The latest

It's been a good little while since I last wrote, but a lot has happened! The job search continued to look bleak into June, and before I knew it the time had come for our annual Williams family beach trip to Sunset - and I was still jobless. But the night after our return to Raleigh, sudden events led to sudden changes.

These days, life looks pretty different - but it is different in a good sense. We had a family emergency that put my grandparents out of commission for a couple months, leaving my uncle strapped for help with my little cousins. And there I was, available to help! Sarah and I had spent a week with them in late May and had so much fun together that I was thrilled to get more time with the girls before Italy. They are the sweetest girls!

Ashley and Shannon at Isle of Palms in May

Ashley was a little water bug - she couldn't wait to get in that ocean!

Shanny, on the other hand, was not a fan of the stingy sand pelting at her legs - so I held her much of the time :)

Since then, God has been very good to all of us: my grandmother is on the mend and I am happily occupied with the girls. They have had the likes of VBS and summer camp many mornings, and our afternoons are filled with trips to the pool, grocery store shopping, weekly visits to Chick-fil-A, or, before it got stifling hot, local parks. Mary and Michael are also frequent visitors, which just increases the fun. The girls love it when they join in on our adventures!

Michael makes the girls' world go 'round - in real life he's a rockstar :)

And Mary is always a ball!


In June we had two special birthday girls: Ashley and my mom!

Mom let Ashley have the spotlight this time around and we had a wonderful party - complete with playground fun, crafts, snacks, and pool time. And of course, Ashley's birthday called for delicious cupcakes ...

After the party, most everybody looked like this: tired but chocolatey!

We also had a fun morning at Marbles with Mary and Michael earlier this month - which included a visit to the IMAX museum for a 3-D movie about the ocean!

Ashley in the kitchen

Shannon was a bit crazy at the wheel ...

Ashley taking a sniff ...

Shanny in the peas!

Since July arrived, we have found that we prefer to either be inside with the AC, in the pool, or "watering the plants" (i.e. water wars with the hose). Just yesterday we went to go see UP in theaters, picking up Mary and Michael to join in on the fun. Shannon konked out for a half-hour or so, but they both had a ball - and we had the theater almost to ourselves :)

So that's life of Bekah these days. The weeks are flying by at an unbelievable pace ... I can't believe departure is now a mere 35 days and counting! But what do the next five weeks look like? BUSY. Very busy (but good, very good!) ...

This coming weekend I'll be trekking up to Virginia Beach to visit my roomie, Cassie. It's so strange to go from living with the same person for a couple years and then POOF! College is over. And you aren't roomies anymore. The funny thing is, our last semester she was student teaching so we had completely different schedules and sometimes went a good day or two without actually speaking (I was asleep when she left, and she would be asleep when I got in at night). Our solution? Communication via sticky note. It wasn't ideal, but it allowed us to encourage each other and keep morale high for that last push through undergrad.

Anyway, we going to have one last catch up before we both head overseas. She'll be teaching English in Angers, France for a year starting in September, so we'll actually remain in the same time zone - how bizarre/wonderful is that? I haven't seen her since early June, so we're in for a good sleepover.

After that it's another fun week with the girls, and then next weekend, a wedding! Shakia is getting married and I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of her big day. I'll be missing out on others because of Italy, which is hard, but I'm grateful to be here for at least one.

That weekend brings us to August - unbelievable - which holds two more weeks with the girls, a bridal shower to bring into being, visits from friends, a few fun birthdays, my sister Sarah's return from her adventures in Asia, and then goodbye NC, hello Italia! It's all going to fly by even faster than the last couple months have - I'll be amazed if I get another entry done before my "farewell" post :)

That's all I have time for at the moment, but I hope I've done a decent job at filling in the gaps for the blurs of June and July. Before long I'll be writing of passeggiate and gelato and i miei bambini italiani ...

a presto!