What do you get when you take a yearbook, two babies, and Frodo and mix them all together?

How quickly time flies! After 3 weeks of time off at home, I am heading back to work at Walsworth tomorrow. I will still technically be part of the Art Department, but for the time being will do only Creative Services work. (Creative Services is the department Jason is in, the department I have wanted to be in, but there hasn't been a position open.) A position has opened up in Creative Services, and as soon as they get to all the formalities - paperwork, interviews, etc - I expect to be promoted to that department! The work I will be doing for now is kind of a temporary position, to 1) get me back to work sooner, and 2) help Creative Services get a jump on the 2007 covers. I'm excited to be moving forward in my career, and get into a more consistently creative position! We are still looking for jobs in the Twin Cities, and sticking to the plan to leave when one of us finds a position, but this will be a great change until that time comes. (And no more getting up at 5:30!)

Job searching has been slow, at times frustrating. We seem to be waiting on a lot of companies to look at our stuff. We know that the right job will come along at the right time, and are trusting that God knows exactly where we need to be, and when. But it's definitely not easy! We are so anxious and excited to get to the Cities and enjoy the art, culture, and expanded shopping opportunities (i.e. not just Walmart) that are there. Prayers for contentment during the rest of our time here would be great.

There is exciting stuff going on in our families lately! Natalie (Jason's sister) is having twins tomorrow! Yay! I am SOOO excited to be an aunt, and Jason is excited to be an uncle! We are both happy that we're here to be a part of that, and will enjoy playing with our new nephews! Emily (my sister) just left for college this past week, and seems to be enjoying it so far. Wahoo for college!

In other news, Lord of the Rings has overtaken our house. Jason is now the proud owner of the entire super-extended, multi-disc, hours-and-hours-and-hours of stuff to watch, all-the-Elijah-Wood-you-can-handle LOTR trilogy. Each of the three movies (which are extended from their 3-hour theater version into about 4 hours each) comes with several discs of "extras." He has made it through ALL of the 1st movie stuff, and we are currently digging into the second. I expect him to start dressing in a green cape and calling me his "Precious" any time now.

That's the latest on us, we'd love to hear from you!

-Becky

Life with the Daums

It stormed here late last night... the power at our house kept going on and off, on and off, over and over. It was driving us nuts because every time the power came back on our answering machine would talk to us. Finally Jason got up and unplugged the phone - and the power went out for good - so we got some sleep. Until it got so hot that he couldn't stand it, and he got up again to open all the windows and try to cool down the house. So it was kind of an interrupted night, but it will be worth it if the weather actually cools off for a while.

Jason is on his way to sunny Orange County for the largest yearbook workshop in the country! It's his last big trip for a while, thank goodness. And tomorrow I am on my way to Milwaukee to visit Theresa - 8 hours in the car, and then fun times in Wisconsin! Please pray for safety for both of us - I get nervous when he travels, and I know he gets nervous about me driving for that long.

In other news, I am officially laid off as of tomorrow! I am very ready for a break from work, and I'm excited to have time to relax, really dig into the job search, and get some things done around the house.

Also, we just decided 2 days ago that we will be going camping next weekend, and we are SOOOO excited about it! We have most of the camping stuff we need and have been itching to use it since we've been married - this is the first weekend we actually have time to do it. We will be going down to Lake of the Ozarks, and staying at the state park, where we can go spelunking, fishing, swimming, boating, horseback riding, hiking, and more! Here is a picture of our campsite!



Things are busy around here, but exciting!