Christmas...

It was great to be able to be home for Christmas! We got in late Saturday night and stopped at my parent's house to see everyone before we went down to Dustin's for the night...it was kinda weird sleeping in our old house! We went to church in the morning on Christmas Eve and then spent the afternoon at my grandparent's house for my dad's family Christmas. Then, we went to the annual candlelight Christmas Eve service at church, which was beautiful, as always! We opened our presents with my family that night and then had breakfast with them on Christmas morning. We spent the rest of the day at Jesse's parent's house, opening our presents with them and just hanging out. I got to play Dance Dance Revolution for the first time ever with some of Jesse's siblings, and it was so much fun!!! I came home Christmas night with our friends from the area who are at Moody because I had to work on Tuesday. It was kinda depressing to be here all by myself, so my friend Sarah came over on Tuesday night and we gave each other pedicures and dipped our hands in her paraffin wax pot...it was so nice to just relax and have some girly time! Jesse stayed in Indiana until Wednesday afternoon and spent some time with his friends and jamming with some of the guys on worship team at church :) Oh, yeah, he also changed the oil and spark plugs in the car. Here's a fun picture of my family after the Christmas Eve service...we had three couples and then Evan, so...

My sister finally got home from Guatemala on December 21st...for those of you who didn't know about her trip, we have a link to her blog on the side of our page, so check it out, she's got some pretty cool pictures and stories! She got in at 12:45 a.m. Wednesday night/Thursday morning, so Jesse and I went to surprise her and pick her up! We brought her back here and she got to spend a few hours here trying to sleep before I drove her and my friend Leeanne to the airport to catch their early-morning flights. I was kinda nervous about driving to and from O'Hare by myself...I was entirely convinced that I would get lost in the ginormous parking lot there or something, but everything went fine. Anyway, there were tons of people waiting for my sister at the Fort Wayne airport, including Dustin, who had a very important question to ask her...and now he is my future brother-in-law! I couldn't be more thrilled for them!

We will be in Indiana again this weekend; at my grandparent's house in Middlebury for my mom's family Christmas and then in Ohio for a New Year's Eve party, and then next weekend, we will be home again for Jesse's dad's family Christmas...three weekends of traveling aren't so fun, but three weekends in a row to see our family and friends...PRICELESS! :)

laundromat musings and a couple of thank you's

So I finished up classes without failing. It's amazing how I am working almost full time now, yet I feel like I have so much free time that I don't know what to do with myself! Work is extremely slow, since most of the students are at home for Christmas break. I'm loving Christmas Break, though. Most of my time is spent reading and playing the guitar, with some video games thrown in.

Yesterday was a pretty lazy day. Stephanie and I went to do the laundromat yesterday afternoon and washed just about all of our clothes. While we were sitting there waiting on the washers, I noticed the employee there folding laundry. At this laundromat (and possibly other ones - I don't know, I'm not an expert on laundromat services) they offer drop-off services, so some people just leave their clothes there and the employees wash, dry, and fold them. Anyway, I noticed that the employee was folding this person's unmentionables, and thought to myself 'Wouldn't that be awful to have to fold a stranger's underwear?' I doubt that guy gets paid well, so I felt kind of bad for him.

And last but certainly not least, we had company last weekend. Aunt Lisa, Damon, Hailie, Grandpa and Grandma came up to visit, and to get haircuts from none other than my fabulous wife. We really enjoyed the company, even though it was ridiculously cold that day. Grandpa and I tried to go on a walk in an effort to escape the salon, but the -150 f wind chill made us decide to cut the walk short. We only made it around the block, and barely.

So that's a summary of what's up in the City of Wind.
P.S. wanted to make sure I got that last part in, after seeing the possible consequences ;)

Not much to say...

Hello, everyone, I hope this finds you all well and not too stressed out with Christmas coming up! We don't have much of an update, but I realized that we hadn't posted anything since right after Thanksgiving, so I thought I would just let you all know that we're still alive, we just haven't been doing much that's very exciting! Jesse had his last week of classes last week and is having finals this week, I think his last final is today. I've just been working like usual, but I am excited because my friend Danielle applied at my salon and had an interview, and it looks like she is probably going to start after Christmas! It will be so cool to be able to work with someone like her who shares my faith...all of the other girls are nice, and none of them have ever made fun of me for being a Christian...if anything, they've just asked me questions...but having someone there that I can really identify with will be awesome! So just pray that it all works out so that we can work together...

Anyway, we will be traveling a lot around Christmas...we will be home Christmas weekend, at my grandparent's in Middlebury New Year's weekend, and then back home the following weekend for Jesse's extended family get-together (hopefully), so just keep us in your prayers as we travel all three weekends! Thanks again for all of your prayers, and we will see most of you around Christmas!

Thanksgiving

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. We did; we went home to Indiana on Wed. night and came back Friday morning. It was great to see family that we haven't seen in quite a while. Christmas will be here before we know it, and we will get to see everyone again! We also had company this weekend. My good friend Paul and his wife Tamber came to the city this weekend, and we had our first guests stay in our apartment. A grand time was had by all ... we watched Elf on Friday, and went downtown on Saturday. Do yourself a favor, don't go to Chicago on Thanksgiving weekend. The crowds were CRAZY down by the water tower. We did get to see the storefronts at Macy's; the theme was Mary Poppins.

