20 and 33

Only 20 days until we move from our apartment and 33 days until our flight. The time flies by faster and faster. I have been trying to get our and enjoy some of the things of Chicago that I think I will miss.

Just yesterday we said good-bye to Rose. She is a young lady from our church who will be serving as a missionary in China. It was a time of saddness to see her leave, but celebration to see our first "home grown" (as Pastor Nathan calls her) missionary leaving for the field. Please pray for her.

About a month ago we said good-bye to JT, Grace, and Anna. They moved to Urbana so Grace could do her residency. I think they are all excited to have more space and less travel time getting places. It was good to see them again at Rose's commissioning.

So in less than a month will be our good-bye. Our apartment is ransacked right now with boxes and items strewn about waiting to be packed. I don't know where everything came from that I already packed because our shelves and closets don't really look too bare yet! We have 2 suitcases of clothes already packed and waiting to go to Scotland.

Good news! We got our visas on Friday. It was a pretty hectic day. We got up and took the el to get downtown at 8:00 for our 9:00 appointment because we didn't know if the Consulate would have heavy security and long line. Well, there was no one there yet and we were told to come back 10 minutes before our appointment. We were second on the list and got in and out in about 20 minutes. Not too difficult. Then we hopped back on the el to go back up north for a wedding at 11:00. Josh's co-worker got married. Lovely wedding. The reception was down the street at Ann Sather. We probably didn't start eating until about 1:30 and we had to leave at 2 to go back downtown to pick up our visas at 2:30. Well, right when it was time to leave someone discovered that they had put their famous cinnamon rolls out on the buffet, but they had already been depleted. We waited around a little longer (they're Ann Sather cinnamon rolls!) but thought we should probably just leave. At that moment one of our tablemates rushed in with a basket which contained the last 3 cinnamon rolls! James saved the day! So, getting back to the visas, we got back on the el to pick up our passports with the little sticker on it that says we can live in Scotland until Jan. 31, 2007. I can work, but Josh has to get approved for work.