Fullness

This has been a full week!

I have been helping out with Holy Covenant's Vacation Bible School, which has been filled with cutest kids ever. Since they are all so young, these mornings have been unpredictable and fun and full of play.



Our week has also been full of good friends. On Tuesday, we volunteered at Dignity Diner, where hungry folks are served a good vegetarian meal and we all visit with one another. Afterward, we headed down the street to the Trinity Pub with Carrie, Lisa, and Julie (thanks for the picture, Julie!):


Today is Eric's last day at the Blind Faith Cafe, so later on Tuesday night, his restaurant friends gathered for a send-off at The Keg, the always-classy establishment in Evanston, for pool, foosball, darts, and hanging out.

Eddie, Goose, Vladimir, Verandas, Travis, and Joe. Yes, Vlad is wearing a purse.


Naomi, Micah, Mimi, Goose, and Patrick:


Iftekhar and Alex, looking cool and creepy on the patio.


With flash:


Greg and Beth:


Eric has gotten to know some really great folks at the BFC and we will miss them!

On Wednesday, I met Dave for a nice lunch at Victory's Banner, an amazing little vegetarian place in Roscoe Village. It was my first time there and I will definitely be back!


It had been a beautiful morning, but five minutes after I got home, it began to pour!


Julie sent us some more Pride Parade pictures, so I thought I'd share some of them with y'all. Here we are doing some Holy Cov interviews:


The group (most of us):


Shirley waved that flag the entire afternoon!




The weekend looks like it is going to be full, too! Tomorrow is my final day teaching ESL at Computer Systems Institute, and Sunday will be our first day at Lincoln UMC!

Pride Parade 2007

After church today, a bunch of Holy Covenanters walked just a few blocks down the street, where we hopped on our float and joined the Pride Parade. It was the first time for the Conklins--quite the party!




Eric and I started with our float, but wandered off to film some of the parade and interview random folks in the crowd. We enjoyed the sights and sounds and we met some fabulous people who shared why they come to the Pride Parade.

Eric had to work this afternoon, so he had to head north, but I tracked down the Holy Covenant crew and walked behind the float til the end of the parade route. At one point, the truck was zooming right along and we had to jog for a while to keep up!


After the parade, many of us hitched a ride back to the church, waving along the way to people walking and stuck in traffic. Here is Henry the dove, leading the way.


Of course, there were lots more outrageous photos to be snapped on this day, but I left my camera on the float while Eric and I wandered. We'll save those images for the film version.

Some of us headed afterward to Mayan Palace, a great Mexican place with a beautiful patio, for some post-parade nourishment.


The West-Michiganders at the table. Carrie is from Muskegan and went to Hope College.


On the way home, I had to stop to smell (and photograph) these beautiful flowers on our street.


Happy to be home:


Also happy to have such a wonderful celebration to distract us from the fact that this was our last Sunday at Holy Covenant for a while :( . Thankfully, we know we have good friends and am amazing community that will be there waiting whenever we can make it up north! We are so thankful for the loving sending-forth they gave us today.

KK's b-day, plus the PP

Lots of folks came to the Edgewater Lounge on Wednesday to celebrate Kristin's birthday, which was yesterday, the first day of summer!


Kristin is a great friend who we first met at Holy Covenant--but we have discovered since that we know LOTS of of the same people.


It was a fabulous evening with fabulous people!

We are excited about this weekend. Eric is renting a really nice camera to document the Chicago Pride Parade, in which our church participates every year. This year we'll have a giant dove float! We are sad that this Sunday will be our last to be in the worship service at Holy Covenant for a while, but I know that it is going to be a great, celebratory day!

Turn in the road

Hello friends. Mira here. Goose and I wanted to let you know about a big change coming up for us. I have been appointed to a half-time pastoral position at a small United Methodist Church in Chicago called Lincoln. It is a bilingual congregation in the heart of Pilsen, a predominantly Latino neighborhood southwest of downtown. Because I am a lay person (not ordained), I will have a supervising pastor from another church who will meet with me regularly, but I will be the pastor at Lincoln, which is exciting, scary, and wonderful all at once. Pilsen is an amazing neighborhood with lots of cultural events, great food and music, and an artist community, among other things. The church is about 5 blocks away from the Institute for Latino Progress, where I worked up until a few months ago.

Eric will leave his job at the Blind Faith Cafe at the end of the month because we will be moving across the city to the church's parsonage (the house for the pastor that happens to be right next to the church) and because he is ready to move on to a position in media. A recent beefing-up of our computer's hard drive and the purchase of some new film-related toys has enabled him to work on some new projects, which is very exciting.

We will keep you updated as we take steps on this new leg of the journey.

Update

Hello! Mira here. I've spent quite a bit of time in Holland with my family in the past week and a half and can report, thankfully, that Jim is at home and is improving every day. His heart attack was quite serious, but he is stable and happy to be out of the hospital. He will feel pretty wiped out for a while as his body continues to recover and he is still struggling to regain some of his memory, but he is feeling better all the time. On Monday evening, he and I had a nice dinner out and then drove out to the beach to watch a beautiful sunset. I was reminded of how thankful I am for our family and friends who have been so supportive in so many ways during this time. Your presence and thoughts and prayers have made such a difference!

Jim

Mira's step father Jim had a heart attack last Friday, thankfully received immediate CPR, and is recovering in the intensive care unit of Holland hospital. He has come out of sedation and is off the respirator, but is suffering from amnesia as a result of the sedatives and pain killers. Please pray for her mom, Kris, and the rest of the family.