New Music!

I have found a new favorite artist!

I think everyone should know about her!! Her name is Gabrielle Aplin. Her voice is so light and effortless and I love it.

This is a single of hers called "Home."

It's awesome.

Summer talk

So.......I once decided I was going to blog.......I failed miserably.

Anyways, I'll start over!

Here's what's been going on in my life:

Summer came and went and I started grad school this week. I'm really excited, but also quite nervous. I guess I just thought it would be an extension of undergrad type classes for two years and then I would be done! I couldn't have been more wrong. You see, grad school classes require a lot more work. Seems logical, but for some reason it didn't really click with me until this past week. About midway through the week I was really discouraged and was sure I would fail all my classes and get kicked out of the program and end up homeless in a couple of years. (I tend to fall prey to catastrophic thinking) But now it's Sunday and I've survived a full week with only a few minor hiccups! This is going to be a rough two years, but I have confidence that, with the help of God and my people, I will get through it and be the best counselor I can be!

I got a new job! In a bakery/coffee shop! It has absolutely nothing to do with my future career, but it's a job, and I get paid...so right now that's all that matters.

Annnnnnnd I've officially read 46 books out of my goal of reading 50 books this year! I'm excited! =) I've literally never finished a new year's resolution! So the fact that I'm definitely going to get this one done is huge for me. If one good thing came from having nothing to do this summer and no friends to do the nothing with, it was that I got to read a lot. 

Also, about 5 weeks ago I came home from visiting a friend (and her lovely new baby) in Tennessee. After I got out of the car I walked around the property calling for our cats to come inside because it was getting dark. While I was calling, I heard a tiny meow coming from a little ways off, just outside the limits of our property. I walked toward the meowing and what I found was a sick, (mostly) blind, starving, flea and worm infested kitten. I crept toward him, afraid that I would scare him away, but he walked cautiously toward me. As soon as he was close enough, I could tell he was really sick, so I scooped him up and brought him inside to the food. He devoured it! (then he later spent all night throwing it up...note to self: if you find a starving animal, ration its food until their stomach can handle it.) He was tiny. I took him to the vet the next morning and found out he weighed 1.1 pounds at 6-8 weeks old! By the next week, when I took him for a check up, he was already 2.1 pounds!

(This was the first night I found him. You can tell how small his body is compared to his head and ears,and you can see the infection in his eyes. He loves sitting/laying on shoulders.)

(Since he is mostly blind, I am not about to let him roam around outside like the other cats, so I got him a harness! He isn't a huge fan, but he tolerates it because he loves going outside. Here he is on my shoulder again.)

It took him a while, but he's gotten back his playfulness and his curiosity. He loves to run and play with the other cats (even when they don't want to play with him). He is fully healed from all of his infections and parasites! His eyes, however were left permanently damaged. He can maybe see a little bit...there are moments when I am convinced he is completely blind and then he does something...like watching the movement of another cat's tail just before he pounces...and I think maybe he can see a little. Either way, he is an amazing little cat.

We named him Clive. After (Clive Staples) C.S. Lewis.

(I literally took this picture an hour ago. He was watching me do homework. Look how big he's gotten!)

I love my little cat to pieces!

A week or two before I found him I was talking to my mom about how badly I wanted a kitten. She told me that I wasn't allowed to get another cat...

God had other plans. =)

Running from running

Running. Not my thing. I'm trying to make it my thing...but after just one day, I'm feeling the incessant urge to call it quits. Running is just so boring! and hard! I would much rather Zumba or elliptical my way into being in shape...but I also have this ridiculous desire to run in races. My feelings are contradictory and it's obnoxious. 

I just know there is so much good that can come from being outside in nature! I love how simple an action it is. It doesn't really require thought or much planning, you just put on your shoes and go! I do have to say that  I love running on the bike trail that's right off campus because, if you go far enough, the trail goes right through the middle of this patch of trees and then a little further on the path, you go through this beautiful grassy area! I freaking love nature. God did SUCH a good job putting this earth together in such a way as to awe me every time I step out the front door. 

Anyways, my plan is to keep on with the running thing and hopefully, when I get better at it, I won't want to quit as much. Fingers crossed! 

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit,
who is in you, whom you have received from God? 

You are not your own; 

you were bought at a price. 

Therefore honor God with your body.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

(Note: I don't think this verse is actually about being 'in shape'. In context, it is about abstaining from sexual immorality, however, I think the point still stands. We need to honor God with our bodies in all aspects of our lives.

Lent

For Lent this year, I decided to give up soda! So far, so good, but yesterday was rough...All I wanted was a Dr. Pepper w/easy ice from Sonic during Happy Hour. 

I guess the cravings will become less and less intense the longer I stay without it, which is comforting...but isn't the point of Lent, and any other fast, to separate yourself from whatever luxuries you have in order to focus more wholly on God? To make my life a little less pleasant to suffer with Christ? So, I guess the cravings for soda are really just reminders that God is more important to my life than soda. 
When I put it like that it makes the soda thing seem petty. 

Matthew 4:4 & Deuteronomy 8:3 -
"man does not live on bread alone 
but on every word that comes 
from the mouth of the Lord."

Beginning in the Middle

I am not quite sure where I want this to go...starting something without having an end in mind is never a good thing.

Perhaps I'll discuss theology, Christianity, philosophy, or psychology, human nature, counseling, or health, cooking, vegetarianism, or traveling, culture, adventure, or grad school, anxieties, life. One thing, however, is certain: I will talk about my cats.

Here's a little preview.

After this undeniably cute cat picture, 

I'll leave you with this:

Isaiah 60:19-20

The sun shall be no more 

your light by day,

nor for brightness shall the moon

give you light:

But the Lord will be your everlasting light.

And your God will be your glory.

Your sun shall no more go down,

nor your moon withdraw itself;

for the Lord will be your everlasting light,

and your days of mourning shall be ended.