Delayed in Chicago- "yes"... it was windy.

...windy... and rainy... and chilly... and UNEXPECTED!

Unexpected, in the sense that we were hoping for an hour layover from our connecting flight from Harrisburg, PA on United Express.  However, all we needed was a bit of a weather delay and there we were, running from jetway to jetway in Chicago O'Hare International airport, only to find that we missed our flight to Belgium (and, therefore, Cameroon) by about 20 minutes or so.  

What to do?

So, the next step was to the UNITED customer service desk for "plan B"- we're totally used to that, being residents of a central African country, however... our two weeks in the US had us spoiled... we were ready to keep momentum toward the return to Africa.  United told us we were free to hang out in Chicago for about 40 hours, but it would be on our dime- they'd prefer to send us back to Harrisburg that night and have us try the whole thing over again 2 days later.  Hmmm.... so we did some quick thinking and remembered a friend staying in Chicago at her sending church, on furlough from Mali. 

Using wi-fi, we were able to  contact our friend on Facebook and, within about 2 hours, we were sitting in her living room in a house next to her church!

On the way to Lisa's place, we needed to pick up some essentials at (where else?) Walmart.

The next morning, we jumped on a train to head into Chicago for some fun.

I found out that they don't call this building the "Sears Tower" anymore!

Megan and I were trying not to look too much like tourists.

Inside a LEGO store at a 7 story mall.

With nightfall came some sprinkles and rapidly falling temps!  Brrrrrrrr!

Hard to get a good photo when your hands are shaking in the cold!

While in Chicago...

So, Joe has his eye on Moody Bible Institute- they have a great Student Ministries program and Cross-Cultural program.  This was a contributing factor to us spending the time in Chicago and trekking into the city for the visit the first day and then borrowing a car the second day to go for a quick visit to Wheaton.

Standing in between Megan and Joe is a young lady, Janelle, who lived in the same dorm home that all 3 of our kids live in (UBAC house) and who now is a student at Moody!

We got a nice tour.  Great Campus!  The coffee shop is called "Sam's Place"!

After seeing Moody, Joe was pretty sure he had found his school of choice.  However, we had some additional time the morning of our flight, and we thought it would be prudent for Joe and I to buzz over that way.

Here's the proof!  A trip to the lovely and big campus of Wheaton College.

Directly next to the campus is the "Wade Center" that pays tribute to the works of C.S. Lewis and Tolkein, among others.

This is the actual wardrobe that inspired C.S. Lewis with the Chronicles of Narnia.

Thanks so much to Jen H. and Lisa N. for dropping everything to make our airport runs (pickup and dropoff!!!) as well as allowing us all to crash in your living room for 2 nights!!!  You guys rock!  Thank you Bloomingdale Community Church... even though you may not have realized we were there!