MAY-be spring is really here

We are finally confident that it will not snow again for a few months (hopefully several). It has been wonderful to be out and about without burrowing our faces down into collars. And though springtime in Chicago is not nearly as colorful as in the Willamette Valley, the world is looker brighter and brighter every day! This tree will soon become leafy and block our view of the lake, but right now it looks amazing!

Walking under the L tracks on the day we pondered new apartments that are more in the *heart* of Rogers Park (it's so hard to believe that it's already time to sign a new lease--either here or somewhere else in the city!).


We've enjoyed time with Holy Covenant folks in the past week. This past Sunday was our annual U2 Eucharist, with a live band and our amazing choir that did almost exclusively U2 music. The service was centered around working to end world poverty and part of the offering went toward Dignity Diner, an outreach ministry with and for the homeless and hungry that our church hosts and participates in. Justin and Andria came in for the weekend and it was great to see them (and eat at the Wishbone again)!

We also had one of the largest turnouts for a "regular" Women's Group gathering last Sunday. I love these women!

On Monday, we gathered with other leaders from our Lenten Small Group series for dinner at the parsonage:

On Tuesday evening, we met Robyn, a Garrett friend who we just discovered still lives in Chicago, for coffee and dinner at one of our favorite Andersonville spots--Kopi. It was so great to connect again. I also got to see Joey on Tuesday after not seeing him for a while. We used to ride the train together on Tuesdays, but now that I'm not working down south, I don't take that train anymore! Here in the Macy's building, Joey declares that it's all about him:


After lunch with Joey, I joined in the May Day march as it approached Grant Park. The number of people who gathered to declare support for immigrant rights was estimated at 150,000--significantly fewer than last year, but still a pretty sizable group! I planned to wander around by myself, but ended up running into Anthony and Jonathan from Amate House (I traveled with them them to Georgia for the School of the Americas protest in November), Candice from Instituto, and Kristin from Holy Covenant. For more about the march, including a video, go to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights website: www.icirr.org.




I wonder how long it will be before these guys trade in their horses for segways?


Last night, we helped Andy and Lewis with a BBQ for Andy's visiting Japanese friends that were so hospitable during his time there. The guys live in a building with fabulous front porch overlooking the park and the lake, but around dusk, the temperature dropped drastically, a heavy fog moved in, and then the fog became projectile mist...so we moved the BBQ inside! Here we are with Andy's friends, Andy's parents (who came in from Michigan for the week) and sister (who lives in Chicago) and Lewis and Niko (in front with Nico the dog).

I have had a few interviews for part-time ESL positions and am working on getting more involved with United Methodist Hispanic/Latino ministries in the area, so I'm feeling pretty good about all that. Eric's time at work has been exhausting and stressful this week due to a pretty serious incident that involved three staff people (outside of the work setting). So we're taking things day by day.

We're excited to see Mike Moore, an Idaho friend who is flying in today from California and will spend the night with us before heading out to the UMC camp in rural Illinois where both his parents are serving. He and Eric have big plans for future film collaborations, so that should be a fun visit.

To close this blog, I'd like to share a few fun pictures from the Sokols' video game dinner party two weekends ago at his mom's fabulous place in the south Loop. We enjoyed seeing how big Athanasius is getting and got to meet Isaiah for the first time since he was just a bump. Isaiah is about 10 months now:


Karl was recently awarded grant money to purchase a Wii and the Christian pop music version of Dance Dance Revolution for his church, so we bowled and boxed and danced into the wii hours of the night.



I tried many times to upload the short video clips of folks dancing, but it didn't work. It's too bad, because they are hilarious--especially the ones of Joseph. Who new he had so much sass?