Memorial Day Weekend Trip

This past weekend, we were able to take a much needed trip to Houston to visit family and relax. On Friday, we spent most of the day at the beach where Chris fished, Katie read in the shade, and Dixie swam. We had a picnic on the sand, under Chris' amazing improvised tent - sorry, no pictures. It is still amazing to us that our precious dog that is scared of almost everything will run full speed into the crashing waves and swim back to shore on her own! Saturday was packed full of fun things to do. First, we started the day with a great brunch at a Mexican restaurant downtown. After that, we headed to the Natural Science Museum where we watched an IMAX film and visited many exhibits. To wrap up the day, we went to a Houston Dynamos (soccer) game. Before heading back Monday, we spent Sunday evening with Chris' family (including aunt, uncle, and cousins) eating good food and playing in the pool. It was such a fun weekend! One more quick note: our baby birds learned to fly and now we are officially empty-nesters. We're so happy and proud, but so sad to see them go. It's not a great picture, but the one below is the last one we could snap of them as they practiced flying.

We are about halfway through our book for our Bible study group, so we've got more little nuggets of wisdom to share with you all. Hope your June is off to a great start!

"We forgive not merely to fulfill some higher law of morality; we do it for ourselves...When we genuinely forgive, we set a prisoner free and then discover that the prisoner we set free was us...The only thing harder than forgiveness is the alternative."

"By forgiving another, I am trusting that God is a better justice-maker than I am. By forgiving, I release my own right to get even and leave all issues of fainess for God to work out. I leave in God's hands the scales that must balance justice and mercy...Though wrong does not disappear when I forgive, it loses its grip on me and is taken over by God, who knows what to do."

"...by denying forgiveness to others, we are in effect determining them unworthy of God's forgiveness, and thus so are we."

"No matter how it looks at any given point in history, the gates guarding the powers of evil will not withstand an assault by grace."

Happy Birthday Chris!

The past week has been spent celebrating Chris' 26th birthday, which has definitely made for a fun one! We started out last Monday with some ice cream cake and ended yesterday with some horseback riding. It was such a great time and surprisingly relaxing...One more thing to note: the two eggs in our balcony planter have become two adorable baby doves. We hope you enjoy the pictures!

Here are a few selections from the book we are reading for our Bible study group. We hope you find them hopeful, as we do:

"From nursery school onward we are taught how to succeed in the world of ungrace. The early bird gets the worm. No pain, no gain. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Demand your rights. Get what you pay for. I know these rules well because I live by them. I work for what I earn; I like to win; I insist on my rights. I want people to get what they deserve - nothing more, nothing less. Yet if I care to listen, I hear a loud whisper from the gospel that I did not get what I deserved. I deserved wrath and got love."

"Paul harped on grace because he knew what could happen if we believe we have earned God's love. In the dark times, if perhaps we badly fail God, or if for no good reason we simply feel unloved, we would stand on shaky ground. We would fear that God might stop loving us when he discovers the real truth about us. Paul - the chief of sinners he once called himself - knew beyond doubt that God loves people because of who God is, not because of who we are."

"In one of his last acts before death, Jesus forgave a theif dangling on a cross, knowing full well the thief had converted out of plain fear. That thief would never study the Bible, never attend synagogue or church, and never make amends to all those he had wronged. He simply said 'Jesus, remember me,' and Jesus promised, 'Today you will be with me in paradise.' It was another shocking reminder that grace does not depend on what we have done for God but rather what God has done for us."

"And grace means there is nothing I can do to make God love me more, and nothing I can do to make God love me less."

25% Nurse, 100% Author

This week has definitely been a week of accomplishments for us - Katie is officially done with her first semester of nursing school and Chris is officially published! Needless to say, we will be doing a lot of nothing the next few days and enjoying every minute of it :)

Despite a small setback, Katie came out with flying colors. One question on her Pharmacology final kept her from getting a 4.0 for the semester, but we'll settle for a 3.8 or so :) No rest for the weary - Summer school starts up Monday. She also begins her job at the Children's Hospital the next Monday. She can't wait!

Chris received the electronic version of his publication this week, and it looks great! We are so proud & would love to forward it on to anyone interested.

