Long Time, No Post!

Hey Ya'll,

It's been so long since I have posted any sort of update on here! There are several reasons for this.
1. For a long time, I didn't feel like anything had changed enough to make it worthy of an update
2. We had a TON of visitors in the last 2 months (yay!)
But, now I feel like I should fill you in on what's been going on, so I'll do my best to give you a fly-by!

Visitors:

Like I said, we have had lots of visitors lately which has been AMAZING. First, my two best friends from SU visited at the beginning of September. This was a huge deal to me for several reasons. For starters, they are poor college students/church interns, and decided to spend their precious, hard-earned cash to come visit us! Secondly, I hadn't seen them in 3 months, which is way too long. It was so fun to have them here! We jammed as much as we could into the 4 days that they had here. We all the best tourist-y (and free) things to do in Chicago like the Lincoln Park Zoo, visiting the bean at Millennium Park, walking around the Magnificent Mile, and going to Navy Pier. We also spent time at the beach, ate a lot of good food, and best of all, got to spend lots of time chatting and catching up on life. Here are some of my favorite pictures from their visit here!

Enjoying the sunshine in Millennium Park!

Meeting Josh after work

Seeing the bean!

Two weeks later, my cousin Brian and his wife Rebecca came to visit! Brian is a Notre Dame alum and they came to go to a big ND game in South Bend, Indiana which is about 2 hours from Chi. This was awesome for us, because they decided to stay with us before the big game! We had so much fun eating deep dish pizza with them for the first time, and bringing them to some of our favorite local spots. It made me really happy to have family around, especially family that I don't often get to spend 1 on 1 time with. I'm hoping they decide to make it a yearly tradition! Here is a picture of us enjoying our night together!

Enjoying a beer at our favorite local spot, Reservoir

Two weeks after they left, my parents came for a visit! Now this was a really big deal for me because my mom made their plane reservations the DAY we moved to Chicago. This meant that I had been looking forward to this visit literally since we got here. I was like a giddy little kid waiting for them to arrive. When I finally saw them and hugged them, I could have just burst with happiness, and rightfully so, since it had been 4 months since I had last seen them. They stayed with us for a whole week, and we did our very best to make every waking minute count.

 We ate amazing food (both my dad and I cooked, and we went to a variety of delicious local restaurants), saw many of the famous Chicago sites and museums, and did lots of shopping/exploring. My mom and I were even able to squeeze in a DIY project, and both my parents helped me fix odds and ends around our apartment (thank you!!). My mom always says that when all of her kids are  at home she sleeps best because all of her "people" are close by and safe. That's how I felt when they were here, except I didn't want to sleep because then I would miss time with them! Needless to say, it was so good for my heart to have them here. So much so, that I was crushed when they left. This year will be the first year that my family will be scattered during the holidays, and we don't know the next time we will get to see each other (sob). So, for now, skype will have to suffice! Again, here are some favorite shots of our week!

Seeing Josh's office, walking by the water, watching the UW game!

Watching the UW game, Standing outside the Art Institute, Walking along Lake Michigan!

Eating AMAZING greek food in Greek Town!

Standing outside the Zoo

In other news, not much has changed. We are still in a huge adjustment period. We are still amazed at how much this move has grown our marriage and brought us together as better friends than ever before. And, we are still amazed at how challenging it is to adjust to this new life stage, new city, and new "normal". The good news is that this whole experience is teaching us more and more what it means to trust Jesus. We are learning  to trust Him with our fears, our hopes, and our plans for the future. 

I personally am learning how to trust Him in absolute uncertainty and in waiting. I am still avidly searching for a job, and I can get very weary after looking for 2 months with hardly any response. I am having to constantly remind myself that Jesus knows when and where and how I will get a job. I am also having to remind myself what a blessing it is to be at home during this time, and am praying often to be able to enjoy it, and to have purpose in the waiting. It is so easy to continue to look ahead to what is next, what goal is out in front of me, and how will I get there. It is much harder to just be fully present and completely content in where I am right at this moment. I am often consumed with a future me who will be content in X job making X amount of money in X amount of time. Lately, I am praying to be fully satisfied and content in Jesus, regardless of my circumstances. I am praying to have utmost joy in the now, rather than banking on joy in future circumstances. 

So, that's where we've been for the past 2 months! Thanks for checking in and for thinking about, praying for, and encouraging us along this journey!

