Almost a month has come and gone again!

A month in one post :)

- 1/2 marathon is now on the "have done" list of things. It was a beautiful day. Traci ran with me and some great support on the side lines.

- I am 3 weeks into my internship. I am part of a after care program at Teen Living Programs. teenliving.org. I have been really enjoying getting to know the youth and the staff at TLP.

- I am in Roanoke right now. Traci let me drive her car home for the weekend. It has been so good to be with my family. Also got to spend the day with Cassie Bertsch! We went on a beautiful bike ride. Looking forward to Leah's wedding tomorrow.

- I am sure there is so much more to post about but I can't think of anything right now.

Back to the Good 'ole Days

Well my roommate and I were listening to youtube videos. Music from Jr. High Days. Also "The Rye was found" come to find out you can get it at Jewel! Also we have seen it at Whole Foods. This is a follow-up to the previous post if anyone is confused!

So fun...

The other 6 weeks of my life has involved lots of fun here in the city and sometime at home in Roanoke area. Summer is now a thing of the past. I started classes today with an 8:15 Monday Social Work policy class (I may have to start drinking coffee). Tonight was a 6-9:30 Health Care Ethics class <-- that one should be an interesting class. Similar to my last semester's Philosophy class.

Wednesday I will be taking Graduate level classes!! Crazy huh... I'm growing up (or so my dad would yell as I am getting on the train to go back to Chicago, or maybe he did yell that yesterday as I was getting on the train to come back to the city :)

I also will be starting my internship at a location called Teen Living. (you can check it out on the net if you are bored teenliving.org <-- real original right :) ) I start Sept 1st (Happy Birthday Landon)

I will be staying with Brian but my other 2 babysitting jobs are not going to work out. This week is the last week I will be with Nick but I will definitely visit when I can. Marion's I finished our weekly visits last week.

So my schedule this semester (for Rachel mostly :), I will have to get you another color coated calendar):

Monday: 8:15-10:45 class
11:00-6:30 work with Little "B"
7:00-9:30 Class
Tuesday/Thursday:
10:00-6:00 Internship
Wednesday: 11:30-2:00 Class
3:30-6:30 Project Education Plus possibly (the after school program)
7:00-9:30 Class
Friday: 9:00-> work with Little "B"

Other news: Joe has a new roommate. Mark. <-- he is from Mackinaw so it is fun to be able to talk to someone from home area. He also knows how to make SUSHI and other fun foods. Good job Mark.

I am sure there is tons of stuff to catch up on but that just makes for a long post

Training for the 1/2 marathon on Sept 13.

ok that is all I have, I know. I know. 6 or 7 weeks of my life and this is all I got. ha Sorry!

Where is the Rye?

Got a few more goals accomplished...

5) Go to Dance in the Park. Laura Barth-Romero and her hubby Dave came up Friday afternoon and Saturday. Friday night we went to Taste Of Chicago, enjoyed the food (something called Behl... I think maybe Indian food? not really sure. but it had like rice crispies?) After the tasting we headed over to Grant park and enjoyed some live salsa music. They have an outdoor dance floor pretty crowded but lots of fun.

9) Field Museum. Ben Funk had some free tickets to the Field Museum so a few of us (Scott, Neal, Ryan, Ben, Troy, Blake, Andrea, and I) enjoyed about 5 hours of the museum. Some of my favorites. the Pirate Exhibit, The mineral exhibit. The tropical exhibit and the Egyptian mummies, the plants, and the animals. Did you know mongos are in the same plant family that poison ivy is?!

Add To-Do list...

14) See Chicago's 3rd of July Fireworks

Father's Day was good. Dad, Claire, and Landon came up and had supper here in the chicago area! I love my family! VBS was so much fun last week. We had 4 - 3 year olds and 3- 5 year olds. They were so sweet. I got to teach about Noah's Arc and Daniel in the Lion's Den.

