life on the lakes

Edit: A few email updates from last summer that I found...

6/19/07
A lot has happened in the last 6 weeks. Hopefully this will help catch you up...

After five years working at Maranatha for two different offices, yesterday I said "goodbye" to my coworkers and began a new chapter in my life. Saying goodbye was not too difficult, but it was different (I'm sure the tears will come later). Some thoughtful friends threw me a surprise party for me (after all of my belongings were finally packed and loaded and ready to go on Sunday) and then Monday we had a farewell lunch with about 19 of my coworkers. These two events meant a lot to me. I'm going to miss the many friends that have become like family.

I am excited to start a new position in Minneapolis and be near two of my sisters, a brother-in-law, a niece and a nephew. Monday, June 25th is my first day at theJob* as a client service associate. The position is totally new for me and should be quite a challenge, but I think I'm ready.

My housing situation is temporary, so I'll give you send you my permanent address at later date. My phone number will stay the same for now: 920-248-1841. My email is bekahflaming@gmail.com.

I'll be in Watertown Thursday-Saturday and hope to say goodbye in person to a few more people. Do keep in touch!

6/27/07
First day went well! 2nd day was good. 3rd day was great! I'm already envisioning ways I can contribute to make the office run more efficient :) Of course that won't be for a while, since I don't know very much of the big picture.
New things I'm doing: catching the bus at Walmart and then walking 3 blocks to my office, racing 6 blocks to catch the bus at the end of the day, reading, sleeping, and people watching on the bus for 30-25 min each way, walking the skywalk from our building to the Hyatt for lunch at a cafe, learning my way around the 2 floors of the building and meeting some of the people we process business with, greeting and chatting with client$, getting client$ coffee, scanning documents to file (and sending the paper away for shredding), and the list goes on! :) So far it's been fun. Over all the work seems like it will be challenging, but attainable. Nothing too scary...yet.

I've managed to meet quite a few of the church's young people's group already. (Normally I'd say singles group, but several in the group are young and married). I had "coffee" with the gang after church tonight and went to someone's house last Sunday night for a birthday party. Also a group is gathering at Jess's on Saturday night after Fourth's special patriotic music concert.
Babysitting plans are set for Friday night. I'm looking forward to a little down time with the kiddos.
My first week was a success. I conquored the bus...that was what I was most nervous about. As far as my job, I learned much each day and went home with a headache. My coworkers are nice and I've met many others in the building who we interact with on a regular basis.

6/29/07
Hey, I made it through my first week! I even did some "real work" today! :)

Yesterday Mr. Lingle sent a text msg to me about the toner...that made me laugh! :)

I found out this week that during the summer I can take one 1/2 day off on a Friday each month, so now I'm for sure planning to come down for Alumni Weekend. If you aren't too worn out from the days activities and don't have too much company, maybe I could stop by and chat with you and Gayle that evening.

I did find out that the bus that I will take after I move to New Hope actually picks me up at my condo AND drops me off at the same block as my building downtown...so much for cold walks to the bus in the winter! :) I'm excited that next week is only a 2 day week...Flaming Family reunion in Nebraska is Thursday-Saturday.

7/2/2007
I'm really enjoying the kids, but I'll be glad to get into our place at the end of July. I'm starting to lose track of how many baths I've given. I have so many more Morgen and Carsten stories, I could start a book! :) We are having a good time. In fact, when I'm not here at the house, Morgen will call me and ask where I am and when I'm coming back to her house (not during work, but other times when she knows I'm at Jess's house or somewhere else). Carsten and I are starting to bond. He's really a nut job though...he's got this mischievous look you can't miss! :) He is so much boy...he likes to bang things, jabber really loud, make truck noises, take things a part...things Morgen never did. It's amazingly cool to see him at this age.

Work is going well. I've been able to "wow" them with a few tricks. They gave me a brand new computer with MS Office 2007. Thankfully I was able to take the training classes at MBBC before I left. I'll probably have to teach the others how to use it when they decide to switch everyone over. Hopefully I'll catch on quickly to all of the financial lingo, forms, and other things that I have no clue about.

The bus took a little getting used to, but it's good now. I've gotten into a little routine now. I get up at 5:45 and leave the house by 6:35. I catch the bus at Walmart at 7:00 and get down town by 7:30-7:35. I walk a few blocks to work and am ready to work by 7:45. I take a 1/2 hour lunch break with two of my coworkers. I end my day at 4:15. Catch a bus about 7 blocks away at 4:36. Get to Walmart by 5:15 at the latest and get home by 5:45 or so if I'm lucky. It seems kind of long when you add the hours up, but the bus ride is calming once you get used to it. Jess gave me an MP3 player so I have some music to listen to. I also borrowed a couple of books from Sue before I left so I'm stalked up for a week or so ;-)

Of course this week I'm only working 2 days. Wednesday we're heading to Omaha to have a pre-Flaming family reunion. My parents and Jake are traveling via KS where my mom had a family reunion on Saturday. The week was sounding a little long to wait until Thursday to meet, so we upped it a day for the Flaming 7 +3. Jess and I will ride together and Jen and her gang will ride at their own pace in their yellow bus (Ford Escape) :)

I hope Omaha has good fire works :)The rest of the Flaming clan will meet on Thursday as originally planned. We'll all head out Saturday. It will be good to have a day at "home" before the work week starts again

*theJob = Company name change to protect the innocent