hello again, everyone.

It’s not officially autumn, but the most pleasant fall breeze is blowing in the window next to my desk. It’s my day off. My favorite music is playing, I’m drinking coffee out of my favorite mug, and the dog is close by. It’s times like these I’m convinced life is significant, and short, and that I might be the most fortunate person in the world.

Jeremy is in New York City for the day. Teach For America sent him on a 24-hour-trip for some training to prepare for the rapidly approaching selection season for new TFA applicants. It’s incredible how quickly we’ve settled into our lives here. It feels like we’ve been in Chicago far more than just half a summer.

Both of us are back to working full time. My new job is a handful, to say the least. I’m finding it far more difficult than my previous job. I was oriented to the hospital, NMH (Northwestern Memorial Hospital) nursing, and my unit (the CTICU) in five weeks. My second day on my own I admitted a patient with open heart surgery straight from the OR (in all the months I worked at UCLA off orientation, I never did this). My third day, I pulled a patient’s chest tubes (something only doctors and nurse practitioners can do at UCLA). My fourth day I extubated a patient (which I also never did on my own at UCLA). Never a dull moment. Never a slow day.

All that being said, I’m really enjoying how I’m being challenged at this new job. Every day I’m being pushed to be a better nurse (and human being, for that matter) whether I feel like it or not. The transition from UCLA to NMH has been just the thing that I needed at this point in my nursing career (and life), and also probably the very thing I would not have chosen, had I known all it was going to involve. For this reason, I’m so thankful God drew our hearts to Chicago and put me in this job immediately.

Something else I’m thankful for:

This is our church! Covenant Presbyterian. It’s wonderful. It’s a PCA church, just like the one we’d found in Pasadena before moving. Jeremy and I are leading a small group in our apartment with a girl named Abby, who is really neat. We had our first meeting last Monday evening, which was a delight and a blessing. Something else I have been incredibly excited about and blessed by at Covenant is the ability to be involved in worship. They even have a choir. Yes, please. Yes. Music is an element of my life that never seemed to fit into my California world, and being able to participate meaningfully in it here makes me feel like I am my whole self again. The church is not quite a mile from our place, so we bike there a lot. We love this.

SPEAKING OF BIKING. Jeremy and I drove to Ohio last weekend to participate in the big Hancock Horizontal 100, a bike race in Findlay, OH. We got really sore, and sunburned, but we made it 50 miles. Jeremy’s grandpa (!) went 62, and his parents rode all 100 on their tandem. It was great to spend some time with family, and get a little exercise while we were at it.

Well. I don’t have much else to say, and I hate to say it but I have no clever way to end this post. So I guess I’ll just end by saying YOU SHOULD COME VISIT US HERE IN THIS WINDY CITY.

fall’s coming… i better catch you up on our lives

I’m excited for fall. Ready for the cool weather. And it’s sort of been making its way here. The ants are finally beginning to disappear, the evenings are bringing cool breezes into our apartment again, and we have actually had some cloud cover recently. I’ve been drinking more coffee and even getting to wear my fleece sometimes. And it’s September. So it’s actually almost officially fall. I thought there were a few things I should catch you up on.

For one: Jeremy and I are officially small group leaders!

Actually, technically he is the leader, but I am equally excited about it! We had our first night a couple weeks ago, and we have such a great group of people. Some we’ve known for a while now (from the last season of the EP Small Group) and some we’re meeting for the first time. I feel so blessed that God brings so many wonderful people into our home each week.

On a completely different note, we sold the Mazda! This is me kissing it goodbye:

Unfortunately, I will be kissing it “hello again” this afternoon. The day after we sold it, the people who bought it called us and told us it was smoking when they got it home. Apparently they took it to a Pep Boys who told them it would cost $2000 to fix. That estimate turned out to be a bit of an exaggeration, but we’re taking it back anyways. Boo. We’ll take it to our own mechanic, get a list of what it actually needs done, and get back to re-selling. That was quite a downer for us. I loved the Maz, and it was a little sad to see it go, but we were kind of hoping that would be the end of it.

Fortunately, that very same day, I found a BIKE! Jeremy and I drove all the way to Simi Valley for this little number:

I love it. I couldn’t be happier. It rides smooth and the frame is just my size. Our bike guru friend Austin says it’s a great find. All it needs is a new set of tires. Jeremy and I are going to Santa Monica today to spruce up our bikes so we can finally ride together again! I’m super pumped.

Aside from all that, my work is in full swing and Jeremy is just finishing his second week of school with his new batch of Cochran kids. His days and weeks are still incredibly exhausting, and he’s already had those days where nothing seems to gel quite right at school, but he’s keeping it together like a champ. I think it’s helpful for him to compare the year with his last school year. It feels 100 times better, easier and less scary. But it’s also a bit more discouraging to be running into the same problems he’s been seeing now for more than a year. He knows how to balance his life a little better now, and I’m sure he’ll reach TFA’s goals with his classrooms again this year, but it’s still Gorilla warfare.

Well, folks. That’s about it for now. I’d like to remind everyone from far away that we love it when you come visit us, and there’s always plenty of space on our livingroom couch for you. Much luv to you, fams and friends.

real.ity.

Well. We’re finally making successful strides toward really taking root in our community. We’ve found a new home church. And this church is actually a home church, meaning it’s where we live, hooray! Every Sunday we drive up the 101 North about 10 minutes to Hellen Bernstein High, home of our new church, RealityLA.

I know I know, what’s with that name? And why do I have a massive picture of the Hollywood sign at the top of this post?

Well the name has to do with the church’s desire to speak real live truth into the world and especially this city. The sign is there because Reality is right smack dab in the near center of LA, and the Hollywood sign comes into view every week as we leave.

You should be really happy for us, and praise God with us, because this church is the. Bomb. The people there are really wonderful and love Jesus with such conviction. AND they all live by us! Well, not all of them. But it feels that way! Tonight we got invited to a guy’s house for dinner and a group of people from Reality there just hung out and got to know each other. It took us about 30 seconds to get there. Hallelujah.

Aside from the great experience we’ve had with the people, the preaching is so wonderful. I don’t mean, “The preacher guy is amazing and I’m really entertained.” The gospel is unapologetically preached every single week; I always leave church feeling challenged and like I’ve learned something. I’m continuously pointed to the cross and urged to live in light of God’s truth. It’s really cool. All the sermons are online and if you’re looking for a great podcast (or even if you’re not) you should take a listen.

There’s not much else I’d like to say right now about Reality. I just felt like I needed to let you know how well it’s going. And I cannot WAIT to take you there if you come and visit us over a Sunday.