Things are really crazy around here right now. Dance recital is next weekend (Mother’s Day weekend) and baseball practices have started up. This next week will be completely filled with those things and I’m trying to pack up a few boxes a day, so I don’t know how much I’ll be on starting from Sunday to next Sunday.
The job Jeremy has taken is with Performics, INC. It is owned by DoubleClick, who was bought out by Google not too long ago. The offices are in downtown Chicago. He has orientation on May 31.
We are not going to live in Chicago. We did some searching for houses (at least 4 bedroom, 2 bath) for the amount we think we’ll be able to afford. The best area we found was in Hammond, IN. We have talked to a bunch of people who either lived up there or had family up there and have heard that it is a nice area to live. It has a train line from there into Chicago which (I think) goes to where Jeremy can catch the el. Being a one vehicle family, that is a good thing to have in town since we can get Jeremy a bike and he can ride to the train and leave the van for me.
There are two dance studios in the town which also offer tumbling. The First Baptist Church of Hammond has it’s own baseball league. Jeremy and I prefer small Southern Baptist churches, so we would look for another church to be our home church. At least we’ve found these things so far that make us really like this town and think it is where God is wanting to transplant us. The only thing missing is a drama program to help develop James’s awesome talent (and maybe some of the other kids as well.) Crystal told me about Christian Youth Theater of Chicago, but all of them are located on the opposite side of Chicago from us, so I don’t know if that will be an option.
Anyway, Dana, there’s your update so far.
Lots of exciting changes in store for you guys!
Just catching up with you! You’re moving! It seems like you just got there! Well, congrats to Jeremy!!
We lived in Oswego and hubby, when he worked in Chicago, took the train in from Aurora which was right next to Oswego. Parts of Aurora are nice, too. We LOVED Oswego!! (Four years later, my kids still say they miss it!)Great public pool, which the kids loved, and many other greats. Sounds like you have your heart set on Hammond, but in case you are still looking, I thought I’d offer it up. It may be a much further commute of Jeremy than Hammond.
The Oswego schools are also great about letting homeschoolers participate in just about any school class they want to. We could use the school libraries (the kids could hang out there between classes), attend music, art, gym, all special events, be in performances, band, etc. Michigan had a great support group, but Oswego actaully let homeschoolers in to particiapte in just about anything they wanted.
Just tossing this out there for you to do with as you wish, Juls. I wouldn’t even mention it if we didn’t love it there so much…! : )
Julie, I checked out Oswego and there are no homes for the cheaper price range that we’re going to need. Sorry. That’s why we’re looking in IN. Almost everywhere in IL is way too expensive.
Congratulations to Jeremy (and you) on the new job!
Getting a bike to ride to the train station is a good idea – I don’t know how easy it is to get a parking space there at the station in Hammond, but where my parents live (out in the western suburbs), it’s impossible on weekdays. That’s one really cool thing about Chicago, all the public transportation. Not to mention, with gas prices where they’re at, horrible parking prices in the city, and the tons and tons of congestion/construction around the city, the public transportation really helps.
Hope the move goes very well – I know that can be stressful! We’ll keep you in our prayers.
Didn’t know if you were aware of it or not, but you can go on the Southern Baptist Convention’s website and put in a town name, and it will give you a list of churches in that area and how many members they have. We have done this before when we moved to an area, and it kind of gave us a list of places to start looking. We haven’t always attended Southern Baptist Churches, but we usually start there when we move to a new place and Aaron is not pastoring, because they believe the closest to what we do. We tend to like small churches that are more like family too.
Congratulations to Jeremy! Seems like you moved in to your new house last week. Good for you that you’re taking the time to do all the research. Then again, you’re a homeschooling mommy so it goes with the territory
We’ll be going up to take a real look in houses on May 19th. Until then, we’ve only got the internet, but I’m pulling up some that are possibilities.
Oswego may have definitely gone up since we left there 4 years ago. Sorry; I thought it might have been an option. (Oswego was one of the cheapest when we lived there.) Probably the edge of Aurora that borders Oswego would be cheaper (and you’d still have easy access to Oswego and Naperville, too), but still maybe not as cheap as Indiana. Well, I thought I’d toss it out there as a suggestion… : )