Tis the Season

I did it. I couldn't wait any longer. I am currently, as I type this very post, listening to Christmas music. Now, most of you who know me aren't the least bit surprised by this. But let me explain my personal approach to the holiday season...

1) I'm not a big fan of Halloween and it's not a part of the holiday season for me as it is for some people I know. It can be fun to dress up and it was certainly a great time trick-or-treating as a kid. But I don't really get into it.

2) I'm a big fan of Thanksgiving and Christmas. But I think stores should wait to decorate and put up Christmas decor out until closer to Thanksgiving - not the day after Halloween or even before Halloween like this year!

3) Christmas is a really special season for me. Maybe because Sankta Lucia (those of you non-Swedes check here for Wikipedia's explanation of Lucia) falls in December along with my birthday. Decorating too early takes away the specialness of the season. We have fall decor out now and will switch over to Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving. This is the same for the radio going All Christmas 24/7 too early. While I love listening to Christmas music now, lots of people don't. Stick with the month of December, or at the earliest the week of Thanksgiving. I know that may seem contradictory to the fact that I am currently listening to Christmas music and it's November 6th - but what can I say? It's the wonder that is me.

One of the reasons I'm so excited to listen to Christmas music now is because of the most fabulous of inventions - Pandora. Thanks to Pandora I no longer have to listen to music I don't like. Such as the local radio station that goes All Christmas (probably pretty soon) playing songs like Dominick the Donkey. What gives with that? (My apologies to anyone who likes that song). Or, the Hippo song. It's cute, it's fun - once or twice. But hearing it every 30 minutes is a little much. There are so many good artists who perform quality Christmas music - why limit it to 3 versions of one song over, and over, and over again? So, now thanks to Pandora, I get to choose what artists I hear and what versions of songs. Of course I have many Christmas CDs and a play list on my iPod. This is just yet one more way for me to revel in all that is Christmas and the holiday season! No commercials and no bad music. Thank you Pandora! (And just to play this safe, Pandora didn't pay me to say great things about them - I just think they are great!)

Of course I also have some favorite songs such as:

Let It Snow - by Vaughn Monroe

White Christmas - by Bing Crosby

Christmas Waltz - Harry Connick Jr.

Sleigh Ride - Boston Pops

12 Days of Christmas - John Denver & The Muppets (that's right, the Muppets, what up?)

Blue Christmas - Harry Connick Jr.

Breath of Heaven - Amy Grant

Basically the entirety of Handel's Messiah

Then there are some of my favorite Christmas hymns:

Come O Come Emmanuel

O Holy Night

God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman

Hark, the Herald Angels Sing

Good Christian Men Rejoice

O Come All Ye Faithful

What are your favorites? Do you listen to Christmas music year-round? Only after the last bite of turkey on Thanksgiving - or Thanksgiving leftovers for that matter? Only the week of Christmas? When do you start ringing in the season? Do tell.

C

How to tie a bow tie and other stuff guys should know

This coming weekend, Christin and I will be attending the Swedish Covenant Hospital Gala. This is a fancy shmancy event and I will be wearing my kilt and accompanying waist coat, tux shirt and bow tie. This is the same outfit that I wore for our wedding 2 1/2 years ago. Prior to our wedding, the only bow ties I had worn were clip-ons that came with the rented tux that I was wearing. Well, for our wedding, I had to have a real bow tie, don't ask me why. But I did and so I got one (this was my requirement). Now, did I learn how to tie this tie before the day of the wedding? No. Did I spend a few minutes for a few days perfecting the tieing and retieing of the bow tie? No. Why? Because I procrastinate, alot. Not as much now as I did then, but still.
Okay, so I waited till the day of my wedding to learn to tie this tie, no big deal, right? Wrong. The Tuesday before our wedding I decided to try my stuntman routine and flip over the handle bars of my bike onto the sidewalk. I was curious if I'd bounce. I didn't. What I did do was land on my left pinky. All of me. 240 pound man verse a 3 inch pinky, guess which broke first! Yup, cracked my left pinky and was actually in a splint with stitches and a swollen left hand for my wedding. Christin could barely get the ring on my finger during the ceremony. Oh, and the tie? Yea, I ended up having my best man tie the tie for me. Lucky for me, he had actually done it once. Once. Seriously we probably looked ridiculous in the bathroom at church, both in kilts and jackets and me having my bow tie tied for me by my best man. He rocked.

