Tuesday, June 10, 2014

life lately

Life has been good. We have been happy.

To all you avid readers of ours who we do not speak on the phone with regularly, here is a brief update:

In March we moved 26 miles west to live in Mar Vista, rather than Burbank. It was quite a bittersweet move, as we really loved our little bungalow in Burbank, and we loved living across the street from our best friends. But our new apartment is less than two miles from our jobs and we are now both biking to and from work on our own time, rather than driving 26 miles to and from work together and one of us always waiting on the other. Life feels so much less hectic now. We have downtime. We can relax. We can take things day by day rather than week by week. And we really like our new apartment also- we got what feels like a great deal on a space that is a bit larger than what we had in Burbank. All in all, this was meant to be. We're in the right place for now.

We joined a new church about two months ago and we are LOVING it. It is a relatively new church that was just planted in February of this year. There are about 30 people who attend regularly right now, and we are excited to be there and to be a part of them growing. We intend to stick around for a very long time. It is nice to have finally found a church that we are both happy to be a part of- it's been years since either of us have really felt at home in any specific church.

We have a niece! Beautiful little girl was born on March 14th and she's perfect in every way. We will be meeting her in July when they come out to visit us here in LA, and I cannot wait to snuggle with her!

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary on June 1st. We celebrated not by painting the town red, but we did go out for Indian food, and watched our wedding video, and all in all just had a relaxing day enjoying each other's company. The little things are our favorite.

Jeremy is in the process of switching over to a new position at work- helping with the day to day maintenance and organization of the facilities and eventually helping to organize and put on in-company community events. He is very, very happy with this change, as it is much more in the way of how his mind works and doesn't involve him sitting at a computer for all hours of the day. And what's more, as it is a project-based position it will give him more flexibility to choose his own hours and work when it is most convenient for him- which is great timing, because he's been talking with a casting agency that casts commercials. So if he gets an email in the middle of the morning mentioning an audition that is happening two hours later, he can leave work and go to that theoretical audition. The best of both worlds? For now, it seems to be.

And I, Bekah, am quite content with my nannying job. It's been just about a year since I started working for this family, and it's been a great year. I'll likely be sticking with them for as long as they need me, and my plan is to then transition into starting a Doula business. We'll see where the road goes.

Life has been good. We have been happy.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Five Dollars in 2014

It's just shy of a month now until the 2014 LA Marathon.

I'm feeling much more at ease about this than I was at this point two years ago when I was anticipating the 2012 Marathon. I didn't really know what I was doing then. And while it was all fine in the end, I'm happy to be on the other side of it with a little more know-how.

This year is a bit different, as I know what to expect now. And I have a great excitement welling up in me as I remember what it's like to run in the company of tens of thousands of people. Marathons really are a lot of fun (speaking from the experience of running only one, that is).

Also, I'm running as part of relay team, and as such I will be running the second half of the marathon. 13.1 miles is A LOT shorter than 26.2 miles (I'm really good at math!) So I'm feeling great about this!

And this team I am running with- Team Pasadena- we are running for a reason. We are running so that a little boy named Kenny, who has no family to speak for him, can receive a surgery to repair his cleft lip. Kenny is one of the orphans of China, and there are so many more Kennys to speak for than just him. We are doing what we can to be his voice, as an extension of all the work that Love Without Boundaries is doing.

--- --- ---

When I was telling my family about the team running to raise money for Love Without Boundaries, my sweet little brother (who is somehow 10 years old and 45 years old at the same time), immediately said very curiously, and without faltering "I have five dollars, will that help?"

A big, resounding YES!

This little brother probably has about ten dollars to his name to begin with. There are no allowances in the Witzer household.

I want to be more like my little brother. I want to be able to continually say "I don't have much, but you can have it." Because in all reality, what I have isn't mine. Christ has given me everything in my possession.

I want 2014 to be the year of remembering my brother's five dollars. In the midst of paying Los Angeles rent, furiously trying to pay off mountains of student loans, and figuring out thrifty ways to pursue my passions, I want to also give what I have, and give it in love, with the full confidence that Christ will continue to meet every need in Jeremy's and my household.

Who's with me?

--- --- ---

As a footnote, your five dollars can most definitely help Kenny. If you're interested, you can visit Team Pasadena's fundraising page here: http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/programs/other-projects/teamlwb/teamlwb-events/m.events_members/634/view/428

Kenny