Aqui Estoy

Kristin invited us to an amazing performance last night called Aqui Estoy. This phenomenal two part play is based on the stories of two undocumented immigrants, one from Honduras and one from Colombia, who live in the Albany Park neighborhood. Several years ago, a couple of young people involved in the Albany Park Theater Project spent time interviewing day laborers waiting for contractors on nearby corners in the early morning hours. The first half of the play, Amor de Lejos, is based on one of those day laborers, who left his wife and children at home and, after four attempts to cross Mexico, reached the US. The second half, Nine Digits, is based on a young member of the theater project who immigrated at the age of six and becomes trapped and haunted by his lack of a social security number. I am so sad that, after multiple extensions, last night was the last performance of the run, because I would like for everyone I know to see this play. The pieces use music and dance so beautifully and effectively, especially Amor de Lejos, in which the story unfolds in the midst of repetitive, dangerous, difficult work. Check out their website for more about the play, to access immigration resources, and to see a piece that PBS did on Aqui Estoy.

Hello there!

We finally saw the sun today. Oh what a difference that big ball of fire can make! Here's the lovely view of the skyline we saw while crossing the bridge to Whole Foods:


The past couple of weeks have been fuller than any we've had in a long time. Our job total between the two of us hit six this past week, so that keeps us busy. Eric continues to coordinate programs part-time for the United Methodist Outdoor Retreat Ministries and to serve as the communications person at Glenview UMC, and he recently decided to take on a few shifts at a week at the Blind Faith Cafe, where he worked for our first year back in Chicago. I spend my mornings at Starbucks and my afternoons with fourth graders at a neighborhood charter school and I have recently taken on a very part-time position with the United Methodist Hispanic/Latino Ministry Center. All these jobs have been going well, but we do a lot of running around the city.

Our final ski retreat last weekend went pretty well. Coordinating over 100 people can be a bit hectic at times, but we always enjoy getting to know the youth and adults over the three days and, of course, we love the snowboarding!

Here are some girls making snowflakes to go along with our theme, "When Lots of Flakes Get Together":


Trent and Jeanne helped out again, which was lots of fun. The 12-yr-old girls though Trent was the coolest--one even said in the end-of-event evaluation that he is her BFFL. Trent was *amped* about his popularity. Who wouldn't be?


Upon returning home Sunday, we all took looooong naps.

Just before the retreat, I had a lovely lunch with Abby, who was passing through town with her rock star hubby. We both remembered our cameras this time, but no one was willing to take a picture of us (people in the city always seem to be in such a hurry!), so we took one of ourselves!


It was so great to catch up!

KrisMom comes to town

Mom came for a short visit this weekend and we had a great time, despite the ridiculous cold (it is currently -1 and painfully windy).

Shortly after she arrived, we set out for Ikea. Sometimes I think that Ikea is the number one reason for my mother's Chicago visits, with my presence here coming in a close second. We wandered the endless displays of kitchens and offices, sometimes even defying the instructions of the giant arrows on the floor. After a few hours, we were pretty wiped out.


Thankfully, the cafe area provided some nourishment for our continued shopping and we were able to remain in the store until after dark. Amazingly, Eric and I escaped with buying only $33 worth of doodads. Coincidentally, my mom spent $33 herself on a completely different collection of thingamajigs. Of course, we all left with a big list of things we will buy when we figure out our lives and make lots of money.

Everything about being at church this morning was good. The service was so great and seeing people we love was energizing. Eric met with Chris afterward and made progress on plans for some short promotional videos for the church--very exciting.

Lunch was at a great vegetarian place called the Chicago Diner. One of Eric's and my Lenten disciplines is to follow a vegan diet (it's gone well so far, except for one donut incident), so we were excited to be in a place with so many options that weren't necessarily healthy! I had the Polenta Fiesta (ole!) and Goose ate a seitan Rueben sandwich--very tasty. Mom had a delicious and nutritious salad and some miso onion soup. We finished up with an amazing vegan choco-mouse cake. Why don't we go to that place more often???

Before heading back to Michigan, mom shared her favorite health drink--a think green juice mixed with some sort of mysteriously, healthy green powder. It was surprisingly good.


It was, over all, a very restful weekend!

Ski Retreat #2

Our second ski retreat at Wesley Woods was great--lots more folks (over 100 all together!) and quite a bit more chaos, but it was lots of fun and my snowboarding skills improved dramatically (no visible lumps or bruises!)!

Trent (a Starbucks co-worker) and Jeanne, who live around the corner from us, and Candie, a Garrett student and Holy Covenanter, joined us in the leadership for the weekend.

Here are Candie and Trent leading worship songs the first night:


Again, I was not daring enough to take my camera out on the slopes, but we had a great time! The weather was much warmer and the sun was out--yay! I took a snowboarding lesson with Trent, who was trying it for the first time. Jeanne and Eric, the experts, went off for a while and left us to tumble down the hill for most of the afternoon.

After the band, Rufus Tree, we joined in the ritual "give youth tons of sugar before bedtime" snack--ice cream! Sorry leaders.


Yeah...we didn't work all that hard.


Eric didn't take off his new Wesley Woods bag the whole weekend.


On the way home, we just had to stop at the "Promise Land" restaurant, a Paddock Lake fixture that we've been making fun of from afar for years. It was smoky and a bit of a dive and a bit too patriotic for my liking, but the greasy diner food was delicious.