On August 5th, (Miriam's eighth birthday) she was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
Our church in Wilmette, Illinois is under construction so she was baptized in Lake Michigan at the Northwestern Beach. As we left the house that morning at 7:45 a.m. it was pooring rain, thundering and lightening. When we arrived at the beach at about 8:15 a.m. the skies had cleared and we were totally overwhelmed at how many dear friends had come to share in this special moment; in spite of the rain. The Lake itself seemed to be cheering and bursting with excitement and emotion.
Jim left that night for Philadelphia and his Academy of Managment conference. Thank goodness my mom was there to help me. On August 9th the Korean movers came and saran wrapped all of our furniture and took it away for overseas shipment. The cost of shipment is based on volume so our boxes were vacuum packed and stuffed to the very brim. We gave away most of our stuff and kept the "favorites" for shipment. This is a picture of just about everything that we shipped to Korea. It was a very emotional project deciding what got shipped and what got ditched.
On August 10th we left Chicago. We loved it there. We felt so loved and cared for. We will miss our many friends. On our way out of the way to Boston we visited Mackinac Island, Michigan. It was so much fun. Mackinaw Island sits in the strait between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. There are no cars allowed on the island and there seems to be a white picket fence around every home. We arrived there on a Saturday and there was a bride in a horse and carriage on every corner. It really seemed like a magical place and that we had traveled back in time. We rode bikes around the island, exploring. 