What does this have to do with the Gala this weekend? Nothing. Just thought that it was an interesting story to share. Just kidding. It is actually to explain why I had a bow tie, but didn't know how to tie it until now. With the upcoming event, I decided that I was absolutely going to learn this time and practice. So I have. Christin can attest to it. But, I have finally figured it out. With the help of the video at the end of this post, and this document, I finally learned. At one point during my practice sessions, Christin asked me why I wanted to learn to do this. She asked, "Is this one of those things that every man should know?" Yes. I do believe that being able to tie your own bow tie is just one of those things that a guy should know.

And this got me thinkin, what are some other things that guys should know? I have 6 nephews and 1 niece and I would love to share certain bits of knowledge with them. Well, my big sister introduced me to an amazing book that has many many wonderful things in it; The Dangerous Book for Boys. There is a similar book for girls with a similar title, The Daring Book for Girls. Anywho, these books cover a wide range of subjects like the Gettysburg Address to how to fold the perfect paper airplane. Tons of bits of trivia and knowledge that helps make a more balanced, well rounded individual. But there are somethings that it doesn't cover, like how to start a fire with gasoline AND keep all your body hair at the same time (and important part of the equation, believe me). Or, whats the best way to cook bacon. I believe that it does cover tieing a bow tie, but I am not positive. I would love to hear from some of you in the comments section about what are some things that every guy or girl should know.

Meet the boys

We figured it's about time we introduce the rest of our family to all y'all out there on the internets (all of them).

Meet Anubis and Ra.

Ra - the Sun god (AKA Ramalamadingdong, Buddy, Lunch Box and Fatty) aptly named for his beautiful orange coat. He is almost your typical cat in that he is fickle in deciding if he wants attention or not. He'll prance around you sitting in a chair - so you can pet him as he dances by. But don't you dare try to pick him up! He'll have none of that. He's a scaredy cat.

Anubis - the god of dogs (AKA Nub, Nubs, Nub Nub (say it like an Ewok), Nubalubadingdong, Crack Monkey, Attention Hog, Stinky and Dumb Ass) he isn't named because he intimidates dogs. In fact I'm pretty sure if he ever encountered a dog he'd run and hide. He's not a scaredy cat like his brother, but still. Nub is not your typical cat. He is not fickle about when he wants attention because he wants it ALL THE TIME. You may think that I'm exaggerating, but you would be wrong. The cat constantly wants attention. Pick him up and he's an instance purr-machine.

Ra and Nub are brothers. For real blood brothers. They were born between midnight thirty and one thirty am on May 25, 2005. They are two of a litter of five. There are three boys and two girls. The other boy from the litter is orange like Ra. One of the girls is colored like Nub but with an orange triangle on her forehead (second pic down, lower right). The other girl is colored like a melted Snickers bar, kinda like their mother. Here they are when they were only a few days old. (Even non-cat-people have to admit the pure adorable-ness of these kitties! Too cute!)

<---Ra is the lower one

Baby Nub ---->








(Jon has had them since birth, so I knew when I married him that he came with 2 cats. Good thing I like cats. - Christin)

Sure, they drive us crazy. Nub with his constantly jumping up on us when we're sitting down in the living room, and his crawling all over either of us looking for hands and staring at us with the "I know you have 2 hands and you're only touching me with one" look on his face. Ra with his constant "gimme attention, no don't, gimme attention, no don't" indecisiveness. But, we love them dearly. They are our boys and our home would have less laughter without them around because we're telling you - they are hysterical; pure entertainment.

C&J (and R&A)

NTI and the search for more questions...

Continuing my one-class-at-a-time grad school program, I'm taking New Testament 1 (NTI). Class started August 24th and so far it's going well. I've handed in 1 assignment and taken 1 quiz, but I haven't received them back yet. Paper #2 and quiz #2 are coming up next Monday.

