Celebrate LONG Weekends!! YAY!!

Happy Memorial Day!!
It's been a great weekend. I had Friday and today off. Sam and I went to a little lake on Friday and had a picnic lunch. It was very nice but I got a little sunburned on my shoulders. Saturday we had some friends from Sam's cohort over - Daniel & Jenny and Sean & LeAnn. It was a lot of fun. We had pizza and Sam made a delicious 2 layer black forest cake. We played a couple rounds of hand and foot and then played guitar hero.

Yesterday we had church in the morning and then we went to a random Chinese restaurant for lunch - Wok & Roll. It turned out to be authentic Hong Kong dim sum. It was definitely a cultural experience. People would come by with rolling carts full of dishes and you just pick what you want. And they served us hot tea with the meal. It really reminded me of my trips to China and Hong Kong. We had no idea how much anything cost until we were ready to pay the check. Thankfully we only spent about $20. Then for dinner Sunday we went over to Hannah & Peter's so they could help us finish the black forest cake. Hannah made Shepherd's Pie with chicken. It was very tasty. She put a lot of veggies in it like corn, green beans, carrots, and spinach. We hung out with them until about 12:30! It's been a long time since I stayed up that late with friends - I'm getting kind of old. We played some games and watched a movie. Hannah and I played mastermind while Sam and Peter played chess.

Today I'm going to try to get some schoolwork done and then tonight we're getting free food from Noodles & Company. Hannah won a tasting part for a group of 6. I guess we will get to try a lot of their different dishes. It should be a enjoyable experience.

Other news:
I think I did well on my BCaBA exam. I'll find out how I did in a couple of months. They're really slow processing everything.

I got my new contract for the next year at Chicago Education Project. I'm getting a raise and they will be paying 100% for my health insurance! Also, I will be getting twice as many personal days. I'm pretty excited.

I've started my first summer class. My second class starts next Monday. Hopefully it won't get too stressful taking 2 courses and working full time. We'll see how I do.

Two weeks and two days until I fly to Texas for a visit. I'm really looking forward to it. I'll be landing at DFW at 11:35am Wednesday morning. Can't wait!

What's around the corner?

So, there are several things coming up in my life that have me looking forward. Some fun things planned, some changes, some hard work. But I'm looking forward to all of it.

First of all, tonight Sam and I are going to an Art Gala. It's a fundraiser to raise money for extracurricular activities for the students at Chicago Education Project. All of the students (who are diagnosed with autism or a similar disorder) made pieces of art inspired by real works of art by real artists. One you may be familiar with is the Starry Night painting. Tonight all of the artwork will be displayed at Blues Bar and will be available to purchase through a silent auction. I'm looking forward to it.

May 14th will be the day to find out what I really know about Applied Behavior Analysis. This is the day I am scheduled to take the exam to become a BCaBA. I've been reviewing my ABA textbook. Hopefully I will do well and won't have to take it again.

Currently I am waiting for a reply from UNT to find out if I have been accepted into their master's program for special education (emphasis in autism intervention). Once I get my acceptance letter, I will be registering to begin taking courses this summer. I'm excited about being back in school.

Another exciting thing to look forward to is my trip to TEXAS in June! June 16-23. It will be here before we know it. This year is flying by.

And then, Sam and I will be going back to Texas in August when we have two weeks off together. So much to look forward to.

Hopefully you have some things in your life that keep you looking forward. Jesus is coming back! That's one thing we should always be looking forward to!

Home Sweet Home

Only two more days at work with the kids and one half day of parent/teacher conferences and then... We'll be jumping on a plane and flying HOME!! I'm so excited about getting to see everyone. I miss my family so much. We're even going to get to see most of Sam's family too. They are coming to the Dallas area and celebrating Thanksgiving at Sam's sister's apartment. If they time the food just right, Sam and I may get to enjoy 2 Thanksgiving dinners in one day!! (We'll see if we can handle that.)

The next few days are pretty full so hopefully they'll fly by. Tonight we're going over to hang out with Hannah and Peter (some friends from church) and then Monday I have lots of stuff I need to do at work and then I have to go to Wal-Mart and do laundry. Then Tuesday night our church has a special Thanksgiving service. Then Wednesday will be here. I think we'll be done with conferences by 11:40 and then I get to go home and pack. Our flight leaves at 6:30 so we'll be heading to the airport around 4. And we'll see the family at 9:05 (or shortly thereafter). YAY!!!!!

Happy Happy Thanksgiving. God is so GOOD!!