Anyway, the semester is coming to an end. I have a few more class periods, a few papers, a bunch of reading, and finals, and I will finally feel like I have started to accomplish something. Seven more semesters really doesn't sound like that long, seeing how quickly the first has gone by. Time doesn't wait for anybody, that's for sure. It's amazing how quickly it goes. I wonder where we will be, or what we will be doing three and a half years from now? I still wonder what I'm cut out for ... what can I do with the gifts I have? Hmmm... if only there were a profession where you play guitar, drink coffee, talk, build weird stuff out of other weird stuff, work on stuff, and think about things that other people probably could care less about, then I would know what I want to be when I grow up. I guess for now I will just study music and the Bible, and see what I come up with. It's working out pretty well so far.

Busy, busy, busy...

The last while has been pretty slow at work...busy days here and there, but generally pretty slow, so I was hoping that the closer the holidays got, the busier it would get...and it has been SO busy the last two days! Not to the point where there were just tons of people waiting in the lobby, but our door was pretty much a revolving door all day yesterday and today, and I have already done almost $400 in services just the last two days! And considering that haircuts are only $13 apiece...I have had three color clients, but even so, that is a LOT of money in services for only two days! Tomorrow will probably be just as busy, so needless to say, I am so glad that we get to come and spend Thanksgiving in Fort Wayne and relax with our families! Please say a prayer for safety in travel for us as we head back Wednesday evening and will be returning to Chicago on Friday morning!

We made more new friends...I met Danielle at Student Wives, and guess what...she does hair, too! So now, there's me, Leeanne, and Danielle who do hair, plus the coordinator of SWF, Lisa, does hair, too! Danielle and her husband Craig live just around the corner from us, and we had them over for lunch on Sunday, and then I did Danielle's hair Sunday afternoon while the guys were poring over their school books, then they came back over Sunday night and we watched a movie together! They are super nice, and they are both very easygoing, so we get along with them really well! I just praise God for the continued blessings of new friends, that was one thing I was really worried about when we moved! We have so many awesome friends in Indiana, and the thought of starting completely over was just so overwhelming, but God has blessed us so richly...I just have to laugh when I think that two of the first friends that I have made here are also cosmetologists...God is just so awesome! Another thing I was worried about was finding a church...I thought we would search for months to find the right place, and we already are attending a church that we love! And to make it even better, it is about a five minute walk from our house, and our landlord (who works at Moody) is an elder there, so...all of these "Godincidences" keep happening, and as much as I miss Indiana, I can't doubt for a second that we are perfectly in the center of God's will! Thank you all for your continued prayers and for reading this...make sure to keep commenting because we love to hear from you! We love you all, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Another fun weekend!

So this weekend, instead of us going back to Indiana, some people from Indiana came here! On Saturday, Jesse's family (everyone besides Mary) came to our house for a little bit, and then we went out to Ed Debevic's. That is a really fun restaurant, if some of you haven't tried it! It is a 50's style diner, and the staff is just hilarious...they are all supposed to have attitudes and be rude to you, and you are just supposed to play along with it! Then, some of them got up on the tables and they all started dancing to the car wash song...it was great!!! Here's a picture of all of us outside the restaurant...

Then on Saturday afternoon, Jesse and I made our way to a little town about an hour south of here called Minooka for Cory and Sarah's wedding...which was beautiful! We met up with my parents, my uncle Josh and aunt Bonnie, Leroy and Shelli, and Troy and Michelle. They all came to church with us this morning, and then we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant close to Moody. Here is a picture of everyone after we got done eating...

This afternoon, Moody's Oratorio Chorus put on a concert of excerpts from Handel's Messiah. Since Jesse is a music emphasis, he had to be in it this semester, so my parents, Jesse's family and I got to go and see the concert! It was absolutely beautiful, I was just absolutely amazed, and it made me miss choir SO much! I hadn't ever heard more than the Hallelujah chorus and For Unto Us a Child is Born...but it is all just beautiful! Then we escorted my parents to the Amtrak station so they could catch their train home, and here we are, back in our humble abode! :) It was a great weekend, we enjoyed having people here to see our house and go to church with us. That's all for now...keep checking in!

a short note from stephanie

So I realized that I haven't written anything in a while, that Jesse has been updating you all, so I thought I'd leave a short and sweet post! Things at work have been going really well...the month of October was overall pretty slow, but it's already picking up as Thanksgiving approaches! The fiscal year for Hair Cuttery ended in October, so we had a meeting at our salon last night to regroup for the new year and get awards from last year, and I actually got an award for "Extraordinary Color Percentage", just meaning that the percentage of color services that I do is the highest, so that was exciting! I get along with everyone that I work with and have been handing out my business cards and have already had a few repeat clients, so that is great!

Otherwise, I am still trying to make new friends, and I have been hanging out with Leeanne almost every Thursday because we both have the day off! Just today, we discovered that there is actually a Wal-Mart only a few miles from my house...I thought it was a LOT farther, and we had been so Wal-Mart deprived!!! I made a new friend named Sarah, her husband Erik works with Jesse. She is really fun and they live right around the corner from us so we can just spontaneously get together sometimes!

