Abe's Birthday

Hi everyone...sorry I (Allison) have been so lax at blogging. After working on a computer all day it's tough for me to want to jump on the computer to blog. But I thought I would share some pictures from Abe's birthday celebrations.

We went to Abe's favorite restaurant, Ben Pao, with his parents. It's an upscale Chinese restaurant in downtown Chicago. Abe was so happy because they gave him a free dessert for his birthday.

Abe had lots of presents. (I had so much fun thinking of cool stuff to get him.) I also tracked down a black forest cherry cake the day of his birthday, since that's his favorite type of cake. (Apparently, that's not a common cake to have on hand at grocery stores in Chicago.) It was so fun surprising him since, well, he had a lot of fun surprising me with our wedding proposal so long ago.

One of my favorite presents I got him was this shirt. Abe loves ramen. It's insane. He probably eats ramen at least 3 times a week. I saw this shirt several months ago and had to be patient. I wanted to show it to him, but then again I wanted to surprise him with it at his birthday. It's funny, too, because one of Abe's favorite shows is "Everybody Loves Raymond." Get the joke?



This weekend is my brother and future sister-in-law's bachelor party/bridal shower/please don't call it a bachelorette party. Then we celebrate our wedding anniversary a week later. I've been thinking of a good blog post reflecting back on our first year of marriage, so stay tuned!

Josh Hamilton--Superstar player and an inspiration to us all

Hi all,

Abe blogging here. As you probably know by now, I am a huge Cubs/baseball fan in general. In any case, I was watching Josh Hamilton put on a show in the Home Run Derby tonight--he hit a HR Derby record 28 home runs--in the first round!. This guy is a machine! Even though he ultimately lost the HR Derby, he put on a great show tonight! There is more to this story,however. Josh has a very inspirational story. I won't say too much here because I don't want to screw up telling his story, but he has a great story to tell about how his faith has saved him from his own personal demons.

Here is the link to his testimony-it is a truly amazing story

Have a good one ya'll!

Analysis of the Rich Harden trade

In a deal today with the Oakland A's, the Cubs received pitchers Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin for pitcher Sean Gallagher, outfielders Matt Murton, Eric Patterson and minor leaguer Josh Donaldson.

I'm here to provide expert analysis of this trade. On paper, this looks like a good trade for the Cubs, as they get two good pitchers in exchange for two outfielders who were good but not great players. The Cubs get two good pitchers in Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin. Harden is 5-1 this year with a 2.34 ERA and a WHIP (Walks and Hits per 9 innings) of 1.14. Gaudin is 5-3 this year with a 3.59 ERA and a WHIP of 1.28. Both have respective WHIP numbers. They also get Rich Harden this year and the next year, whereas CC and the music factory (i.e., CC Sabathia) is essentially a rent-a-pitcher who becomes a free agent after this season. The only negative that I can see with this trade is that Rich Harden has landed on the disabled list 6 times in the past 6 years, so he seems pretty injury prone. Still, all in all, a pretty good deal for the Cubs.

I thought that the Cubs were the favorites in the division even after the Brewers trade for Sabathia, and now....well...I won't even go there, seeing that it's been 100 hundred years since....well, everyone knows (I don't want to jinx the Cubs).

I give the Cubs an A on this trade. Great trade for Cubs! Now let's see if the Cardinals can go out and get someone in a trade....

We have a new church building and summer in Chicago!

Greetings all! This is Abe blogging. I must admit, life has gotten pretty busy for Allison and I, so our apologies for not blogging more frequently! In any case, let's see....what have we done so far since Memorial Day:

(1) Been to Madison, Wisconsin to Bratfest--contributed to the world's record for most brats eaten one festival.

(2) Been to NYC, saw a game at Yankees Stadium in its' final year.

(3) For me, getting used to my new position that has more responsibility at work.

(4) Saw two awesome movies already (which I HIGHLY recommend): "Get Smart" and "Wall-E."

(5) Watched the Hot Dog Eating contest yesterday on ESPN. Saw an eat-off because there was a tie (grossest "sporting event" I have ever witnessed in my entire life).

(6) Played "Rock Band" on the X-Box for the first time last night (still have the Weezer song "Say It Ain't So" stuck in my head).

(7) Witnessed about 50 different fireworks displays going on all at once last night from our friends' Paul and Kristen's 26th floor pad!

(8) Moved into a new church building--Yes, at long last we are at are new church building! For those of you who don't know, we attend Park Community Church in Chicago. The church was started in 1987 by some folks from Moody and has been a traveling church for the past 21 years or so. Well, we found a good location to build about 2 years ago or so, but due to construction delays, increased costs in building, etc., we moved into our new building about a year late--still, it's a testament to God that we have new building. It will be a huge adjustment for everyone as the area that the church is in is a gentrified neighborhood--a lot of people are not used to this. We have half million dollar condos next to the church and housing projects less than a mile down. Still, this will give us great ministry opps once we get used to it. Check out the new building at parkcommunitychurch.org.

