A Little News From Home

While searching for things to do in the area I began reading a few articles on the Chicago Sun Times website. I came across this random article.

Amish embrace wind, solar power near Fort Wayne, Ind.

A Much Needed Pick-Me-Up

Since leaving TUFW I have been terribly innactive. First of all, I no longer walk all over campus to classes and such, and second, the FREE weight room is no longer conveniently located next door. But mostly, I have spent the last year becoming a tumor wedged between the center of my couch and my laptop computer. Between student teaching assignments and my full-time job of filling out online job apps all summer I became increasingly lazy. (forget the fact that we trained for the Indy-Mini this spring, then BOTH got strep-throat the week of the race) As a result, my energy level has decreased significantly over the past year.


I LOVE Reader's Digest magazine. We have been getting them for awhile and I always read them from cover to cover. Anyway, this article suggests some simple massage techniques that you can do on YOURSELF to help boost your energy level throughout the day.

Click Here - Learn the Art of Self-Massage!

Best Darn BBQ in the State of Alabama

If anyone can name that movie I'll be amazed.

Last night Rick and I attended a BBQ for all grad students on campus, and we met some more of our neighbors that we didn't know even existed! It was surreal to sit at a picnic table on the back lawn of "the Mansion" with 4 other couples who come from all over the country, but are essentially in the same boat we are.

Another wonderful thing about this campus is the abundance of children! We found out that there are about 80 kids (average age of 4) living on this campus. Just outside our building is a bike rack that is literally one big heap of children's bikes and trikes. It is so cool to see kids of all nationalities running around together.

We attended a Missionary church yesterday in Gurnee. Numerous people were referring us to this church before we even came up here, so we decided to check it out asap. The pastor, Todd Habeggar, originally from the Berne area, attended both TUFW and Trinity! He is also somehow related to Hal Lehman through marriage. I never cease to be amazed at how all roads lead back to B-town somehow.

As for a job update... I think I'll wait until everything is finalized before I go blabbing our plans on a public blog for anybody to see. By this weekend we should hopefully have all the answers!

p.s. thanks for Joe and Jeremy for being the only ones to post comments :) I also find it hard to believe that Joe is the only one with a blog out there.

Breathe a Sigh of Relief

Most of the schools around here start next week, and I was hoping to be a part of that. Way to feel like a loser... So I've finally decided to apply for subbing. I am realizing I should have taken care of this weeks ago because the districts around here like to interview their subs before they'll even consider them (not to mention a million other qualifiers in the form of paper). You'd think that having gone through 4 years of college for education and obtaining a nearly impossible-to-get Illinois license I'd be good to go. I have a lot of work to do.

On a happy note (sort of) I found my large packet of official documents I had been missing. Last week I discovered that I could not find my manilla folder full of teaching licenses, test score info, originals of student teaching evaluations, and other important info that is necessary for any bit of income at the current moment. Imagine having that feeling. Sadly I am out more than a few dollars because I quickly jumped on the website to re-order them... stupid papers... To top it all off they were in the same filing cabinet drawer I tore apart last week while in pursuit of them. =D

Wild Animals

I've decided this is the weirdest area in the country. I mean there are highways and trains everywhere and hundreds of tiny little suburbs full of gigantic strip malls, condo's, and office buildings. That doesn't sound so weird, right? Well, I've seen more wildlife here than I saw in a typical month in B-town. Last night on our way home from an event we were driving past the I94 exits when a coyote ran out right in front of us. A coyote. I've never even seen a coyote and I see one on highway 94. Also, the other day Rick was walking to the mail room (past a little pond and some natural grassland stuff the Dr. Schutt would drool over) when he saw a mother deer and her baby just hanging out on campus. Where do these animals come from? Interesting place...

Any Bloggers Out There???

Ok bloggers. I know you are out there and I want to know who you are. If you have a blog will you please leave the link in my comments? I was scanning a friend's blog and found at least 6 people I know (or used to know) that I haven't spoken to in a few years or more.

Here's an even better idea:

If you don't have a blog you can get one!

We're HERE!

After a very long week I (Jamie) have finally taken the time to get a blog going about our transition to the Chicago suburbs. We really stole this idea from Jason and Courtney when they moved to CA (who we noticed have stopped updating!).

For anyone that might not know, Rick is starting a 3 year, 94 credit hr, Masters of Divinity (M Div) program this fall, also known as seminary. We have a very cozy 1 bedroom apartment here on campus. This transition to the "big city" was tough on us emotionally not because we are feaful about the future, but because we left our friends, family, and a totally amazing church family behind. We miss everyone already!

Most of this week was spent unpacking and running errands! We kept Walmart in business by purchasing what has to be like 2 months of groceries and some other necessary household items. We also ventured out and got our Illinois drivers licenses and license plates! We are officially IL residents now I guess. This morning we attended a small church that also happens to be Jeremy Sheer's home church! He has been such an encouragment to us this week as we are getting settled. We have also gotten to know some aquaintences a little better! Joe and Heather (who we know through Jeremy - long story) not only helped us unload our moving truck, but have invited us to do several things with them this week!


A view of the building from our parking spot


Our living room area


Our dining room/ office/ library/ fridge room