It's the beginning of week 4 in Lombard. These weeks have flown by, but not easily by any stretch of the imagination. While life in general has been discouraging, we've been blessed the last few days/weeks to spend time with a lot of our loved ones. 

Time with friends and family

On Labor Day Weekend we made our way down to St. Louis to visit both Andrew's sister, Ally, and our good friends Nick & Jen. Ally started a master's program in Counseling at a seminary down there, which also happens to be the seminary where Nick is finishing his Master of Divinity. We arrived in St. Louis on Saturday afternoon, just in time to watch the end of the Iowa game at a local sports bar. Then we spend a few hours at Ally's house meeting her roommates and walking around campus. For our evening entertainment we went with a group of people including some of Ally's friends and Nick & Jen to the St. Louis City Museum. This is not your average museum. Somebody decided to take a deserted shoe factory and convert it into something like an adult playground. The whole factory is full of slides, crawl spaces, and basically glorified jungle-gyms. It was really busy, being a holiday Saturday night, but still a lot of fun. On Sunday we were blessed to worship with Nick & Jen at their church, Grace and Peace. It was awesome to get to meet their new church family after hearing about it for a few years. A family from church had all five of us over for waffles after church. We were going to make a stop at the Greek Festival in the afternoon but instead decided to walk around Nick & Jen's neighborhood. We ended the day with Ted Drewes' famous frozen custard. Jen and I spent some time in downtown St. Louis on Labor Day morning, then Ally made Andrew and me brunch before we hit the road. We had a wonderful time hanging out with three of the people we love most in the world. 

Last Sunday, Andrew's dad made a stop at our apartment on his way back home from Maine. He brought us fresh lobster and prepared them for our dinner. I've never had lobster before, so it was quite an experience for me. The three of us  went to church together, then had brunch at a cafe in downtown Wheaton before he completed his trip back home.

This weekend our good friends, Fro & Angela came down Friday night and Saturday to visit. Kuyper's volleyball team had a few games in the Chicago-land this weekend, so the four of us were their travelling fans. It was great to spend time with good friends, again, and cheer on Cougars volleyball! Andrew and I took the train into the city to meet Fro & Angela at the Friday night game, then rode back out to our apartment together, picking up deep-dish pizza on the way home. We hadn't yet used the public transportation system together, but managed to look like total idiots while buying tickets, making transfers, etc! 

Job update

Last Saturday Andrew had what we understood to be the final interview with a church for their youth pastor position. He taught a twenty minute Bible Study and led a twenty minute activity for three of the youth and nine adults. Andrew left his time with them discouraged, not feeling confident at all in the way things had gone and their reaction to his presentations. It only took two days for them to let us know that, while Andrew was still being considered, they decided to re-open their search. Their decision causes us a lot of mixed feelings. Andrew understood why they made that decision after his interview, but expressed to their search committee that he would appreciate another opportunity to lead a teaching session. We have not heard back from them on whether or not that is a possibility. 

Our biggest frustration is that they haven't provided any sort of timeline for us. While we're sure they're trying to be thorough and open to God's leading with this whole process, we are left in this limbo. On the one hand, they decided not to hire Andrew once, so why would they change their minds? It would have made more sense to just say that he didn't get the job. On the other hand, he is not out of consideration, so there is a chance they might call him back. 

It's a very confusing and interesting process, particularly from this side of the situation. How does a committee of people who don't know any of their candidates come to decide? What should ministry job-searching look like? Where does the element of knowing and trusting candidates come from? As a candidate, how do you try to make yourself known to a committee over the course of a few short hours? How do you separate affirmation in your calling from your "hire-ability?" 

I also have been interviewing for a job in the area with an organization called the Communication Institute. This organization works with a European organization to host an annual European Leadership Forum, where Christian leaders from all over Europe come together for training, professional networking and teaching. The position I'm interviewing for is responsible for overseeing the volunteers that help run the annual forum. I have my second interview on Friday. I'm excited about the possibility because the job combines working with people and detailed administration. 

Church 

Last week Andrew and I thought we had found the church we wanted to attend. We went back today, and while there wasn't anything in the service that bothered us, we both walked out just knowing that it wasn't the right place. Not having a church home has been the most difficult part of the move for us, particularly as it was tied up with the possibility of Andrew getting a job. We can't go much longer without a church community,  but aren't sure where to put those roots down just yet. Please pray for us.

The End

Two of my wonderful friends from Michigan are coming down to visit on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to spending time with them and showing them around Lombard and Wheaton. We're heading back to Michigan this weekend for my sister's birthday and are looking forward to more time with family as well as checking out this year's ArtPrize!

Please continue to pray for us.

With much love.