Pandemonium

The problem with lapsing a month+ between blog posts is that now I have so much to say, as much has been happening in life! So, I'm going to borrow a format from a local newspaper columnist and we'll flip through some of the channels of Karen's life. Grab the remote!

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TLC - A Baby Story: Biggest highlight, welcome to baby Charles Edward Engle, born to my brother Brian and sister-in-law Becky on August 14th. He is absolutely gorgeous, don't you think? I haven't been able to see him yet since he is all the way in Texas, but Aunt Lisa and Aunt Karen are going to visit Charlie and parents in a couple weeks. I can't wait to have him in my arms! For now, just the photos...

Perfect.

Engle Family :)

Gorgeous eyes, beautiful boy!

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Discovery Health - New Job for Karen: Second biggest highlight in recent weeks is that I have a new job! I am so excited and can hardly believe all that is happening. While I have been blessed with a good job doing communication work for a local government for the past 4+ years, I have never been completely satisfied with it. The good days were really good, but the bad days were too frequent, and I often felt like it wasn't quite the right job for me. So, I did some soul searching during the past year and identified some characteristics I desire in a new job, and I am so thankful to have accepted a job offer that meets every single one of them. God has been good and faithful, and I thank him for guiding, loving, and providing. My new position is with the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (thus the health connection) as a public relations project manager. My primary duties will involve national publicity and awareness campaigns for endocrine diseases such as diabetes, endometriosis, and thyroidism. I begin in mid-September and am very excited. More to come!

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Weather Channel - Hurricane Irene: It seemed for a few days there that my final weeks at my current job would involve an activation of the Emergency Operations Center to mitigate the impacts of Hurricane Irene. We only had to activate once in my tenure for Fay in 2008, but the constant fear of a disaster coming our way was one of the more stressful components of my old job. So I was very relieved when Irene shifted north and northwest earlier this week to avoid the Florida coast, although my heart goes out to all those further north who have been slammed. Most damage here in St. Johns County has been strong surfs and rip currents, some minor flooding along the coast, and lots of wind that may cause some sand erosion.

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Travel Channel - Year of Disney: Bob and Lisa and I concluded our "Year of Fun" of Disney passes with our last shabang this weekend. We took advantage of the Florida resident discount and took a couple weekend trips and a handful of day trips to get about as much magic as three big kids could handle! We wore out our favorite attactions and tried many new ones, with the all-stars being Toy Story Midway Mania, Festival of the Lion King, Rockin Roller Coaster, Animation Academy, Big Thunder Mountain, the classics like It's a Small World, and...well who I am I kidding? We love all of them! Some photos, all courtesy of Lisa who was the official photographer - thanks!