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted. A lot has happened. Sam and I have been really enjoying ourselves (for the most part). The Wheaton psychology grad program had a Wirley Ball night the day before halloween. Sam's class dressed up like the characters from Willy Wonka. Sam went as Mike Teevee (the little cowboy kid) and so I also dressed up as a cowgirl. I don't know if you can see it in the picture but Sam has a golden ticket in one pocket and a remote in the other. He was pretty cute. Some of his classmates dressed up like Oompa Loompas (or however you spell it), Willy Wonka, and Charlie. His class won for the best costume theme.

Yesterday was our anniversary. We spent the weekend in Shipshewana, Indiana. It's Amish country and it was a lot of fun. Friday and Saturday we had beautiful weather. It couldn't have been more perfect. We spent our time going to different shops, we ate some delicious pretzels, drove by lots of horse drawn buggies, ate some marvelous chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes, and learned a lot about Mennonites and the Amish. It was a very special time.

Thanksgiving is coming! I am so excited about going to TEXAS! It's kind of weird being the one traveling to see my family. I'll be a guest at my own house. lol. Only nine more days and I'll get to give my family lots of hugs.

Bunny Trail

Ok, so a few weeks ago, on a cold and rainy afternoon, Jill and I were heading to the store when Jill pointed out a really cute little bunny hopping around in the bushes outside of our apartment building.

Upon observation, we decided that the bunny was NOT a wild rabbit (the main clue was that it was white with black/brown spots, and that it casually hopped about 10 feet away when we approached it, rather than disappearing into the underbrush). We looked around and realized that no one else was paying attention the rabbit, and we decided that it had probably been let go or escaped from someone. We also surmised that it probably wouldn't last very long in the wild, so we decided to catch it and give it to someone who could take care of it.

So, about an hour later (and having used a carrot as a threatening tool rather than a temptation), we managed to trap it in a box. Then, we were like, where can we take this thing? We aren't allowed to have pets inside of our building (on pain of eviction), and we weren't sure if any of our friends would want it. Then, Jill remembered what looked like a small, private pet shop down the street from our apartment, so we took it there to see if they would know what to do.

Well, this pet shop turned out to be a huge chain that sells an astounding variety of fish and cuddly animals, and they took the rabbit off of our hands after we told them the story. The guy we gave it too (I guess he was some sort of manager) told us that he would talk to the store's breeder to see if she could take it.

Ok, so it would seem that the story ended there. But wait! We went to the pet store on Sunday to check out the animals, and what would we happen to see but a rabbit...In a cage on the floor... Apart from the other rabbits...That looked mysteriously like the rabbit that we had brought in...For FIFTY DOLLARS!!!

Is that crazy or what? I have checked out their web site, and they say that they have staff veterinarians that check out all of their animals, so it is possible that the $50 is just their having to pass on vet fees and maybe medications. But come on, who pays $50 for a rabbit? When I was in 4-H, I only paid $15 for my high-quality breeding stock rabbits, and we only managed to get $1.25 a head when we sold their prize-winning (adult) offspring! Now, this was not a special rabbit that we had found. It wasn't a lop or rex or one of the more exotic varieties of rabbit (they had mini lops in another area specifically for bunnies). This thing was just a white rabbit with some black and brown spotting (which you can pretty much make by crossing a meat-variety Californian with any dark-colored variety of straight-eared rabbit). Anyway, just had to get that off of my chest and celebrate the irony of it all!

The Changing of Seasons...

Well, autumn is a beautiful, fun season. I love the crisp air and the changing leaves. Pumpkin farms, scarecrows, and bon fires... It's just fun. It has been pretty cool here this week. It was in the 40's most of today and is supposed to get down to 28 degrees tonight. But it will warm back up and be in the 50's most of next week. Sam and I wanted to give you guys a little taste of the fall season here in Chicagoland. So, we took some lovely pictures, but they're not loading so I guess I'll try again later. If all else fails, I'll post the pictures on facebook. Love you guys!!

New Music

In case you listen to the music on this blog, you may notice that I have put the first tracks for my playlist as a bunch of existential songs that question the meaning to life. I think that this is an important thing to question. What are you living for? What is the purpose to your life?

The Bible teaches that we are created to be in a loving relationship with God. Unfortunately, everyone has sinned and created a rift that makes this relationship possible. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, was murdered by the religious leaders and government of his day, and rose from the dead so that we could come into relationship with God and have eternal life with Him. The only other alternative is eternal death and torment. For more information, check out http://followchrist.ag.org/

Sam