First Month in Chi Town

Tomorrow marks one month since we first set foot in Chicago! Talk about surreal. I cannot believe we have already been here for a month. In my last post, I updated you on how all the travels and first week went in the city. This time, I'll give you an idea of what day to day life has been like for us!

I signed up to take my nursing licensure exam (NCLEX) on August 18th! This means that my days have been focused on studying to prepare for this test (sort of). I am generally doing about 2 hours of studying per day which includes 100 practice questions and general content review. The "experts" recommend doing about 3,000 practice questions to truly be ready for the test, so I am doing my best to get there! I am constantly fighting lack of motivation, but it helps when I remind myself that this is the last time I will have to study and the last test I will take!

My Study Schedule

Okay, it's not always all bad...

Other than studying, my day to day is pretty laid back. I get up with Josh and make him a smoothie and a lunch and see him off. I then make coffee and breakfast and usually sit on the porch to read my Bible and get set for the day. Then, the rest of the day, depending on what is going on consists of: exercising, playing piano, errands, laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. It's kind of like being a stay at home mom, minus the kids, which is pretty nice. I am trying hard to stay structured and busy so that I don't just waste away all this free time I have (which some days I would love to do). I figure that Josh is working really hard all day, so I should be too! After I take my test, my days will be primarily focused on job hunting. Pray for that, please.

As for Josh, he leaves the house around 7 or 7:10 and takes an express bus to work. I did the practice run of this bus ride with him before work started, and it was quite nice! The buses are very clean and air conditioned, and most of the people in the morning on this bus are commuters. He then spends his days at work saving the world one intern at a time ( or so I assume!). This week, he joined a gym a few blocks from work and has begun swimming on his lunch break. He is very excited to be able to exercise regularly, and to be back in a pool! The bus ride home is not as pleasant as the one to work. Traffic is killer and totally unpredictable, but he often spends at least an hour on the bus coming home. He is thinking about taking the train home instead. 

So, this is the "new normal" for us. We were so spoiled during our first year of marriage, being in school. Our schedules varied so much from day to day that sometimes we would find ourselves both home in the middle of the day together. We got to spend lots of time together, and it was so sweet! Though these mid-day times don't happen any more, I am learning how sweet this season of working can be. For example, something all to foreign to students: free nights and weekends! We don't have to spend time studying/procrastinating every night and weekend. Instead, we get to spend really great time together! Here are some photos of what we have been doing with our free time together! 

When we first moved, our first Saturday we decided to go out to breakfast.
It has now turned into somewhat of a tradition to do Saturday breakfast at
different restaurants. Though, we have not yet become true Chicagoan breakfast
eaters since we do not order alcohol with our food at 10am. Maybe next week.

We painted pots and then planted herbs in them for an "herb-an" garden!

This week was Sangria, yummy food, and watching the Olympics on our new T.V.!

On Saturday, we took a break from Olympics-watching to go for a walk.
We had walked to the water several times along the rocky shore, but this
time we decided to walk the other way, and look what we found!!
A beautiful sandy beach on Lake Michigan less than a 10 minute walk
from our front door! So, the next day, we came back prepared!

We really enjoyed spending time in the sunshine. It felt like a vacation!
The water is bath-warm, the sand is as nice as in Maui, and the sunshine was perfect!

So, long story short, we are settling in. We are slowly adjusting to not only life in a new city, but life in a new form. We are growing a ton, by the grace of God. Our marriage is being challenged and strengthened in whole new ways. We are learning how much fun it is to be friends with your spouse, and how sweet getting to spend time together is. I am so thankful to have Josh as my husband and partner in crime. This whole moving across the country, starting a new job thing would be so much harder alone. 

That's all for now!
                                                                                                               

And All That Jazz

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!

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.

Hi there!

I guess I'm a little overdue to pen a blog post - I'll try to update more often now that we're getting settled and I finally feel like I can think about something besides the moving truck.

(I don't have the emotional energy to write about the move right now - it was a disaster, but everything is over and we're trying to look past it.)

Street food: The street food is excellent. We've already gotten our grub on twice.

 First was a hot-dog stand in the DePaul district called "Devil Dogs." (Too bad I didn't get a shot of the outside, but here is a picture of me eating the hot-dog). It was excellent.

White bun spiced with cumin,
polish dog
onion
mini-green hot peppers (not sure what they'er called, but I bought a jar of them, they're the perfect addition)
pickle spear
relish
mustard
ketchup

Next was a street fair in Uptown (which is where we live) which was called "Rib Fest." Needless to say we had to go. 

More to come on churches, CDW, and various other Chicago life.

Going, Going, Gone

Going...

Going...

Gone!

This is it! Over the past month, we have been busy, busy, busy! Here is an update on all we have been up to!

First of all, by the grace of God, Josh and I both graduated college! He received a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with a focus on Accounting from the University of Washington, and I received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Seattle University! We attended both my Nursing graduation and the big SU commencement ceremony, and celebrated together with our families in a joint grad party at my parent's house! It felt great to finally be done with school, and to have our friends and family with us.

