Check out our new place!

Though there may be a few formalities yet to be completed, we have agreed to a lease starting July 1 for an apartment in Chicago.

It was quite a find; I had come home the night before from the 30-Hour Famine being held at school. The kids all ate at midnight, but I left early and went to bed. So I really fasted for more like 36+ hours, including sleep. As a result, I woke up feeling terrible - nauseous and weak as a kitten. It took all my strength just to get to the kitchen and pour some juice. Rachel was still at school at this point, because the kids slept over...so no one was around to help me.

In my weakened state, I popped in a movie and plopped down on the couch, munching on crackers. By 11am, Rachel was home but I was still in no mood to do anything strenuous. So, in a moment of mental weakness, I surfed on to Craigslist to search for apartments in Chicago.

I had previously forbid Rachel from doing this exact thing, because it is senseless to search for apartments more than 1 or 2 months ahead of your projected move-in date. [though she did not really listen] All that will happen is that you will see nice apartments that you just cannot have. This happened to us in 2006, when we ended up leasing an apartment 3 months before we actually wanted to move.

Apparently I was wrong.

Because after looking around a bit, I saw a new post for a 3 bedroom apartment in Armour Square...available June 30, 2010. What timing! Rachel had not seen it, and probably would not have found it. So I showed it to her, and she emailed the landlord...

...who happened to be a Chinese woman from Xi'an. They struck up an email correspondence, and we eventually decided to take the apartment. Our new Chinese friends will live upstairs, as our landlord and neighbor. Rachel is quite excited.

The apartment is technically in Armour Square, a sliver of a neighborhood east of Bridgeport and west of 90/94. US Cellular Field (home of the White Sox) is in Armour Square, though most would just call the area we will live part of Bridgeport. Chinatown is just to north. It is a good location and good price.

So though we were not really looking, God provided for us!

View Larger Map

-alan