May in Our Home

We experienced an unseasonably beautiful and warm May here in central Illinois. May was busy! It brought Julian's first birthday, my college graduation and my little sister's high school graduation three weekends in a row. We finally had a break to breathe Memorial day weekend and celebrated by simply relaxing!

We enjoyed Julian's birthday as a family by taking him on a picnic and playing at the park. A dear friend of our family gifted us a photo shoot for his birthday and we took advantage of the gorgeous weather on his special day by taking the pictures at her home and the nearby park where we picnicked. We have been blessed to cultivate friendship with her and her family over the past two years and are incredibly grateful for them! I am a big believer in practical gifts, especially when the recipient doesn't know any different :), so we gave Julian a floppy sun hat, a new amber teething necklace and a stainless steel sippy water bottle for his birthday. He has worn the necklace 24/7 since we put it on him, we have not had a chance to try out the hat and the sippy cup is a bit of a learning curve for this exclusively-breastfed-never-had-a-bottle child, so we are still working on that one!

We traveled to Chicago for my  graduation from Moody Bible Institute the second weekend in May. Although I officially finished up classes and graduated last May, I was too busy recovering from having a baby the week before to participate in the commencement ceremony last year! To be honest, I was not looking forward to the stress of traveling and staying away from home etc., but I am exceedingly glad that my parents convinced me to go through with walking in the ceremony. Besides having the satisfaction of actually walking across the stage to receive my diploma rather than just getting it in the mail along with bills and other day-to-day things, I was able to see my friends that I lived with for three years all together one last time before we dispersed, quite literally, across the globe to do the work the Lord has prepared for us. I was especially grateful to get to visit with one of my floormates and her husband who will be doing work in India this summer. She shared some special news with me that I would have missed out on had I not gone to commencement. I was able to encourage her and her husband in a special way that I would not have been able to do otherwise. I also spent some time with my roommate of two years and was able to meet her entire family for the first time. It is sobering to think that it is quite possible that I will not see some of these amazing women I lived with for three years again this side of heaven. I praise the Lord for the work He has called each of us to do and sincerely hope that we will all be reunited again on this earth!

With all the major events going on, I was afraid Mother's Day would end up an after thought. We had lunch with my husband's mom and her family, then came home and took a much needed nap. In the evening, my sweet husband gave me a handmade card and took me and Julian on a hike at the nature center near our apartment. We finished the night with frozen yogurt from a local shop.

My one and only sister graduated from high school the weekend after my college graduation. This was also a bittersweet ceremony as it marked for my parents the end of a seventeen year relationship with Peoria Christian School. The ceremony was beautiful and my sister even more so, of course!

We are looking forward to a summer filled with birthdays, our second anniversary, weddings, VBS, a big move and more!

How I started dating my husband

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of the day that my husband and I began dating. Be sure to check out the story of how we met before reading this installment in the Our Love Story series!

Now for the story...

Between the time we met in November and the time Kerry moved to Chicago to begin his graduate studies in early January, we exchanged hundreds (seriously, hundreds...I have them all printed out and in my keepsake box!) of messages via facebook. I am not sure why we chose this method of communication, but, we did, and I am glad to have those "get-to-know-you" conversations preserved for all time. We had established a good foundation for our friendship through these myriad messages, and I was looking forward to finally living close enough to each other where we could have face-to-face conversation on a regular basis.

Naturally, since I was the only person Kerry knew at Moody, we spent lots of time together. We rode the L to Target with several of my friends, I introduced him to my favorite coffee shop, showed him around campus and shared a chocolate cake shake at a Chicago must-see with him. We played chess in the student center late on a Saturday night and went to church together. I still was not sure where our relationship was going, whether we were spending so much time together because I was a familiar face or because he was interested in pursuing me further. My mind was put to rest regarding this when he asked me to go to dinner with him at Efes, a beautiful authentic Turkish restaurant in the Lakeview neighborhood, after church on January 18th. I claim this as our first date. After dinner, where I had come prepared to pay for my meal since I still was not sure where our relationship was headed, I came back to my dorm room and told my roommate that I had just shared dinner with the man I was going to marry.

That next week was busy for both of us, so we did not see each other much. We went out for cake shakes again one time that week, and I was sure that Kerry was going to ask me to be his girlfriend while we were there, but, much to my disappointment, he did not. We went to church together on Sunday and went our separate ways once we got back to campus. Monday, which was Kerry's longest day of classes, came around and I was not expecting to see him since he had such a busy day. I had gone to dinner and was sitting in my room, probably working on a paper or reading one of the many, many books I read while in college, when my phone rang. It was Kerry and he wanted to know if I would accompany him to the grocery store. I did not think anything of this because he had had an emergency appendectomy over Christmas break and was under a weight lifting restriction. I figured he just needed someone to carry his groceries home, something I had done for him already. So, we began the mile or so walk to the grocery store in the bitter January cold and I was just chattering away, per usual. I had gathered by this time that Kerry was a man of few words, but that night he was silent. I talked the whole way to the grocery store and was actually starting to run out of things to say! He grabbed my gloved hand in the parking lot of the Jewel on Clark St. in downtown Chicago and said, "I have been wanting to ask, but just couldn't get the courage up...will you be my girlfriend?". I, of course, said yes and we continued on into the grocery store to get the things he needed. Although Kerry will admit to being slightly embarrassed by the fact that he asked me to be his girlfriend in the parking lot of a grocery store, I think it was adorable and perfectly suited to his personality. And, in case we ever forget that important event, I saved the receipt from that shopping trip and it graces the front cover of our dating scrapbook!

Check back in March to read the story of our engagement!

Chicago

Chicago is a significant place for our family. I spent three years living in the city going to school at Moody Bible Institute and, while Kerry and I met in Ohio, we spent the first part of our dating relationship together in Chicago and the second part long distance with one of us traveling to or from Peoria or Chicago most weekends so we could be together. Our first date and first Valentine's Day together took place there. So, needless to say, Chicago holds a special place in our hearts!

Two weeks ago (I know, I am late getting this post up!) we had the opportunity to travel there again, Kerry for school and me to visit dear friends. It was a wonderful time for both of us, as Kerry had the great opportunity to present his research findings at Argonne and I was able to catch up with my dear college friends and hear what the Lord is doing in and through them. It was especially wonderful to see Janie, my best friend from college and a bridesmaid from my wedding, who I had not seen since last November. With the exception of my roommate, none of those girls had gotten to meet Julian yet, either, so it was special to be able to introduce them all to my son. We spent several hours talking and catching up and walking the streets of Chicago, getting ice cream (cider for me!), burritos and free chocolate samples. It was a wonderful time of refreshment and I am so thankful the Lord allowed me the opportunity to visit.

All of us, minus Hailey and Hilary

The Storms' and the Sliger's in front of Inspiration Kitchen

On Saturday, we met up with good friends from church and visited the Shedd aquarium as well as a very cool restaurant, Inspiration Kitchen (highly recommended, by the way!). Julian and Eli did great all day long, and I think Simeon would have been happy to just ride the train all day! We had a great time exploring the city with these guys and are so blessed to have them as friends.