Josh and I at my Pinning Ceremony

My cap for graduation

                     

My family at my Nursing Pinning Ceremony


 

We then got to celebrate our first year of marriage! Josh planned a special secret trip to the Oregon Coast for us to relax and celebrate together. We had a very limited amount of time due to our upcoming move, so we spent just one night on the coast, but it was enough to feel relaxed and rejuvinated. We enjoyed listening to Harry Potter on the road, indulged in a delicious dinner, and got to have a lovely experience getting couples massages at the spa in the morning before heading home to finish packing.

Harry Potter!

Anniversarry wine!

Then comes the moving. Along with the moving comes the stress, exhaustion, and good-byes. We had plenty of each of these. We returned from our Oregon trip on the night of the 18th and finished the last minute packing. The movers arrived on the morning of the 19th to take away our things. This was quite an amazing experience. They showed up and immediately got started on taking all of our things to the truck. One guy lifted our couch all by himself to wrap it up! I had never really seen anything like it! We also had to go to our storage unit to have them move a piano, some chairs, and extra shelving. All in all, including travel time to our unit, the move took only one hour and forty-five minutes, and I didn't lift a single thing! This is my kind of moving, people! So, after that, it was just Josh, me, and Lena left in our apartment.

Josh and I spent the afternoon cleaning our apartment before heading to our friends, the Grimstad's apartment for a small going away gathering. It was great of them to host a barbecue to send us off! We enjoyed hot dogs, drinks, and yummy deserts together and laughed a whole lot. Unfortunately, it all had to come to an end, though, and we had to say goodbye. This may have been one of the hardest thinsg I have ever had to do. It felt so surreal to say goodbye to my best friends and family, not knowing when I would see them again. Through many tears and lots of hugs, we got through it, and the next morning we hit the road to come to Spokane.

We have gotten to spend the past week in Spokane visiting with family, watching my brother in law complete an Iron Man race, and finishing the last details of our move. We took Lena to the vet, got her some sedatives, and purchased her plane ticket so she can ride as my carry-on! We made plans with your future land lord to get our keys, double checked all our flights, and have started packing our suit cases. All we have left to do is go!

Tomorrow, we get on a plane at 4pm to head to Chicago. We are toting a cat, two large suitcases complete with air mattreses, pillows, and sleeping bags to camp in our own apartment. We will arrive around midnight, stay with Josh's aunt for a night, and get our apartment keys on Sunday! I can't believe our adventure is finally beginning, and I am looking forward to starting our new life in the windy city! We will try to update the blog more consistently as we become more settled!

Making Plans and Changing Plans

This whole moving thing sure does require a lot of planning. I have never lived outside of Washington State my entire life. I have also never really had to coordinate a very involved moving process. Every move up until this point has been with my family, where my mom coordinates everything and I just do what I'm told, or I have been moving from dorms back home or from furnished apartment to furnished apartment. I have never had to think about packing up a kitchen full of nice dishes, or a living room full of new furniture. But, alas, there is a first time for everything.

Lately, Josh and I have gone back and forth on several decisions. Should we bring our car or sell it? Should we ship our stuff and fly out, or drive a U-Haul across the country? When should we plan on arriving in Chicago? Originally, I was all for calling in this moving service that moves all your boxes and then packs and moves all your furniture and ships it on pallets to your desired destination. I had visions of my apartment being moved in record speed and me leisurely waltzing out the door to the airport for my short four hour flight to Chicago where I would arrive at my fabulous new apartment and begin unpacking my things. This bubble was burst when my brilliant husband pointed out a very key fact to me: we will not be able to ship our stuff and leave the same day expecting it to be waiting for us at the door. In fact, we have no idea how long it will take our stuff to arrive. Yikes. Maybe I don't like this idea so much.

So, we move to plan B. Somehow, Josh convinced me that driving a U-Haul across the country together would be a lot of fun! Now, I'm not traditionally a big road-trip kind of gal. The drive from Seattle to Spokane is enough of a car ride for me, so it is hard for me to imagine what 8-12 hours in a car for four days straight would do to me. Also, this may come as a shock to some, but I complain a lot. The thought of the amount of complaining I could do in that time period scared me, and made me worried that poor Josh wouldn't even survive the first day with me as co-pilot. But, I forced myself to think of how many wonderful memories we could create by doing this trip together, and how fun it would be to tell our kids someday about how the two of us, and our trusty bratty cat Lena made the drive from Seattle to Chicago. So, I got psyched about going on a road trip. Until I looked at how much U-Hauls cost. OUCH. To get a big enough truck for all our stuff, plus a trailer that can tow our car, plus insurance for both was a pretty penny. Don't even get me started on how much gas it takes to fuel a 17' truck that gets 10 miles to the gallon.

Now we are back to the drawing board. We both would still prefer to do the U-Haul route if possible because it allows us a little more control over where our stuff is and when everything arrives in the city. Plus I really want to go to Yellowstone and see Mount Rushmore. Our decision of mode of travel now rests on the relocation budget of the company, so we are waiting for that to come in before we finalize our plans. Hopefully we will have a better idea by the end of the week so we can set an official moving date and start finding a place to live, which is a whole 'nother story!