Now here are the lyrics of the week. They made us think of a book that we are beginning to read for our Bible study group about Grace. It is called 'What's So Amazing About Grace' by Philip Yancey, and it has great stories illustrating what so many Christians are forgetting about their faith:

If we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing
them there is a way
Jesus is the way

"If We Are The Body" by Casting Crowns

A new day, a new week

Sorry to be hogging the blog lately, but I figured I should do a follow-up to last week's quick message. Things are beginning to return to "normal" around here - class, studying, etc...The funeral was Saturday, which gave all of us some closure to begin to refocus on closing out the semester strong. My friend and I gave our big presentation over music therapy today to about 125 people, and it was a huge success! Whew...And finally, I got the job!!! I don't know the exact schedule yet, as HR hasn't contacted me "officially", but hopefully soon I will begin working at Medical City Children's Hospital. I'm so excited and feel so lucky for this opportunity to work with kids ranging from newborns to 18yrs.

I found out this week that one of my classmates is the spouse of a well known Christian group memeber: Dan Dean of Phillips, Craig, & Dean. How neat!?! In light of that, the lyrics this week are to one of their MANY songs. Look them up because I bet you've heard at least one of them in church in the past 10 years. Enjoy!

Mercy came running
Like a prisoner set free
Past all my failures
To the point of my need
When the sin that I carried
Was all I could see
And when I could not reach mercy
Mercy came running to me

Mercy Came Running by Phillips, Craig, & Dean

Riding the wave...

I just wanted to take a moment to share a difficult experience that I've been a part of this week, and ask for a favor. Today, a classmate of mine passed away. We were in class together Friday afternoon, but stood by her bed in ICU Monday afternoon. To make a long story short, on Saturday she became septic (her blood became toxic) and caused her major organs to progressively shut down. After coding (heart stopped) 3 times this weekend, she never regained consciousness. Upon arriving to class on Monday morning, we were informed as to the severity of the situation, and were asked to visit her. It was shocking to see someone that we treated patients with only a few days prior, as the patient...and in very, very bad shape. We were aware that she only had a short time, but as of around noon today, she was taken off life support and passed very quickly thereafter. I just ask for your prayers for the family and our TWU Nursing community. We are strong, but it is a very difficult wave to ride. She was an extremely kind woman that had such an impact on everyone she came in contact with. Thank you for your support & I love you all!

Katie

The Waiting Game

We can hardly believe how time is flying by...Last weekend, Katie's mom came to visit and we had a great time! One of our favorite parts was going to see Alice in 3D. It definitely reminded us how much we enjoy going to the movies together, but how rarely it actually happens. We also helped out at a church picnic by letting the kids hold the church bunny. It was a beautiful day to be outside!

This weekend brings a waiting game for us both - Chris on the possibility of getting benefits, Katie on the possibility of a new job working with kids at a hospital. Katie's interview is Thursday afternoon, so keep the prayers coming. Either way, it is nice to have the hopes of both! Oh, one more exciting thing this week: Chris' journal article was accepted for publication. We're very proud!

That's about it for now, but we'll leave you with this week's lyrics and pray that they find you happy & hopeful...

Give me your eyes for just one second

Give me your eyes so I can see

Everything that I keep missing

Give me your love for humanity

Give me your arms for the broken hearted

The ones that are far beyond my reach

Give me you heart for the ones forgotten

Give me your eyes so I can see

Give Me Your Eyes by Brandon Heath

Hoppy Easter!

We had a great time celebrating Easter this past week or so - The Sunday before Easter, our church put on an amazing concert to start off the week, the tulips in our neighborhood have been blooming like crazy, Katie made Easter cupcakes while we watched movies on Friday (believe it or not, it was our first time to use Redbox), and we spent Saturday and Sunday with family in Waco. Other than that, it has been more of the usual here: school, work, and some fun with friends. Hope you had a wonderful Easter as well!

Here's the "song of the week":

It ought to be more like falling in love
Than something to believe in
More like losing my heart
Than giving my allegiance
Caught up, called out
Come take a look at me now
It's like I'm falling, oh
It's like I'm falling in love

More Like Falling In Love by Jason Gray