Nolan

Nolan is 15 weeks old now. As of one and a half weeks ago he was 7 lbs. 5 oz. He has gotten all of the required shots, but he will get one more that prevents Kennel Cough because he will be taking obiedience courses hopefully during the summer. :) He is completely trained on his potty pads, but not that excited about pottying outside on the grass. He loves to play fetch and does it quite well. He has also learned to sit. He comes when I say it nicely. lol. Otherwise, he will run from me, but he is learning. :)

Anyway, he is doing great!

Nameless PypPyp has a name.

Nolan Piper Deglandon

Nolan came home on Sunday, February 7, 2010. He was 6 weeks and one day old. He weighs 3.5 pounds now. He is so cute. He is doing just fine. Sunday night he cried for hours until I finally put him in the bed with me. I figured he was lonely, since he had been around the other puppies and mom since birth. I set up a little area for him to play while I am at work. He whimpered when I left (my roommates heard him). When I came back for a lunch break, I left the television on so he would hear some noise and be less lonely. It worked like a charm. I got home from class and he was so calm. :) His crate finally arrived last night and I set it up with the divider and put it in my room. He slept in there last night. He whimpered a little, but not wailing. He is eating just fine. He has started using the potty pad. Right now, he poops on it and pees on the tile, but he will get use to it. We went outside yesterday for like 3 minutes during the daylight. He liked it. The poor thing has fleas. :( I have been taking them off one by one, because you can't give him a flea bath until he is 12 weeks.

Nameless Pyp Pyp

I bought a puppy, a chocolate/tan dapple dachshund to be exact. He is just adorable. He is not like his 2 brothers from the same litter. They are smooth and he is fuzzy... which I think means he will be a longhair. I got him for a great price. He is AKC registered and I am hoping that I will be able to breed him with my Aunt's dapple dachshund in a year. He will be home with me shortly. I am hoping for February 10 or 12. He was born on December 26 and he is only 5 weeks old. He needs to stay with the mother until at least 6 weeks. By February 12th he will be 7 weeks old. He is very gentle, shy, and laid back. I carried him like a baby on his back and he just laid there looking at me. He is so sweet.

His name is still undecided. I initially wanted to name him "Piper" because of how Lindsey Morris (and now many other people) call puppies, pyp pyp's. I've also thought of many other names. When I first saw him, I said he was "Charley"... and I really like that name.

Here is a list of other possibilities:
Grayson
Grant (my first pet's name was Ginger. Ginger Grant is from Gilligan's Island)
Hadley
Harvey
Hudson
Nolan (guy version of Nola, also known for New Orleans)
Paxton
Ryder
Spencer
Pascal
Sawyer (LOST character)
Theodore (He is shy and chunky.)
Charley (Charlie Pace is a LOST character, one of my favorite characters.)
Wesley
Piper
Brodie

My prayer time with the Lord

My prayers have turned into attributes of God. I will plea with God and claim His name. My prayers are just yelling his name and what he is capable of.

"You are God... a personal God. You are fulfilling, you are satisfying. You are all I need. You are faithful, trustworthy, worthy of my praise. Good or bad... you are He, You are the Lamb and Lion. You are the Protector. You are the Great Physician. You are the Great Healer. Heal her. Feel her breath, hear her heart beat. Create strength in her. Put YOUR strength in her. You are capable. You are the only one capable. Show yourself to our family. Draw them to yourself. Glorify yourself in their lives, in my life. Let me be your tool. You are capable of moving mountains. I have faith that you can remove the cancer and be her strength. Feel my heart, know my passion, live your life in me."


The hour and a half drive to New Orleans gives me time to prayer, even if it may be for 20 minutes.

My life this semester...

So as I type this... I have plenty of things to do before TOMORROW! I have finals Wednesday and Thursday... papers due in each. but yet... other things on my mind.


My grandmother has cancer. Every weekend (other than this past weekend) I have been in New Orleans taking care of her, running errands, and making her comfortable. It is exhausting and it is hard to see her getting sick. She isn't like coughing kind of sick... she is just weak and tired all the time. She has her good days and her bad days, but I really hate those bad days. I have to remind her that it is okay to nap multiple times during the day. We ordered a wig online the other day. Her hair isn't completely gone, but it is thinning and she didn't feel pretty... so a wig helps.

So the Counseling Program is awesome! My colleagues/peers are amazing and so very supportive. I've had a pretty rough semester with Mama (that's what I call my grandmother) and they have all supported me through it, encouraging me to talk and let them know how I'm feeling. We all hung out last night at Carreta's and talked and had a good old time. It was really nice.

I am so amazed by people this days. For some reason I'm always the go between, the rebound in some kind of fashion and the doormat in other ways.

Genuine people is all I ask for... genuine people.

changes...

He gives me a desire...

a desire to live somewhere new, not now of course, but in the future. As much as I love the Northshore... and Louisiana and I would looooove to live here, I am certain that He has called me to live elsewhere. I do not know where, but in time He will tell me. Maybe Baton Rouge, maybe Tennessee, maybe Pennsylvania, maybe Alabama, maybe Italy... I really don't know. I will follow Him in obedience.

Isn't it weird when the last thing you would ever want... is something that He starts to work in you? It is definately not an accident. He may want to just test that I will have a willing heart. I don't really understand at this point.

I no longer fear being alone. One year ago, I wrote in a prayer journal that I feared that I would never get married... that I would be alone forever. I needed someone or something. I can honestly say that is not the case anymore. Over the past year He has grown me in Him. He is what I want, what I need. Yes, I need Christ-centered community, but I do not feel that my life is not complete without a spouse. I still have a desire to be a wife, but my desire for a strong relationship with the Lord trumps it any day. He is my portion. I am in the place I need to be. That does not mean that I will never marry... it means that I am content with Him alone.

I cannot truly love until I worship Him and know my true identity that is found within Him. So... consider this my time to find my true identity that is found within Him... it has only just begun.

One of the books I'm reading... the book I quoted in my other blog. Relationships: a mess worth making. It is about dating relationships, friendships, and even broken relationships. It sure is eye-opening.

Quotes from a book I've been reading...

Quotes from a book I've been reading...

Relationships: A mess worth making by Time Lane and Paul Tripp

"Whenever the things you want become more important than God, your relationships suffer. Even when you make relationships more important than God, your relationships suffer! This is what sin does. It blinds us to our dependence upon God, turns us inward, and causes us to either fear or exploit others."

"When love for God is replaced by love for self, people either become obstacles that hinder goals or vehicles that promote them."

This particular chapter is about sin. There are 6 particular self sins it talks about: Self-Centered, Self-Rule, Self-Sufficiency, Self-Righteousness, Self-Satisfaction, Self -Taught. We all in some way have experienced these, some more than others. The world will even teach us that we should be this way. I found that self-sufficiency was a hard one to swallow. I am independent. I try so hard in my life to rely only on myself. I sacrifice intimacy and mutually helpful community. I have often been cold and distant. I seek independence and time alone. Although the world may tell me that it is good to only rely on myself... it is not. The body of Christ is a community. It's purpose is to be around... to be intimate. My reliance should not be of myself but on the LORD. Being distant only pushes me towards sin and it's fall.