4 months.

Who knew that only spending four months with someone can build a lasting friendship? Last weekend I was blessed to spend three days with my friend Rachel Van Someren who went to school with me at IWU our first semester. We had a great time catching up on life and I also got in some great girl time after living with the boys. 

Rach & I taking self-timer pics outside of Buca Di Beppo

We ate fabulous gluten-free PF Changs, watched silly shows on Bravo and Wedding network, caroused flea markets, watched two chick-flicks for the price of one ;) had Ivanhoes ice cream for dinner, and shopped. It was a wonderful weekend that made worth staying in Marion for a month to live with boys worth it :) THANKS RACHEL!

Right before she left on her mega bus back to Chicago :(

may

well it is the middle of May already and I haven't written yet. For this month I am living with 3 boys in a house in Marion. Kory moved out and I moved right in to his room! I go to my internship at Project Leadership from 8-4 and then work at the Boys & Girls Club from 4-9.

Some days are rough. I absolutely love my time at my internship though. The people I get to work with and the atmosphere at the office are just so great. It is fun yet purposeful work. They have really trusted me with some great projects. I am sure you will hear more about these later when I will be requesting votes for our non-profit for a grant.

check out our blog/facebook/twitter/website!! (can you tell I'm doing a social media campaign? :)
http://gcprojectleadership.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Leadership
http://twitter.com/PLGrantCounty
www.projectleadership.org

I have enjoyed following my friends' World Impact trip in Uganda via their blog: http://iwuugandateam2010.blogspot.com/   while not a day goes by that I do not think of Swaziland & South Africa and pray God would send me back, it is amazing to pray for friends and relate to what they are experiencing. Love you Kristen, Lisa, & Kirsten!! Please, please join me in prayer for them as they are dealing with the British Airways strike - that they will get back to the U.S. and that it would be on schedule. [they were possibly going to have to come back a week early].

Also, please pray for my sister Karli as she has been dealing with being sick for 2 weeks now. She went back to school today though so praise God she is getting better!!

Last but not least...I can't not write about my Kory. He is in his 3rd week now at his new job @ The Crossing. He has connected with so many kids already and has been given a surprise opportunity to do ministry on tuesday nights with some youth down at 929. I just can't wait to see what all the Lord has in store for us in Quincy.

eat.sleep.work.repeat,

Katie

where my heart is.

today my little sister is going to her senior prom. her senior pictures are finished. all thats left is graduation. Praise the Lord I will be home for that. I can't take missing anything else.
in a week my fiance will start his first ministry job at our home church. he will be experiencing something new every day.

....i will be in Marion...

i will be doing my best to love a lot of "extra grace required" kids without going insane. i'll be planning an event for a local non-profit, Project Leadership for my PR internship.

and then, i'll go home and finish planning our wedding.

I am in a season right now that is not so fun but a lot of lessons are being learned. my desire is to make this the song of my heart:

All of my life .:. In every season .:. You are still God .:. I have a reason to sing .:. I have a reason to worship.

okay. enough whining for one day. 
praying for perseverance,
Katie

Decisions

I've been really bad at these lately.
Constantly second guessing. Even on little things like whether I should go home with Kory this weekend for Karli's prom and my friends bachelorrette party or stay here to study and write papers since finals is next week!

But the biggest is about this summer. I had planned all year since taking a job at the Boys and Girls club on staying here in Marion by myself this summer. Originally Kory and I had planned on living in Marion for a year or two to continue ministry. When the job offer opened at the Crossing God began to change our hearts and passions. While I do LOVE these kids in Marion and absolutely still have a passion for ReaLife my heart has been very torn. Financially it is irresponsible to live on my own in Marion this summer and travel home every-other weekend or sometimes every weekend for weddings and wedding showers. I constantly fear that I will be lonely and that this is not the right path for me.

My parents recently informed me that they were going to make this decision a whole lot easier and tell me to come home.

I know the bottom line is that I need to trust God to lead me in His paths. He knows the desires of my heart but also has the best plan for me!

Leaning on HIM,

Katie

Signed, sealed, delivered.

This weekend was a big weekend for Kory and I. After weeks and hours of research, we decided on our honeymoon spot & resort finally! August 9th we are headed for JAMAICA to a brand new Resort. Since deciding I have probably looked at the website twice a day. Until Jesus comes back this may be the closest we get to heaven! Here are some pics so you can share in our enthusiasm!

We also decided on an apartment for next fall! It was a difficult process to find someone willing to do a six month lease but we found two good options and prayed about where God wanted us to live for our last few months in Marion. One was in an apartment complex 8 blocks from campus and the other was in a neighborhood across the street from campus. We felt that since we have such little time left here we should live in the neighborhood to not isolate ourselves from the community. I'm so excited to meet our neighbors and transform this apartment into our home!

We also finally finished our save the dates! Yay! They are officially in the mail :)

The next few weeks will be eventful as the sprint to the end of the semester has started. This weekend we are taking 50 kids from the Club to the Switchfoot concert at IWU and I will be doing interviews there as well for my radio class!

enjoying life,
Katie