15 Years

John and I spent Thursday in Chicago to celebrate our 15th anniversary.  It does not seem possible that we have been married that long!  As we were leaving John's parents (who took care of the boys in our absence), I checked my cell phone.  I saw that I had missed a call from the 801 area code.  Hmmm...I dialed the number and it was Kathy from CHI, who gave me the great news that our case had finally been submitted to court.  Woo hoo!  The courts were scheduled to close on Friday, so it is likely we won't hear anything regarding a court date until early October, but it is such a relief to know that everything is now in the hands of the court.

We drove downtown, checked into our hotel, and went in search of lunch.  We ended up here:

I've never eaten a burger in such a fancy dining room, but we had heard they were really good.  And they were!  After lunch, we headed over to the American Girl store just because I have never been there and was curious.  The dolls are so cute and I was tempted to purchase a bitty baby for baby S, but I opted against it.  Maybe that will make a nice Christmas gift!  We browsed at Water Tower Place and then I figured it was time for John to do something he would enjoy and we went to Border's.  My cell phone rang while we were there and it was my friend Jennifer telling me that her case, too, had been submitted to court.  Woo hoo!! 

She is the one who spent time with baby S right after she came into care and she has been a wonderful support as we are both navigating this adoption journey.  I have also connected with several other YWAM mamas and they have been such an encouragement.  I have been praying that we can all meet up in Ethiopia for court.  That would be SO awesome!

For our afternoon coffee break, we went here:

And we shared one of these:

It was the HEAVIEST chocolate chip cookie I have ever encountered.  It was seriously an inch and a half thick.  The first couple of bites were just ok.  The inside, however, was a different story.  YUM!  It was warm and the chips were melty.  I debated between the cookie at the Hershey store across the street and this one.  Hershey's was larger and flatter but something about the chubbiness of this one intrigued me.

After a stop at Filene's Basement (which requires you to take an escalator UP two stories - so confusing) and Garrett's Popcorn Shop (which has changed locations since my last visit and no longer faces Michigan Avenue...), we headed back to the hotel.  We took the long way and saw a little of this:

We had made reservations at Ruth's Chris for dinner, but cancelled them because I became indigestious (I know that is not a real word, but work with me here...) at the thought of spending over a hundred bucks on a single meal.  Instead, we went here:

Notice the lovely graffitti in the background?  The atmosphere leaves something to be desired, but the pizza is hard to beat and the entire meal cost less than a fourth of what we would have spent at the steak place. 

I also discovered on this little jaunt that small town living suits me just fine.  It is so QUIET where we live.  It is NOT quiet EVER in Chicago.  We stayed on the 12th floor and while the hotel itself was fine, there were sirens outside ALL NIGHT LONG.  I am totally not used to that.  I slept with the pillow on my head which only slightly muffled the racket outside.  It was so nice to have some time to ourselves without the children.  We haven't spent a night away from them in over two years.  I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I had a hard time falling asleep because I was missing my boys (coupled with the blasted sirens, of course!)   I can't even imagine what it is going to be like to leave them for a week and travel so far away -twice!  It will be yet another lesson in trusting God.