We are not sure if we can make it home for Thanksgiving...the salon is open the day before and the day after, so my hours those days will determine if we could come home or not. We would love to, so just say a prayer that it works out!

a short trip home

We got to go home this weekend, which was a huge blessing to us. Stephanie's boss wanted her to work on Thursday (her usual day off) so she got to take Saturday off. It's hard to believe how long it has been since we were home last, but it was great to see everyone that we haven't been able to see. Keep praying that we get to go home somewhat often so that we can see our families and friends!

The people here, for some reason, have a hard time believing that we lived next door to and around amish peoeple back home. So, in an effort to show them that we were serious about living around amish people, we decided to take pictures. When we took the pictures, we got a bit of irony, too. Take a look; what looks out of place?


By the way, sorry to those of you who tried to post comments and couldn't - I had to change some settings. You should be able to post now, so you don't have any excuse now!

My PCM is OK. Some people do much more, shall we say "interesting" things at their PCM's, but mine is pretty much typical. My friend Erik goes up to 'Boy's Town' and talks to men on the street corners who are stuck in prostitution. Mine isn't anything like that, but I think it still has a lot of purpose. It's definitely not what I am used to, but I like it. I help out at the YMCA with an after school program for kids. I'm not used to the age range, and I'm definitely not used to the inner-city kids. The kids at the Power House live in town, but they are not inner-city. Some of those kids might be a little rough around the edges, whereas these kids are pretty rough all around, but by no means hopeless. There are some that just touch your heart, though. I'm sure that all of them want you to give them affirmation and love, but some of them are just more 'expressive' of it, I guess.

I usually work with one boy, named Amiel. I (try) to help him with his homework, but usually he wants me to give him the answers rather than help him to get them on his own. There are a ton of great kids there (he is one of them), but one little girl just sticks out. Her name is Sarai, and every time we arrive, she gets a big smile on her face and greets us. She can be a stinker, too, but she is a cute kid.

Yesterday I got to read to her. That probably doesn't seem like a big deal, but it's much easier to feel like you're actually doing something there when the kids want you to interact. Usually Amiel wants me to give him the answers or just let him do his own thing. I'm going to keep on working with him, even if he doesn't let me really help him. Sarai had me help her on a couple of questions on her math, and then she got out her "Little House in the Big Woods" book. I was reading it to her, and it was funny, because I was reading about Pa loading his gun and getting ready to shoot animals, and it was really catching the attention of other people in the room. It was a blast, though. Kids like Sarai make it so much fun to help out.

It's about time!

GGRRRRRRR!!!! I just wrote this message a few minutes ago, and blogger.com was having apparent technical difficulties, so I lost it. All of it. So, here we go again.

As I was saying, I just realized how long it has been since our last post. You're probably wondering "What have they been up to this whole time? Did they forget about us?". No, we didn't forget about you. We've just been goofing off. We've been spending time with friends, working, going to school - you know, the usual. But we have also done new things. I got a TB test today, Stephanie made another friend, I sold some stuff on ebay for the really nice peddler down the street that always has stereos in his trunk real cheap (just kidding, it was my stuff), among other things. Oh yeah, and I got deathly ill a couple of weekends ago. So we've been active. Except when we've been sick. This weekend, we spent time with a couple around the corner. I read Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon (whew!), part of which was on Saturday, when Stephanie was at work. And in between I watched Notre Dame chalk up another W ... again ... barely. If you didn't see that game-winning TD, go to nbcsports.com RIGHT NOW. You need to.

So, about the reading - you're probably either thinking "Why is he telling us this?" Truth is, I'm just leading into a story. First some background. I don't get super-stressed out about stuff - basically, if I have too much on my plate, I just don't look at my plate, but soon I need to finish up what I have. Then I start to get stressed out (naturally). But usually I just internalize it, like many men. So I needed to go pick Stephanie up. In case you haven't been up here in a while, the traffic in Chicago is pretty much the same - exciting, put mildly. It's just a tense situation sometimes. It was Thursday, and Stephanie was at student wives, which meets at the school. When I drive to the school, I take the expressway. At night, it isn't that bad, but I'm only on the highway for a couple of miles. To be honest with you, that night I wanted to stay on the expressway much, much longer. The view heading into downtown is simply amazing. The seemingly peaceful, yet intimidating skyline is at the perfect distance to behold, and when you look at it, coasting at the perfect speed down the highway, you just forget whatever you were worried about. It's just one of those moments. I wish I could take pictures, but I don't think I should play photographer while driving, let alone hang the camera out the window on the highway.

My point is that some things about living up here are so cool. It's strange; we still call good old Indiana "home," but, as they say "Home is where you make it." I'm happy to make this place home, and it feels like it. Being here is an experience that we are so fortunate to have, even though we miss all the things about "home." Don't get me wrong, we haven't forgotten about you all - in fact we think about you and wish that we could be there. But I think that we are very happy to be where we are, and we wish we could share more of our "moments" with you. Maybe we'll have more, and you can share them. We'll see.

