And an Apartment in a pear tree...FIVE GOLD RINGS!

(If you know why I have FIVE GOLD RINGS! in my title, comment and I will be eternally impressed by you!)
So the past week has been incredibly stressful, incredibly frustrating, incredibly challenging spiritually and incredibly rewarding.  WHY?  Because on Wed December 1st, I signed the 1 year lease on my apartment!  Yes, yes...everyone may stand up and shout!  What made that stressful is that I didn't have a job when I signed the lease.  I signed away the last of my savings and moved into an apartment I couldn't pay for!  By FAITH I hoped that I wasn't making a colossal mistake.
Well, it was a stressful weekend.  I had a final interview for a job on Friday which went well, then I moved into my new place on Saturday and realized that all my worldly belongings can fit in a 7x10 storage unit.  Wow.  So Sunday I unpacked.  Monday I awoke to no news of the job.  I did find out that my background check and drug screen were clear so we were just waiting for the company to give me a thumbs up.  So I finished unpacking the living room - spend 2 hours putting my futon together.  Never doing THAT alone again!  Its worth it though to be able to sit on a couch in my living room, curl up in a blanket and watch TV.  Oh soooo nice!
So today a guy came over (along with my landlady) to refinish the sink in my kitchen.  It looks fantastic!
By the time I left for my New Work Development meeting with the Chicago Metro Bapt Assn (CMBA), I was panicked about not hearing about the job.  It was a rough morning spiritually.  I couldn't even see past my nose.  It was like walking down the path and there was this dense fog everywhere and I looked down and couldn't even see the next step!  Praise the Lord that he took away my anxiety!  I was able to spend some time in the scriptures and reaffirm that God is in charge of my life and he will provide if I will only trust him and have faith.  It was a hard lesson.  It still is a hard lesson.
The goods news is that...I GOT THE JOB!  Once I arrived at the mtg (which took me an hour longer to get to because I went to the north location and I was told to go to the south location...ahhh! Stupid me! At least the first hour was a 'lunch' hour...) and had a voicemail.  Praise the Lord!  I screamed in Hilary's ear that I got a job as soon as I heard the staffing lady say she confirmed the assignment.  I had to apologize as I think I actually did scream in Hilary's ear.  Poor girl.
So...it is December 7th...I have a job and I have an apartment and I am the Volunteer research coordinator (People group research) for the CMBA.  WOOT!
So yes...its been a hard week, but I am headed out to Louisville tomorrow to see all my wonderful friends!  YAY!
God has been doing some amazing things and even though he's always provided for me before, I still doubt.  I worry about how I'm going to pay my bills and I look at my bank account and say, 'Ok God...you going to do something about this?  You want me to tithe?  I only have $20 to my name!'  But he is always faithful - even if we are not.  Praise his Name that he is!
So...the adventure continues...but at least I'm settling in.
And by popular demand...here are pictures of the almost done apartment.  The walls are still bare but I'm outta money so decorations will have to wait.  If anyone wants to get me a Christmas present...talk to my mom about what I need for my kitchen.  :)

Entry way!  Big brown thing is my front door.

View of the living room from the entry way...

View of living room from kitchen...

Kitchen.  That black thing is my heater.  It puts out the heat, lemme tell you!

Kitchen view from the back door.

New refinished sink.  Its soooo pretty!

Bathroom...tiny!

Shower only...no tub.  Booo!  The only thing I don't like about my apartment.

Built in bookcase/storage and a view of both bedroom entryways.

Office/Spare bedroom...not done

Yeah, really not done unpacking.

My bedroom.  Kinda messy.  Entrance to my WALK-IN CLOSET!!!

One half of closet.

2nd half of closet.  Oh yeah, shelves for my shoes baby!!

View of my bedroom from the closet door.

There you have it!  My life in Chicago has begun and I am still reeling from the happenings.
I start my job at Akzo Nobel on Monday and I am the Customer Support Specialist.  Basically I'm the CS department's Admin Assistant who is also cross trained to do customer service.  But this is high end business CS not low end upset customer all day retail CS.  I'm moving up in the world.  :)
Give God a big thank you for what he's done in your life this week.  Or at least thank him for what he's done in mine!
I'll keep ya'll updated.
Tootles!

Thanksgiving in Chicago!

