Baby, It's Cold Outside

Today we embraced the cold weather and enjoyed Snow Tubing down a hill in the Blackwell Forest Preserve. Ryann absolutely had a BLAST and we definitely got tired of the words, "slide, again?" Mark and I had fun too...nice family outing.

We LOVE our Snow Bunny



Some Snow Tubing Action Shots



Ryann, bundled up in all her cold-weather gear...like the kid from A Christmas Story

Wheaton Weekend

We are embarking on our second week in Chicagoland. This past weekend we walked around Wheaton and looked all around the college campus. Such a beautiful campus, full of such rich history. We embraced our inner nerd and looked all around the Wade Center, which houses one of C.S. Lewis' desks, one of Tolkien's desks, and the actual wardrobe that was the inspiration for the Narnia series. Very Cool. We were so excited to see it, since we absolutely love all things Narnia.



The Wardrobe

Tolkien Desk

Eating our way across Chicagoland

Our waistlines are expanding.Too many fun foods to try and way too cold to run. Oh well, c'est la vie. Thanks to our friends, the Rioses, we were given an extensive list of restaurants in this area and beyond. Below are the Chicago "musts" that we have eaten.
The video is of The Depot Diner. Mark and I saw this episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives a long time ago, and when we got here, we knew we had to go to this diner. It didn't disappoint. We shared the Open-faced Pot roast sandwich for our meal and the homemade donut holes with mocha/chocolate dipping sauce for dessert. Really unbelievable. Both were some of the BEST things we both have ever eaten.The atmosphere was so urban and cool. We are definitely coming back.


This is a "Chicago" stuffed pizza. Delicious. This is from Giodornos.People are either Giodornos people or Gino's East people. The Lamb vote is 1 to 1. Mark votes Giodornos and Erin votes Gino's East. Ryann is just happy to be eating pizza.

This is the "Chicago" style hot dog from Portillos. If you know me, you know I absolutely love hot dogs and this one didn't disappoint. We wanted to be purists, so we got it the traditional way...but I don't know about tomatoes on a hot dog?

We made it

Well, we made it! The Lamb family is complete and all residing in West Chicago, Il....for the next 3 months. Ryann and I joined Mark Thursday after escaping from the great snowstorm of Dallas. OH, how great it was to see Mark!! We had missed him so much. So far, so good. We spent the weekend getting my bearings and exploring the surrounding areas.This weekend, We ate deep dish pizza in Wheaton, went to the mall, went to a great, super friendly church (where the pastor is both a Texas A&M grad and DTS grad...whoop!!), played in the snow, enjoyed Valentines Day, and experienced what is feels like to be really cold. really really cold.

Ryann helped Daddy make pink pancakes this morning for Valentines Day. Thanks, Lulu for this mix.


Ryann and her Valentine, a stuffed green frog that she is currently obsessed with. We recently saw, Princess and the Frog, and Ryann loves to kiss this frog ALL the time.If Mark had his way, there will be no prince for her until she is 37.





Ryann doing her best "blue steel" in her new puffy coat that she picked out herself.


The first thing Ryann HAD to do right when we got to the house was play in the snow. So, she put on her very cool snowboarder pants and Dad and her got to work on a snowman.





Ryann took her first airplane ride Thursday, and she did it in style. Thanks to Mark's friend, Pilot Jack, Ryann and I got to ride in first class. This was especially nice since it was snowing cats and dogs in Dallas, which resulted in us sitting for three hours on the runway before take-off. Thank God for portable DVD players.

Ryann and Pilot Jack, who Ryann referred to as her "prince" for the duration of the flight. poor Jack

I'm Wishing...

The other day, I heard Ryann singing in the bathroom. This is what I found. Ryann was imitating the scene from Snow White where she sings into the wishing well, except Ryann was singing into the toilet! She was singing "I'm wishing for the one I love" as loud as she could into the toilet. So funny...and gross (look at the second pic). Such a funny girl.

Northward Bound

Our life has changed drastically within one week. Since Mark graduated in December, he has been looking for jobs non-stop. We feel drawn to aspects of Social Justice in the form of Relief/Development ministries as well as the area of Microfinance (which we both find fascinating). Basically we feel called to help the poor. A position with any of these ministries will most likely result in a move...domestically at first, and then maybe internationally. As many of you know and have experienced, the economy has made these non-profit/ministerial jobs very hard to come by. On December 30, Mark was offered an unpaid 4 1/2 month internship with Opportunity International, a microfinance org. based in Oak Brook, Il, near the Chicago area. We didn't really think about it seriously at first because it was: a. starting in 12 days b. in Chicago c. UNPAID. We also have a mortgage payment here so if we went, we would have to find unbelievably cheap housing. The odds of us going were slim to none....And then we prayed about it. Mark really felt like he was supposed to do this internship and if we found housing, we would do it. We didn't find housing. We were scheduled to go on a cruise the week before the internship was to start, so we went. When we got back, there was still no housing and the internship had started. We now thought we were supposed to stay here for the time being. So: a.I called Angie and told her I could keep watching her son Barrett b. I called our families and told them we were not going c. I called Nwest Womens Ministry and told them I was for sure staying, so I could still lead my Bible Study group. The very next day after all my phone calls, we got a call from a saint named Ginger, who was recommended by our dear friends Jeremy and Liesel, she found us a part of a house that was going to be furnished with the rent basically next to nothing (for Chicago-area standards). Timing is never our own. The internship had already started. Mark really still felt like he was still supposed to do this internship. He called Opp. Int. and they told him to come on...which he did 2 days later. We will join him soon. This definitely has been and continues to be a journey of faith.

Many people have asked me how I am doing with the speed of all this. Soley by God's grace, I am fine. We decided to do this the very day the news was breaking about the devastation of Haiti.Me not wanting to leave our family and friends was put into real hard-hitting perspective in light of the utter destruction of Haiti and it's people. I was at Kroger yesterday and saw the cover of Time or Newsweek (I forget) On the cover was a precious Haitian little boy standing admist the rubble, the unbelievably beautiful shot zeroed in on his innocent face and I am found constantly thinking about him and what his life looks like now. It is hard to leave my comfort zone of Dallas and all the people that are so precious to me. However,I am excited about Mark learning about Microfinance so that maybe one day we can go help impoverished people in countries like Haiti.

Thank You to all of you that have been praying for Mark to find a job. I humbly ask you to please continue to pray as we continue to search for jobs for when this internship ends. Will try to blog more faithfully about our adventure in Chi-town...and it's surrounding areas:)

New Camera

I recently got a new camera for my birthday/Christmas. Hopefully now my pictures will be much clearer. Looking forward to learning how to use it...
Here are some recent pics...