Life Update

A couple things...first, WE GOT AN APARTMENT! I am living with Aniela and another girl, Holly, next year. They'll both be in grad school in Chicago and we found a place in the North Center neighborhood (kind of near Wrigley Field). It's pretty much official; we're just waiting for our check and stuff to go through. YAY! Everyone needs to come visit! Now begins the VERY long task of repaying everyone for all of the time I've spent at each of your houses sleeping over and eating your food. It's 3 bedrooms and it's right near the brown line which would take me directly to where I will hopefully be working...

And that brings me to my next point. I had the final two interviews for this job at By the Hand Club this week. They went pretty well (I was much happier how the second one went compared to the first, but they were both fine). So hopefully I'll here back from them soon. Thanks for your prayers and I'll keep you updated.

Job Update

Just in case anyone was feeling the suspense that I am feeling, my final two interviews for the job I'm looking at are Monday at 2pm and Tuesday at 1:30pm. Hopefully I will find out soon after that! Thanks for your prayers!

Which cheesy tourist apparel item describes you?

Can you match the tourist-tshirt with the correct Chicago resident? Your choices are Eric, Krista, Jenn, and Paul. You can only use each name once, although I know that a couple shirts may apply to more than one person...

Spring Break 2009!

This past week, Mom and I went to New Hampshire. We had great weather (except for one day) and enjoyed snowboarding (well, me--not Mom so much), snowshoeing, eating, and massages. :)




Snowshoeing


(Mt. Washington in the background)


Taking a break on the side of the mountain




I'm tired.


Snowshoeing---they had really good scenic groomed trails


Just driving around on a rainy day


Out for breakfast


Getting ready to snowboard


It's a good thing that Mom wasn't playing hide and go seek--I think I would have won. :)


Outside of our condo/room--we had 2 huge rooms with a full kitchen and everything--and 2 spa bathtubs


Scene from the top of the chair lift--Mt. Washington in the background

Colson got a (temp) job!

A brief update email Colson sent to a few friends....
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Hey Studs and Ladies,

So God is faithful and answers prayer. Today i got a job!

Its just a temporary job probably through April. But its a job nonetheless.

It was kind of cool how it happened. Sarah was nagging me about checking out a posting on the career website (not all nagging can be bad). I checked out the posting and emailed my resume in last night. They called today and within 10 minutes on the phone I had an interview for this afternoon. They hired me on the spot. While the work is probably going to be boring (data entry), I'm so grateful. A full time job with a possibility for overtime is exactly what I need...

Peace,

Colson

Job Update-Part 3

I'm officially moving on to round three (out of 5) in the interview process. However, we're waiting until the week of March 16th because of scheduling stuff. This next interview will be with the director of the whole organization.

Also, they asked me if I could come downtown to Cabrini about once a week to volunteer and get a more in depth feel for the organization. I'm going to start doing that probably the week of March 16th, as well. Fortunately, I was able to reduce my involvement at my other internship from two days a week to one day a week, so I'm not really adding anything else to my schedule (Hallelujah!)

Thanks for your prayers!

Job Update-Part 2

This week on Monday, I went downtown to By the Hand's Austin site (Austin is a neighborhood on the west side of Chicago) to shadow a couple staff members while they did home and school visits. I went with one guy to one of the inner city elementary schools to visit a couple students that he is in charge of as well as talk to their teachers. Afterwards, I went with another staff member to the home of one of her kids and I listened in as she talked with his grandmother (who he lives with). It was very interesting and it was very cool to see how the staff work with the kids' teachers and parents/grandparents/guardians. And since you stay with the same kids for up to 3 years, you get to know their families very well.

Tuesday, I went to the Cabrini site to attend and observe the after school program there (this is the site where I'd be placed). Within about 30 seconds, I had a couple little girls attached to me. :) It was awesome. I got to talk to the site director there for a while beforehand, and that went well, but I felt a little nervous at that point.

Throughout the day, however, I was able to ask a ton of questions to staff members and hang out with the kids. I helped out in a 4th grade classroom and did some 4th grade homework (I need to work on some math!) and then I went to a 6th grade classroom for a while. It was cool because I felt like I could jump right in and work with the kids like I've been doing all year at my other internship. I had more of a chance to talk with one of the staff members in particular and she was able to answer a lot of questions and just share her experience with this ministry.

The organization drives the kids home on buses/vans every day, so I tagged along with that, too. It was a very eye-opening and helpful experience to see these kids walk into extremely run down apartment buildings in Cabrini.

After the day was over, I talked more with the site director. By this time, I definitely felt pretty comfortable there and I felt much more like myself talking with her. She said that what she's looking for is someone who is able to help with preparing Bible studies and working on chapel, and someone who has administrative skills. I think that those needs pretty much describe my abilities and passions perfectly! I want to be able to teach Bible to some extent and I definitely am a type-A, administrative list-maker. We both got really excited because it seems like what they're looking for is exactly what I might be able to bring to the table.

Thanks so much for your prayers. I did have to miss a class but I met with my prof this morning and got some of the missed material. I do have a final exam in that class next week, so I'd love your prayers for that, too! I was up since 2:45am working on a paper the same day that I did my Cabrini site visit, so thank you so much for your prayers, because I didn't know if I'd make it through the day. I'm glad I drink coffee.

Anyway, things are looking very positive. They're going to get back to me near the end of this week to let me know what the next step is. Please keep praying for wisdom for the organization and myself to see if this really is the best way to go. They all told me to really pray hard about it because it's a very difficult job--it's a lot of work and can be emotionally and physically draining--and these kids have so many problems that it's hard to leave work and not bring those burdens home with you.

Thanks so much for your love and support! I'll keep you updated!