So long,
Jesse

Missions Week

This week is missions week here at Moody. We don't have classes for the rest of the week, but we are all required to attend 12 hours of sessions about missions. It's pretty cool, and next Monday and Tuesday are study/reading days, or as my Theology professor Dr. Barbieri called them "See how far you can get away from campus days." I do have to use them for study and reading, because I have a reading report due for OT Survey that Thursday and still need to read quite a bit before I can write it.

I wanted to address something, just clear it up for everyone. We're not that busy up here. I realized how many times we had written that we were "so busy" in previous posts, and it's not that dramatic. Are we tired when we get home? Yes. Are we sometimes cranky? Well, Stephanie is, but not me. Do we have goofy schedules? Yes. But we have plenty of free time, it's just not usable for social interaction sometimes. You see, we have large chunks of time when we just sit around and watch TV, or cook, or eat. We even have about 8 hours every day when we just sleep. It's ridiculous, really. Honestly, though, it's not that bad. Stephanie has Thursdays off of work and I have Saturdays off, and we both have Sundays all to ourselves. Just wanted to clear that up.

During chapel this morning, the drama team came up and narrated stories of different Moody graduates who went out into the rest of the world in international missions and became martyrs. It was just incredible to listen to these stories, and the fact that they were true - you could imagine everything so clearly, it was absolutely moving. If you haven't seen the movie End of the Spear, you need to. People act like people only died for their faith in the early church, but today there are huge numbers of Christians around the world being persecuted and even killed. Imagine being killed by the same people you are trying to reach with a message that will change their lives, and nobody is forcing them to accept it. But for the simple opportunity to present it to them, those people are willing to die. The speaker this morning quoted D.L. Moody when someone asked him "Mr. Moody, do you have a martyr's grace?" which means, do you have the grace toward others so that even if they would kill you, you would love them to the very end. He responded in saying "No, I don't, but if God wanted me to be a martyr, He would give me the grace." Think about what that would be like. Could you give up your life like that, willingly, for the sake of the gospel? It's worth thinking about.

And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 2 Cor 12:9

Here's an update!

Sorry it's been a while again, we are just so busy! It should help that on Wednesday of this week, we are getting phone service in our apartment, which leads to us getting DSL on Thursday! It will definitely make it easier to post more because we will be able to have internet access at home, instead of having to wait until we go to the laundromat or spending money at the coffeehouse around the corner (where I am right now) to be able to access their wireless!

There's not much to report, just the same old, same old! Jesse's been busy with school and work, and I have definitely been busy at work...I just dread going to work on Saturday because we're so busy all week, and from 3 to 7 (close) on Saturday, it's just me and one other girl at the salon, which is majorly stressful when the lobby is full of people wanting haircuts! I still really like my job, but we are SO busy that by the end of the week, I am just burned out and ready for Sunday, a day to sleep in a little, try out a new church, and relax all afternoon!

Speaking of church, we went to a church just around the corner from our house on Sunday. It's called the Good News Bible Church, and our landlord is an elder there, so that's cool. It's another of the older churches that is really cool, and it was a really good service! The worship time was great, and the pastor was really laid back. He's been preaching from Acts and has a motion for each chapter to help you remember what the chapter is about, and he had everyone get up and do the motions with him, so that was fun! I think maybe we'll go back for a few weeks and get used to it and see what we think. It would be great if we decided to stay because it's so close to our house, we can walk there in like five minutes! There were some other students from Moody there, so that was neat, too.

Saturday night, we went to a choir/orchestra concert at Moody because Michael is in the chorale. It was a really good concert, and for the last number, they had all three choirs sing with the orchestra, and it was absolutely incredible. It made me miss choir so much! Afterwards, we went with Michael and Leeanne to Informal, which is pretty much Moody's version of Saturday Night Live. It was great, they had a bunch of skits and some games similar to what you'd find on Whose Line is it Anyway?, but it was totally clean, so that was great!

Well, I think that's everything, so we'll continue to keep you all updated, please keep commenting because we love to hear from you all!

Another week begins...

Another Monday at the laundromat...who would think that two people can go through so many clothes?!?!? I am just so glad that this place has wireless or I would absolutely dread the usually two hours that I spend here! It's hard to concentrate on reading with the sounds of the washers and dryers, not to mention the tvs that are on...so this is a good distraction!

Anyway, I hope that you all had a good weekend! Jesse and I had a really fun day yesterday! We got to sleep in and go to an 11:00 service at a church with Michael and Leeanne. It was called Park Community Church. It was okay, we got there late because we all thought they were meeting somewhere else, so we missed the worship time. One thing that was cool is that a few weeks ago, the church passed out envelopes to everyone in the congregation, each with a different amount of money in it, ranging from $2 to $50. They asked the people to invest the money in the people of Chicago; they are currently renovating a building into a church, and their sermon topics the past few weeks have been on The Great Investment. They had three people up front yesterday reading some of the testimonies that were received from people, and they just went on and on...so many people did so many cool, unique things with the money! Around here, I am approached by the homeless more than I was back home, and I am always reluctant to give them money, because you never know what they'll do with it. One person took the money and bought McDonald's gift cards to give to the homeless...what a great idea! There's only one thing they can do with that, and the great thing about McDonald's is their dollar menu, so even if you just gave someone $2, they could have something to eat! At the end of the testimonies, the pastor said that since so many people went above and beyond and contributed out of their own pocket, he thinks they might have doubled what was originally handed out, which was just over $9,000, I believe! WOW! So continue to pray for a church home for us, there have been good and okay things about every church we have tried, and we don't want to settle until it's GREAT!

