So much. So little time

I had a GREAT weekend. We raised the roof at my house in Roanoke. Beautiful weather.



Before we got started

Enjoyed Bible study Thursday night and friends. Friday got the house a little cleaner. Then in the evening I was able to have supper with some friends (Bob and Charlene Schumacher and Heather). After supper I went with some of my family to Derek's last football game.



(Check out number 73!)

It was a lot of fun. Totally missed the rain but it was still cold. Saturday lots of good food and lots of good work accomplished. Thank you everyone who came to help! And no one got hurt, Good times.



After the day was finished we had all the plywood sheets on.



Us girls also cut the chicken's feathers so they can't fly over the fence along with making lots of good food.

Sunday, went to Roanoke church. Enjoyed a relaxing afternoon. Ryan gave me a ride back into Chicago and fortunately dropped me off at my apt. (I would not have made it on the el). Got caught up with the room mate. Had a tea party and that's it.

Today was awfully windy. Babysat Brain and went to Class.

My dream come true.

So today my aunt called. She had to leave a message and told me to call her back she had exciting news.

SHE HAS 2 FREE TICKETS TO SEE WICKED THE MUSICAL. I am so excited. It was interesting because no more than an hour earlier I had told myself that I just couldn't afford it and I would just have to come to grips that I wouldn't ever get to see it here in Chicago. BUT... NO. I get to January 10th. I am super excited! I have wanted to see this musical for years and it is leaving Chicago in January (a few weeks later I guess).

I sliced my finger open today while cleaning the mirror. Yes. Random. but it keeps breaking open. Stupid cuts.

Today I set my alarm for 8:30 instead of 7:30 so I missed the first 45 minutes of class but I didn't miss much and the other hour and 45 was well worth it.

Rachel made me an amazing pizza thing for supper tonight! It was so good. That is the end of my day.

I GET TO GO HOME TOMORROW. Leaving on the train around 1:45. I know it seems like I always go home but I never get tired of it. And this weekend we have a "barn raising" on Saturday. Please pray for nice weather and all are welcome, if you are around.

I love the Clow Family!!!

What a day. Started with Philosophy of Law. It was an interesting day. Full of theories and laws. A lot of thought provoking information but my mind was on the rest of my day.

Kathy called this morning to let me know they would be meeting me at the Planetarium at 12:00. The kids didn't know I was going to be there. When they got off the bus I was already there and was right outside the museum. John and Kathy pointed me out and it was attack of the Clow children. OH... I have missed those 4. They all gave me big hugs and Evan showed me his proud possession. He had the Metra schedule. Rebekah helped me to hold on to my ticket. Let me tell you, you can not out-love the Clow kids.



We enjoyed the museum.



Some quotables:

Evan (a little over 5) and I were walking and I asked him what that was (it was a tiny earth). He said a planet. I asked him which one. He said, "This one!" emphatically.

After we were finished at the Planetarium we headed outside. It was raining with not a cloud insight. We found the Rainbow and Abigail asked how a rainbow is formed. I told her to ask her mom. (Kathy is teaching the children on the road and I thought this would be a good chance to teach her about the sun and rain colliding.) So Kathy asked her, "Why do you think it is there". She replied, "Because we obeyed". She may not know her science; but what a better way of showing God's beauty. Thanks Abi.



Along the way to the "bean" and the city, Evan, Josiah, Bekah, and Abigail picked me my first bouquet of wild flowers (dandelions).



It was such an encouraging day to get out and really enjoy the city. I need to cut this short though. Babysitting this evening from 7-10. See ya.

Just Chilling.

Well. I am ready for Rachel to get back. She went home this weekend from Thursday til tomorrow. Although I am going home Thursday til Sunday this coming week. This week should be a little more relaxing. Today I babysat with Brian. He was very good. Nothin' too special. Although, this kids has the most love able laugh!!

Yesterday was a very encouraging day. Spent the day at church. Ron Messner was there and had the morning service. very convicting and encouraging. Talked about being honest with God and people and also giving our worries and concerns to God emphasis on Luke 12:34. There were a few people from Roanoke, which is always nice.

After church I went with Boyd and Lois to Potluck at Randy and Heather Knapp's. I enjoyed that opportunity to get to know more people from Chicago better. And of course a wonderful supper!

