An Amazing Story!
If you've ever read birth stories, they usually come with a warning to read on
only if you want to hear many detailed details...This story feels like that!
I'm mainly writing it here to document all the amazing miracles that happened for my own memory's sake ...
Read on only if you're interested in too many details!!!
I'm feeling compelled to record to story of God's goodness and care for us!
"Come and hear, all who fear God, And I will tell of what He has done for my soul." Psalms 66:16
This entry has very few pictures...There was no time for pics!
All of this took place between May 5th and June 10th! What amazing crazy days!
On May 5th Beka traveled to NYC with her class to perform their Showcase at the Alvin Alley Theater on the 6th. She and her partner had fun performing at the 2:00 Showcase! After the performance she got an email from DGRW, the agent she had done a workshop with at school earlier that semester. They wanted to set up a meeting with her. She was amazed and excited! Then they did the second performance and had a celebration in NYC with her class, teachers and alumni! The next day each senior got an email from their adviser telling them of all the interested agents, etc. Beka was overwhelmed with a list of 12 more! She even got a couple after that! She was able to meet with a couple agents in the next few days, bit then had to take a bus back to Boston on the 9th for her Cabaret end of year dinner. She made a couple more trips to NY the next week… finally deciding to narrow agent meetings down to her top 5!
Tim and I were in Boston from May 14th - 20th for Beka's graduation. The last couple days after graduation were eventful, as it became evident that Beka needed to move asap to NYC. She made the decision to sign with DGRW...her top choice of agent and they wanted her in the City as soon as possible for auditions. The plan was to sign with them after she moved there on the 1st!!! This meant finding a sub-letter for the last 3 months for the Boston apartment and finding a place to sub-let in NYC and moving her there - all in less than two weeks! AND... we decided it would be a good time for James to make the move to NYC, too!!! This had been their plan for September! So we put the Boston apartment on Craigslist for a 3-month sub-let beginning June 1st and began dealing with interested folks! I made a flight to return to Boston on the 29th to help her move. Tim and I flew home on the 20th! More details of this are on my blog :)
So the next 9 days at home were busy dealing with potential sub-letters for the Boston apartment and looking for a place to sublet in NYC. As the days were getting closer, nothing was settled for either location. I decided there was more I needed to do in Phoenix before going to Boston. I was able to change my flight to 31st!!! It was crazy that 2 days before my scheduled flight there was a flight just 2 days later and at a cheaper fare - unheard of!!!
On the 29th, Beka got an email from her agent wanting her to audition for Wicked on June 3rd. So now the plan was to move to NYC on the 1st, sign with the agent on the 2nd, and audition for Wicked on the 3rd! No renters for Boston yet and no place to rent in New York!!! So I booked two nights in NYC for June 1st and 2nd! ... I found a great hotel right in Times Square for $140/night ... ROWNYC! 2 blocks in one direction from her agent and 2 blocks in the other to the Wicked audition! I had only spent a few hours in NYC previously, so really had no idea what we were getting into :)
As I was in line to check my bags at the airport in Phoenix on the 31st, I got a call from the guys who had looked at the apartment in Boston the day before saying they wanted to rent our place. I told them I was on my way to Boston! We signed the sub-lease at the apartment Saturday night the 31st – 30 min after I got in!! We spent the evening packing and then crashed!!! We finished up packing in the morning and were planning on taking the MegaBus to NYC. Beka's friend came over and told us there was no way they would let us on with 3 bags each! So the friend and I ran around Boston looking for the best rental car deal. He drove me to the airport to pick up one of the only cars left in Boston to rent that day!!! I drove it to her apartment where we loaded up all 6 bags!! We had a wonderful 4 hour drive to Manhattan! I could hardly believe I was going to be driving into the city!!! I drove right up to our hotel on 8th and 44th St.! Such wonderful place!!! They let us park the car in front while we checked in and they brought our bags to our room! The guy checking us in gave us free drink coupons, free breakfast coupons, then came up to our room with a $50 Free American express gift card! After getting settled in we went down to the curb where our car and keys were waiting for us!!! We drove the rental car just a few blocks to return it. We walked home through Hell's Kitchen - bought some wine, hummus, bread and salad to enjoy in our room! What a crazy day but feeling extremely blessed! Things went soooo smoothly!
Beka woke up the next day to an email that she had a callback for Cinderella on the afternoon of the 3rd... just south of where we were. She also got an email from her agent that she was meeting that day, asking her to bring extra headshots and resumes. She realized they were in the box that was being shipped. We scrambled!!! Walgreens wouldn’t print professional pics, so I remembered that the place that printed her original headshots was in NY. I called them and they agreed to have 50 printed in just 1 1/2 hrs, when she needed them! So Beka went to sign with her agent – I went to Reproductions a few blocks away near Bryant Park and picked up the headshots! Now all we needed was to print the resumes to take to the Cinderella callback! I met Beka as she was finishing. She had an envelope of updated resumes her agent had printed with their logo, etc. The ones being shipped were going to be obsolete! All we had to do was staple the headshots to the resumes! Can you believe Beka had a stapler packed in one of her suitcases??? Now she had a headshot/resume for her Cinderella audition, too!