NTI is an introductory course to New Testament studies that focuses on the 4 Gospels. The rest of the New Testament is covered in (you guessed it) NT2. I was fully prepared to be shaken up by this course, but one can only prepare so much. I knew it'd be tough because 1) it's grad school people, undergrad is sooo yesterday. 2) my professor is one of the top scholars in NT studies and knowing several people who've taken his courses let me know how tough he is. 3) the only Biblical studies background I have is attending church my entire life and participating in some small group Bible studies (which one quickly learns in seminary that those actually don't count as background in Biblical Studies).

Other than those 3 reasons, I'm finding this class very challenging in my faith. I'm not questioning my faith per say. I still love Jesus, and if anything this class is igniting the desire to study even more; to learn about Jesus more. But for every answer that I find or learn about, for instance the canon of the OT and NT, the more questions I have. I feel that instead of finding all the answers, I'm simply finding more questions. One the one hand, it's frustrating because I just want a simple answer. But, as anyone of faith knows - there are no simple answers. I know this of course and I certainly did NOT think that seminary would give me all the answers or that it would be simple. But I don't think I was prepared for this struggle. I honestly don't think I can explain all of my questions. Sometimes it's not so much questions, but just grasping to understand the true depth of this study and not knowing where to begin. I'm not the first person to have these questions. Scholars who have spent their lives studying the Bible still debate about things and don't know all the answers - so I certainly can't expect to find them in few weeks of seminary.

I mentioned above that I have paper #2 due on Monday. It's a 5 page paper on the book of John and self-centeredness. I was talking with a friend about it just yesterday and she asked me a question that made me think. She asked, what do I want to get out of John. I realized after thinking for a minute, that I want anything. I want to see something new. Sure I've read the Gospels. I've read a lot of books in the bible (thought not the entire thing as of yet). And I'm not naieve to think that I don't have to re-read anything that I've read because I've got it all figured out. I know that I don't know much, if anything. I've interpreted verses wrong and I've read with a self-centered hermeneutic. I know that there is forever so much to learn from scripture. But it's hard to approach a text that I've read so many times before and not think "been there, done that" and move on to something else. I want God to show me something more; something new. I realize that I have no control over this. It's up to God to do that and up to me to be open to it.

Do any of you out there ever crave to see something new from God? Something different? I want to read the Bible again and see it in a fresh new way. To approach the scriptures and not have that "I've heard this parable a thousand times" feeling in the back of my head. I explained this to my friend who had asked me the question and she said something very encouraging. She said that all of this sounds like a very beautiful prayer. A prayer for God to show himself to me. A prayer for how I can know Him more. I don't know when He'll answer this prayer or how... but I'll keep praying until He does and then some.

C

Pics of McLewis Family camping

Sitting around the camp fire Saturday night.















Papa Lews and B takin a stroll. I think B found a stick!



















Little E is tryin some Lake Michigan sand. Mmmmmm lunch.

Hey, can I get a ride?

School year

Afternoon. It is the middle of September and Christin and I have pretty busy the last month and a half. With two camping trips in August, a visit to Detroit for my parents 40th wedding anniversary, and the start of the new school year, alot has happened since July (time of our previous post).

We went camping in Wisconsin the first weekend of August with a bunch of people from church. Great group site in Kettle Moraine. It was an excellent weekend hanging out with friends and not being in the city. I looked up on Saturday night and saw more stars than I had in a couple of years. Chicago sucks with its light pollution.

The weekend after that found Christin, myself and all of our family/s at Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan. This is one of my families favorite camp grounds. It is a state run camp ground right on the west side of Michigan, on Lake Michigan. And yes, by the name, it does have dunes. Quite a few actually. The water, once it stopped raining and we could make it to the beach, was a ton of fun and we had a blast playing for a few hours on Saturday and more on Sunday in the waves. The red alert flag was up to warn everyone not to go in the water due to the strong under tow, but we went in anyway. It was just too nice to not be in that water. Mmmmmmm, Lake Michigan waves! (a few pics above)

Following our fun in Lake Michigan, Christin and I went to Minooka for our sister and brother-in-laws reaffirmation of their vows. This was an incredible celebration of their union and both Christin and I were honored to be there and witness it.

We had one weekend off and then we were off to Detroit for a quick trip to surprise my folks on their 40th wedding anniversary. They two were renewing their wedding vows, and again, it was an incredible celebration of their union and I was so proud to witness my mom and dad expressing their love for each other and their family the way that they did. Thanks mom and dad for providing the witness and example that you have. I love you guys.

The week before that, Christin started school. She is taking New Testament 1 this semester and is really enjoying it. I will let her post about her experience with it, but for now, we'll leave it with she is learning a ton. And I am extremely proud of my wife for wanting to tackle this class head on. It is an extremely challenging class and can be quite daunting, but she keeps plugging away.

As for me and school, I am taking another semester off, sort of. One of the things that I need to do is take the second semester of Greek, but to do this, I need to go through the first semester, which I have. Greek is offered in a year long, two semester structure (Greek 1 and Greek 2). Greek 1 is generally taken during the fall semester while Greek 2 is offered during the spring. And you can't take 2 without taking 1 first. Greek 1 covers the first half of the text book and 2 covers the second. And because it is a language, the second half builds on the first. Anyway, I have passed/completed the first half, Greek 1, but I still need to pass/complete the second half, Greek 2. I plan on doing this come February 2010, but I can't just go into class after not working with it for over a year. So in preparation to take Greek 2, I am informally auditing Greek 1. To audit a class, normally you would register to audit, which puts you on the class roster but you do not receive a grade. You go to class, do the work, take the quizzes if you want and the exams as well, but without the pressure of grades. Why would someone do this you might ask, well one example is a person like me who has taken the first half of a course, but it was some time ago and needs to prep for taking the second half. Or someone who wants to learn the info but doesn't necessarily need the credit. Since I have passed Greek 1 and audited it once (last fall), I am informally auditing this fall so that I can take Greek 2 in February. Informally means that I do the work, I meet with the teacher every few weeks, and I will take the final exam, but I don't have to go to class or take the weekly quizzes. That was a very long winded explanation of what I am doing, but it comes out of discussions that I have had with people lately asking just what it is that I am doing.

Christin and I are both working full time and the past few weeks has found us pretty busy. Christin just celebrated her 2 year anniversary with her office and November will see the same for me. It feels good to both of us that we have worked for the same companies consistently for that amount of time. At times, we may not be thrilled with our positions of employment and they are definitely not what we thought that we would have been doing had someone asked us 5 years ago. But we do appreciate our jobs and we do love parts of it and there are definitely more good days than bad.

So that is where Christin and I are at for now. Hope all is well with everyone out there on the interweb and we will update ya later.

J

3 years ago yesterday...

3 years ago yesterday, July 28th 2006, Jon proposed! Most of you reading this blog know our story, but if any of you friends are curious as to how Jon popped the question, or if you know but just can't help wanting to hear the story again and again - read on my friends, read on.

Jon and I had been officially dating since March 17, 2006. (I'll tell you the story of our first date and how we ended up together another time.) The summer we were dating I was gone quite a bit. I was in Germany for about 9 days in June on a missions trip with our church, and then in July I was gone for a week for CHIC as a high school youth leader with the youth group at our church. Little did I know that Jon purchased a ring for me approximately a month before he proposed and while I was away at CHIC, he met with my parents and talked with them, asking for my hand in marriage.

By the time July rolled around I basically knew that I would marry Jon, but I honestly thought that even a proposal was way out in the future. We had been dating for about 6 months, and even though we have a long history together (our entire lives, no foolin') I still figured we would date for a year or so and then get engaged. Jon had a different plan.

On July 28th, we had a date planned; just a fun day to spend together. At the time we were both living with our parents (he with his and me with mine) in different suburbs of Detroit. That evening I drove over to meet him on his side of town. The plan was to go mini golfing. It was a beautiful, sunny, summer evening. When I showed up at his house, we quickly realized that we were dressed eerily similar. Same color blue shorts and white T shirt or tank for me. We laughed since this was obviously not planned, but fitting for us, very fitting. For years our moms have dressed similarly, always unplanned, and we thought it apt for us since we were together and our families are so close. This point doesn't really have anything to do with the proposal, but I think it's funny (Jon and I still get teased about dressing a like, and occasionally we plan it because if makes me giggle).

We went mini golfing at a local place by Jon's parents house. It was pretty fun - especially because I won. I feel compelled to inform you that I am the most inconsistent mini golf player ever. I'll get a hole in one on a par 4, and then take 7 to get the ball in on a par 3. Nonetheless, I won and that was pretty fun (that was an unfortunate rhyme). After the mini golf game Jon suggested we get ice cream at this really fantastic place on that side of town called Guernsey. I excitedly agreed and we got in the the car to drive there. Jon took a back way called Hines Drive. It's a long and winding road that has several parks along the road and lots of scenic green grassy areas and trees. A little oasis, if you will, in the concrete suburban sprawl that is Detroit and it's surrounding areas. Along the drive, I noticed a park with swings and expressed my excitement at seeing swings, thinking that would be fun to do at the time. Then, I thought it'd be better to get ice cream and bring it back to enjoy on the swings. Jon liked the swings idea, but suggested that we stop to swing for a little bit first as the park closes after dark. I agreed. (Little did I know that Jon was secretly relieved that I agreed to swing before ice cream, as stopping in the park was all part of his proposal plan. He was worried he'd have to cajole me to stop first and in doing so give his plan away. But, not reading anything into it, I inadvertently made it pretty easy for him!).

We pulled into the small gravel parking lot and got out the of car. I started to walk away from the car and noticed that Jon was taking a little longer to get out of the car and lock it up. When I asked him what he was doing, he said "I have something for you." This set off a spark in my mind, and the thought of engagement probably crossed it, but I quickly rationalized that out of my mind. Jon had a card for me. I thought this was really sweet because I LOVE greeting cards, giving them and receiving them, and Jon is a self professed: "Not a card guy". We walked over to the swings, sat down on swings next to one another and he gave me the card. Butterflies were populating in my stomach because I didn't quite know what was going on and why he was giving me this card now. I read through it and tears filled in my eyes... not only was the pre-written card he had picked out perfect, but the message he wrote in it was very moving. I read down the inside of the card and had to move my thumb to finish the final sentence which read: "Christin, will you marry me?" Needless to say I was a tad stunned and looked up at him to find him sitting on the swing, with his hands out holding a beautiful, sparkling, diamond ring. In my shock I asked him if he was serious. We got up hugged and I said a very happily and still very surprised "Yes!" - realizing that I hadn't actually given him an answer! The hugging, kissing, and some jumping up and down ensued (and continued looks of disbelief at this ring on my finger). We then headed to get ice cream and I immediately started to call all our friends and family.

After ice cream we drove back to his parents house where they had a bottle of champagne opened and ready to celebrate (they literally jumped up and down while hugging each other! I don't know if I have ever seen them so excited!)

The only down side of this whole experience was that I had to drive back home at 1:30 in the morning. I, of course, woke my parents up when I got home and they were just as excited as Jon's folks - just not literally jumping up and down as I had just woken them up in the very very AM.

One of the things I love the most of our engagement story, is that I have it to read whenever I want. I know exactly what Jon said to me when he proposed. It's all written down in that card, that I still have, and will have forever.

So there you have it: Our Engagement Story. I think it's a pretty darn good one, if you ask me. I gotta hand it to Jon for surprising me - I really didn't see it coming! We've had some pretty good adventures since then: Planning the wedding, our honeymoon, moving to Chicago... more background stories to share later on, so once again... stay tuned!

Eat lots and blow stuff up...

Another 4th of July celebration has come and gone. Jon and I decided to take it all in and celebrate to the fullest this year. Care to read the play by play? Here it is!

It all started on Friday, July 3rd. Both our offices were closed since the 4th fell on a Saturday this year (woohoo!). We started our patriotic celebration by sleeping in. Then, we went out to breakfast at one of our favorite places, Tre Kroner. (If you're ever on the north side of Chicago, you really have to check this place out - best Swedish pancakes on the planet!) After Tre K, we ran a few errands such as grocery shopping for the next days BBQ and running our recyclables to the recycling center. We returned home, slathered on some sunscreen, filled the camel back (with good ole H2O btw, not beer) packed a blanket and a couple sweatshirts and we were off to brave (drum roll please) The Taste of Chicago and Annual July 3rd Fireworks downtown Chi-town.

