it's all greek to me

For my new job, I've traveled 2 out of the last 3 weeks. While I have been traveling about the countryside, Dave has been studying Greek. He is taking a 5 1/2 week course that covers 2 semesters worth of Greek. It is a very intense class. I'm so proud of him for sticking with it and persevering through the past 3 1/2 weeks. I can't imagine what it takes to learn this language, but Dave does. And I know that he can see this through.

Greek Study Zone

Can you read this? I sure can't!

Will you please join me in praying for Dave as he finishes out these last two weeks of Greek? He will have a one week break before the fall semester beings. It will be challenging as well so your continued prayer support would be greatly appreciated.

One of the great things about traveling 2 of the last 3 weeks is that it has made it easier for Dave to focus completely on studying and not feel like he is ignoring me. It has also helped me get through this time where he needs to devote nearly all of his time to studying. The Lord always has a plan!

Here are a few pictures from Minneapolis last week.

The Mighty Mississippi

Pillsbury 

Gold Medal Flour

The last evening in Minneapolis we got to take a dinner cruise on the Mississippi.

I even got to wheel the yacht! Must have been my fabulous resume of boat driving skills.

Finished the evening with a beautiful sunset. I had a great time at the conference. Met some really great people. And got to enjoy a beautiful city.

the quest for the best

Since we decided to move to the Chicagoland area, Dave has been most excited about getting to eat deep dish pizza whenever he wants. Before moving up here, Dave's favorite was Giordano's. To him, there was no other. Now that we have lived here for a little over 6 months, we are finding more and more pizza places.

I think that everyone has their own opinion about which place has the best Chicago style deep dish pizza. We are determined to find our favorite!

I have to admit that we only ate Giordano's for the first 5 months we lived here, and in the past month or so we have tried a couple of others. Branching out has made us realize there are so many great pizza places in the area.

While going on a drive a few weeks ago we came across the original Lou Malnati's. We had to stop.

Lou started this pizzeria in 1971 after working in one of the original deep dish pizzerias since the 1940s and it's known as one of the best.  We'd have to agree! The crust of this pizza is amazing. A family recipe passed down from generation to generation is known as "butter crust" and its very tasty! I like their lighter sauce and Dave enjoys their special sausage blend.

The only downside about finding the best, is that everyone brings other pizza places to our attention. I guess we will just have to try them all! But for now, Lou's is at the top of our list.

What is your favorite Chicago style deep dish?

family time - part 3

The grand finale of our three part series! My sister, her husband, and their son, Ethan came up to visit. This was the third week in a row of family visitors.

What a great blessing to have almost all of our family come up in the month of June! It has been busy but very fun.  It's great to be able to show our family where we live and some of the cool things around here.

Elizabeth, Ethan, and Randy

My sister participated in a 4 day conference in a near by suburb so we didn't get to do too many Chicagoland activities. Although, we did partake of some Chicago style deep dish pizza which everyone enjoyed. We took some walks and enjoyed each others company.

It was so fun for Dave and I to get some quality time with little Ethan (Liz and Randy too!). He is sitting up on his own now and he is so close to crawling I feel like it could happen any day!

Seems like just yesterday he was born.  Now he is growing so fast. I love seeing Elizabeth and Randy as Ethan's parents. They are just great with him and you can tell he loves them back so much.

A great way to finish our month of visitors!

family time - part two

While my dad and Dave were at the Indy Car race in Milwaukee last weekend, my mom and I got to go on a fun adventure!

My mom has always loved Frank Lloyd Wright. When I knew that we would be spending the day together I decided to look into where some of his homes were to see if we could go visit.  I found out that his first home and several homes he designed were in Oak Park. We decided this would be a great way to spend our day!

We started with a walking tour of the neighborhood where we wore headsets that told us about each house as we walked by. We started with FLW's home and studio.

My mom in front of the studio

We walked past 10 other homes he designed in addition to his own. We had a great time seeing them all! They were all in the same area as his home. It was a great experience.