So after church, the four of us didn't really have anything to do, and the church was right by the Lincoln Park Zoo, which is free, so we decided to go there. It was a beautiful day outside, really sunny with a chilly breeze, and I think we saw the entire zoo! It's such a neat zoo, especially considering that it is free! We were all like little kids, just in complete amazement of God's creation, from the tiny little ants on display (eeewwww!!!) to the giant rhinocerous. And of course, to share that experience with two other people that know Who created those animals was just awesome! Last night, we went to their apartment for supper and just had a great time talking and laughing, and we watched The Count of Monte Cristo, which is a great movie if you haven't seen it! We just get along with them so well, we have so much in common and our personalities are so much alike as well! Praise the Lord for some friends!!! :)

Thursday night at SWF (Student Wives Fellowship) was their mission night. Every year, the officers pick a missionary (or missionary family) to support for the year, and so we got to hear the testimony from that lady and from two other former missionaries! The one we are supporting will be going to Italy about a year from now (they are raising their support right now) with her husband and three children, and they anticipate possibly staying there! One of the other ladies was a missionary in Haiti with her family for 24 years and the other lady was a missionary in Ecuador with her family, and actually, I think they still are. It was just really neat to hear their stories! Also, the week before last (I wasn't there becuase I couldn't talk), they split up in to mentoring groups, and one week a month, we spend most of the night in those smaller groups for accountability, prayer, and a devotional, and guess who is in my group?!?!? Leeanne! So is Maggie, the girl that I went to high school with whose husband went to New Haven with Jesse! So I am really excited about that!

Wow, I think this has been long enough, so thanks for reading! Thanks also for your continued prayers, have a WONDERFUL, GOD-FILLED, BLESSED WEEK!!!

Sorry it's been a while!

Wow, I am glad that Jesse posted last week, because it's been a while! Sorry about that, we have been busy (like he said), and it doesn't help that we don't have internet at home! He covered everything I would have said, so other than that, just continue praying for us...our schedules are so crazy! There is so much to do in Chicago, but we don't have time to do anything! Jesse is used to working full-time, but I'm not, and I can really tell. I had that migraine a few weeks ago, and last week I was losing my voice all week...I really just don't think my body is used to being this busy! So just continue to pray for us!

We had fun camping with my family this weekend! It was so relaxing...Jesse and some of the guys played football a little, but other than that, we sat around a bunch and just relaxed and hung out with my family, and I think we both really needed the break! Speaking of breaks, another thing everyone could pray for is for our schedules around Thanksgiving and Christmas...I know Jesse will have time off, but I'm the new girl at work, so I'll probably get stuck working closest to the holidays, so just pray that I can get some decent time off to spend time with both of our families!

Thanks to everyone for reading this and for all of your prayers! Have a great week!

What a long week! It's finally Friday though, and we're heading out to go camping tonight. We're pretty excited about that, should be fun. Stephanie's crazy family does this every year, everybody gets together at a campground and shares a couple of campsites.
Stephanie has some pretty cool news; she found out that she ranked third in the salon for services! Not too shabby, eh? She only started a few weeks ago, and already she has done better than seven other people in her shop. The only two that were above her were her manager and one other lady that has been there a few years. So remember to congratulate her on that!

I got my first reports done this week - if anyone wants to read a few pages about the first five books of the Bible, let me know. Everyone can benefit from my school experience! Just kidding.
Sorry we haven't written anything in a while - I've been busy with school and whatnot, and Stephanie has been busy getting third place at work. We did go to another church on Sunday. It's called Seminary Avenue Community Church. It's a very old, very unique church. The building is absolutely incredible, not in a huge church kind of way, but in an old, small chapel kind of way. The congregation was very small, but friendly. They really want us to join them. We'll see. The pastor was very friendly, Stephanie really liked him. He's a Moody grad, so he can't be all bad. If I were to judge solely on a building, it would be the only choice. But, there is much more to a church than a building. The problem is that I don't know if we even know what we're looking for. It would be nice to be in family with other people our age, but at the same time, we don't want to be in a shallow environment, either (which is what you can get sometimes). There are probably thousands of churches in Chicago, too, so we have to just make a decision at some point.
Anyway, that's all for now. Thank you for visiting Jesse and Stephanie's, have a nice day!

At the laundromat...

So I am so excited because I just figured out that the laundromat has wireless, so I actually have something to do while I'm doing the laundry! I saw people here with their laptops before, so I thought I'd bring ours this time!

