Pages

Monday, August 18, 2014

JOB UPDATE

It feels like it has been a while since our last post. Part of the reason for that is the longer than expected delay in being able to post this message:



We left Vancouver thinking we'd end up in one part of the Carolinas, but are quite happily surprised to find ourselves moving to Fort Mill, South Carolina (just south of Charlotte, NC). 

Beginning September 1, I will be serving as LifeGroups Director at Forest Hill Church at the Fort Mill campus. My role is to provide oversight and shepherding for current LifeGroup (small group) leaders, develop potential leaders, and provide general leadership as part of the Adult Discipleship team. *Basically, the exact job I want to do. 

The church is a perfect fit for us. I've found myself in each subsequent meeting more and more excited about their vision and values. And we both feel like we can worship.

The location is awesome. Fort Mill is right between both of our families (less than 2hr drive either way). It is close to Charlotte but still a distinct community in its own right. The bummer is that other people seem to have discovered this also.

Places to rent seem to get snatched up pretty quickly, but we're hopeful we can find a good place. The next two weeks are going to be a bit hectic for us as we look for somewhere to live. 

I'll be sure to post a longer update once we move, but we wanted to share the great news with y'all.

Finally, I'll just leave this up here for those of you thinking about visiting us.
See that red arrow, that's the church. The yellow arrow is pointing to a lake. Up at the top of the map is Carowinds which google maps describes as "sprawling theme park with water rides". See you soon.

Friday, June 20, 2014

Last Day in Chicago

The past week has been a bit hectic being back in the Carolinas!  It's been a whirlwind of family stuff, job interviews, acclimating to southern culture and etc! That deserves it's own blogpost, but for now, lets concentrate on Chicago and the end of a wonderful road trip!


Our last day in Chicago started off with a short walk to the Lincoln Park Zoo. Best part about the zoo minus all the fun animals....it's FREE!  The best free zoo we've ever been too! (It beats the DC Zoo and the Chapultepec Zoo, in D.F.)




A Coca Cola Bear!!
He was swimming and playing with a kg ball for a while!

Simba

Beautiful boardwalk!
The husband!
After the zoo we enjoyed strolling around the old Chicago neighborhoods and searching for souvenirs for our family.

Found some Chicago Popcorn around here (A mix of cheddar and Caramel)

Historic Row Houses
 
More Row Houses, can I live here please?


even move homes!

The Chicago Getaway Hostel where we stayed.
Again, super nice area and neighborhood!
Where's Matt in this picture?
 
If you're ever in the Chicago area, I totally recommend staying in the Lincoln Park area where we stayed!  Such charm and character in this area with old churches, historic row homes, tree lined streets, and lots of parks!  You can walk to lots of things too! We were able to walk to N. Clark Street where they have lots of restaurants, stores and coffee shops...The zoo....a longer walk to Wrigley Field, and the super convenient L-Train makes it easy and fast to get to the downtown core area!

The "el"
 
When you're in a car for 51+ hours what do you do?  We found it fun to listen to audio books.  Before leaving we purchased the first two books in the Divergent Series.  They were super fun to listen to, as they were set in Chicago area and the "Dauntless" compound was in the Navy Pier area!  Fun to make connections to a book and real life!



After Chicago, we hopped in the car and began our journey to Dayton, Ohio where we pretty much just stopped to sleep.  Obviously there's no pictures as there wasn't much to see other than the highway.  After Ohio, we made our way to my (Liz's) hometown to see family and friends. Enjoy the last few pictures from our drive!



West Virginia Tunnels

Favorite part of driving through this area! The tunnels!!

The Blue Ridge Mountains! Almost there!

Welcome to North Carolina!



When you see the funny looking mountain, you know your home!
Pilot Mountain

 
Stay tuned for more updates from the Sidells!

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Chicago is

my kind of town...(sung enthusiastically).

Well. Actually we love the South. But Chicago is a nice place to visit. We've been staying at the Chicago Getaway Hostel in Lincoln Park. It is actually really nice and affordable. We have our own room and our own bathroom. Of course Liz called top bunk.


On Sunday we went to a Cubs Game. It was fun but they lost.






 And we found out why Chicago is called the Windy City. It was super cold.


We also found out that baseball players (pitchers especially) are funny shaped.




 And I got a helmet of nachos.


Then on Monday we were straight up tourists. 

The Bean


The Lake.


The Architecture Boat Tour.


We even made a few friends along the way.


Liz met some cheerleaders!!


And we had deep dish pizza. But the camera wasn't around for that bit. If you follow Liz on Instagram you can see that one.

We leave Chicago today and head to our last stop before the Carolinas. We'll see you soon. 





Thursday, June 5, 2014

Bozeman, Montana

Liz here...Matt's been doing  a great job of updating the blog eh?

Over the past few days, we've been in Bozeman, Montana!  Favorite stop so far!  Mostly because we got to spend time with a good friend of mine, Heather and her fiancĂ© Mike.

Heather and Liz

Heather and I have been good friends since the third grade.  We played soccer together, survived middle school together and have shared so many fun memories over the years!  (She also had the best birthday parties growing up!) 

Enjoy the pictures from our time in Bozeman!

Hiking the "M" a must do in Bozeman!






Up-close to the "M"

Another "M"
 
Downtown Bozeman



Thought of my Grandma Ellen a lot today...


Mural on a wall in downtown Bozeman

Museum of the Rockies!  So many cool dinosaur fossils were found in Montana!
Heather and Mike, our amazing hosts!!


 Next stop...Bismarck, North Dakota and the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota!