Broker Steve

I guess this is my new name.  It is a fantastic feeling to be completed with the studying and test taking for now. 

Update more late, a bunch from the family just walked into my office

Broker Test

This morning I take my brokers exam for work.  Since May 11th I have been taking an online course and doing significant amounts of studying.  I am oddly relaxed and nervous about the test.  It is a weird feeling that I recall from college during finals week where I feel I couldn't have done much more to prepare myself yet still doubt all the work I have done.

I think it is one of my flaws that I often will doubt myself when it comes to certain things.  I am not sure why but tests are one of them.  In High School one of the things that stands out that scared me and motivated me was new skills for my routines in gymnastics.  Often times new moves were very dangerous or something that no one on the team had ever tried but I felt compelled and often a sense of motivation to prove to others all that I could do them. 

For some reason though, even after completion doubt always seems to creep back in. I think we all have a need for affirmation.  I have learned this even more in my time in marriage, but the affirmation that will outdo any other in the understanding of a never ending affirmation and love of Jesus.  I need to always find ways to think of this more, and listen for His words speaking into my life.  It is so easy to doubt ourselves and hear things that will bring us down or tell us we can't do this or be successful at that.  Trusting in ourselves in a good thing, but it is not enough and you will always let yourself down.  Putting all your faith and trusting in Jesus will never let you down and always provide you with whatever you need even if it doesn't seem like it at the time.  Releasing control to Jesus is freeing and the best way we can fully live to the potential that He wants for our lives.

Looking back, some of the most affirming times came after I completed a flight check, test, or gymnastics routine.  It didn't matter so much the outcome, but the feeling of knowing that it was God that brought me as I can only do so much on my own.

Hopefully I can report back success later on!

It's our 1 year anniversary, with Max.

Max with his full head of hair.

One year ago today we received Max from Mike and Mere.  He went through quite a rough transfer going from house to house for a while until he landed on our doorstep courtesy of my mom sister and grandma who drove him to Chicago after a dropping off baby shower gifts for Mere and spending some time in DC.  As I thoughtfully told Max one day "You enrich our lives."  That pretty much sums it up.  It has been a ton of fun having him around, even though letting him out in the morning when it is snowing is not so much fun.  While "daddy" forgot to pickup a cupcake dog treat from the pet store, Max did still get a long walk with Mommy and her friend Lindsay.  What's even better was that after the walk Emilie and Max cooked together which also another way of saying max got some really good snacks. 

Max gets one of these bully bones after each grooming

 

 

 

 

 

Max at his first Christmas in Chicago

We affectionately call this one "Bed Beard"

Max still knows Mike's Whistle and gets really excited when he visits too (same goes for Mere)

Max checking out the newest addition to the family while Mike and Mere visited during Christmas

playing drums

You have to check out my very cute nephew!!



Carter Playing Drums on my Head.

VBS for Emilie, Studying for Steve

All week Emilie is volunteering at Vacation Bible School at South Park. She is a story teller. So she gets to tell fun Bible stories to all the little kids that come to VBS (or at least all the 2nd grader i think). She seems to be enjoying it and I get to enjoy some time at home with max and my Real Estate book.

Two weeks ago I registered for a online Brokers exam. This is composed of 5 courses that i need to study up on and then take 10 quizes, and 1 final per course. Follow that all up with a state exam that is no picnic. Hopefully once this is complete though it will be a big boost for me at work and open some doors as well.. It is something I have been considering but just didn't have the time to work on. All that changed back in January.

In January my boss and company president for the last 25+ years decided that he wasn't going to take over the company as was planned. With that, a decision was also made for him to move onto other endeavors. With his exit in march, our company also exited the Residential Management. This composed of about 50% of our work portfolio. Needless to say there have been a lot of changes and staff reduction, but I think we will emerge as a better stronger and more efficient company. That being said my job has changed a little bit, but life is better overall as all the emergency calls and stress that I experienced was 95% caused by the Residential work we did. With that gone I have begun to enjoy my job quite a bit more. On top of that, Emilie even likes my job again.

I thought i would throw out some pictures that I had not yet had a chance to upload prior to this. Some from our anniversary, Minnesota and fishing at the Wolf River, notice there are no pictures of fish (funny how that happens)










Yes this is my boss who I was playing bags with.

mini vaca

Were up in Minnesota for the weekend for a family friends wedding. Left Chicago last night and arrived at 1245am. Drive was thankfully uneventful, considering the storm that blew through last night prior to our arrival.

We have purchased a new computer and Thursday entered the 21st century getting internet at the house. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of a new web cam so we can skype with our nephews.

Also new, I have enrolled in a online Real Estate Broker course. Myself and 3 others in my office will be taking the course and working together to make sure we all succeed. I am a little apprehensive about the course as it is 100% online and I really do much better in a real classroom setting. So we will see how it goes. I have a set deadline of Dec 10th that I must finish the class by (set by the state for the course limit length), but I want to finish within 3 months.

Other updates will be coming, big changes at work in the last few months that have been really good (in the long run). Emilie is still battling issues with different foods and we are continually working to try and make that better. Off to dive in for the first time into my online class. How fun, school during vacation.

Max: Our little guy

This little guys has brought us many days of joy and fun since we adopted him from Mike and Mere this summer. He loves the snow but not necessarily the bitter cold that we get here in Chicago.


We had a great and busy Christmas and New Years Season with lots of Family in. I will try to post some pictures and fill in the gaps from the last few months.

Phoenix Trip

Here are some pictures of the trip...

Uncle Steve & Aunt Emilie

Emilie and I will become "Uncle Steve and Aunt Emilie" to TWO baby boys this year. Erick and Megan are due in July and Mike and Mere are due in Oct!

We are so excited for them both

Which way is up

Thankfully I am not talking about a way out of a tight financial situation! God has been amazing to Emilie and I in providing for everything we need. Car breaks and needs repairs, commission check comes in, medical bills show up, tax return comes back bigger than expected...

More thinking comes in though about which way is up when we think about what we are doing in the next few years. We have been halfheartedly looking for a new place to live. The apartment is good and there has been no more water or even seepage, so we seem comfortable to stick around. However we have our eyes set on a home. The though of it is a bit overwhelming but also so attractive for the things that we wold like to be able to do that we can't in an apartment. We would love to have a back yard, a garage, a garden, more than one bathroom, and a place we can make into our own. So we will continue to look when time allows and trust that God will lead us in te right direction.

Last weekend we were up in the Twin Cities for Emilie's younger Brothers Graduation from Bethel University. It was a beautiful weekend that was a lot of fun. It was great to visit campus (it is also where Emilie attended) see lots of friends and be with family out of town. It was a bit fo a whirlwind weekend with all the runing around but it was great none the less.

We have a bit of traveling comin up as well. Emilie and I will become Uncle Steve and Aunt Emilie on both sides of the family this year as her brother and sister in law are due in July and Mike and Mere are due in Oct? I should kow this, but it is farther off and we don't have airfare for phoenix yet, much less to DC. In addition we have weddings in Duluth MN, Michigan and one in the Chi.

Silly Cold

Check out Thursdays Forecast for Chicago!

Flood of 08

So this was the view of our apartment
on the Saturday after Christmas. Needless to say it was a very long morning that started at 330am and ended at about noon. We had help from my in-laws and my sister. We finished and left the apartment after many hours of bailing, pumping and sucking with wet vacs around 12 noon. (note my parents were en route to Louisiana otherwise they would have helped as well.) it was an unpleasant surprise, but we are blessed that nothing was damaged and we were only out of the unit for about a week. This definitely made the Christmas weekend a little more stressful and much busier but we survived and even got new carpet out of the deal and a great break on our rent for the month. We stayed at my parents house for the week and made due. We loved out first Christmas together as a married couple and look forward to all the others in the future.

One quick note, this picture was taken early, eventually all the carpet was soaked in the entire place, but once again nothing lost or damaged!

Flooding

So the first married Christmas was great! The Flooding afterwords on saturday was not. I will write more soon and post some pictures

Wow

5 months later I am back!


I will do some more updates later

T-24

Countdown time folks. Its getting close. We are moving into our new apartment (after some thorough cleaning, scrubbing, and some painting). This weekend is move in time with a lot of large pieces going in and random this and that stuff. Life is busy, very busy. Bible Study, trying to get ahead in work for the 2 weeks I will be gone, and then of course wedding stuff. It is definitely the details that will kill you. The big stuff is easy and then its all the little stuff that needs to get worked out that is stressful and hard to get done. By the way new camera for the birthday so I will be trying to post pictures and get things up on this site more often.

Productivity

Lets put it this way, with how fast the morning has been going, I can't spend much time telling you how my small stacks of work seem to take an ever increasingly large amount of time.

Makes me think of a quote from Greg Kemerer after a recent conversation: "People can handle the big things, even a a number of big things happening in their lives at one time, but its the little things that will get you. A whole bunch of little things will overwhelm a person quicker than lots of big things."

Point: Stay focused, take care of things as they come, ask for help, and do your best not to let things stack up on your to do list.

Fallen of the face of the earth

I feel as though I had dropped out of contact with the world. I spent my days at Mclennan and my nights at REI. When I wasn't doing either of those my time still seemed to fill up. Thankfully I have a wonderful fiance whom takes good care of me. Our small group is started up on the book of Psalms. Its been a really interesting study so far. It just allows us as a group and as individuals to learn how to pray what we really feel and what we really need. Its good to get into the nitty gritty.

Both Jobs are going well. Its budget time at McLennan which means lots of time number crunching and doing things in excel. Thankfully I like doing it and I am basically the resident excel expert at the office. I have officially been here for over a year now, and will be looking forward seeing how this winter goes. REI is same old stuff. Lots of training getting us ready for the winter season with all sorts of new gear from snowboard and skiis to the 100's of types of wax for them.

Emilie has left Mortons and has an awsome possibility with a company that she used to work for. We will see how that works out. Pray for guidance, trust, and discernment for what will be best for her and us in the long run.

Well thats all for now. I will get back soon.

Join In!!!

Forty Days of prayer for the children!! See what can happen


Pray for change

definite ramblings.

So it's been a while since the last post and I am not sure I have even thought much of what top put in this one. I miss people from college, I miss Brandon, Jon, Dame, Danny, Pablo, Mike, Kyle, Ryan, Abigail, Webb, Holly and many more. I miss seeing Emilie's friends from school, and all of those who moved to Seattle. I miss having my brother and Em's around during the week and getting to hang out. I am amazed how easily I can live life without these people whom I did daily life with for so many years of my life. How can I continue to be part of that life while being so far separated? I know the phone works well, e-mail is ok and facebook is a like a last ditch effort but i want more. I think we need to remember to talk, write and pray more for those who are not around us. I need to be intentional in all my relationships. I think I have always taken for granted the ease of having people close to me. All my life a large portion of my family, friends and cousins were all within 15 miles of me. Now with family and friends spreading around the country I must be more active. I often believe that I can pick up a friendship right where it was left without having talked with a person for months. In some cases I think that might be true but I also think that it is a cold way to look at friends. Everyone wants to be needed, loved, cared about and asked how they are doing, and really mean it. I want to do better at this.

Lots of ramblings. Whats my excuse for my actions? I would say its because I am busy, and lazy. It takes a lot of effort to maintain a relationship. How can I approach any friendship with the expectation that it doesn't require effort? I think my actions, my schedule, my business is my choice, and until i choose something better life will continue like this. I must choose to make some things important and other things less important. This however is where our generation gets a lot of slack from older people. I think we are accurately described as an entitlement generation. Good or bad, i think its at least partly true. However I also think that older people look at our generation and see people who don't care about their jobs, or work, and prioritize things they want to do and the people they want to be around. There is a lot of good to making sure that work or your job is not an ends but a means to another end that is much more valuable than a 50 hour week and a promotion. It is here where we have decided whats important to us that I think we have excelled.



after rereading this post, i think i am a little crazy. Maybe this is just a cathartic activity of writing whats on my mind, but however it breaks down, I still want to be with family and friends more. Its sad that I have this Saturday morning unfilled because i didn't know what to do with it. It's not sad because its empty but because i felt like i needed to fill it with activity rather than enjoy time to relax.