Valentine's Day

Well, Valentine's week was very busy for Tim and I.  I had class on Tuesday night and Thursday night. So we ended up going out on Wednesday night.  We had received a Red Lobster gift card for christmas, so we went there to celebrate. The sad thing was that we looked up the closest RL on the internet, but when we got there... there as no RL!  We drove around for another hour, called the # on the gift card and found another location.  Anyway, by the time we got there it was 8:30!  We were starving, so we really enjoyed the meal.  And it was so nice to just sit and catch up on things.  With as busy has we have been, we really haven't gotten the chance.

Pray for Scott, Lindsay, and now Lindsay's Mom!

Ok so the other night, Lindsay's mom was walking outside (here in Chicago) on the snow and ice and fell to the ground pretty hard.  She was in a lot of pain and went to get x-rays... she broke her hip!  She is going into surgery today to have them put a metal bolt in for stability.   So Lindsay's dad drove up from the DC area to be with Lindsay's mom.... and all the while Lindsay is still recovering!  Sooo just wanted to let you know to continue to pray. 

 Lindsay is starting to feel much better, but she is still not able to go back to work. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. If anyone would like Scott and Lindsay's address or any more info. just e-mail me at juliebaylor@gmail.com 

Thanks!

Pray for Lindsay and Scott

Last week Lindsay went to the hospital unexpectedly for some intestinal problems. She ended up getting surgery and staying a total of four days (at $250 a day, that's not cheap!). She and the baby are healthy, she is just recovering now. She got home on Sunday evening. She has to be on bed rest for 7-10 days (minimum). Fortunately her mother came to visit for over a week (Sunday - Tuesday). Also, Scott is at home taking care of her.

Please pray that she will recover quickly and not be in too much pain. Also, she gets paid hourly and is not getting paid for her work she is missing! As well, her job just contacted her and wants to change her hours all around to nights and weekend (since she will be having the baby soon anyways, they said).They are not sure what they want to do about everything. It's hard for her to even think about it right now.
I know that Scott and Lindsay would covet your prayers for health, and also finances.

One down --a BUNCH more to go!

Well, I finished my first graduate class as of last Tuesday! I really enjoyed the class. It was called "Foundations of Education". It was actually very interesting!  We were required to right papers on various subjects(boy crisis, religion in education, history of Pestalozzi, Acelerated Schools Project ), which really allowed me to dig a little deeper and figure out what my position is on certain subjects. Usually each of us in my cohort (11) researched a different topic and then shared them with the class.  It was very interesting! 

So I start my next class tomorrow night. It is called "Foundations of Integrative Thought". It looks promising as well. The only bummer is that it runs Tuesdays and Thursdays from February 12th - 28th.  It will be a lot quicker, but more intense.  And just in case you didn't notice, I will be in class Thursday, February 14th 6pm-10pm.... so we are celebrating wednesday night instead, which is fine.

I don't know that I have really explained how this MA is going to work.  It is basically block course upon block course January '08 to January '09. Then after that is student teaching - yup you heard me right. I have 3 months of student teaching to do... yes, I have been teaching in my own classroom for almost 5 years now! But since NBBC was not regionally accredited, I have to do the student teaching in a public school in order to get Illinois State Certified.  So, I'm doing it (Lord willing). All of the course work will add up to 41 credit hours.  If everything works out the way we are planning (ha!) - Tim and I may "walk" together next may 2009! How cool would that be!?

Restaurant Review #1

Tim and I decided to try a restaurant near our house tonight called Ted's Montana Grill. 

This was funny in light of the fact that the seminary Tim is attending is called: "TEDS:Trinity Evangelical Divinity School"

We were pleasantly surprised at the atmosphere, service, and food.  We had to laugh when we saw this bison head behind our table.  I just had to get a picture. 

The atmosphere was casual, but very nice.  Dimly lit with individual lights at each table.  We had waited for about ten minutes, so when we got a table, the manager came over to us, greeted us and apologized personally (very refreshing!).  She immediately brought us out their starters: they served warm sweet bread with whipped butter and a side of homemade pickled cucumbers (very tasty!)I ordered the grilled chicken sandwich with cheddar cheese, mushrooms and bacon.  It was excellent!  The manager told us that the chicken is marinated for 36 hours before being cooked: very juicy!  I got a baked sweet potato on the side. It was covered with brown sugar and cinnamon.  

Tim ordered the bison burger with barbecue sauce, cheese and bacon. He got the side of fries. The manager also shared that the fries were cut and fried fresh and the bison is much leaner and healthier than the regular beef burger. He very much enjoyed it; although he said next time he might go with the regular burger :o)
All in all, it was a wonderful experience. We were also pleased to find out that they are very environmentally friendly. They use biodegradable straws, to-go containers (made out of corn!), and even have recycling bins on site.  Ted's Montana Grill has locations around the Mid-West and East Coast -- ironically, however, they do not have a location in Montana!

 It was so nice to try something new in the area. It is located only about 7 minutes from our house, so again, ANYONE WANT TO VISIT?

Ash Wednesday

Ok, so today at Holy Family Lutheran School during chapel  I was part of a their Ash Wednesday ceremony.  It was very interesting. They had previously burned the palm branches from the last Palm Sunday to use the ashes for the service.  The pastor explained how the ashes were representative of how we came from dust and to dust we will return. In short, the mortality of man.  Ash Wednesday commemorates the start of Lent.  The kids were all encouraged to admit their faults and to give something up for the forty days prior to Easter Sunday(Sundays not included in the count). The purpose of this was to have the children sacrifice something for the name of Christ.  After a prayer, the pastor came around with a small canister and made the symbol of a cross on each forehead with ashes while saying, "from dust you have come, to dust you shall return".  They were encouraged to leave the symbol on their heads as a reminder throughout the day.  I have to admit, I was  a little nervous about the whole thing at first.  I thought it sounded too catholic to me.  But as the symbols were explained, I found that I really had no problem with using this as a symbol of my own mortality. So I joined in the ceremony.  

What do you think you would have done?  Any more thoughts on Ash Wednesday or Lent?

Here is one website I was looking at about the history behind this tradition.

Super Bowl Sunday!

Well, the morning started out with homemade monkey bread. I haven't made that since college, with Carissa and Jennifer!  It brought back some good memories :o)

Then we enjoyed a wonderful service at church and had the opportunity to go out with two other couples from our 20 something sunday school class. There names are Same, Kim, Rachel, and Adam. Kim and Rachel are both teachers so we had plenty to talk about.  We had such a nice time with them!  It was the first time we had gone out with anyone new here in the area, so that was nice.  We are hoping to continue to develop relationships within our church body.

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After lunch, we came home, cleaned up a little before our guests arrived for the Super Bowl : Scott, Lindsay, Gary and Jamie.  We had a great time together just spending time together... and oh ... watching the game.  Even I have to admit that the last few minutes were good!

Jamie and Lindsay hanging out talking

Meatball subs :o)

Gary and Jamie

Scott and Lindsay (and baby Logan)

Tim and I

The Giants win!

Snow Day!

As many of you know, the Mid-West got hit with a big storm this week.  Last night we got 9 inches of snow!  And believe it or not, my school in downtown Chicago did not cancel.  However, the roads were so horrible that I could not make it in. So it turned out to be a snow day for me.  Here are some beautiful pics of our apartment complex :o)

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