Guess who's going back to school??

ME!! Thanks to a generous help from a Korean church in Chicago, both Donna and Jason will be going back to class this spring. WAHOO!! We're eagerly sharpening our pencils, carefully etching our names into our Trapper Keepers, fingering our new box of crayons, and reorganizing our backpacks in anticipation.

It's weird how a short respite from education can make you kind of miss it, in a masochistic kind of way. You almost forget the sleepness nights of pounding out an already-late 20+ pager on a topic you are struggling to understand, nodding off in the study room as you try to get through a dry chapter of textbook, and the frantic runs from your two or three jobs, running from the parking lot across campus, sliding into the classroom just in time to hear, "Please pull out a sheet of paper for a pop quiz on that particular chapter that you spent more time drooling on than actually reading." Ah yes - the joys of higher education.

But you know, there is something about being challenged in the classroom that excites and cultivates a love of learning, seeking answers to tough questions, and being challenged to think more on a topic that you may have dismissed because you simply hadn't been prompted to explore it before. You begin to find yourself reading informational books in your free time and having random meaningful discussions with your friends and family that could change your life or someone else's. A lifetime of learning is a life that is rich, interesting, and good for the mind and soul.

For those of you Southernites, we'll be taking late afternoon/evening classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We hope to see you all around - I apologize for crawling into a hole the last two months or so. The first trimester has been killer, with almost constant morning sickness which leaves one barely able to go to work (most days), come home, try to eat something without seeing it again, and falling into bed. However, next week begins the second trimester and we are hoping for a turn of the tide...

Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the brief break before classes begin again. Drop a line and let us know how you are doing. See you on campus!