So here is my basic life...

We live in downtown Chicago. Husband works in the city. I'm at home. We got married right after college, (even graduated early) and I got my first job starting about a week after my last day of school. It was accounting. I hated it. I hated it because I don't think I really ever understood it, and was constantly afraid someone would find out. And it was boring. Then I took real estate classes but I'm not good at selling stuff. Then I decided to be a teacher in the inner city so I signed up to be a part of this program that lets college graduates who aren't teachers get their certification while also teaching at the same time (science or math). The day I was to take the tests, I peed on the stick and found out I was pregnant. So I stayed at my current job so that I could get my maternity leave and then quit. Except then I quit early because I was so uncomfortable, so no maternity leave. Well, two kids later, I haven't gone back to that teaching program. Except that we kinda live in the inner city and I'm a homeschooling mom, so I guess you could say I teach in the inner city? ;)

I'm actually cheating at homeschooling. We don't have a yard, and our neighborhood is lacking in children, so we are actually sending our little ones to a Waldorf kindergarten (3-6 y/o's are all together) two mornings a week. They just basically play with wood toys (it's very granola), bake bread, paint, and most importantly: play outside. They do this rain or shine and even in freezing cold weather. The kids come home all rosey-cheeked and worn out so that has been a HUGE blessing. I hate going out in the cold, so I'm sorta out-sourcing that part.

We go to a church that is trying really hard to be ethnically diverse. A huge pillar of the church is reconciliation (of all kinds) but we are really working on racial reconciliation. It's pretty small, a tiny bit disorganized, and try picking a music style when you put a bunch of different ethnicities together! But it's a worthy effort, I think, and it's an important part of why we are living in the city.

My best friend (besides my husband...you're supposed to say that right? Haha) is definitely my big sister, whom I've been following around since 1979. She gets pregnant, I get pregnant, she homeschools, I homeschool. She does "Baby Wise" rather than attachment parenting, so do I. Hey! She has good ideas and does the research for me so who's complaining? Unfortunately, we live 6 hours apart, so we have to meet online and on the phone, which we're trying to cut back on for our children's sake. Hey...we're both busy doing Story of the World for our children's history lesson! Guess who picks the curriculum. Wink, wink.