The Taste is a huge event every year downtown where various places from around the city set up booths and you go around trying their food. It always draws massive crowds (estimated 3 million this year) as does the fireworks display. Jon and I had never been to The Taste before and figured it's something every Chicagoan should try at least once. We generally don't care for super large crowds, but wanted to go and we mentally prepared ourselves for the can-only-walk-one-inch-at-a-time-crowds. We arrived at the Taste around 4ish and commenced to peruse the merchandise if you will. Then we bought our tickets (can only buy food at the Taste with tickets/coupons) and proceeded to buy and try. The booths had entree size options and taste size options. We started by splitting a few taste size options like fried ravioli, cheesecake, and pirogi's. Then we wandered around towards Buckingham Fountain to sit for a spell. We decided we had better get any other food we wanted to try and get back to the Fountain to pop a squat and set up camp for the fireworks. We decided this about 30 minutes too late. As we entered the massive food area crowd again we quickly realized that the crowd had grown considerably since we stepped out of it and sat down. It had grown from a large crowd and slightly annoying to get around in, to a freaking huge crowd that was moving as slow as molasses. No foolin'. It took us about 1/2 hour to walk 20 feet. Again, no foolin'. Part of me had wanted to give up and just go back, but we had come so far we had to push through. So after we got a few more tickets, we headed over to the Harry Carry's booth for some homemade potato chips (amazing), fried dough (elephant ear: cardiac arrest on a plate wonderfulness), and to the booth next door (unfortunately, we've forgotten the name of the place) for some Italian Ice (mango, strawberry, and lemon - in a word: fanfreakingtastic). We spent exactly the amount of tickets we had left, which was pretty nifty since we weren't planning on heading back to the taste to use them up any other day. Thankfully we were able to cut behind the booths/tents to avoid the super crazy large crowd, and just walk through a regular large crowd to get back to the little grassy knoll near the fountain to lay our blanket out and relax until the show was over.

We sat, ate, and talked for a good 2 hours until the fireworks started. There were large speakers posted in the area to hear the soundtrack while we watched the show. It started with the 82nd Army Band and Choir (they were phenomenal) just before the show started. The show started with the end of the 1812 Overture (one of my faves, of course) and then it cut to pop music provided by a local radio station. Although the songs selected were fun and appropriate, I was sad that we didn't get to hear more of the 82nd Army group.

The fireworks were fun and an impressive show. As soon as the show was over the police announced for everyone to leave. Actually, they said to exit West (which is hilarious because if anyone walked East they'd quickly end up in Lake Michigan). I don't know the exact count of how many people were there, but I'm fairly certain is was around 1 million. The crowd slowly moved West to board the "L" and head out of the downtown area. There were a LOT of police around, which was pretty comforting to me. And given the sheer magnitude of the crowd, I felt that "crowd control" was done as well as it could be. Jon and I made our way to the Blue line, trying to step out from the larger sections of crowd as much as possible as I was getting a bit claustrophobic. We eventually crammed into one train like sardines (again, seriously not exaggerating) and it got better the closer we got to our stop as people got off the train at stops before ours.

Once home we crashed and slept to prepare for the next day.

Saturday, the 4th, was not quite so busy. We slept in again and had a yummy breakfast together while listening to our favorite NPR show, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. Then Jon did some laundry while I baked a blueberry pie to take to our friend's BBQ later that day. Around 3 pm we headed over to our friends house. We were the first of many to arrive - in the rain. Oh yes, rain. Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain. The forecast all week had said sunny and 80-something. But, either the weather people are incompetent, or they lied. What do you think? (I know, that's a little harsh, I'm sorry. Besides we had a great time despite the rain. Jon thinks that it was a conspiracy between the weather people, the grocery stores and the City officials to get people to buy more stuff in anticipation of good picnic weather that they had been saying we would have) With a couple of tents set up outside in the backyard and a large Ikea umbrella to hold over the grill and grill master - it was as if it wasn't raining at all. Okay... so we all knew it was raining but had an absolute blast anyway. There was food and beer a-plenty, games, jokes, good conversation, campfire, ghost stories, bags, ladder golf, and of course - fireworks. What would the 4th be without eating a ton of food and blowing stuff up? No fingers were blown off nor eyebrows singed, so all in all a successful 4th celebration. (Yes, Jon's left hand is still intact - though apparently the stuff of legends now - think origin of Great Lakes legend).