Anyway...things are still going well for us, we did get to go to Fort Wayne this weekend, we left right from my work when I got off at 3:00 and we made it home in about 3 1/2 hours, so that was pretty good! We spent Saturday night with my family and then went to lunch with Jesse's family and went to visit Aubrey in the hospital. For those of you who don't know, she has Crohn's disease, and has been in the hospital with complications...it's a long story, but please keep her in your prayers! Anyway, we then went to my cousin Jessica's wedding reception, and then met some of our friends for coffee...then we had to come back home on Sunday night because I had to work on Monday. It was so dead at the salon on Monday...I was SO frustrated because while I was sitting there doing absolutely nothing, I could have been in Fort Wayne with family, or I could have been at home with Jesse, who had the day off school...

So about the ice cream social the other night...it was GREAT! We spent most of the evening talking to two couples. The one couple I have mentioned before. His name is Michael, and he has a bunch of classes with Jesse because their majors are very similar. His wife's name is LeeAnne, and she is a cosmetologist just like me! We had a lot in common...I think Michael is a lot like Jesse, and LeeAnne is a lot like me...we are both outgoing, Jesse and Michael are more laid back. So then...this is crazy...Jesse had been in chapel one day and saw a guy he thought he went to high school with, and the guy approached Jesse and said 'hey, didn't you go to New Haven?', so that was crazy enough. Well, we get to the ice cream social, and there he is! And we were just talking and he asked me where I went to high school, and when I told him Leo, he's like 'no way! My wife went to Leo!' So it turns out that Noah and Jesse graduated a year apart from New Haven and Maggie and I graduated a year apart from Leo! I had been told to look for her by some people at church who know her, but go figure that our husbands went to the same high school! CRAZY! So now we have some new friends and tomorrow night is the first meeting of the Student Wives' Fellowship, they meet every Thursday for Bible study, worship, and mentoring time, so I am SO excited! I can finally meet some other young ladies who are in the same boat as I am, and, as Anne of Green Gables would say, hopefully make some 'bosom friends'. (You'll have to excuse me, I am a huge fan of Anne of Green Gables...the processional at our wedding was the theme song from the movies...) I will keep you all updated, but this has been long enough for now...and don't forget that we love to hear from all of you, so make sure to leave comments for us!

It's nice sometimes to just sit back and relax. Right now I'm sitting out on the back patio, the air is very cool, and there's a wonderful breeze blowing. The weather has been so blah here lately - it's been raining every day. It's been the kind of rain that you just hate to walk through; no matter which direction you walk in, it always hits you in the face, it makes your sleeves get wet enough that your shirt is just damp, and it looks so depressing. But now, the rain has let up and it's just great to sit and relax. The skies are clear, and everything just seems calm (except that little kid that I keep hearing let out a squeal every once in a while).

Mondays are so busy; I have to be at school at 8:00 for my first class, and between class and work there just isn't a big enough chunk of time to justify going home. I have Oratorio Chorus at 7:30 pm, so I'm gone from 7:00 am to about 9:30 pm. It's a great way to start off the week, just get the big day down first and then the rest of the week seems so much better. Wednesday is my early day. My last class is from 1:00-2:00, so I can go home as soon as I like after that, and it feels great to just take the rest of the day off.

I had my first guitar lesson yesterday. My teacher is a very interesting person. Actually, all of my teachers are interesting, and all of them are very funny, too. But my guitar instructor is especially neat. It's just different because he is going to be spending one-on-one time honing my skills, most likely for the next four years. I can't wait to have more lessons, though. I just love music lessons, because they force you to improve so rapidly, and it's something that you just couldn't do by yourself. It's great to have someone who knows more than you (and in this case, much, much more than you) watching over you to teach you a discipline like that.

This weekend we are coming home, but possibly for only one night. Stephanie works until 3:00 on Saturday, and she may have to work on Monday (but pray that she doesn't, so we can spend more time at home!). So we will be spending Sunday there, but that may be all. That's all I have for now.

Jesse

Thoughts from Stephanie...

It's hard to believe that we have already been here two weeks! I have adjusted incredibly well...something I can only attribute to prayer, so thank you all SO much for all of your prayers! I can't doubt this is where we are supposed to be! I thought for sure that I would break down a few times, and I even warned Jesse that I probably would, but the only time I have cried was when I found the letter my mom left me after they helped us move! It's so amazing, I love it here! I have gotten the hang of the public transportation (at least what I need to get to work), and there have been a few times at night when I just look at the city all lit up and just think "wow, this is so cool!" I like my job so far, and most of the girls that I work with. My boss (Liza) is great, really upbeat and fun, and the girls have been so helpful! I have been SO busy and I have met so many great people, and a lot of people that I think will become my regulars! One of the first questions I always ask them is how long they have lived here, it always opens up the door to conversation, and it is so interesting, some people have been here their whole lives, and then I met someone the other day who, believe it or not, has actually lived here less time than us! I have been SO busy there that one day seems to run into the next, and I just can't wait to get home at night and just relax! I usually take the bus all the way to and from work, and last night, I got off work after the last bus had run, so I had to take the el (the elevated train) all the way home...it took forever because I had to ride all the way around the loop, but the view of the city from the brown line is just amazing, it goes over the Chicago river and I just sat there looking out the window, and wishing I had my camera!