I know its been awhile since I last posted and there's so much that's happened.
First: Thanksgiving in Chicago was fantastic!
The only bad thing was that the Thompsons had to sit in Chicago traffic for 3 hours!  I've been in traffic before in this city but the day before Thanksgiving is just crazy!
We had Thanksgiving at Melissa's Dad's house complete with Russians!  It was great to sit back and listen to the Russian and to realize that I really don't remember very much of my Russian.
No fear!  Olya to the rescue!  She is going to teach me some stuff!
On Friday we went to the Chicago Institute of Art.  It was $18 to get in and almost worth it.  I guess the pictures I took could make it worth it.  The "passing gas" noises that the doors made were definitely worth it - at least according to Mikey and Jason (Mikey being the 12 year old half-brother of Melissa's).
Without further adieu...here are the pictures from that weekend!  I have no idea what the real names of most of these paintings are so...I've made up my own.  :)

Quintessential Hamlet moment

Renoir - Lady in the Red Hat

Too many freakin' dots!!

Vampire Lady...seriously...tell me she doesn't look like one!

Awesome dress...I wish I had that figure Lady.

American Gothic (ok, so I know some of the real titles)

 Pay no attention to the red shoulder in the corner!!
Looks like Norman Rockwell - isn't though

Burnham and Root's famous building - interior design on 1st floor by Frank Lloyd Wright.  If you know  anything about Chicago history or architecture, you'll be giggling with excitement right now.  Otherwise - sorry...

Thanksgiving Pictures!

Lovely lovely table setting...took 2 days to set-up.  20 mins to be destroyed!

FANTASTIC Turkey.  Especially made by someone who doesn't eat meat!

Please see my Facebook page for more photos of the family.  :)

Tootles!

Give me a J, Give me an O, Give be a B - what does that spell?

I apologize profusely for the lack of postings.  I have no excuse except that there hasn't been much going on to write home about...until today!  Ha ha!  In 3 days, I'll have been here 1 month.
IT IS COLD!  We awoke to 29 degrees today!  Yesterday it was....guess.  Come on, just take a stab in the dark.  HA!  WRONG!  66 degrees!  Baaaaaad storms came through last night while I was sitting in rush hour trying to get to the western side of city.  2 hours.  Dang.  But I did get some gas while I was out there!

Monkey

So...several things of note have been going on this week and to follow a friend's example, I'll use a bulleted list!
1.  The Thompsons are coming to Chicago for Thanksgiving!!  YAY!  Of course, they're bringing the monkey too.  For those not familiar with the monkey, she is not a monkey at all, but the cutest 19 month old in the world!  Shown here.  She also goes by bugar and Jamie.
2.  I have had 3 interviews since last week.  The interview on Friday was for a wholesale Jewelry company that has been in business here since 1854.  It is an office assistant position and I'm supposed to know by tomorrow.  The next interview was for an administrative support position for a customer service department of Akzon Nobel.  They are a chemical manufacturing company with offices all over the world.  That job is only temporary- no time frame as yet but it could become permanent or other opportunities could arise within that company.  The interview I have at 2pm today is for Groupon.  That position is for Quality assurance.  That is my least favorite prospect out of the 3 of them but Holy Cow there are 3 prospects!!  Praise the Lord!
3.  The apartment that is being renovated in the basement of this building is finally almost ready!  Hopefully, crosses fingers, I can move in next weekend perhaps.  That would be FANTASTIC!  Then I can have people come and stay with me!  Only bad side of the apartment = no bathtub.  Booo!
4.  I think I have found the church that God would have me attend.  Park Community that I mentioned earlier.  I finally went to the 5:30p service on Sunday and I really really liked it.  I liked it better than the 9 and 11am services, so I think I'll go there.  It also doesn't hurt that most people my age and most of the singles go to that service.  Also, I met a girl named Sarah at the intro class on Sunday night who is working for Campus Crusade for Christ here in Chicago and she was a vocal performance major.  We are going to meet up next week and get to know one another.  I was very very encouraged by that entire evening, which I almost didn't go to because I wanted to take a nap. The Holy Spirit knew what He was doing when He sent me there!
5.  I was very encouraged by a Christian friend in Chicago to explore some aspects of my relationship with God that I had never contemplated before.  I've hit some walls in my Christian growth and what she said really made sense.  So I've been pursuing that with the Lord and it has been a tremendous blessing.  I hope to be able to discuss it with her further and to develop my thinking on some of these issues.

The sum total of above?  God has been soooo faithful!  Once again, I can't do anything but praise him for the amazing things he's done!
Now - onto some fun stuff.
Magnificent Mile Festival of Lights Parade!  The Kellys and I went on Saturday to the first holiday parade of the season.  I knew I wouldn't be able to get to the Thanksgiving Day parade so we halted all work on Saturday and took the L downtown.  It was all to wall people.  The parade itself wasn't a lot of fun but it was great to see all the people!  We were able to walk down the middle of Michigan Ave after the parade and see the street lined with lights.  I got some pretty cool pictures!