Otherwise... Last weekend Adam and Amy, 2 of my friends here in Chicago (Adam lived with Joe) got married Sunday. Rachel, Joe, and I took the South Shore Line Commuter Train out to the wedding in Chesterton, IN. It was lots of fun and good to spend time with Rach and Joe outside of the apt. Got back around 9:00 and enjoyed a walk back to the apt. Watched "Expelled" later Sunday night. It is a good documentary about intelligent design and evolutionist theories. I would recommend it to anyone interested in Science theories.

the Rye title... well Joe checked a few places for Rye flour but couldn't find any. I didn't think it would be that difficult, so Rach offered to google it... well come to find out, many people have blogged about the shortage of Rye in the City. lol. Just thought I would add it to the google Rye search results.

Junior High Girl's Camp was this past weekend. The theme was "Swept Away by Jesus": we were the Mr. Clean Cabin! It was so good to be surrounded by Christians and youth and not the big city. I didn't wear shoes starting Wednesday night till Sunday. Man I miss that part of the country. (Although when I went on a jog yesterday my feet really hurt afterwards?..). Highlights of Camp...

1) The Worship (including but not limited to singing) I miss guitar singing every week...
2) Our Cabin Girls ROCKED. They were loving the speakers and seemed to really have open hearts to modesty and loving God and Choosing Him when making decisions. Also the girls did a great job of including each other!
3) The Food! Camp Food Rocks, pretty sure we were fed almost every 3 hours.
4) The lake and the Beautiful weather. We took the 90 + girls out to Norris (Herman's Lake) for a few ours on Friday. It was beautiful.

Well that is a small taste of camp life. Otherwise. Sunday was Kyra and Morgan's wedding. Beautiful day. I really appreciated their focus on Christ through the service. I have to admit seeing my friends from Phoenix and California was truly my highlight of Sunday. I just love Friends :)

Scott and Neal endured another ride up with me. This time I was exhausted for the weekend... but... they didn't make me walk so. Thanks boys.

Monday was work and catch-up day for Rach, Joe, and I. Yesterday was Grocery day. Joe came with us. His first Aldi experience (in the city at least) and first Stanley's experience.

Well I think that is it for now. I can't find my camera... I think I might have lost it a Girl's Camp. Sad, so spread the word if any one finds my red camera :). Next week I am teaching, with Betty, VBS for the pre-school age kids. Should be fun times. I am looking forward to it.

That's All Folks.

Weekend Fun

Friday was enjoyable. It was full of babysitting little "B". Started at 9 and ended at 9. It was a beautiful day. We spend 4 hours outside and he still takes naps so that made a nice day for me. We went to the loop to run an erand, while we were on our way Joe texted me and let me know there was a Turkish festival in Daley Plaza so we stopped there on our way through. The arts and jems were beautiful. They also had some dancers and beautiful outfits! So that was accomplishing a little of #5 of my goals:).

Friday night my friend Val came into the city to visit! It was so good to have her here. We were able to play checkers on the beach (# 12) Traci we need to play chess on the beach <-- I always rememeber playing you at family get togethers with your chess set, which we were always breaking or glueing together :). Also went to watch fireworks on the Pier Saturday night! It was so good to have the opportunity to talk and hang out in the city with Val! I feel like we covered every subject from deep theological thoughts about our mighty God to the small influences of life.

Yesterday Val headed out on the train in the morning and I enjoyed a day of worship at church. In the after noon I went to the Lincoln Park Zoo with some friends. It was another beautiful day. Welp I am going to get back to work, Little Einsteins are done :)

The Month is Gone again.

Once again the month is gone. It is the end of May and not much blogging so we will get to basics.

I am spending the summer in Chicago. Working with my babysitting jobs and tutoring.

I am looking forward to some down time here in the city. Since I have moved up here, it has been full of getting to know my school, finding friends, getting acquainted with the city, finding work, and falling into a "way too busy" lifestyle.