Now I am just praying for some friends here! I have been absolutely loving all the time that Jesse and I are able to spend together... we weren't able to do that much before because we were involved in so much stuff! However, there are times when guys need to be with other guys and girls need to be with other girls! As Anne of Green Gables would say, I am praying for a 'bosom friend' here...someone that I can really connect with. It would be great if we could befriend a Christian couple our age...next Thursday, the Student Wives Fellowship at Moody is having an ice cream social for all the married students and their spouses, so I am really looking forward to that!

So I was really impressed with everything that Jesse did yesterday on his day off...of course, it's not hard work to do the laundry, but it is defintely time consuming! And, he made a WONDERFUL dinner last night...and he even waited until I got home at 9:00 to eat with me, and had to heat everything back up! Before when I was working part time, I felt bad asking him to help around the house because I had extra time on my hands. But now that we are both busy full time, I am definitely appreciative of the help, especially considering that I didn't even ask him to do anything, he just said yesterday morning that he was going to do the laundry, and dinner was just made when I got home last night! What an awesome blessing of a husband I have! :)
Well, I think that's all for now, and thank you all so much again for your prayers! God bless...

Saturday

I just finished up at the laundromat, which is a first for me. Contrary to popular belief, I have washed my own clothes before; yes, it's true. However, I have never washed my own clothes at the laundromat before. A few comments about that, then we'll proceed to the good stuff.

It's a nice place; quiet, aside from the gentle lull of the washing machines. I read some of a book I have to read for a book report in Intro to Disciplemaking. The name of it is Know Why You Believe, and I highly recommend it. I'm only three chapters in, and it's great. It makes you think, though. How many people that you know who profess to be a Christian could really tell you why they even believe that there is any god, let alone our God. And what about Him? What is He like, and how do we know? I just love those thoughts, sorry.

But the dryers at the laundromat are kind of funny, or maybe I just don't have them down yet. You put in the number of quarters that you think they will take, judging by the time that it allows for those quarters, and once they're done you check your clothes. Still wet. A few more quarters later, the clothes are pretty dry, but not completely. So you decide that they're dry enough to fold and go on your way. It's just funny. It makes me wish I had a washer and dryer of my own again.

So I'm adjusting to school, but the so-called "syllabus shock" is intense. All of the reading is incredible! I'm trying to stay on top of things, but it seems like that odds are stacked against me! I have to read and do a report on the primeval to wilderness periods (a.k.a. the Pentateuch) for OT Survey by 9/12, which is plenty of time, but I also have to read that other book and report on it by 9/13, not to mention the reading for every class each week just to keep up on things, four to five hours of guitar practice, one guitar lesson, and three cardio workouts and two weight training workouts each week for "Lifetime Fitness," which is only a six week course (Whew!). It's just overwhelming at first. But I really do love the reading that I'm doing. My favorite class so far I think is my theology class. It's just so intriguing.

Oh yeah, so I'll tell you what all my classes are. I have The Church and Its Doctrine (theology), Music Theory, Intro to Disciplemaking, Intro to Ministry(which is a one credit hour class to supplement my PCM), Lifetime Fitness, Old Testament Survey, Oratorio Chorus, guitar lesson, and PCM.

A little more about my Practical Christian Ministry assignment - I am assigned to the YMCA in our neighborhood (how bout that?). I will go with three other students once a week for two hours and help with an after school program for 6-17 year olds. It's crazy, it's almost exactly the same thing as the Power House. I'm really excited about it, but I've never ministered to inner-city kids before, so I think I'm in for a treat. Pretty cool, though.
Also, a little more about my guitar lesson ... so I'm taking one half hour per week of lessons from a guy named Norm Ruiz. Supposedly he was invited to study under Andres Segovia. If you've never heard of Segovia, he is basically considered the father of classical guitar. He is no doubt considered the greatest classical guitarist.

I think that's about enough. I've been here way too long. It's off to the school for my forced workout routine (but I probably wouldn't do anything if I wasn't forced to), and after that I'll go home and cook dinner so Stephanie has something to eat when she gets home. I'm still getting used to this whole routine. However, I wouldn't want to be doing this any later in life. Now's as good of a time as any.

Church yesterday...

Well, the church that we went to yesterday was interesting...once we found it! We went to where we thought they met, only to find a sign to go somewhere else...of course, somewhere only a few blocks away from our house! And we got there to find a sign to go somewhere else...and we ended up at the church's annual baptism service at the park! It was really neat, four people were baptized, and baptisms always bring tears to my eyes, and I knew not a single soul there (besides Jesse)! The worship team even led worship knee-deep in the water, so that was cool! We aren't sure about it yet, though, but I think we'll try it out again next week at a 'normal' service to get a better idea.

Jesse started classes today, and it seems like everything went well. He is actually at class right now, he has a Monday evening class. He was at home probably not even an hour, long enough to eat supper and that's about it! He said he was in a few classes with a guy named Michael who was a pastoral studies major with music emphasis (Jesse is Bible major with music emphasis) whose wife is also a hair stylist! Go figure! We're looking forward to the ice cream social for the married students next week, so hopefully, we'll get to talk to them, and to other people!