Looking down Michigan Ave after the parade!

We "watched" the parade from here.

Isn't she adorable?

This was the crowd in front of us.

The Chicago Tribune Bldg.  Gorgeous!

Water Tower!

Wall to wall people!

Oh look!  More people!

Pretty! Water tower in the background!

THIS is why we took the L.

Royal Chicago Mounted Police!

The Lovely Kellys...see the water tower in the back?

Yay!  Purple?

Water Tower pump house.

That is all my friends.  If I get a job, you'll be among the first to know!  Woot!

LAUNDRY!

I know its been awhile since I last posted.  Don't worry - nothing important happened.
The big topic today is:  Laundry! YEP!  That's the headline for today!  My first Chicago trip to the laundromat!  $1.75 a wash and $.25 dryers.  I don't know how long $.25 will get you but I felt like it took my clothes entirely too long to dry.  Another lady who came in at the same time was almost done with her 6 loads drying by the time I got my 2 loads done drying.  ::le sigh:: I guess I picked the crappy dyers. Perhaps that's why they were not in use.  ::nods head::  Ah, now the backstory unfolds.  Ha ha!
Well, this week has been rather...discouraging.  I'm still job hunting and that has me down (not to mention the nasty sinus stuff that's still lurking around -boo!).  I had another interview yesterday with another staffing company and this lady seems to be more interesting in getting me a job.  Unfortunately, the job I applied for was filled today and I don't even think they read over my resume.  But, I have to keep trusting in God's sovereignty.  He knows the needs that I have and he will fill them.  A friend told me yesterday to be strong and take courage.  ::sighs:: Oh I wish I could.  I do have some temp work that starts tomorrow.  The bad part is that the job is going to suck.  Over an hour on the train there, 6 hours on my feet making people take a newspaper they probably don't want, then another hour home.  And all this starts at 5:30am!  I am grateful for the work, it is money coming in - despite how much I may complain.

IN OTHER NEWS:  I keep taking sneak peeks in the windows of the apartment that I'm in line for.  Kevin has been painting like a mad man.  I was hoping it would be done by Thanksgiving but once he's done painting, they've got to do flooring so I'm not confident it will be.  But neither am I confident that I'll have a job by that time to pay for it.
I did get some FANTASTIC news yesterday and today - about two completely different things by two divergent people.  I cannot tell you either of them, however.  I have been sworn to secrecy on both accounts.  Both made me want to do jigs around the apartment.  I did not lose my dignity and do so, I simply said something like, "YAY YAY YAY YAY, Woo-hoo!  Hahahahahaha!  YAY."  Yeah, it was downright fun!
On another up note because God is faithful and I have no reason to be discouraged on that fact alone!  The Kellys and I sat down and looked at Chicago events coming up that are free.
There is the Thanksgiving Day Parade which looks stupendous!
There is the lighting of the tree in Daley Plaza.
There is caroling at the Rockefeller Center with the carillon.
Then there is "Snow Days" in January at the Navy Pier.  Its a snow sculpting competition.
That and the zoos are free and there are museums to see.  Hopefully I can be blogging about some of those fun things in the near future.
I promise...I will perk up!  Cross my heart!
Until next time...
Tootles!
Much Love

Chicago is my city!

So my mom reminded me tonight that I haven't posted anything here since Sunday.
Well, its been an interesting week.  So here's a short synopsis:

Cousin Lindsey with Molly and Piglet
and Baby Griffin as a Honey Pot.  Sooo cute!

Monday - I rode the Metra (the L for the suburbs) to Arlington Heights to babysit again for my cousin Lindsey.  Kids were great!  Soooo cute!  Molly just makes me grin!  THEN I went downtown to register my car.  That was expensive - $194 to title my car in IL and to get plates.  OH...MY...GOSH!  So I'm poorer than normal right now.  God has provided though so I'm not destitute.
Tuesday - what did I do on Tuesday?  Uh...I don't think I went anywhere.  I think I stayed in my pajamas till 3p then did some job stuff, got an interview for a job...cooked dinner, read a lot.  It was a day of nothing. I watch a lot of Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Wednesday - Kevin and Jennifer left for Houston about 5am so I have the house to myself until next Tues.  Its strange being alone.  I feel like this is a test.  Can I really make it in Chicago by myself?  I can!
So Wednesday I drove out to Des Plaines to meet with the Director of Missions (DOM) for the Chicago Metro Baptist Association (CMBA).  I had expressed interest in ethnic and people group research when I came in June so we went over some of that stuff. It's a huge task but one that will greatly help the strategy and church planting here in Chicago.  It might even hold a full-time position somewhere down the road, somewhere down the long road!  So last night I sat and read.  I tried to cuddle with Max (the Kelly's kitty) but he is still kinda anti-social.  He's warming up now that the Kellys aren't here to feed and cuddle him.  I almost got him onto my lap this afternoon. It was a bit chilly.