The 5th was much more low key with church that morning, a little grocery shopping, and a nap that afternoon/evening, followed by watching several episodes of Felicity Season 3.

Our long weekend has come and gone and I must say it makes me sad. But, it was a fantastic weekend. Jon and I had so much fun hanging out together on the 3rd and with a bunch of good friends on the 4th. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend. Alas, mini-vaca is over and it's back to work and our regular scheduled programming. But fret not dear friends! For Team McFadyen is sure to have more fun-filled stories and adventures to share ... stay tuned!

C

Eventful weekend

This past weekend was kinda eventful in multiple ways, one of which is that Christin and I got to experience the Swedish Covenant Hospital Emergency Room and also Swedish Covenant Hospital's Anderson Pavilion room 337 (bed 1). But I will return that in a bit. Friday of last week concluded with the two of us celebrating the new engagement of our friends J and L. They had a bunch of people over to L's apartment for deserts and drinks and general merriment. There was plenty of all three and C and I had a really good time talking to old friends and making some new ones. It is still kind of odd for the two of us to come into this culture of North Park University grads sometimes. Not bad, but there is a lot of history there that we were not a part of and so we find ourselves smiling and nodding at times to things we have no clue about. Luckily that only lasts for a few minutes at a time now and the awkwardness that we sometimes experience internally passes quickly. Anyway, the party was still in full swing when we made our exit around eleven thirty or midnight (which is the latest that we have stayed out in quiet awhile till that point of the weekend).

Saturday C and I slept in a little before getting ready and departing for a breakfast date on the road while we drove out to the larger of the two Ikea's in the area. It had been almost a year since our last trip and we have been doing some spring/two year cleaning of the apartment and realizing that some of the modern conveniences that Ikea carries might be beneficial toward the efforts that we were making. We wandered the three floors of that Swedish organizational wonderland for a good part of the day, enjoying the meatballs and lingonberry juice for lunch (mmmmmmm). We departed for home with the truck loaded down with a few bookcases, a couple of baskets and some decorative throw pillows. Overall a very good trip and C and I had fun dreaming of the chance to decorate our own home and not just the semi permanent structure of our apartment. Later that evening we went back to L's apartment and a few of us grilled some burgers and artichokes and such. Really good food followed by a round of playing a newer board game that RA brought, Power Grid. This game is sweet. It is a German designed game that consists of building cities on a map of either the US or Germany and purchasing/bidding on power plants to power those cities. I won. It was a fun game and lasted a few hours so another night that ran later than C and I are used to.

Sunday started out as normal with our going to church followed by our weekly trip to Target. After that was laundry time and assembly of the aforementioned bookcases. The day moved along pretty smoothly until a quarter to 8 in the evening when I started experiencing some odd things happening in my chest. My heart started fluttering. Yes, I am in love, but that was not what was causing these changes in my heart beat. The fluttering came in short bursts and they continued happening for about 15 to 20 minutes. Once they stopped, I felt a tightness in my chest that I had never experienced before. It felt like something was sitting right behind my sternum and was trying to push out. This lasted for more than an hour and that was when we decided to call our RN mom's. They encouraged me to go get it checked out, so at 10:30 pm C and I headed to SCH ER. It was amazing how quickly I was taken back to Triage when I told the front desk that I was experiencing heart palpitations followed by chest pain. Within 5 minutes of walking in they were giving me the first of a multiple EKG's. After that was done we sat in the waiting room for awhile. We eventually were brought back to the ER and I was poked, hosed, and adhered to multiple machines plus subjected to three different personnel asking the same series of questions (a med student, the resident, and the doctor). They gave me a Nitroglycerin pill which eased the tightness in my chest and then a patch with nitroglycerin on it. At 3:30 in the morning I was admitted to the hospital and taken to my new room, 337. C went home at that point because the chairs in the rooms are worse than the chairs in the ER rooms, which are pretty bad themselves, so she might as well get some sleep, or rather a nap. I think that I got all of an hour and a half worth of sleep because of the various things attached to or stuck in me. The next couple hours consisted of more questions I had already been asked and no answers from the staff about what had caused it. Eventually I was given a stress test and an echo (an ultra sound of the heart). Both of which showed nothing alarming (Grrrrr). I say that because if they had found something, at least there would be a course to take afterward. As it stands, I was discharged at 6 pm on Monday because my primary physician has the good sense to understand that a patient feels better at home instead of sitting in a hospital room while the hospital isn't really finding anything wrong. I am following up with her on Friday afternoon. So far, Sunday night stands out as the latest that C and I have been out while living in Chicago since she didn't head home till after 3:30 in the morning. Apparently that is a good time to drive on Foster cause there are very few cars on the road.

