Dan's job update

The congregation at Fairmont Evangelical Covenant Church in Minnesota met Dan, heard him preach and then voted on whether to ask him to be their senior pastor. The majority voted yes, to offer Dan a call to pastor the church! He accepted and will begin during the first week or two in January! Whoo hoo!

We stayed an extra day in town to look at homes. My mom had picked up the girls and brought them back up to the city so Dan and I could get more done in Fairmont. We looked at five homes and put an offer in on one. It's a little smaller than we had wanted but is definitely in our price range and is move-in ready which is nice. There were some that were far from ready!

There is only one bathroom, but there is a second toilet in the basement (do NOT read that as a second bathroom--trust me--it's only a toilet, but it works in case of emergency!) and Dan is pretty handy. He may be able to put in a sink down there. With four young girls, two of whom still need to be pottytrained, you NEED a second toilet.

So we'll find out if our offer was accepted on the house in the next day or two. We will move from Chicago the weekend of December 12 and hopefully close on the house on Dec. 14 or 15.

No pics, but at least you're now in the know! Thank you so much for your prayers! We all made it through the two days of meeting people and being on good behavior--which is very exhausting! and we look forward to being part of that church. We enjoyed our time there with all the folks very much.

Family Update

Well, since last writing about our family, several big things are in the midst of occurring.

Annika started first grade at Peterson Elementary, about four city blocks from our home. She's loving her teacher, Mrs. Rivas, and has become a very fluent reader. She just bought her first chapter book from the Scholastic book program at school and is ecstatic! She now reads the Bible stories to Lauren at night.

Back in July, Dan interviewed via phone with a church in Fairmont, Minnesota. They asked him to come for an on-site interview over Labor Day weekend. A few weeks after that, the church notified us they had narrowed their search down to two people; Dan was one of them. So after a few more weeks of them checking references and such, they asked Dan to come and candidate!

This basically is a final interview with the whole congregation. Up until now, it's been interviews with a nine-member search committee. So, next weekend, November 14-15, we'll be heading to the church to meet as many of the church-folk as we can in about 30 hours. After a "pot providence" (not potluck!) lunch on Sunday, we'll begin heading back to Minneapolis to drop off the girls while the church votes on whether to ask Dan to be their lead pastor. If all goes well, Dan and I will head back to Fairmont to house-hunt. (Whew--that was a mouthful!)

If all doesn't go well, we'll still be moving out of student housing by December 15 and in with family somewhere in Minnesota. Aren't they lucky? All six of us!! For some, that would quadruple the number of people in their home...

So we've been packing boxes of things we won't miss too much over the next two months like CDs and DVDs (we've got mp3 files on the computer and a temporary membership to Netflix!) and perhaps a few family photos from the mantle this week.

We've also been trying to do some things we won't have the chance to do again--or not for quite some time anyway. So, we went to the China Day parade in Chinatown--got some authentic egg rolls (well, as authentic as we thought we could get), some Chinese paper umbrellas, and one toy drum.

We also got a great deal on a carriage ride through downtown--something Annika and Lauren have wanted to do for three years! Below are some pics of us in the carriage and walking down Michigan Avenue (the Garmin store with the golfing nutracker!).


I've been picking up some more jobs writing curriculum for a national newspaper. Between the different vendors I work for, I have such variety in what I'm writing. I really enjoy that part. Lately, I've learned a lot about Twitter, being cyber-savvy, homeless youth on the streets of New York and some unique ways to market a bank.

Lauren is enjoying her world of make-believe and drawing as much as ever. It's sometimes difficult to make her wear 21st century clothing...Cinderella dresses are way more fun.

Emily has now gotten into more of the dancing with her sisters when music is on one of their DVDs. She has also gotten into shushing us to be quiet so she can sing O Christmas Tree. My favorite action of hers is when she's holding my hand as we cross major streets like Michigan Avenue downtown. She gets nervous, so as we get into the crosswalk, she puts up her hand like a stop sign so oncoming cars stop before they run her over!

Megan was moved into a toddler bed two nights ago. Since we didn't plan to take the crib with us, we decided to move her a little early so she'd only have to adjust to a new house later instead of a new house and a new bed. We also knew the family who was getting the crib had a baby sleeping in a pack-n-play...but not sleeping well. Knowing how that goes, we took pity!


So we're doing well. We're praying for a bigger space to move into. We realize we've been so blessed with a large two-bedroom apartment here in Chicago, no student loans, very little personal credit card debt (not cafe)...wow! We stand in awe! And are looking forward to another part of the adventure.

Please pray for us this coming weekend--safe travel, Dan's peace as he preaches on Sunday, good sleep for the kids (i.e. good behavior, too!), etc.

By the way, to contact us via email, use LilNorthrn at hotmail dot com (spelled out so I don't get additional spam!) so we can keep you updated with our new address, contact info, etc--or ask me to be your friend on Facebook!