Well, we have been in the big city for a month now, and we continue getting acclimated to this new world!
The most exciting thing that has happened as of late is that I got a job. A huge praise the Lord moment and we are grateful for answered prayers. I will be working at a place called Outreach Services as a "Bilingual Patient Advocate." I will work with patients at hospitals who do not have insurance and figure out what they do or do not qualify for and how we can help them get insurance. Sounds exciting right? :) The start date is September 6th...a week away.
Rice Building - where KJV will be working
The office is located downtown in a building named the "Rice Building". In the back corner of the first floor there is a pizza place called Giordanos...famous around Chicago for deep dish pizza! We have had one of their pizza's and it was pretty intense!
To celebrate me getting a job, Preston and I went to Catedral Cafe. Will Ferrell filmed several scenes at this cafe in the movie Stranger than Fiction, and I ate the best salmon bruschetta there!
Preston and I went back to Moody Church this past Sunday. We met up with one of Preston's friends from Mountain City who moved to Chicago several years ago. He and his wife (Philip and Meredith Potter) currently go to Moody Church. The church was having their annual picnic and we participated in that. For now Preston and I will continue going to the Moody Church. It seems like a good fit for us at this time.
Moody Church is located about a block from lake Michigan, and so after the picnic on Sunday Preston and I took a stroll along the lake shore, and we happened upon the Lincoln Park Zoo (which is totally free!). I can not figure out exactly why it is free, but it was founded in 1868, making it the oldest zoo in the nation. It was a very impressive zoo, full of polar bears, giraffes, birds, and even Corky's (our cat) cousin:
Corky our cat...see the resemblance?
We have also done a few fun things around town, such as an attempt to go to the Water and Air Show. Of course it was also a rain and lightning show, which made us leave the show early.
The storm!!!
Waiting for the storm to pass...
We went and saw the Buckingham fountain, which is pretty huge. We went to a baseball game at Wrigley field, and although the Braves (Preston's team) lost, the Cubs fans were super happy, which was a lot of fun. Walking home after the game, we saw a girl on a bicycle get hit by a turning car (she was fine, but very angry)...the bicyclists in this town are crazy!
Buckingham fountain
Us at Wrigley field.
We went to this really interesting ice cream place that uses liquid nitrogen to make ice cream totally from scratch in just 3-5 minutes. :) At the end of the blog is a short video about the ice cream shop...if interested to know more.
At the ice cream store...not really prepared for the photo! But you see the "cool" mixers in the background!
Preston and Corky chilling
For the most part we are just living our normal every day lives like we did back in Tennessee...slowly getting the hang of things.
* Click video twice to view in a different tab larger sized
Preston and I continue to feel more settled and continue to learn our way around. During the week Preston stays busy with work and I stay busy trying to find work and continuing to make this little house our home.
We would like to be able to do something fun on the weekends. Right now we are just sticking to the cheaper things (free) in the area, and if I get a job maybe we will get to do some interesting things that cost money...like go to the very cool museums. :)
Anyway, this past weekend we went to The Moody Church downtown. Yes, I laughed at the name too...kind of weird going to a church that's so moody...hehehe! The church was originally started by Dwight L. Moody...a well-known evangelist. His big emphasis was on Sunday School, and the church grew to have more than 1,000 children in Sunday School. The original building was burned in the great Chicago Fire...it was rebuilt...then in 1925 that building became the Moody Bible Institute and the church moved to it's current location.
The Moody Church...it was not this full when we went...this a photo I pulled from the internet.
Illinois slogan is: "Land of Lincoln"
We saw President Lincoln's statue, which is conveniently located in Lincoln Park. Abraham Lincoln moved to Illinois when he was 21 years of age. Lincoln represented Illinois in the House of Representatives for a term, and he continued living in IL until he became President in 1861!
One of the other interns that works with Preston, Casey, came to church with us. The the three of us walked over to Lake Michigan (we saw the statue on our way). It was a VERY windy day!
Very windy indeed. We learned that sand stings as the wind beats it against your legs.
Preston was the only one brave enough to go to the end of the pier. Plus he was willing to get soaked! He was having a blast! I was just praying he wouldn't get swept away. :)
So, after fun at the lake we went over to "Old Town" by accident. We were just walking around looking for somewhere to have lunch and we happened upon this quaint neighborhood. We ate at a little (unimpressive) Italian restaurant.
After lunch we walked over to Kilwins Chocolate and Ice Cream shop! Yummy! It was voted as one of the best in Chicago in 2011!
We each got a little bit (okay, a lot) of Chocolate!
I'm still looking for work. Had another interview this week, and waiting to hear about a second interview at the clinic Preston works at. One more thing...we found a place that we can watch the Steelers games....very important mission accomplished!
On our way home from watching the Steelers' first Pre-season game!