Sinking In

Oh boy. You would think having moved every 9 and 3 months for the past four years in college would make me more prepared for transition. The truth is, this is a crazy, crazy thing that so far has required lots of conversation, plenty of tears, and much planning.

The past two weeks have been very surreal. We had a great time the weekend after we found out Josh got the job. We celebrated and enjoyed getting to tell all of our friends and family how excited we are to move. We basked in the comfort of knowing we would have a paycheck in June when our budget ends. We also spent a lot of time just looking at each other and saying, "can you believe we're actually doing this?!"The farther out we get from that day, and the closer we get to moving day, the more real it is becoming. Sort of. My prayers recently have been for the Lord to help me to feel the gravity of this change in a real way. My tendency is to just  shove my emotions down and not think about how hard it will be until it's over and done. I really don't want to do this with such a big transition like this. I want to be able to understand that it is going to be really hard to say good bye, and that it's going to be really exciting to be in a new city and meet new people. I just don't want to pretend that it's going to be easy and that getting there is going to be all roses.

This process of processing and accepting and getting excited for the move has really brought out a lot of new things in me. I am learning how much I choose to worship my own comfort, control, and happiness instead of Jesus. I was experiencing a lot of anxiety over this whole thing; getting really overwhelmed with all the little details and decisions that needed to be made; worrying over whether or not I would even like living in a city I have only visited once. I fought hard against Jesus. I didn't want to pray. I didn't want to run to Him and tell Him all my fears. I wanted to keep control of all of them and worry about them myself. But, finally, I couldn't anymore. I thought my chest was going to explode from the anxious chaos inside, so finally, I prayed. I told Jesus that I wanted to do what was most comfortable for me, that I wanted to be able to have control over everything that was happening, and that I am really, really afraid of not being happy in this new place. The more I prayed, the more I realized that Jesus is the only one I can trust in. Yes, Chicago may not be within my comfort zone. Making new friends may not be easy. I may not have control over every little detail in this move. And, in reality, I may not be happy in Chicago. But, the one thing I can bank on, is my relationship with Jesus. I can trust that He will continue to grow and change me. That He will always care for Josh and I. I am taking a lot of heart in a passage we discussed in church not long ago. Our pastor told us that God is our father. Just like a father cares for and loves and protects his children, that's what God does for us. When a child is afraid, you want them to run to their daddy and tell him their fears and be comforted there. God wants that from us, too. So, I have taken much comfort in this:

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand...For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, "Fear not, I am the one who helps you" Isaiah 41: 10, 13

Big News and a Little Background

To make things a little more clear (and for you to be able to be fully excited for us), I thought I'd give a little background for how we got to where we are.

Two years ago, Josh and I really began to feel like we were being called to get married. We had always planned on waiting until after graduating college, but more and more we felt like we needed to move the date up. However, neither of us had jobs, our parents were paying for our schooling, and we had no idea how much it would cost to be married! So, we sat down and made a budget, and began praying that God would provide us with jobs if we were supposed to get married. In response to this, God was overwhelmingly gracious, and provided me with two jobs! Josh had applied to a position that he was under-qualified for on a whim, not expecting to get it. But, God in His great mercy, provided! Josh began working as an intern for a company called CDW-G. For the past two years, he has helped the company to grow their presence at the University of Washington, and has made great strides in his own professional development. Because of the Lord's provision, we were able to get married on June 18, 2011!

As we both began looking toward graduation, we prayed again for God's provision. We knew we wouldn't survive on our savings for very long after graduation, and prayed that we would be able to have jobs. We have loved CDW-G over the years, and were excited about the prospect of Josh getting to come on as a full-time employee. But, we also knew this meant the prospect of moving to Chicago. Starting in December, we prayed that God would put a calling on our hearts for where He wanted us to be....Seattle, Chicago, or even a different city. I prayed that God would make it so clear where He would have us go next, and that we would be able to have joy in wherever we ended up. It was a long process of waiting and wondering "what-if" before the position he had been waiting for was finally posted and the interview process started. We prayed all the more that even beyond this job, that God would give us a heart for Chicago.

Josh left for his final interview on May 4th. When he came back, we continued to pray. We prayed that Jesus would be enough for us no matter what the answer was. We prayed to be able to trust that God would continue to provide for us, even if it wasn't with this position. They had told Josh that they would call him within a week with their answer, and as Friday approached, we knew it would be coming soon. On Friday May 11, Josh dropped me off at school, and I told him to call me if he heard anything! At 9am, my phone rang in the middle of class, and I ran out the door to answer it. My heart was pounding, my whole body was shaking, and I honestly felt like I was going to throw up as he stalled as long as possible before telling me "we're going to Chicago!".

It felt so crazy to have an answer. After thinking and praying and talking for months and months about hypothetical situations, we finally had a "yes". I was (and am) so proud of Josh for all his hard work, and really excited for him to have this opportunity with such a great company. Josh came and picked me up and we celebrated with lunch at our favorite restaurant!

We are still awaiting an official start date for the job before we will know the actual date of our move. We will surely keep you updated, along with the roller coaster of emotions during this crazy transition!