My mom's favorite FLW home, built in 1902.

My favorite on the tour, built 1893.

After we did the walking tour we were able to go on a tour of his home and studio. We were not able to take photos inside, but it was very beautiful and unique.

We were also able to take a tour of the Unity Temple which Wright designed after the original church was destroyed by fire. He was limited with a small space and limited budget.

Oak Park is also the birthplace of Ernest Hemingway.  We made a point to find his birthplace home and had a look from the outside.

Even though the temperature was very warm, we had a great time touring the town of Oak Park. What a great memory to have!

family time - part one

June has been and will continue to be the month of family visits. First, Dave's parents came to visit us. Then, my parents the following weekend. And this weekend my sister and her family will be joining us for a long weekend. It has been nice to have people up to show them where we live and do some fun things.

We took Dave's parents to one of our favorite places. It is a hidden treasure off a busy road. We are new to the area so I'm not sure how many people have been there but you wouldn't even know what was behind the small entrance.

This is the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary. It is such a beautiful, peaceful place. Dave has enjoyed going to their library to have a different place to study. It is only about 15 minutes away.  Saint Mary's was actually the first institution of higher education offered in the city in 1844 at it's original location.  It opened, here in Mundelein, in 1921 after many years of not being in operation.

Dave's parents, Penny and Stan

We had a nice time walking around the campus a little bit on such a beautiful day with two of our favorite people!

daddy's girl

Today I got to spend time with my dad for Father's Day. My parents came up Friday night and spent the weekend. It was great to have them here. My dad and Dave went to the Indy car race in Milwaukee yesterday and had a great time. They even made it on TV! I think that he enjoyed his Father's Day weekend filled with good food and racing!

cooking out Friday night

I'm so blessed to have such a great dad. I have so many great memories hanging out with my dad including many trips white water rafting and canoeing adventures.  More recently, off road adventures! My dad never let my anxieties get in the way of having fun.  He always reminded me that I could substitute the word "dangerous" for "fun!"

My dad has been a great role model of how to treat people kindly and to put others ahead of himself. He is always lending a helping hand to others making people laugh while he is at it.

I love you Daddy!

friend-zy

We got back from Muncie Monday night. I unpacked and repacked and took off on Tuesday afternoon to head back to Indiana. It was such a great week spending time with so many friends and family too!

First up, my two friends Michela and Beth. I met these great girls in 2009 through a Bible study we were all in. We became fast friends and these girls were a great support to me during a very rough time.  Beth and her husband have been trying for several years to have a baby and I was so excited to meet Ezekiel who was welcomed into their family 3 weeks ago. Here is the wolfpack :)

Next, I was able to see 4 great friends in one location which was very convenient! Kelsey and I have been friends since 2002. She has been a great friend over the past several years and I always enjoy catching up with her. You can read about some of our crafting adventures here.

Wednesday, I was able to have dinner with 3 great friends. I know these ladies from my Huntington College days but they will be life long friends.  Whenever we get together there is a guarantee of great food and even better dessert. Usually more focus on the dessert than the dinner! Here is Joanne, Shannon, and Jodi.

And the ever famous dessert shot :) This homemade hot fudge is only one third of the super rich dessert! YUM!

Then I was off to visit my in-laws on Thursday. We went out to dinner and had a great time. It was nice being able to see them even though it was a quick visit.

Stan and Penny

Friday was especially special because I got to see Stacy. Stacy and her family live in Colorado. The likelihood of us both being in Indiana at the same time is very unlikely since we moved to Illinois. Stacy got to Indiana late Thursday night so I stayed an extra night so that we could hang out. We met for lunch and a drive around Huntington. We always love to reminisce on all the great times we had during college. The bonus was being able to enjoy my favorite Mexican restaurant of all time.

At our favorite, Johnson's Junction

I was able to see 10 people, in 4 days, in 4 different cities. It was good for my soul. There are so many more people that I wish I could have seen. I will save them for another trip...maybe next week :)