200 W Madison
The building I had my interview in!

Thursday - So today...I got up early and went downtown for my interview.  On the 20th floor of a fantastic building.  The view was not so great, just the 20th floor of other buildings, but hey, it was still a Chicago experience.  I rode the L by myself and got off at the right spot and didn't even get lost once on my way to the interview!  The interview went well and I hope to have some kind of job next weekend.  They were going to put my resume in for a job tomorrow but I don't think I'll get it.  I'm not sure I'm supposed to have it.  We'll see what God has planned.
So after that, I came home, grabbed some lunch and sat and read for awhile.  Max almost joined me on the couch, but he is still shy.
Then I remembered that my friend Hilary had some flyers she was going to be passing out for a discussion group she is starting in the neighborhood of UIC (University of IL Chicago).  So we went to businesses and asked if we could put flyers up on their message boards and got a really good response from most people.  It should be a good group.  It starts next Wednesday so I'll let everyone know how it goes.

The fantastic Artopolis!

After that, it started to rain - praise the LORD it waited until after we were done.  So we went to Greek town and ran in the rain to a fantastic little Greek restaurant - Artopolis.  The food was good and I had a great time chatting with Hilary and her friend Sara about their ministries.  God is doing some good stuff in Chicago - or at least beginning to.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
Please be praying for those working in Chicago.  There is so much need here and so few workers.  Please be praying that God would send more workers who will help reach Chicago for Christ.
Please also be praying for a job for me so that I can move into the apartment I think God has for me when its ready.  It will most likely be another 2 weeks before its ready, but I'd love to have the security deposit and the first month's rent ready to go.  Also be praying for how God wants to use me in Chicago.  I am participating in others' ministries while I am getting settled so I am active but I want to start looking at what God has for me here.
God is really taking care of me here.  I have wanted for nothing and had plenty of everything, even friends and family to make the transition so much easier.  I cannot praise God enough for all He has done, is doing and will do in my life here.  I am starting to feel like this is my city.  I can tell that God has moved me here.  I miss everyone in Louisville and I wish I could still be a part of their lives, but my time there was over.  I can see that very clearly now.  The LORD is being so gracious to me during this time of uncertainty and transition.
Please let me know if I can be praying for you in anyway.
Much Love

Happy Halloween!!

I hope everyone had a spooky yet safe holiday!
This morning I went to Park Community Church - Near North campus.  They are a "newer" church plant in Chicago that targets mainly the 20 and 30 somethings in the city.  They do it well.  In the past 15-20 years, they've grown from a small congregation in a school to a three campus several thousand member church whose hearts are still for bringing people to Christ and sending out missionaries.  I went to the 9am service since we had Halloween stuff going on that we needed to prep for.  My fantastic Sunday School class from Louisville called me while I was on my way.  A big shout out to CCBC in Louisville - you guys are still closest to my heart!  They were shocked that it was 8:47am and I was on the interstate going to church.  Don't worry, I'll probably aim to go to the 11am service most of the time.  And they have a 5pm service as well - I went to that one the last time and enjoyed it but I feel like I'm not giving God my best if I don't worship in the beginning of the day.  If life gets crazy, I can head to that service, but I'll plan for the 11am.
You can check out Park Community Church here.
Onto Halloween...
I wish I had grown up in Chicago because these kids had MASS amounts of candy!  In Chicago, a lot of the stores give out candy so you don't just go to the neighborhoods, you pick a really busy street (like Milwaukee Ave next to our apt) and you walk up and down it getting candy.

Kevin is a Forest Ranger who will show you all the
wonders of Milwaukee and Jennifer is a cat - Meow!