Today, we are going to eat at the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building! Our parents called yesterday and decided that they wanted to take us to brunch there today. It's a perfect day for it due to the gorgeous, sunny weather that we are having.

Well, have a good one y'all!

The Pigeon Warrior

Hi everyone...sorry we haven't blogged for a while. For the first time since we met, Abe and I are actually experiencing a relatively low-key summer. So, we haven't had any cool things to write about or pictures to share. We've just been hanging around Chicago relaxing and enjoying the summer.

However, we have had some funny experiences to write about. First off, I'll explain the title of the post -- the pigeons love our window air conditioner. We realized yesterday that two of them are hanging out there. (We think it's mating season?) Needless to say, my husband, who has had run-ins with pigeons and squirrels over the years (hopefully, he'll post about the great squirrel escapade sometime!) is on edge always ready to kick the pigeons off their beloved perch. I've nicknamed Abe the pigeon warrior.

Another funny moment happened when we took our beloved Ernie (Abe's old Corolla) to get his oil changed last weekend. Ernie is, of course, a guy since he's named after Cubs great Ernie Banks. However, our Russian mechanic (always full of funny quotes) said, "The old lady's running well." Our poor car was violated -- called a woman! I know, we're weird.

Other than those experiences, we have seen some great movies (We loved WALL-E). And, I have to say that right now as I write this, Abe has turned the TV to the Hot Dog Eating Contest. What an interesting summer as newlyweds.

New York, New York

Abe and I spent an extended weekend in New York City as part of a get-together with Abe's sister, brother-in-law and their friends. This was my (Allison)'s second time in New York City, and once again I realized that New York City is like Chicago on crack. Going to NYC always makes me so much more appreciative for Chicago's smaller scale.



We spent one day at a Yankees game where we saw A-Rod entering the stadium. (He is so built!) There was a game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth, so that was very exciting. We also had an interesting experience trying to avoid the birds that were circling the upper deck (we were three rows from the top). That day we also had dinner with our good friend, Pam, who's in NYC for the summer with Campus Crusade for Christ.



We also spent another day doing just sight-seeing in the city. Our favorite place was Central Park. I thought it would be like Lincoln Park in Chicago, which is an awesome urban park, but I was truly blown away by Central Park. We saw the settings for so many movies and TV shows like the Mall (grove of trees) and the lake where people rent boats. There were really good street musicians playing in the park, so I felt like we were in our own romantic movie!



We spent another day at the beach in Connecticut, where we were staying with our brother-in-law's dad. I had never been to Connecticut before (wahoo for visiting a new state!). It's essentially just forest with winding roads between the towns -- absolutely gorgeous. We had a lot of fun out on the beach and on a speedboat.



Unfortunately, we had quite an ordeal getting home. We had a connection through DC on the way back, but storms in Chicago caused our flight from DC to Chicago to be canceled. Thankfully, we were able to make our way back very late at night, but we were originally re-booked for the next day. It's never fun when you're considering whether you should sleep in the airport or get a hotel room. Abe made good use of the time studying, as you can see from the picture above.

So, we had a great time, but we're really thankful to be home. We got more of an overview of NYC, so we're excited to go back sometime later and visit more in-depth.

Catching Up

Hi everyone...sorry we've been so lax at blogging lately. We've had a lot going on, which I'll show in pictures.

First off, Abe's sister and her husband flew in to surprise his mom for mother's day. Unfortunately, my camera's batteries died and I was unable to snap the "surprise" moment. Doh!





Then, of course, it was my birthday! Thanks to all you who sent your birthday wishes. Of the many great presents I got this year, I got a special one from my husband -- my own Cubs jersey personalized with my name and the number 1. (He said he's talked to Koskue and he's given the OK to share his number.) The old me would croak if it new future me would have my own Cubs jersey. But that just shows the power of love...awwwww...



Since I last wrote, Abe and I have also spent a weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. For those of you Chicagoans, it's a great medium-sized town getaway. Our favorite experience was visiting their botanical gardens.


They have this Thai pagoda that's the only one of its existence located in gardens outside Thailand. It is gorgeous. We thought of our friends Mandy and Jordan who've done missions work in Thailand. The whole pagoda is covered with gold leaf.







And, what would a trip to Wisconsin be without bratwurst? Yes, we went to Brat Fest, the annual event in which Madisoners try to beat their own world record for brat consumption.

Abe and I contributed by downing brats (2 for Abe; 1 for me). We're proud to say this year was a record.

That's it for us. We're both enjoying warm(er) weather in Chicago. We took a nice walk along the lakeshore on Memorial Day. How beautiful!