We have now been in the Windy City for one week, and so far things have gone well! :)
Preston with a Tesla Roadster (all electric)
This past Friday our friend Kat was in town. We enjoyed having her as our first guest in the home. We hung out downtown around the Navy Pier and we got to eat some of the famous Garrett Popcorn! We also visited the "Cornerstone Building", which was neat because it had stones from all around the world embedded in the side of the building. We were able to find the stone from Tennessee -- from Cumberland Gap! There were also some very odd looking fountains where large faces spit out water :-/....it looked like what city kids call their public pool! JK
Preston, Kat, and Krystal
Cumberland Gap stone in the Corner Stone building
On Saturday, Preston and I went to a picnic that he had for his internship. We met the other people who will be in the cohort with Preston. The picnic was intended to say goodbye to students leaving their internship and hello to the students coming in to the internship. It was so nice to see the supervisors and others praying over both sets of interns. They seem like great folks and I believe that Preston is going to have a wonderful year! The picnic was in a suburb of Chicago and so when Preston and I left we decided to take a look at Goodwill there...and we found me a nice winter coat and Preston a great winter hat which will cover his ears!
Strange face spitting out water
Garrett Popcorn..Chicago mix is Cheese with Caramel
Looking over the tracks...in the city
We are getting settled into the house and neighborhood. Our street had a block party on Saturday and we met a few of the neighbors. We are also getting more familiar with the streets and the L system...but have a lot to learn! Little things make us feel like we are more and more becoming Chicagoans...like riding the L system without having to look at a map or getting our Chicago library cards, purchasing heavy winter garments, speaking Spanish, or buying groceries at the local market...very weird to be making this our home.
Today Preston officially started his internship, and it was a day full of orientation type events. I am currently still looking for a job. I have an interview set up for Wednesday afternoon for a Bilingual Patient Advocate, and the location where I interviewed in July said that they would be calling me to set up another interview. We are prayerfully trusting that God has a perfect plan!
We live in between two L stops, and this one has the prettiest view.
This is "The Bean," a huge reflective bean near Millennium Park. Many people take weird photos here.
Though we are country folks at heart we are enjoying our time here in the City and we hope to find it a fruitful and adventurous year!
Well, the move was a success. We are grateful to our family and friends for helping us pack up the boxes and the moving truck! Only a couple of things broke during the move.
Candace
Family helping!
It normally takes about 11 hours to get to Chicago from TN; however, with the truck and our frequent stops it took us a little longer (like 15 hours). The trip had some excitement; we saw a deer run across the interstate and slam into the side of a car (poor deer), a Mustang on the side of the road exploding, we helped a trucker at a gas station fix his rig, and at almost midnight the moving truck began pouring gas all over the ground! :) We finally made it in to our new home about 1:30 in the morning (central time) on Monday....and then finally got some rest. We awoke early Monday morning and started unpacking. We got everything out of the truck by about lunch time.
This first week here in Chicago has mostly been about us unpacking and getting settled into the neighborhood. We have walked around the neighborhood some and driven around to get our bearings.
I will post again in a couple of days to share more about the weekend activities...just wanted to share about the move. It was good...we made it...and it's just a bit strange knowing that this is our new home!
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?
Even though the word "Goodbye" says GOOD...I'm not sure that it always feel good. One thing that happened this past week was that we began saying goodbye. Our friends, Russell and Katie, are also moving for Russell's internship placement, but they are moving this coming week. Therefore, we all got together one more time before we parted ways. We are all excited about the new places we are going and the experiences that we will have, and I guess that is part of life. Growing, changing, and saying goodbye. You always say hello to new friends, right? It's still not fun - the leaving, which as the summer progresses there will be more good/sadbye.
Russell and Katie Fox
We could have the hello attitude, right? :) Hello to the experience of leaving, new city, new home, new work, new community, new lifestyle, newness....
This week on Wednesday, Preston and I will be traveling up to Chicago to look for apartments. Our hope is to find one or at least get a feel for what is available to us and what the area is going to be like.
Another thing going on this week is that I may have an interview on Friday. My interview is for a social work position working in the clinic where Preston will also be working. Aside from the nicety of working at the same location, it will also be nice to work in a Christian facility. Crossing fingers and saying prayers that this goes well.
Well, now we are down to six weeks before we move. Crazy!!
A great thing that has happened in the last six weeks is that we have found someone, a reliable person, to rent our house while we are gone. We are so grateful and blessed to have that part over. Now we just have some cosmetic things to finish up around the house before we move, like the grout in the kitchen :), the crown molding in some rooms, and a few other things.
In a couple of weeks we are taking a trip up to Chicago to go apartment searching. It will be so nice to come back to TN knowing where we are going to live once we are in Chicago.
As of right now, we are trying to figure out what to take, what to leave, do we store things, do we sell things, how big of a uhaul do we need, and all those kind of things. This is such a big move for us. I still can not believe we are actually leaving Tennessee.