Tomorrow I am hoping to get together with the Clow's. Last July I was blessed to spend the month with them! I miss them a lot and can't wait to see them. then I will finish up the day with babysitting Brian from 7-10 p.m. and catching up with Rachel!

Still enjoying this weather.

Enjoying a Lazy Saturday.

Yesterday, I found out the man that was giving the IV and the patient I was working for were both Christians. It was interesting to see the procedures go so smoothly. We all thanked God for that. The patient usually has to get stuck many times due to her lack of veins, but one stick and she was good to go. (That was my morning job).

Then I came back home and slept until 9:15 p.m. and headed off to interpret for a third shift employee. It went so well. I was just starting to get into the slappy phase when the shift ended. Praise the Lord I didn't fall asleep, but a few times I could tell my signing was a little lazy due to tiredness. My shift was 10:00 p.m.-6:30 a.m.

Then slept in until 11:00 and my body is ready to finish the day. Tonight I am babysitting 7-11 p.m.. Tomorrow I am going to go to Chicago church with Boyd and Lois and then potluck after church.

The rest of today involves homework. That's it...

I need a secretary

Today was Fine. I am very interested to see how I do tomorrow though.

Frustrating people: Monday one of my teachers assigned a book to buy and read by next class. Well I forgot until yesterday. So I stopped by the downtown bookstore and talked to a man about it. He claimed they didn't have it. Well I knew they should but thought it was only at the Lake Shore campus. So I called there and they said they had it. I asked if they could get it downtown. no, not without doubling the price of the book due to shipping?! what?!... shuttle buses go back and forth at least 50 times a day. Anyway so I went up there today. Only to see the same guy that I had talked to at the downtown campus. He informed me he found the same book at the downtown campus a few minutes after I left. GRRRR. oh well... at least I have the book now.

Tomorrow. Craziness. I have 4 interpreting assignments. So tonight I am looking up directions. I realized it will take 2 hours to get to one of them (due to public transportation). I only have an hour, by the time I get there it will be over. This is not good!! I have no idea what will happen. I e-mailed the coordinator.

I also signed up to work from 10:00 p.m. til 6:30 a.m. That will be interesting. I don't know how to prepare my body for tomorrow. Poor body.

Please pray I will be calm and not anxious about the day. Please pray I will enjoy the day and enjoy every breath remembering it is truly a gift from God. Please pray I can have the energy tomorrow night/Saturday morning. Thank you all.

P.S. Chicago church is having an invite-some-friends weekend Nov 1st and Nov 2nd. If anyone is interested or free that weekend. I would love a friend or 2. e-mail me please, heshere247@hotmail.com.

now to do a little catchin' up.

I went home last weekend. Had a good weekend. I got to go to ISU Biblestudy on Thursday night. It was so good to see everyone. My Grandma did meet me at the station with wonderful food!

Friday... OH! Beautiful day! I got to pick up a few of my friends from the Peoria Airport. Abby, Bethy, and Lauren. We went up to Grandview Drive and saw the beautiful tree.



We ate at Steak 'n Shake. Bethany's first time. It went well. Then went and visited Natalie at her place and then we joined David W. and Megan P. and her room mate at Avantis. Always good.

Then headed back to Peoria. I dropped off the girls and headed back up to Grandview for some thinking time. It was so beautiful. Then joined some friends once again at Avantis (but now it was Peoria's :) ).

Saturday I got to visit with my cousins and their babies. CRAZY. I know.



They are so precious.

well... Joe came up to visit. We talked about the doom of the world and much more...And now I am tired and going to bed. The end.

This is from Thursday I just never got it posted.

I will get you more up to date maybe Wednesday. I have a busy day tomorrow.

class
interpreting
tutoring
babysitting
midterm studying still. (ONE MORE)
oh yeah and a paper (just need a few more tweeks.

No posting tomorrow... Sorry.

Thursday:

On the train again. Thanks to David and Traci, I can type my papers, write blogs, or do anything on the computer. It has been very very appreciated.

Yesterday. It was a good day. I got to babysit Brain (9:30-4:00), tutored Nickolas (4:45-6:15), went to class (7:00-9:30). I even had enough time to get to the different locations. Although on the way to Nick's, I realized I forgot my map. It did take about double the time, but I was still there right at 4:45. Also for class I was about 5 minutes late, but the teacher hadn't started..

