Monday, July 4, 2011

The trip

Us and Kathleen!
Preston and I left this past Wednesday for Chicago. We made it most of the way Wednesday night and on Thursday made it the rest of the way there. Of course, there was a slight detour to visit our friend Kathleen who was at Notre Dame for a conference. Fun! 

Thursday continued with our arrival to the big city of Chicago. We saw three of the four apartments we had scheduled for that afternoon, and the last one of the day -- we thought was THE ONE! However, Friday afternoon the landlord called and said that she had found someone who was going to rent it. :( At that time we were sad, and I was a bit anxious because we only had two more apartments scheduled for viewings.
Lawndale Christian Health Center

Anyway, I had my interview on Friday morning at Lawndale Christian Health Center. It seemed to go pretty well and am hopeful to hear good news in a week or so. The position is a case management type position working with a newer program at the office, which appears to be a good fit...we'll see!

The apartment/the lower level
After the interview Preston and I continued our journey apartment hunting, and the last one we saw, we REALLY liked. Most apartments in Chicago do not come with a place for your car. You have to park on the street. Most apartments do not come with washer/dryer or even hook ups (they take up too much room). Most apartments at least have them someone in the building or you have to go to a laundry mat. The apartment that we liked came with a spot in a garage, which would allow Preston to have a small space for some tools, and the apartment came with a washer/dryer inside the actual apartment. PLUS, it had a nice kitchen (another thing we had not found).

Through prayer and much discussion we felt that we should proceed in faith to complete the application for that apartment. So, Saturday morning we went back to that apartment and gave the landlord the application. We should here back by the end of the week if we pass all the checks. Then we will have to do all the lease stuff to make it official! :) We were excited about the place. It is in the city limits of Chicago, but it is about 4 miles from "downtown" Chicago. It is on the boarder of two neighborhoods, Pilsen and Little Village. There is a large Hispanic population in this neighborhood, which will be fun for us!


The kitchen!!!
From the back door -- the garage spot
















Maria (aka Maju)
I don't want to make this too long.....Saturday afternoon we went downtown to the Taste of Chicago!!! It was a lot of fun...SUPER hot and SUPER crowded, but there was a ton of food to choose from! That night we met up with a friend of ours that moved to Chicago about a month ago. We saw her at the Navy pier, watched fireworks and had ice cream!


Taste of Chicago!
Church -- we went to a church on Sunday called New Life Community church, which is located in Little Village. There were a lot of things that we liked about that church, but it's just going to take some getting used to some thing new. :) We'll probably check out at least another church or two before settling down where we believe God would like to have us.

It seems like everything is in brick buildings! One thing we learned is that you can't judge the inside of a building based on the way it looks outside! (book by it's cover...)
The church we visited

Overall the trip was a success and a blessing. We feel more excited about the move and continuously are reminded how God is in this move, which just makes it "feel" right. You know what I mean?

Just a month away.........

3 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you guys found a place! It looks great! Definitely a score on the kitchen. : )
    We'll be keeping our fingers and paws crossed that you get good news about the job. It'll be here before you know it.

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  2. Glad to hear the trip was a success! I'm sure there will be good news about the job. It is sad to see you guys go but excited for what is to come:)

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