An Update on Grief

A little over 4 months ago I lost Riggins. And I wrote this post about my grief. I had never really experienced loss before this year. And then I lost my grandfather and my cat companion all in the span of a month. So I didn't know much of what to expect in the coming months.

Turns out, I could expect more grief. The 24/7-ness of the pain has gone away, but when the pain does appear, it's just as sharp and painful as ever. I'm still crying as I try to write this post. I'm still praying that God would just bring him back somehow, that he would just show back up. Levi and I both are still having dreams that we found him. And I'm still so sad that I didn't get more time with him. It's a hard thing to even talk about, because talking about it makes it sound trivial. Like my words can't be enough to do it justice.

I've made all of these new friendships this fall, and it feels weird that none of them knew Riggins. He was such a huge part of our life, and a huge part of me, and now he's just not here. And then I decided to take in a stray cat (which was great!), which led to adopting another cat (which was not great!). And then they both have been sick for the past 2.5 months. Winston is currently at the vet, staying for a week to be shaved and treated for ring worm. And Prez is currently at home literally making me want to punt him all the way to Bastrop. And I'm just missing my perfect cat I used to have. And then feeling really guilty for how much I don't like Prez. And feel really sad for Winston and everything he has had to endure. And basically I'm just having one big fat pity party and it's not pretty. And it's all over CATS. Like really. I am not beyond seeing the ridiculousness of it.

All this to say: 4 months later and I still really miss my cat Riggins. And it still hurts. And the grief is still alive and well.

- Bethany

I have big news!

Well guess what I'm doing next year?! I will be starting the journey of getting my Masters of Arts in Professional Counseling from Liberty University! I've gone for so long not knowing what my future held, it's pretty weird to know some of it now. I don't think it will really hit me until I'm taking the classes and doing assignments next year.

I think I've been so hesitant to get excited about the future, because I have had so little control over it during the past year of my life. Literally from January of 2014 and on, I have had little to no idea what was in the cards for me. The only thing I knew for sure, was that I needed to wait on God. I plan on writing a totally different post about how I came to the decision to get my masters...It was a huge lesson that I really want to share with you guys, and to document for my own memory.

But for now, I will just give some details on my upcoming school career! I start January 12th in the online program that Liberty offers. Liberty University is located in Virginia, but they have a huge online college as well. During the course of my degree, I will go to Virginia three separate times for classes called "Intensives". These will be week long courses of in person teaching and learning. I think my first one will be next fall! I hope to finish this degree in 2.5-3 years, and then I would need to complete the Texas State Licensing procedures so that I could become a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC). I have to counsel for hundreds of hours under a supervisor until I can officially become LPC certified.

So, as a commitment phobe when it comes to jobs and life...I'm hoping that these next 5 years in the process are worth it ;) I believe that this is the skill set God has given me (even when I don't seem very good at it sometimes), and I'm using his wisdom to move forward with it even though I'm scared.

There you have it! That's my big news :) Pray for my brain to wake back up, because there is lots of paper writing and intensive reading ahead of me. And pray for my faith to increase as I know I will be challenged repeatedly as I try to approach the world of biblical counseling.

- Bethany

Katy Perry Prismatic Tour

You know what I find so weird? The two months I have been without an every day job are the two months that this blog has been the hardest to keep up with! Only in 2014 can you be jobless and STILL have so much to do. I could go on to list off all of the standard ways that every human feels overwhelmed and busy but I don't want to go down that road. Instead, I'm going to play catch up on this fall and every thing that has happened! Because a lot.has.happened.  Let's start with a high :) Maybe something like seeing Katy Perry in concert during her epic world tour!

I'm not huge on going to concerts, especially big ones, but I have always said that the next time Katy Perry toured I would be there. And I was! Now before you start questioning me, just go watch her documentary on Netflix! It's called Katy Perry: Part of Me and IT'S SO GOOD. I <3 her.

I am so sad because my phone was almost dead when I got to the concert so I kept it off and only turned it on to capture the best moments! My bff Ashley and I drove to Houston for the concert and it was such a fun girls time. Katy put on suuuuch a good show! I was a little worried because her new album is definitely not my favorite, but having the songs performed was so much better! I loved every bit of it.

- Bethany

Bastrop Corn Maze!

The first day of November was perfect! Every year I want to go do fall activities, but here in Texas fall doesn't arrive until mid November (if we're lucky), and by then most of the pumpkin patches and mazes have already closed! I would like to protest this idea of October being the month to do fall things, because this October (like most) we were still melting. Anywhoooo, I planned ahead this year and made plans to go to the Bastrop Corn Maze! It closes next weekend so we just barely made it in! I've never been to a corn maze before, and I had pretty high hopes for greatness. Luckily it was pretty awesome! I suspect a maze in actual corn country would be great, but this one was still fun! And the weather acted right and we got to wear sweaters! So really you can't ask for more in Texas.

I love the confusion on everyone's faces.

Below are the photos I got right after Levi jumped through the corn and scared the poop out of Cattie :)

Short cuts!

You KNOW if Cattie and I are going somewhere together, there WILL BE portraits ;)

Super frustrated though that Blogger is uploading some of these a lot darker than my edit though! Such a hassle, pretend they are brighter.

We stayed in the maze until just past sunset, which is when we devised a plan to scare our fellow maze patrons. We set up a fake photo op for the boys, while Cattie hid in the stalks until the people walked by...

Definitely some fun memories made here :)

- Bethany

Halloween Party 2014

This years Halloween party was a success! I had so much fun. Even though I don't really care too much about costumes, I really love Halloween and having a party at our house! I wore the exact same costume as last year, sue me! Thank you to everyone who came and who brought food!

I woke the cats up from a nap for this photo shoot and they could NOT be bothered to keep their eyes open.

Mosely kept her costume on ALL night and it was hilarious!!

Can you guess what Levi was?

The cutest Minnie I've ever seen!

The cat girls:

Just doing cat things.

- Bethany