Come to Guatemala, all you who are weary and burdened...

Dirt bikes down rocky roads, skyscrapper volcanoes, black sand beaches, and seventy-degree weather. That's all about four hours away! We're heading off to in Guatemala for our "make-up" honeymoon. Currently we're chilling in some execuative lounge in the Dallas, TX airport. We just got off our Chicago flight where we sat first class, feasted on deep-dish pizza, and ate hot chocolate-chip cookies. Can you hear the excitment in my words? These next days are going to blow us away. I just know it.

These past few weeks have been so hard and draining. Life is overwhelming. I (Katie) have been bombarded with homework and studying, I can barely find the time to throw a salad together for dinner, and our youth group is screaming out in hurt and want. This last part being the hardest. It is heart-wrenching to watch people ignore their Savior and dabble in evil things.

I almost feel defeated right now and am praying that these coming days would be a refresher for our souls. I have been reading through the Gospel of John and just recently read through chapter 14. Over and over again Jesus tells His disciples that "If you love Me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). What a simple and powerful truth! Our love is shown through our obedience to God. Jesus Himself gives the world an example of this as He proves His love for God the Father by doing "exactly as the Father commanded Him" (John 14:31), by dying on the cross.

Regardless of what comes our way, His truth remains unchanged. We cannot keep making up excuses. If we do not obey Him, we are showing we do not love Him. Plain and simple.

School Update

Well, I have decided to apply to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for their counseling program, and last week I decided that I would get started in JANUARY! That's going to be nuts. The application is in, but tomorrow I have to to the Miller Analogies Test, and I'm not too excited about that! I've been doing some studying and pratice tests, and I've got my average up for about 60%. That's failing where I come from, so I'm a little nervous. Hopefully they'll still let me in. I got to remember a bit of what college was like last night as I stayed up studying until I fell asleep sitting at the table. There'll probably be another one of those tonight! Anyways, I'm really excited to get started. Last night I had a conversation with one of my youth group kids in which I once again felt powerless, and it reminded me of why I really want to do this (it's not just to go broke and to have homework again)!

Katie is currently working on which nursing school to apply to. We've got some options, but we're really praying that plan A (UIC) works out, because it would be the cheapest and the easiest. She should get in, since she's pretty much amazing and she's rocking all of her pre-reqs, but UIC is a very selective and competetive program. You can pray for us that this will work out, because otherwise, it's going to require more pre-requisite courses and possibly a delay in the whole process.