Chicago, Here We Come!

Well, it's finally official! In September we will be packing up once again, and this time we will be heading north to Chicago! (This time we hope to stay in the same place for at least two years, and there is the good possibility that we could be there for many more if James goes on to get his Ph.D in Chicago, too).

After months of waiting, James has decided to attend the University of Chicago in the fall, where he will be working towards an MA in Religion in their Divinity School. This was his "dream school", and I'm so glad that he was offered additional funding to make this possible! Our trip up there in April to visit both schools (Wheaton and U of C) really confirmed that U of C's program would be best for his long-term career goals, but it didn't look possible from a financial standpoint until last week. It was truly an answer to prayer, as James was going to have to decline U of C's offer since we just didn't feel right about taking on that much debt.

While James is getting excited about classes and books and new professors, I'm really looking forward to the big move and the opportunity to live in a really neat place. I've always dreamed of living in a big city, and even though both Sofia and Dallas would be classified as large cities, we lived in the suburbs of Dallas and the outskirts of Sofia, so we didn't really live "in" the city.

Hyde Park is the part of Chicago we'll be living in, and it is just 7 miles south (10-15 minute drive) of downtown Chicago on Lakeshore Drive. Hyde Park is in south Chicago, which is a pretty bad place in terms of crime rates, but most of Hyde Park and the area right around the university is considered safe. When we visited we stayed with a family in Hyde Park, and it was encouraging to see that the city really can be kid-friendly. They have three kids and there are all kinds of things for them to do, many within walking distance of their home...parks, the lake, museums, the zoo, and on and on. I think it's going to be a lot of fun raising Jesse in the city. It will be a totally different experience than either one of us had growing up, but an adventure nonetheless!

Some cool things about Hyde Park:

• It is within walking distance of Lake Michigan.
• It is home to the Museum of Science and Industry, the largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere.
• President Obama's home is here.
• It's just a 15-minute drive from other great Chicago attractions, like the Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum and Navy Pier.

Here's a picture of the University of Chicago in relation to the lake and the rest of the city. It's a beautiful campus, full of Gothic architecture...we felt more like we were in England than in Illinois.