The other night Chas and I were reflecting on the past three years and it is crazy to think that we have spent the majority of our marriage in Chicago! It often still feels like a dream to me and that I’ll just wake up one day living next door to my parents, but this beautiful city has stretched me to bloom + grow in more ways than one.

It has been a busy summer to say the least. Last month consisted of Chas diligently studying for the bar exam. It was a lot. We tried making it somewhat enjoyable; walking down to the lake with flashcards, quizzing him on things I’ll never understand. This month has been quite the opposite. We had a relaxing week at the beach with my family, celebrated my birthday with a dear friend and have one more trip to Texas at the end of the month. Chas has zero responsibilities until his first day of work mid-September so it’s been special soaking up this quality time together without the lingering pressures of deadlines and things I know are to come once work starts up in full swing.

During his 2nd year of law school, (the one where we found out he was going to be doing it all from our little apartment, bless) Chas spent the summer (literally on Zoom) working as a summer associate for a firm downtown. He accepted an offer from the firm once the summer ended which was a blessing to be able to go into his last year of law school with a little less pressure of finding a job after graduation.

The University of Chicago’s law school is located in Hyde Park where we have been living these past three years. It was so nice for Chas to be within walking distance to school and I just hopped on a quick train ride into the city on the days that I work.

But now it’s time to move downtown!

The Lord has blessed us with the sweetest couple friends here. We all got married around the same time and all moved to Chicago from Texas within a year or two of each other. When processing Chas’ new job and my job being downtown we started looking at apartments where they live, in Streeterville. I honestly can’t believe we’re doing this but we will be moving to a new apartment at the end of the month! (ah! so very soon!) I already have so many ideas racing through my mind that I want to do with it. I can’t wait to share it all with you!

Being far away from our families during this season will definitely be the hardest part about staying (I’m sorry, mama), but they have been so supportive, and I’m counting down the days for them to come see our new place!

And so, after a lot of prayer the Lord is keeping us in Chicago for now! As we turn the page in this new chapter I’m leaning more so into my word for the year: surrender.

bloom + grow forever,

Madeline Rose