So We're Not Moving to Chicago.

The company Bob works for is Catholic. We're not. Before he was officially offered his current job, he had to be approved by the Catholic bishop here, Bishop Higi. So before they could offer him this job in Chicago, he had to be approved by the bishop in Chicago. And he wasn't. Cardinal George had said from the start that he wanted a Catholic Director of Pastoral Care there at that community (which seems reasonable to me), but Bob's boss thought he might be persuaded since Bob's worked in the company for several years now, and we're Orthodox. Which shares a good bit of common ground and history with the Catholic Church. But not enough.

Cardinal George's response was something to the effect of "the candidate sounds great, but this is a Catholic company and the Director of Pastoral Care should be Catholic." I was so disappointed, and so was Bob. The job would have included some things he was really excited about, and we had really wrapped our minds around living in a city again.

But here's the thing: we love living here. We never wanted to leave, and each time this position in Chicago came up, Bob and I shot it down. I think we decided three times not to apply for it. Finally, when they asked Bob the last time, we decided that he should give it a shot. After all, they kept asking him, not the other way around.

Bob told me yesterday morning what the Cardinal had said. I had a good cry. And by the end of the day, I was really excited to be staying here.

What a roller coaster ride this has been.