Report on vacation (I wish I had another one).....

Well, Sarah and I went on our vacation a few weeks ago and it was a wonderful weekend to spend time together and to get out of big city Memphis for a while. Our bed and breakfast was wonderful! It was my first time ever to stay at a bed and breakfast and I am positive that it will not be my last. The breakfasts that they cooked for us (cinnamon rolls, ham and cheese omelets, banana nut muffins, and stuffed french toast) were absolutely wonderful and the room was awesome! I recommend that everybody stay at a bed and breakfast at some point of their lives. Anyway, Sarah and I did all of the touristy things in Hot Springs (tours, museums, riverboat cruises etc.) and we had a great time. However, next time we go to Hot Springs, we are going to check out the bath houses and have a good, old fashioned spa treatment! But I hope you enjoy some of the pictures from our vacation.
Well, as you can see, this blog has gone through a major makeover. It took me a while to get the new banner up, but as you can see, it is finished and I think it looks great! I will hopefully post again soon and keep you guys up to date. But until then, I anxiously (and fearfully) await a new grad school semester! See ya!

I need a vacation.....

Well, I am done with my summer classes......the lecture part that is. Now I have to work on papers, article summaries, etc. and all I can say is-I need a vacation! But the cool thing is that Sarah and I are going on a vacation this weekend! We are going to Hot Springs, AR and staying at a bed and breakfast. It should be a fun little weekend to get away from the busy life in Memphis and to just have fun. I will let you guys know how everything went and will have pictures. So until then, adios and have a great 4th of July!

Summer is Here!!!

Hello everybody! Well summer is here and it is going to be something else. I am taking my first summer courses since I was in elementary school! It is going to be neat to get two classes out in two weeks, but that just means that I have to do a lot more work before the fall semester. Anyway, Sarah is going to Georgia to visit her parents while I am taking my first summer course. It will give me a chance to get a lot of studying done! She is just sweet like that! After she gets back, she will start teaching the little kiddies at Harding Academy's summer camp. It should be fun.....maybe! I am glad that she likes what she does because I surely couldn't do it! Speaking of Sarah and myself, our one year anniversary is coming up and we got a neat little trip planned to Hot Springs, AR where we are staying at a bed and breakfast. It should be fun!
Anyway, to end my summer I am speaking at White Station COC in their men's summer on John (the person, not the book). He is one of my favorite biblical characters to speak on. So much love! Speaking of speaking (confused, yet?), if you look on the right side of the blog you will see a new page element entitled "matt's speaking engagements." More should be on there in the future and if I am speaking at a city near you then drop by and see me! Well I hope all of you have a great summer and I will try to post again soon!

It has been a while....

Okay....so, I have not written in a long time. Sorry to the few readers I have...lol! I have been super busy ever since I started grad school. My first semester was alright (They always say that the first semester of grad school is the hardest). My grades were average and there is always room for improvement. This semester is almost over (thank goodness), but it has been better than last semester and I think that I am doing better this go around. I am taking two classes this summer and I am looking forward to them, but I am not looking forward to all the work I have to do in one week! My job is going well and I am getting the hang of everything. They are even giving me more responsibilities which is always a good thing, I guess.
Sarah and I have been married for almost one year. Our first year has gone very quickly and it seems that we had gotten married just yesterday (or last week or something). We are looking at going to some bed and breakfast somewhere after I am done with my summer classes (July 4th weekend). If anyone has any suggestions on where to go, please let us know. Anyway, I hope to write more than I have in the past, but we shall see.

I feel the stress...

I have always heard that graduate school can be a stressful time for any student, but I had no idea. It is not that the classes are hard, but there is just a lot of work associated with them. However, I am making it and ready for fall break (which is next week)! To update on my current job everything is going good so far and I have been given a lot more jobs to do each week, which is good I guess. Sarah is still liking her job and getting used to living in Memphis. So, as of right now there is just a lot of stress, but I can make it. I always do!

It has been a while since I have talked about my marriage and how everything is going so far. Well, marriage is always going to be a learning process and I am always learning new things about Sarah that I did not know before and I am pretty sure she is learning new things about me all the time. But it is good that we are learning to compliment each other by the things we learn about each other. Marriage is still a lot of work, though, and we are just trying love each other just as God would want us to.

I will update soon!

The First Week

Well the first week of my graduate school career has ended and I am very excited about what each class will bring each week. And even though I have extensive reading assignments, I believe that I am ready for this semester. Plus the professors have deleted any fears that I had about grad school, which helps me a lot and for that I am really grateful. Now I know for sure that Harding Grad is the best place to be and that being a counselor is where I belong. I am already getting excited about getting my degree and starting my profession and it has only been one week! But I cannot wait for the rest of my training and finding out where God wants me to be.

I haven't really talked about what I have learned in marriage yet and I think it is a good time to do so. I believe that a lot of people (and yes, even myself sometimes) go into marriage and think that they are going to be happy no matter what. That happiness is just going to fall into our laps! But what I have learned is that you have to work together in marriage to be happy. Now true that you are suppose to be happy with the spouse that you have, but to be truly happy requires a lot of work. I don't believe that God created marriage to be easy and that we have to work as husbands and wives to work out all the problems in marriage. Over the years there has been a steady decline in divorces in the United States, but there has also been a steady increase of divorces among the Christian community. This shows me that even Christians are unwilling to work hard and be happy in their marriages. Let us all remember to work hard to make our marriages happy, last a very long time, and to be what God wants them to be.

How Not to Work Out