

We've been in Illinois for three weeks now, and we've almost got our house put together. Adam and I are loving the space (it's at least twice as big as our old apartment). I'm discovering cicadas, cardinals, corn fields, and humidity. I do miss the mountains and our friends and my family. But so far we're enjoying our cross-country adventure.
We've also met our neighbors: the people to the right are students from Korea, and the neighbor to the left is a very friendly black woman in her sixties. When we visited with her, she showed us some photos of her four-year-old granddaughter. I mentioned that I have a four-year-old sister. Oops! She looked at me like I had sprouted horns and exclaimed she couldn't believe it. Then Adam told her that I have seven siblings. She just laughed and laughed at that ("Are you kiddin', girl? That's just like back in the olden days!"). It was pretty funny. I had no idea I'd get a reaction like that.
. . . So we're definitely not in Utah anymore! Sometimes I forget that. =-)