J

Summer in the City

Today is June 25th, 2009. It is exactly 6 months till Christmas! :D And the current temp on the north side of Chicago is 88 degrees. We haven't posted for awhile cause it got kinda busy toward the end of the semester. But I was feeling a little informative so I thought that I would post a little something. So far this summer we have gone to Milwaukee for an extended weekend, I have played exactly one game of Chicago style softball, and we have slept in on 4 Saturdays. The pics are of Christin and I in front of NorthPoint Lighthouse, the Pabst Mansion, Christin and I on the river boat dinner cruise while it was out on Lake Michigan, and the Brewers/White Sox game that we went to (Brewers won!).


The semester ended really well for both of us. As most of you know, I did not take any classes during the semester but I did take one over a week in January and Christin was taking a class during the semester, her first class as a grad student! Well, we both did really well with our individual classes which is encouraging for both of us. Christin dominated Christian Heritage 2 while I did very well with Women, the Bible, and Church. As for what is next in our academic career, Christin is signed up for New Testament 1 and I am undecided about what to do with the fall semester. I am debating taking Old Testament 2 or not taking anything but prepping hard core for Greek 2 next spring. We'll see what happens.

As for the rest of the summer, we are looking forward to the long weekend provided by the 4th of July and plan on taking advantage of the day off on the 3rd by going downtown for Chicago's Taste Fest and fireworks show. We figure, hey, we're in Chicago, we have the day off, and we have the motivation to try this, so we'll go for it. We hear it is pretty cool and probably something that we should try at least once while we live here. We know that it will be crowded, possibly hot and humid, and noisy. But we love downtown, food, and fireworks, so we'll go for it. We'll post pics later.

At the end of July, we are going camping in Wisconsin with a group from our church. Should be good times and it will be fun for Christin and I to camp in a different state. The weekend immediately following that we are camping with our combined families (the McLewis Clan) at a state park in Michigan. The families did it last Labor day weekend but because of school, Christin and I could not make it. This year we are able to make it and excited to do so. We will be camping at the Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan which is just inside the Michigan/Indiana border and right on Lake Michigan. It is a gorgeous and well run State park with a nice beach front.

Other than those events, we have a pretty calm summer planned which is a good thing. Neither of us are thrilled about working full time during it, but we are extremely grateful that we have jobs. Just kinda wish that summer still meant summer break. Also wish that 9-5 jobs had nap time, but that is for a different post.

J

New Year

It's 3 days into the month of February and this is my first post. Christin and I had a great holiday break. We traveled to Michigan and stayed with her family. This was a new kind of Christmas for her family in that the evening of Christmas was just us, no extended relatives. Normally the night of Christmas is spent either at their aunt and uncles or their relatives come over to their house. This year was just Mom and Dad, brother and family, sister and family, and Christin and I. One, it was my first Christmas with the Lewis clan and two, it was just the Richard Lewis side of the Lewis clan. We had a great time and there was much rocking out to RockBand on the PS2.
New Years Eve was spent with some friends from church who hosted a very good dinner party followed by watching the ball drop on Times Square, an hour after it already had (Central Time Zone baby!). January was awesome in that I did not have to go to school, until the end, and Christin and I could just hang out. I read a series of books by David Eddings that has nothing at all to do with seminary. Love it! And I worked more hours.