WHY DO PEOPLE SMOKE. In my night class, there was this guy that I sat by. He smelled when I sat down then at break he smoked and it reeked! Yuck... I literally did not breathe out of my nose for about 45 minutes then I put my hand up to block the smell after the 45 minutes. But I did learn about some interesting court trials in class. :)

Today I had my midterm for Philosophy. Ahhh.... it was one essay question. It took me a good 40 + minutes to even read the whole thing and try to understand it. But I feel I gave a complete answer and referenced a few of the different theories we discussed in class.

After class I headed out for my first sign-language interpreting assignment. It will be good to have a few of those under my belt. Due to the strict confidentiality code I can't post much about it. But this one went really well. I will be doing another one on Tuesday! Fun times, I really enjoy my signing skills. Although they have a long way to improve!

And now. I am on my way to Pontiac. My grandma will pick me up. She is going to drop me off at ISU and then I will catch a ride with Sara to Roanoke and start a busy weekend. Should be fun though. Good thing Grandma is bringing me food 'cause I am hungry.

My 2 study days were very ... productive.

I'm on my way back to Chicago. I am on the South Shore Line. I spent the last 2 days as a part of the Virkler clan. Here are my hospitable hosts for the last 2 days...



I headed out there Monday morning. After making the friendship bread til 2:00 in the morning, I was slightly tired. I took the two hour train ride as an opportunity to take a nap. Natalie and Portia picked me up from the South Bend airport around 12:00 and we were off. We spend a good part of the afternoon catching up and enjoying Portia. She is so sweet. One year of life but so excited about every breath.



When Nathan got home, we ate some great supper and headed to the pet smart. It was time for Portia to get her first pet. They invested in a beautiful beta fish. Named: Fish. I know baby names are always so creative.

After Portia went to bed we enjoyed a good game of Poker and we all went to bed happy. Natalie was a little happier than Nathan and I due to the game ending with her winning :). Good job Natalie.

Today I slept in. Then in the afternoon, after Portia's nap, we headed out to see the sights of South Bend. I really enjoyed seeing and walking the Notre Dame campus. It is beautiful, especially in the fall. I saw some awesome architecture amongst other sights. Then headed to head-site where Nathan works. Got a mini tour and then got to hang with Portia during Nathan and Natalie's Chiropractor appointments. Then supper. Then train home.

Also today I found out I got a 20 hour/week nanny job. Oh-dear. So here is my schedule. 15 hours of school. 20 hours of 1 nanny job. 2-4 hours of a tutoring job. 4 hours of volunteer tutoring. And at least 4 hours of interpreting/ week. How many hours are in a week (– Sunday), again? I think something is going to have to go. We shall see though.

Beautiful Wiener Roast Weather.

Today was a beautiful Sunday. After about 2:30ish.

Enjoyed Chicago church today. I really appreciate getting to know the people there. They are so welcoming and kind to me. I really do enjoying going to Chicago church! I got to meet a bunch of new people. I need to check out the church book and see how many people I know now after 2 Sundays.

After church I went with Keri Stoller, Julie Eisenmann, and Andrea Luthi to join the rest of the church at the nursing home to sing to residents. I miss my Eureka residents. I'll have to try and get over there next time I go home. After we sang we headed to Keri's to change for a bon-fire/cookout at Brad & Cindy Eisenmann's.

For the bon-fire we were encouraged to bring a gift of 30 items for Ben Funk's 30th birthday. Well I didn't know who he was so I wasn't going to bring anything but then we got this great idea to take him 30 pieces of toilet paper. We even wrote him a birthday poem on it (Andrea added some great marker stamps to jazz it up). lol. If only he knew how much that describes me... (toilet paper and poems. What more does a person need in life).

The night was a wonderful time full of food, frisbee, and friends.

I just took about an hour break from Blogging. Me and Rachel made up some friendship bread. Joe bought us some stuff we were lacking and now it is baking. Tomorrow I get to go to see Natalie, Portia, and Nathan. I am excited. Night.

Lazy Saturday

Well let's see. I really enjoyed my night with the Plattner's last night. We went to RJ Grunts. on Wells (I think). Aaron got their "Famous RJ Chilli" and has now decided he wants to try chili in all the different restaurants. Bekah got some good quasadillas that she shared and I got a pineapple, coconut, raspberry shake. It was deeelish.