The Kellys, myself and our friend Hilary passed out hot chocolate and also had a free photo booth for the trick-or-treaters out on Milwaukee.  We were going to make cotton candy, but the machine wouldn't work off of a car battery inverter.  The wattage just wasn't enough, so we tried to make them at the house and walk them down. That didn't really work either as we had hundreds of people coming by and not nearly enough cotton candy.  So we stuck with the hot chocolate.  In the end we made 12 gallons of hot chocolate and passed out between 400-500 cups.  Oh My Gosh! you might say.  Yes!  By the time we got done and came home and unloaded the car and made dinner, we were kinda punch drunk.  We did get about 35 family pictures that we get to take out.  Hopefully we can meet some new people in the neighborhood through this.  (Random - I just heard a cat freaking out or fighting outside the house, it was semi-Monty Python-ish...made me giggle.)
Once cleaned up, we finished off the cotton candy floss in the machine and then Kevin and Jennifer turned their cones into Kazoos.  We ended up singing the Get Smart theme in 3 part harmony.  It was fantastic!!
Long story short - good day.  Some unexpected twists and turns but overall God was very faithful.  Please be in prayer for church planters in Chicago as they follow God's leading and struggle with how to plant churches and how to evaluate what they're doing in the light of how God has told them to lead.  This is a difficult task in this city.
Tomorrow is my first Metra train ride (the train system that goes from the city to the suburbs).  I'll be going up to Arlington Heights to babysit for my cousin again and I'm also going to be registering my car downtown afterwards.  Please be praying that I don't have to have residency to register my car or else I'll be in trouble.  My tags expired today so I can't drive it until I get new tags.  Cross your fingers and say a prayer!

"Support the Undead"

The past two days have been a whirlwind of activity!
Yesterday was consumed by a drive out to the suburbs in order to babysit the 3 cutest kids in the world!  My cousin's children: Cameron, Molly and Griffin were wonderful, well behaved and just simply smart and creative!  Please be in prayer for my cousin Lindsey as she's continuing to deal with kidney stone problems after the birth of Griffin.  Her doctor's office seems to think that she has unlimited time to go to the office - with 3 children.   I get to babysit for them again on Monday.  It will be my first Metra train experience.
So today - Saturday - oh what a day!
It started out with some fantastic ranchero eggs made by our own Jennifer Kelly.  Then she took me with her on an errand run.  We went all over creation!  Included stops were: Wal-Mart (the only one in the city), Jewel Osco, Aldi and Walgreens - where they wanted to charge me $30 for my Mucinex and luckily Jennifer caught it because I didn't hear the total.  She showed me where to shop for what and I've forgotten where most everything is that she showed me, but it was educational.
Next we made caramel apples for dinner...see below.
THEN, I got to take my first solo "L" ride downtown in order to meet a Russian friend, Olya.  She is the step-mother of Melissa Thompson (whose house I helped restore in Mt. Washington).  We did quite a bit.  We met at State and Randolph - where the huge Macy's is with the old clock.  Then we walked around Daley Plaza where they had dyed the fountain orange for Halloween.  They had Halloween crafts and acts going on in the plaza for the kids.  We took some pictures - as shown - and moved on.

On our walk towards Michigan Ave we encountered the House of Blues.  We took some pictures - as shown - and moved on.  Next we headed to the Howard Bldg, which I think is the 3rd tallest building in Chicago.  Taking the elevator up 96 floors to the Signature Lounge, we found ourselves looking for miles in every direction.  There was a great view of  the Navy Pier and Lake Michigan went on forever!
We decided that we needed to have a sit down and since the Cheesecake Factory had a 30 min wait, we headed to Ghirardelli.  Across the street from the massive Hershey store, we ordered some ice cream (I had water since I was very parched) and had a seat outside since the day was beautiful!

It was there that we were approached by some zombies.  Yeah, gross I know.  They were passing out flyers for a zombie show this weekend.  We smiled and nodded and hoped they wouldn't eat us.  We got lucky, they were just there to raise awareness. "Support the undead" was their catch phrase.  Apparently Borders doesn't support the undead.  Go fig huh?
Olya and her son, Micheal, were running late for their train back to the suburbs at Union Station so we hopped a cab (my 1st Chicago cab ride) and I got off at Randolph and State again and they continued onward.
Now, the Kellys had guests coming over for dinner at 6p, so I wanted to get home in time to see them and meet them.  I was home at 5:45p.  Oh yeah.  The walk from the apartment to the train station isn't that bad - its about 10 mins max.  And as a perk for those early morning walks, there's a fantastic Hispanic Bakery on the way.  Oh YUM!  That'll make any bad day turn right around.
So, right on time (Polish time, that is) the guest arrived and we chatted till about 10p.  Man, I'm tired but I know you all rely on the punctuality of my blogs so I figured I would get all this down tonight for you.  Hate to keep anyone waiting.
Oh and by the way - GO HUSKERS!  They beat Mizzou.  Ha ha!
That's all for now.  Tomorrow is my first solo church experience. I think I'm going to go to Park Community - the singles church - and see how that strikes me.  The services get younger and younger with every service, so I think I'm going to try the 9:30 or 11am.  Probably the 9:30 since my hosts are going to be leaving about that time as well.
Until tomorrow, or Monday depending on how the day goes.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Much Love