I have made a little list of summer goals and look forward to slowing down and prioritizing life. Here is a little preview of my goals. Not in any peculiar order.

1) Sit through a court hearing. I have heard you can go to the county court house and observe a trial.

2) Go to Pilsen and other diverse communities. Pilsen is a mainly Hispanic community and my friend Adam and his fiance will be moving there after they get married next month.

3) Ride the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier.

4) Invest time with people on the street and those in different situations. (Pray for God's guidance in this area)

5) Dance in the Park (Rachel has talked about a little dance instruction in millennium park and some music) and different festivals.

6) Go to one of Nick's (the kid I tutor/babysit) baseball games

7) Go with Jayme to a taping of news ch 2 (Jayme is Nick's mom and she said I can come to work with her some time.)

8) Ride on the Yellow line of the El. (It goes out to Skokie and only runs at certain times)

9) Visit the Field Museum (only big museum here in Chicago I have not gotten too, I think.)

10) Watch fireworks at Navy Pier (they have them twice a week and I am going to be around for the fourth! so that shouldn't be difficult)

11) Play my guitar at a nursing home (I have to find one first :) )

12) Play chess or checkers with a friend on the lake front (there are permanent stone boards along the lake)

13) Make Sushi

That is all I can think of for now. Last weekend I went canoeing with my family and friends. It was such a fun time. (although I think I got sicker from it). Derek, Claire, and I were together in a canoe which was super fun. Claire was our emergency alarm. Anytime she saw a ripple she would scream and get scared. but we just had fun with it.

Landon ended up riding with Steven in a canoe which had previously got wrapped around a tree. They bent it back but still Steven had to bail the whole time while Landon rowed. Oh the memories. And one of our other canoes got caught in the current and a log and is still at the bottom of the vermillion.

I made fudge yesterday. well it was an adventure. Joe helped, but I still forgot 1/2 the ingredients. lol (I guess I can't multi-task that well-talk and cook). I only forgot a "dash" of salt and a little vanilla. Dad would have hated that recipe.

In the end, it tasted really good and I even turned a few into truffles. When I took it over the our after-school program Lynette (the lady in charge) hid the fudge in her drawer (I guess it was good)

Looking forward to my friend Val coming into town this weekend. Hope to keep more on top of this blog thing.

It's about time.

Well the first school year at Loyola is wrapping up! I can't believe it! I have one last final Wednesday night.

Today is a beautiful day. (I should be typing this outside). I got up around 6:45 and prepared for a 4 mile race to support 4 organizations that support women's health here in the City. I did not expect to run the whole thing but wanted to support my friend Megan.

Well back up- Last weekend I ran a 5K with my cousin Traci. <--- this is an event I have been training for for about 2 months or so. The 4 mile race was a random suggestion Thursday night.

I was actually able to run both the 5K on the 25th and the 4 mile run today. It was a beautiful day and both races were run by the lake. That is my biggest accomplishment besides finishing school stuff!

Other news: This week was full of Friends. Last weekend Traci came in for her birthday and run the race with me. Tuesday one of my friends was here for a conference and we went to California Pizza Kitchen <-- good food. Wednesday I got to go to Moody's chapel. Thursday some friends from Tremont were here (Tyler Thompson presented a monologue drama of the Biblical story of Mephibosheth). Friday my friend Val came in and was here til last night.

Moody chapel: gave me a new appreciation of the past God has brought me through. Sometimes I get so focused on the future I forget to praise God for His presence in my past.

Yesterday we (Rachel, Val, Joe and I) took the after school kids Joe and I hang out with to fly kites. (17 kids+6 "adults"+a Chicago park full of a million kids=PANIC and craziness). It was a full day but so much fun. When we initially got to the meeting place there were no kids and then about an hour later there were 17!!! 4 2-year olds and a few other younger ones, but we came back with 17 and some great pictures and memories.

Here are a few pictures of the last week. Never mind, they won't upload. Maybe later.