We had an appointment to look at the most promising place to sublet later that day! The guy we were to meet emailed us that we could come earlier, so we took the subway up to meet with Bey! The place was perfect – 2 blocks North of Central park – all utilities included for a very reasonable price! Even had an option to stay on till November! He liked us and we liked him…but he had to meet with a couple more interested people! As we were leaving he texted us saying … it will be pretty hard for me to like anyone more than you guys! Start smiling! He texted us an hour later saying it was ours!!! We were crying by now! So we called James, who had a flight booked for the next morning, but wasn’t going to take it if we didn’t have a place. So we told him to keep packing and get on his flight!!!
The Problem was we couldn’t move into the apartment till the 4th. We had no where to stay on the 3rd. I checked with our hotel, which on-line was about $400 for that night, to ask if we could stay 1 more night. They were full, but said to call back at 10 pm to see if there were any cancellations. On the 3rd she had auditions for Wicked and Cinderella very close to where we were so I wanted a place nearby that night. Every other hotel close by was either full or very expensive!!! When I called at 10:00 I was told there was a cancellation, we could have our same room and at our same low price!!! We were so thankful we didn’t have to move the next day. Beka went to her Wicked audition and thought it went great. Then she went to Cinderella and was asked to stay longer and sing again. We were running out of time, so I took the subway without Beka up to sign the sub-lease and pick up keys to their apartment. James got in a few hours later and we had Chipotle in our room – ready and waiting!!! This great hotel even let James just join us for free! Had a wonderful evening hanging out in the hotel and walking around Times Square!
The next day was move in day! We packed up our 8 big bags... got them down to the curb - called and UBER (using a $20 first time use coupon) and made our way up to their summer apartment!!! We got everything up to the third floor, said goodbye to Bey and started cleaning!!! A few hours later the place was clean and in order! Beka found out that she had a call back for Wicked on June 9th!!! We had to celebrate! Our first meal out in NYC was at Lolita's just around the corner! We decided we all deserved a nice reward!!! The next day we walked 1 1/2 miles through Harlem to East River Plaza! We shopped at Marshall's, Target and Costco!! We got three big carts full of stuff to get the kids settled in their new place! So we again called an UBER who picked us and all our stuff up! They brought us to the front doorstep! Next day was my flight out! Just one more thing to do... James had some shirts he needed to have altered. There just happened to be a sewing machine in the closet. It was an old one, but I figured out how to get it going and fixed about 8 shirts and a couple things for Beka, too!!! What are the odds of that??? Crazy! I had a great trip home on June 6th!!!
So Beka enjoyed her Wicked callback on the 9th and thought it went well, making it to the last two after cuts! The next day she got a call from her agent asking her if she wanted to know how her callback went. He said, Well...you booked WICKED!!! WHAT??? Booking her first audition in New York City???
So Beka flew to Calgary on July 28th to begin rehearsals for three weeks. He first performance was in Winnipeg on August 20th! Check out the Beka's Website (I built :) BekaBurnham.com for current updates!
I read an article about the chances of booking a show right out of college ...
On top of that WICKED is one of five top tier shows to book! Meaning best treatment and best pay! God is Amazingly GOOD!!!!
This is a story of feeling carried on eagles wings each step of the way!
The most amazing thing was as we were taking each step, I had zero worries! I really just felt the Lord carrying us and opening doors before us!
THANKFUL and BLOWN AWAY!!!
"Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles..."
Isaiah 40:31
A little back-story to put this all in perspective: Beka was accepted into the Boston Conservatory when she was 17. She was offered a $20,000/yr scholarship!
Without this it would have been impossible for her to attend! Three times during her 4 years there, we told her she couldn't return!
But each time The Lord made a way... and changed our hearts!
We all just believed she was supposed to finish there! It was a very hard 4 years for her and us!!
Just so thankful for the Lord's confirmation!!!
It's now 2 1/2 months later... Great stories don't come without many turns and trials!!!!
Beka is being challenged to her limit ... learning her whole ensemble track in just 3 weeks.
Then while performing 1 or 2 shows a day, is rehearsing for Glinda and Nessarose...
All the while adjusting to the professional world and living in Canada in hotels... alone :(
James has decided to move back to AZ and finish his undergrad degree.
He moved to NYC with the plan to live with his sister and after much soul searching has decided he doesn't want to live there now.
To be continued... trusting God has an awesome plan!