Well, that's all for now...stay tuned for more! :)

One week down

So we've gotten through one week so far. Stephanie's still liking her job, and I'm done with orientation. She did have to stay home yesterday because of a migraine, or that's what we think it was. She's feeling much better today, though, and at this moment is busy at work making people pretty. She's so brave to be willing to do all this. She could say that she doesn't feel like it's best for her to be the one supporting us financially for the most part, and I think she could be right, but she's really stepping up and doing something very admirable. So cheers for Stephanie, cause she's great.
What can I say about school so far ... orientation is kind of boring, but helpful. I'm learning things about the school that are very comforting. We open every class or session with prayer. The professors have a great view of learning, and my orientation instructor made it a point to say, in short, that if we are to go there to learn and are unaffected by what we are taking in, then we are just wasting our time, and we need to seriously reevaluate what we are doing. I'm very impressed with the attitudes of the leadership, and very pleased that I am where I am. I feel like I will truly enjoy this experience, even though I know how much will be expected in terms of academics and discipline. But I am excited about it, so I'll stick with that for now.
We will be going to a new church tomorrow, a church plant near our place that was started by a Moody grad. We don't know too much about it, just that it's mostly people in their twenties and somewhat diverse. So we'll see.
Keep on checking in on us, and let us know what you're thinking, we love to hear from you! So long for now.

P.S.

Check out Wahli's blog in the sidebar while you're at it!

As my favorite mother-in-law would say, our "new digs."

It's taken us a little while, but finally, the moment we know you've all been waiting for is here ... pictures of our new place! Try to contain yourself, I can hear you shouting for joy from here. Sorry, it's kind of messy, but we just moved in four days ago. Give us a break. Also, check out my floor plan that I drew up with Paint. Sweet. Basically, what you'll find is our office/storage space/my guitars' bedroom, our bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and living room.

More ...

More pictures of our place.

We're here!

Hey, everyone! I can't talk long because I have to go to work soon, but I just wanted to let you all know that we are here in Chicago and we are loving it! Our apartment is just the right size for all of our stuff...we will post pictures ASAP! We don't currently have the internet at our house, so bear with us these next few weeks as we try to get that figured out, and we will post as often as we can!
Also, we have a new cell phone number, which will be our only phone, so if you need the new number, just email me at:jessesgirl73005@juno.com, because I really don't want to post it on the internet!

Our new address

We ARE moving on Friday afternoon to Chicago! Our new address will be:
1935 North Mozart Street, Apt. 2R
Chicago, IL 60647-3932

We won't have a land phone line, so we will be keeping Jesse's cell phone number for now, and we will let you know if that changes at all!

Yet another praise!!!

Another huge blessing just came in the mail today...my Illinois cosmetology license! I had been having problems getting all the paperwork through, so my boss at my new job had said that I could start out as receptionist until my license came. I was glad that it would work out, but I really love to do hair, so I was a little bummed that I couldn't right away. So I was just really excited to get my new license in the mail today so that when I start my new job on Monday, I will actually be able to do hair! We'll continue to keep you all posted!

Just in time

What an overwhelming day ... we went to the city not knowing if anything would be worthwhile or even available, and came back with a pretty sure knowledge that we have just the right lodgings lined up. We visited a handful of apartments between 10:00 and 1:00, and made a seemingly countless number of calls on others just by driving by, but our real answer came with an email that we got just before going to bed last night. The landlords at Franson-Risberg, an apartment building for missionaries and bible students, emailed us that they were full for the semester, but that some friends of theirs had a 1.5 bedroom apartment available. We had looked into this apartment at one time, but it was taken. Turns out that the people who were lined up to move in backed out, just in time for us to look at it the next day and put down a deposit. The landlord works at Moody in the Practical Christian Ministries department. Our next mission: To figure out the best possible way to get all of our stuff up there, and the best possible time to do it.
Sorry, but we totally forgot to take pictures of it, but it will look better with our stuff in it anyway. So now you can all come and stay overnight in our apartment, just not all at once.

The Great Unknown

Props to Stephanie as she ventures to a place where very few women have ever been. She will be making a trip into space this week, first stopping at the moon, then at the Russian space station, where she will hang out with monkeys (no pun intended) and eat astronaut ice cream. Pray for her safe return. I will be staying home and packing this week.

Please pray!

We are going up to Chicago EARLY Tuesday morning because we have appointments at a few apartments that day, so please keep us in your prayers on Tuesday, and in general the next few weeks as we are packing here and getting settled there! Thanks!

Aren't we a cute couple? :)

This is one of our favorite engagement pictures, taken at the Botanical Conservatory in Fort Wayne, which is where we got engaged! We'll try to post pictures of our new apartment (when we get one), and anything else we find interesting!

Our first blog!!!

Hi, everyone! This is our first blog, and we are so excited to have a way to keep everyone updated on our new lives as 'city slickers'! We are planning to move next week, probably Wednesday or Thursday, to the Windy City, so we will keep you updated on our exact moving date, new address, and new phone numbers! Please keep us in your prayers as we continue our search for the perfect apartment and as we start new jobs and classes!