Hey Ya'll. It's Marla here. I hope you all enjoyed Josh's blog about all the wonderful food we have been enjoying since arriving in Chicago! He plans on posting further updates as we become more settled (and eat more food).
I thought I would update you on all the other crazy things that have happened since my last post in Spokane. And let me tell you, there have been lots.
Our journey today begins with our flight to Chicago. We left Spokane on Saturday evening, June 30. Earlier that morning, my father in law, Dave left to drive our car from Spokane to Chicago! Bless his heart. So, it was just Josh, me, and our cat Lena. Oh sweet Lena. That poor cat was in a small carrying case to be able to fit under the seat in front of me as a carry on, and for any of you who know her, you know she is not small. 13 pounds of pure feline that one. But, being a trooper (and heavily sedated), she put up with it quite well. We arrived at the airport early because we had two extra large bags to check. So large, in fact, that we had to pay the lovely fee for both of them being over 50 pounds. The guy at the check-in desk was a little short with us, but we moved on to security. One of my favorite parts of this trip is that Josh had to carry Lena in his arms, sans carrier, through the security scanner. She can be quite feisty, and I worried that she would escape, but alas, everything went fine. We made it to our gate and waited for our flight. As we waited, the same guy from the check-in desk approached us and asked us to give him our boarding passes. Slightly weirded out, we handed them over, and he gave us freshly printed ones. I thought, oh, he must have moved us up or something! That he did, my friends. This lovely man upgraded us to first class for free!
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| Obviously excited about first class! |
Oh boy, was I excited. I have never flown first class, so this was a huge treat. Did you know they serve your drinks in real glasses!? And there is a snack basket that they bring around and you can pick more than one snack out of!? In awe, folks. So, this flight to Salt Lake City, though short, was amazing. When we landed, however, this glistening bubble of air travel bliss was burst with one phone call. Our next flight to Chicago was delayed. For 3 hours. Meaning our flight that was already arriving late at midnight was now not going to land until at least 3 am. Ouch. This was further complicated by the fact that we had a sedated cat on our hands who would now face a good 12 hours in her carrier. We frantically made arrangements with a pet-friendly hotel near the airport and then took our 6 dollar meal vouchers to get some dinner. The next flight was uneventful, and Lena continued to be a trooper. We landed at O'hare at 3am and waited for a hotel shuttle that supposedly came every 20 minutes. About 40 minutes later, our shuttle finally arrived, and we were off to get our precious few hours of sleep before meeting our landlord at 10am to get our keys.
I, being the champion sleeper that I am, fell asleep no problem. Josh, however, lay awake most of the "night" worrying over logistics of the next day. We were leaving 2 hours before our scheduled appointment with the landlord to make sure we weren't late in getting our keys. But with this came the great chance of being early and waiting on an unknown street with 2 large suitcases, 2 carry ons, and a cat. Josh said he prayed and prayed that we would be safe and that it would all work out. The next morning we were met with wonderful provision. We arrived very early, and lo and behold, there was a coffee shop right next door! We sat and had a morning cup o' joe and waited for our keys. At 10am we got our keys no problem, and were on our way to our new digs by 10:02.
For the next week, we hung out in our lovely air conditioned apartment. Thankfully, we packed air mattresses and sleeping bags so we were quite comfortable. Having no possessions to unpack, and Josh not having to work until the 9th gave us plenty of time to rest and explore the city. Dave arrived on Tuesday with the car, and we enjoyed spending time around the city with him, too.
Josh began his first day of work on July 9th. He tells me that he is really enjoying this new job and the office culture that he is learning about. But, he'll have to tell you more about that later! On Tuesday July 10, our movers called and said they would be by at 9pm that night to bring our things. To make a long, painful, frustratingly embarrassing story short, they didn't arrive until 11pm, moved our stuff using "movers" found on craigslist, and completed the night with a grand finale of moving my upright piano up 3 flights of stairs with only 2 men at 12:45am. Yep. That happened. It is almost to the point of being funny now, but still not quite.
With all the commotion and craziness over, and our stuff finally in our home and in relatively good shape, we started unpacking. Having had over a week to picture where I wanted all the furniture, I was an unpacking machine getting our house entirely set up and thoroughly cleaned in less than 3 days. We LOVE it. Our place is a relaxing homestead for us to be able to enjoy our evenings and weekends together, and I couldn't be more thrilled. We are really enjoying Chicago as a city, too. It's hotter than hot right now, but I am thinking this will help me to enjoy the bitterly cold winter more...maybe?
Amid the joy and excitement of a new home, a new city, and a new job, there is the painful reality of home sick heart ache. We are taking turns being overcome with the longing to be in a familiar place with the people we love. I am really thankful for technology like texting, phones, and skype, and for dear friends who encourage me and build me up through these means. One dear friend sent me a text on a tough day saying "Praying for your joy and dependence on Jesus. He's got you, lean hard into him" I think that pretty much sums it up. Pray for our joy and dependence on Jesus as we try hard to lean into him and to love and encourage one another to do the same.
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