing.

In January, upon returning from my Christmas break in Texas, I started working part time for a building management company.  I was hired by the owner (and at that time, only employee) to help her get organized.  She was pretty well over her head and definitely needed someone to show her how to get things in order.  This was about 20-hours a week, in addition to my 40-hours at the nanny job.  I was hired with the knowledge that this would be temporary; however within about a week of being there my boss, Karolina, decided that she wanted to keep me on board long term.  I had a contract with the family I was working for though to work until May and the 60-hour weeks were really killing me.  Thankfully, agreements were made all around and I moved out of the live-in job (which couldn't happen soon enough) and in April I moved into my own apartment and began work full time for ZBD Management Services where I am currently.

Things at the new job have been pretty up and down.  It is a great opportunity and I'm certainly grateful to my bosses for all they've done (including negotiating a much lower rent for my apartment); but there are challenges as well.  Karolina is very well-intentioned but she is also pretty difficult to work with.  Her directions are often given at a break-neck speed and not very coherently (Polish is her first language).  Also, I think I forgot to mention that she is pregnant and hoping to retire very soon.  So things can very quickly get out of hand and confusing.  It's a good learning experience, but I'm definitely hoping things will settle down soon.  More staff members are coming on board as the company continues to grow (rather rapidly) and I'm praying that someone will be hired who will work well with me and make the rest of my time here more manageable.

Apart from work, life in Chicago has been full and pretty great.  It is so, so wonderful to have Blythe close by; in fact she definitely makes living here worth it.  I'm enjoying my time here and intend to continue enjoying it until my lease is up, at which time I think I'll be heading south again.  Or to Scotland.

I am so missing my Texas fam and friends.  My heart cannot contain it's excitement though because my darling Miranda will be here in under a month! I'll be getting to spend my birthday with her and I couldn't ask for a better gift! Julian will also be around and I'm holding out for visits from family members, Lauren, Janey and others.  The invitation is open so come on up!


For now though, I'm off to bed.  I hope this entry made up for the slack.  I'll try to be more diligent with the updates and to add some pictures soon.


Love to all.

To the Faithful Few

Hello Friends,

Well if you are still here then you have the gift of patience.  I have so often meant to write a quick update and have every time let it slip my mind and for that I apologize.  Now is not the time for a complete update as it is very much the middle of the night and I need to shower the smell of airport off of me.  I will be posting a full update very soon (and there is A LOT to update) so stay tuned. Until then, know you are so very loved.

Bekah

There and back again.

Well, since I last posted here I have journeyed back home to New Braunfels for a lovely Christmas and returned to Chicago where it still looks and feels just like Christmas.

It was so nice to be in Texas again.  I had only been away for three months, but it still felt like returning after a long absence.  We had a very low-key, family-full holiday and I got to spend oodles of time with some of my most favorite people and most wonderful friends (Kate, Janey, Julian, Miranda, Ben, Lauren, Ariana and Andrew I miss you already).  I also go to take a quick trip with Ben up to Dallas to visit our cousins, Thomas and Sarah, who are expecting their first baby any day now! My other highlight was getting to be with my church family again.  That was one of the things I noticed myself most missing when I moved up here and it was so lovely to be with them again.

However, now I'm back.  But there is really nothing sad there; I'm thrilled to be re-starting my time here.  It's nice to have three months under my belt and enough know-how to get places and do things by myself.  I still do as much as I can with Blythe and Eric as they are the reason I moved here and are really great people; but I can manage alone if need be.  For some reason my computer is no longer working with the wireless at the condo which is a bummer (I'm at Starbucks now-- less of a bummer, however a stinky someone passed by and their scent is lingering) but this may be what is necessary for me to be sure to go to bed at a reasonable hour every night.  I also got a gym membership today (AND worked out) and will be meeting with someone tomorrow afternoon about getting a second job in the city.  I'm kind of on a roll.

Along with working out, sleeping and making sure all of my time is full-- I've got some continuing soul searching going on.  I thought all of that was going to get done in 2011, but it turns out it may just take more than a year.  I threw around a few ideas with my mom over the break (some sensible, some not so much) and had some conversations (with and without tears) with many people as I look forward and try to see what step I should take next.  There is a lot to consider and plenty of options out there.  More than anything though, I know that I have just made this leap and now that I have my feet on the ground here I intend to enjoy the time that I have and just hope that God makes my next leap clear when the time comes.

Thank you to everyone who keeps up with the ramblings I post.  Please let me know if you're ever in the Chicago area! I'd love to see you. You have no idea. :)