So I moved to Chicago...: Give me a J, Give me an O, Give be a B

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!