Interrupted.

Merry Christmas and happy winter! We got beautiful snow on Sunday, so it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 

This post is bittersweet. Kley's stomach has not been doing well this semester, and he has missed a lot of class. Because of this, we recently decided for him to withdraw from the rest of this semester. This means that he will be taking another semester, and graduating later than originally planned. (Read the message below that I sent to many of our family/friends.)

Dear family and friends,

    Hello! Hope you are having a great December and are enjoying all the Christmas festivities. We wanted to email to let you know about some of our recent news, so you can know what's going on with us.

    For those of you who don't know, Kley has a stomach condition called ulcerative colitis. In a nutshell, that means that he has ulcers in his colon.

     This semester, Kley's stomach has not been doing well. Usually his stomach has an occasional flare-up, but it's been way worse than usual, which has resulted in him missing a lot of class.

     To avoid a really long email, we decided last weekend that Kley would withdraw from the rest of this semester at Drake Law and not take his finals, due to missing so much class and not feeling adequately prepared.

     This means that Kley will be taking an extra semester, so he will be graduating in December of 2014, a year from now, instead of in May. So, we will still be moving so Orange City, IA after graduation, just not as soon as originally planned. For those in Des Moines, you are stuck with us a little longer! :)

      This was a very difficult decision, but we feel at peace about it and know that this is what God has called us to right now. It's much better to take an extra semester and be okay, than to get poor grades and get in trouble with his GPA by forcing finals. It was disappointing to alter our "life plan" schedule, but we are trying to look on the bright side and are so thankful that God is the ultimate planner, not us. He will provide!

     In the mean time, we are hoping that withdrawing will take away much of the stress that Kley was feeling, and that this will help his stomach. Hopefully we can relax over Christmas and he can start next semester with a clean slate.

     Thank you for your support, love, and prayers. We love you all and Merry Christmas!

Kley and Kelsey 

     I was pretty upset about it for awhile. I am a very organized and planned person, to a fault sometimes, and it was really hard for me to let my life plan change. But, God has been molding my heart and Kley and I both feel at peace about this decision. This is where God is leading us right now, and He will provide. He always does and never fails. The picture might look different than what I want, but the details come together in a much more beautiful way when following Him than when I try to plan alone.

     One of the things that hit me the most was on Sunday at Church. Our small group was talking about Mary, and one of the points was this: If you want to be used by God, you have to be willing to be interrupted. That spoke to me instantly and has been continuing to do so over the last few days. Thinking about Mary in that way was something I'd never done before. Mary's life plan was definitely interrupted by having Jesus, but she embraced what God has chosen and called her for. When Mary is mentioned in the Bible, she is following her call in being Jesus' mother. 

     I want to embrace His calling for me, whatever that is. Even though sometimes it's difficult or different than what I want, His way is always better. Thank you, God, for being the ultimate planner and providing.