Great Expectations

With a new season of life comes great expectations. Expectations for the new joys life will hold and the new challenges that await. Expectations for what daily life will entail; what will change? What will remain the same?

Graduating college and moving across the country in the same month definitely gave us the opportunity to formulate great expectations. Prior to this great life change, I pictured myself at home all day every day while Josh worked and I studied for the NCLEX, lonely and despairing. I fully expected to be homesick nearly every day and starved for human contact by the time Josh came through the door at the end of the evening. I expected to be depressed and possibly even resentful for having to come here in the first place, desperate to return to the lives we left behind in Seattle. I certainly expected this move to take a huge toll on our marriage. We were making a huge adjustment, after all, transitioning from married-and-in-college to married-and-working-full-time. This meant adjusting how and when we spent time together, what stressors we faced, and even what relationships we have. I expected to feel entirely isolated being far away from our friends, family, and community we had come to rely on so much, and expected that Josh and I would struggle with everything from communication to being good friends to one another. I expected that he would enjoy work so much that when he came home to me, he would be entirely spent with nothing left to spare for me, leaving me feeling isolated and alone.

Josh had great expectations of his own. The first week we were here awaiting the arrival of our things and the beginning of his new job, he couldn't wait to get started! I couldn't believe how excited someone could be about work. But, if anyone could, it would by my Josh. He was eager to get into his new role, and had big ideas; great expectations. He expected to be great at his new job, the way he had been in his internship. He expected to transition relatively easily into the corporate world, though it may take a week or so to really understand the inter-workings of office life. He, too, expected to be pretty spent at the end of a work day, and anticipated having to make a valiant effort to come home and engage with me every night.

Perhaps what I have learned most so far in this journey, is that we don't always get what we expect. Great expectations can mean great disappointment, and great, unexpected joy. So, where did we end up with our expectations? Well, allow me to fill you in on our "reality."

Most surprisingly for Josh, work is incredibly difficult most days. The adjustment to working full time in an office has taken a toll on him. He is dealing with anxiety related to being the newest, and youngest person in the office. The adjustment to corporate life and this new position of leadership has been more involved than he expected. However, he is committed to continuing to do his job the best that he can, and is beginning to see more opportunities for creativity as he understands his position more and more.

Then there is me. I am finding a surprising amount of joy in being a homemaker. Sure, I have moments of painful homesickness and long for my friends and family to be near again, but it does not rule my life and thoughts. I have enjoyed getting to cook delicious meals, and have really loved getting to support Josh by keeping the house clean, and operations running smoothly. I love that because I can take care of things during the day, that when Josh comes home, we just get to spend time together, rather than taking care of administrative stuff and chores. I also recently got to enjoy the fruit of all my daily studying in taking and passing my NCLEX exam! I am really excited about being done with that, and am now looking at finding a job. This comes with new anxieties/expectations, but that's a whole other story.

Then there is us. Praise God that our expectations for what this move would do to our marriage have been completely wrong. We have been experiencing such blessing in our marriage like never before. We are truly able to view the other as our best friend, and have so enjoyed getting to see and feel our friendship grow the more time we get to spend together. We are laughing a lot, creating and sharing a lot of new inside jokes, and enjoying relaxing together. Beyond just having fun and taking a lot of joy in each other, we are growing a ton in our trust of one another.

Rather than becoming distant and fending for ourselves, we are seeing each other as our biggest confidants. Josh is able to share with me his struggles and triumphs in work, and we have been able to talk through a lot of difficulties that have arisen in this transition. We are able to talk about what we miss about Seattle, and rejoice about what has been great about Chicago. We are communicating often and in the most effective way  ever in our baby marriage. According to Josh, I have been a great encouragement and support to him as he gets used to working. For me, Josh has been my biggest supporter in all my studying, testing, and even homemaking. He says "thank-you" for all the little things I do, and truly appreciates the help I can give by being a homemaker. I have found myself being so thankful each day that we got to come here together. I am praising God for what a gift my husband is, and what a blessing marriage is.

Most of all, I am thankful that our great expectations can never compare to what God's great plans entail. Thank God that he doesn't base His plans on what we think we should do, or how we expect to feel. So, we are rejoicing in new opportunities to trust in Jesus with the things that are difficult, and are praising Him for the blessings He is pouring out on us in this new stage.

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!