Nick Nack on My Gate

8 Months Old!
What a personality this little bean has. She's growing like a weed and now has 4 teeth with more on the way! She won't crawl yet, but has figured out the concept of needing to move forward in order to reach something she wants...so she grunts and reaches and then rolls over and cries because she can't get there. Ahhh, the stressful life of a baby must be so frustrating at times. We're officially settled into our new routine, which has been going great. I'm really enjoying working and am glad to make the decision to return. It's giving Bina and I some much more quality time together in the evenings and weekends than before when it was just life, with a side-of-baby. Plus, with our ever-changing life with Bechtel, there is a 99.9% chance I won't be able to work someday, so I guess I'm glad I can look back and say I tried it and I did it while I had the chance.
Speaking of Bechtel...it's been a very stressful month. When I say stressful, I simply mean the personal stress of the unknowns. Something that used to keep us up at night, making pros and cons lists, getting external advice from friends and family, but has now become part of our daily lives and something that has made my spiritual journey ten million times stronger over the years. There was a 99% chance we would be moving to Santiago, Chile this coming January. Pretty much everything pointed that direction. People have been getting laid off here right and left and once again, I'm reminded of what a blessed company we work for to not leave one high and dry, but if you're willing, they will find something for you somewhere...it just might be across the world. My job has plenty of work, but Ben's current project will being shelved in December, so we were off to the races with some dear friends of ours, Phoebe and Dennis. After lots of prayer and petition, we just told God what the deadline was and became completely comfortable staying or going as we knew that it was not in our control and whatever happened was what God wanted for our family, and no amount of forced decisions could possibly ever be greater than what is in store for us. So like all of our decisions, we were tempted with money, positions, titles, locations and opportunities, but we chose to use the practice of being still and waiting. So deadline Thursday came, and as I met with my boss to review potential job-transfers of my position to Chile, Ben was flying back to Brisbane to meet with Dennis to officially accept a position in Santiago. During this hour, an unexpected call was made to a functional manager to hire Ben for a different project, despite being told the client did not want expats and he would not be accepted for the position. Other candidates were local, had more experience and were the clear choice, yet favor was granted to us. So we're here for another year in the Land Down Under, and our adventure continues. We bless God for the opportunities and direction and know we are being looked out for at every turn.