Today involved just a relaxing morning. Grabbed my homework and worked on that while watching the Illini vs. Michigan game. (you should all go watch the highlights. It was a good game. Illini hadn't won a game at Michigan's home "Big Bowl" since 1999 so it was about time. Juice was on fire.)

Then came back and got to meet Eric Zimmerman (he came over to Aaron and Bekah's for supper also). Bekah made an amazing calzone thing. so good and chips and salsa
(from Eric) with refried beans. Then some apples (cut perfectly by Aaron) and carrots to be healthy. I brought over some crystal light raspberry lemonade.

GOD"S TIMING STORY: so I was shooting to get over to Bekah and Aaron's at about 6:00. Well low and behold I was running late. As I was just coming up to the El Brown Line station I saw the el towards Kimball (my train) leaving. I missed it by seconds (remember Mandy Steffen when we missed the Metra by seconds. that was bad news cause it didn't come again for an hour.) Anyway... so there I was impatiently waiting for the next el. I texted Bekah to let her know I was going to be late and just relaxed as I had a few minutes. Then a girl from outside the platform asked me "how do I get in?" I showed her where but she didn't have a card with her. I was able to let her use my "guest car" <-- because I have a school one but if I ever need to take someone with me I have an extra. and then she paid me the $2. It worked out perfect and I know it helped her day go a little smoother. And when I got over for supper, they were not all waiting for me. I was still able to help with supper and such.

After supper we just chilled and all worked on a little homework/studying. (stupid Philosophy of Law.)

Life is getting busier.

Yesterday I tutored with Nicolas another 2 hours then I got to babysit for a different family while they went to the Cubs game. It was sad. But the debate was good. Sara Palin did very well. speaking of which. I just got my absentee ballot in the mail today. Babysitting was wonderful though. The younger son was in bed by the time the parents left and then Kaera went right to bed after calling my mom (it was her birthday), taking a few pictures, and reading some Halloween stories. She is 4, blonde and so precious. I probably won't get to babysit them much though.

I got to ride in the taxi last night for the first time. The driver was very nice and I enjoyed his music selection.

Today... I just had a bunch of little things. I met with Jayme (Nicolas's mom) and got a little more information about tutoring and picking him up from school. Then around 12:30 I headed for another babysitting interview. This would be a 2 year old. The parents are really sweet but they said they are still interviewing others and will be in touch by next Tuesday ish. That would be a good amount of hours if I get that position.

Then I came back home and did a little exercising. Rachel (my room mate) said the guy below us asked his roommate (joe) if we jump rope. lol. I guess my walking exercise is a little loud.

Then went and got a drug screening for volunteer tutoring. Next to CAIRS (Chicago Area Interpreting Relay Service) and dropped off my application. THEY ALREADY GAVE ME 3 DIFFERENT ASSIGNMENTS!! I have to get to practicing more.

ooo, best part. I got to go out to eat, Chipolte. Just me. I really enjoyed the solitude and the Burrito. I love that place.

Now I am finishing up at home. This weekend I don't get to go home. We will see how that goes. I am looking forward to the weekend. Aaron and Bekah have graciously agreed to let me stay overnight at their house tonight and tomorrow night because Rachel's family is coming into town. I am looking forward to meeting them too. Then Saturday watch some College football with Ryan Graf and maybe get to see Jason and Joy Huber.

Church on Sunday (heading out with Aaron and Bekah) then a bonfire later at Eisenmann's.

Hey there is a clippity-clop (Aka horse drawn carriage.)

that's all for now. Tune in next time to read about...

I got paid!

Today was at least sunny, but cold. Speaking of which my room mate has a bad one :(. She called in sick today. But at least we got to watch lots of Gilmore Girls! "When you out on the run, feeling lost and so cold, all you have to do is caaaalll my name and I will be there on the next train."

I took my first test of the semester. It went ok. 2 essay questions. Not good.

This afternoon I tutored with an 11 year old boy, Nicolas. He was a lot of fun. We studied science and about the earth and moon. Then I road the el with a bunch of cubbies fans and came home.

I can not think of anything more you should know about the city and I. So long. until tomorrow probably.