Hello for the first time from Greenville!
We apologize for being somewhat out of touch in the digital world. We've been awfully busy over the last month and haven't been great at keeping everyone updated whom we haven't seen in person. So let's try to chip away at that problem. Neither of us have time for EVERYTHING right now, but I'll do my best.
We departed Baton Rouge and officially "moved in" to our new apartment on June 10. By "moved in" I mean that we spent the first week and a half with a television, two stools, and an air mattress. The Randalow ladies and Chase came up to spend a little time with us and we got to see downtown a little bit.
The moving company gave us a 2 week window of when our stuff would be delivered. Erin took off a week from work... unfortunately they didn't actually bring out stuff until the following week. So she was stuck at home for a week.
I, on the other hand, only took off a day from work. On Tuesday I went in for the first time to my new office. For those who don't know... I was hoping to transfer to the Fluor office here in Greenville. Unfortunately they don't have room to take on someone new right now. Fortunately for me, my boss worked it out so that I will continue working with the Baton Rouge office from the Greenville office. So my first day was strange.
The folks here have been incredibly welcoming! The department manager is a really great guy, the lead engineering that I have been connected with has been really awesome about checking up on me, and the other structural engineers I connect with have been really friendly. There are SO many people here! The office (campus really) is HUGE. One of the major pros of this is that there's a lot going on. Lots of lunch & learns to get free food and meet new people at. And I found a group that plays ultimate frisbee during lunch. It all makes for a great place to work.
But it IS quite a big change! Especially the size. It's certainly intimidating at times. And there's so much about the place I don't know... We have a cafe downstairs, but I haven't made it by yet. There's some kind of a library downstairs? And a gym apparently... somewhere. The trickiest part has just been figuring this place out and knowing how I fit in. Am I starting a new job? Nope, literally the same job. Am I just
transferring to a new office? Sort of, but I don't work with any of
these people. Besides, the Baton Rouge office is a unique division of
Fluor so becoming part of "big" Fluor isn't a seamless thing. It was nice when they finally got my email and phone working in the first few days so that I could be in contact with my familiar coworkers back in Louisiana!
It's definitely working out well so far and I'm enjoying my time here! I'll keep you updated as things move along.
As for Erin... I think she has really enjoyed her job so far! But I'll let her tell you more about that later on.
Our stuff DID finally come and our mothers (God bless them) came to help unpack. After a week or two of craziness, we finally got it all put away. And from there we started putting the place together and adding some new touches. As of last week, we are officially open for business! And we HAVE been busy...
First we met up with Matt and Davis Evans on the 4th for a cookout at Matt's parents' church. Luckily the rain held off long enough for Greenville to shoot off their fireworks. It was so great of them to invite us, as its never easy to jump right in to a new city! So after we were finally settled here, we invited them over for dinner. After so much craziness it was nice to finally open our doors and relax with friends. We taught them how to play Dominion and they LOVED it, which led to a Dinner & Dominion night at their house a week later. They're moving to Colorado sometime this Fall, but we're so glad that they're still around for now!
Next, we were blessed to have our newlywed friends Nathan and Raina Evans (what's with all the Evans's??) visit. They actually got married on the day we left Baton Rouge, so it was fun to catch up with them on how the last 6 weeks of marriage have been. They were our first overnight guests. I love sleepovers. The following day the four of us went hiking at Raven Cliff Falls. We got good bit of rain halfway through, which made us huddle under a rock to eat lunch and hide for a while... until we realized it wasn't really going to stop. But it certainly beat the 90+ degree alternative! The rain stopped us from making it all the way to the base of the falls, but we had an incredible time.
And tonight we got to reconnect with Marie Cely, safely back from her travels across Europe. So the question now is... when are YOU going to come visit? Book your room today and you get 100% off our standard rates!
So... what else is there?
Erin left for a week for a conference, leaving me all alone. It was a rough week. I think I forgot how to do some things without her around. Like washing dishes, eating real dinners, or waking up on time.
We joined a Crossfit gym! We've been trying for some time to not be lazy bums. And it's working so far! More details about that in a later post though I think.
And.... Ah! A church update... We've been doing our best to visit a number of churches- there sure are a lot in the area that look good. Unfortunately (sort of) we've been visiting home quite a bit on the weekends for a number of random reasons. So we haven't been able to figure things out yet. It definitely hasn't been as easy as Baton Rouge was! But it's been a good experience for us I think. We've been to three so far... want to find out more about two of them... and MAY check out more still. Keep us in your prayers as we try to figure that out.
