Put some ice on it . . .

A couple of weeks ago, I (Britney) broke my foot, or actually my left 5th metatarsal or something like that. Many people have asked me, "How did you break your foot?" I'm sorry to say it wasn't doing anything exciting like rollerblading while walking my dog and wearing a bikini, as a friend suggested. It was on a Sunday morning about 10:30 a.m., and I was coming down the stairs outside our apartment with Bailey on her leash. When I got to the bottom and stepped off the last stair, my foot slipped off the side of my flimsy flip flop and rolled over as I fell down. I examined my foot to see if it looked broken, but did not see any bones poking out. The top of my foot was scratched from the concrete, but I was not in pain. Then I started to feel lightheaded, so I laid down on the ground and passed out for a second. When I came to, I climbed back up the stairs with Bailey in tow. Upon reaching our door, I did not have the strength to stand anymore, so I sat down and kicked at the door with my foot. Brad, looking through the peep hole, asked who was there, because he could not see anyone, and I answered. When he opens the door, he sees me lying on the ground with Bailey by my side. By this time my foot had started to hurt and swell. I tell him that I think it may be broken, so we head for the Baptist ER, although he thinks it is "just a sprain" and I should "put some ice on it." Three hours and $800.00 later, it is confirmed by the nurse practitioner that it is indeed broken. I rejoiced for a moment in my correctness, until I realized what this would mean. NO SHOWERS, NO WALKING, NO SEX--acutally that last one isn't exactly true. The ortho tech who put my splint on wasn't so optimistic either. She informed us that we would have to cut my jeans off in order to get them off my body, because they wouldn't fit over the splint. At this point Brad completely freaks out and tells her how expensive they were. To avoid the cutting off of the jeans, I have to leave the ER in a hospital gown. So I got a pair of crutches and, after a 5 second orientation to them, we were on our way out the door. Two days later, I got a real cast, which I let my day treatment students "sign", even though it looks more like scribbles. Since the crutches hurt my arms and hands so badly, my mom rented a "roll-a-bout" for me, which is sort of like a combination of a wheelchair and scooter. I use it at work mostly, and my kids love it. I will be sure to include some pictures later on, because I look pretty silly on it. But it does make my life so much easier. I must say, I am the luckiest wife in the whole world. Brad has been doing everything around the house: cooking, cleaning, walking Bailey, feeding Bailey, bathing Bailey, watering my plants, and taking my scooter down to my car each morning. And he hasn't complained that much. He lets me sit on the couch with my foot up watching season 1 of LOST. I will go back to the doctor on Friday for more x-rays and a new cast, or hopefully a boot that I can walk in. I am learning to appreciate the little things in life, like washing my hair, shaving my legs, and going to Wal-mart, things I don't get to do much of now. I also have a new-found appreciation for handicap accessible facilities. In closing, I can't wait to get this stupid thing off my leg so that I can go camping, have a garage sale, and most of all, shave my lower left leg.

Josh and Kelly's Wedding

My cousin, Josh Fuqua, and his fiancee, Kelly Koen were married this past Saturday, September 23, 2006 at Madison United Methodist Church. Their wedding was so beautiful and Kelly was a beautiful bride! Now they are honeymooning in Jamaica. Below are some pictures I took at the wedding.

Second honeymoon

On May 28, we celebrated our first wedding anniversary. That weekend, we went to New Orleans and stayed in a cute little bed and breakfast called Elysian Fields Inn. We had so much fun! It was great to get away from home and spend time together.

The front of our hotel. The couple who owns it was so nice! We were their only guests for the weekend, so they made a breakfast of French toast, strawberries and bacon just for us. They also had a sweet yellow lab named Zeke. If anyone is going to New Orleans, we definitely recommend staying at the Elysian Fields Inn. It was just a short walk from the French Quarter.

Britney standing at the bottom of the stairs in our bed and breakfast.

Brad waiting for me to get ready. Our room was so cute!

Brad sitting in front of the fish scale waterfall at the Aquarium of the Americas. It had reopened that Friday for the first time since the hurricane. After looking around the aquarium, we went to see an Imax film about the coral reef.

This is a sea dragon--it was Brad's favorite thing at the Aquarium.
These two beautiful birds didn't like us very much. They kept squawking at us.

But, these two birds were so sweet. One was nibbling on the others feathers, probably picking out the bugs. They were just precious.

Jackson Square--it looks just like a postcard!

Classic French Quarter architecture.

What trip to New Orleans would be complete without a stop at Cafe Du Monde? We stopped there for a brunch of beignets on Sunday before heading back to Clinton.
We enjoyed shopping in the French Market and bought some really unique items. Brad purchased some hand-painted wooden cats from a lady from Oaxaca, Mexico. Britney purchased a set of hand-made coasters and turtle shaped mirror from a lady who got them in Indonesia. We also stopped by Aunt Sally's for some pecan pralines. It was a lovely weekend! When we got back to our apartment after picking Bailey up from Britney's parents' house, we thawed out our wedding cake and ate a bite. It was...okay. Not horrible, but just the thought of eating year old cake was kind of yucky. It is hard to believe we have already been married for a year.

Long time coming

Wow! It has been quite a while since we last posted something on here and a lot has happened!
We have had a very busy two months! Britney finished up graduate school at the end of April and graduated on May 19 from UT in Memphis with a Master of Science in Social Work (MSSW). A big group of us travelled up there that Friday night for the hooding ceremony. They included Britney's parents, Mamaw and Papaw Taylor, Lana, Josh and Kelly, Jeremy and Laura, and Brad.

Britney and Brad

Britney in her UT graduate hood. Unfortunately, they didn't let us keep it.

All smiles on graduation day!
In addition to my graduation, Josh and his fiancee, Kelly, graduated from MC Nursing School, and Paul graduated from Wesley College. On May 22, I (Britney) began the new job at Region 8 Mental Health Center (http://www.region8mhs.org). So far it has been going pretty well. I have a classroom of 11 children, ages 2-5. They are challenging to work with, but I am really enjoying the job and the creativity it allows. I have a program aide who works with me, and she is such a huge help. My main struggle right now is trying to gain control in the classroom. Once I accomplish that, I think things will go much more smoothly.
Brad finished up teaching for the year on May 26. He is currently teaching English II in summer school at CHS, as well as taking a graduate class at MC on the dramatic monologue. He's also studying for his commercial driver's license, so he can drive the school bus next year. He's having quite the busy summer!

Finally!

Earlier this month, I was offered a job by Region 8. It's the behavioral specialist position, and I will start on May 22, the Monday after my UT graduation ceremony. I'm so excited!!! That's all for now.

Another Job Interview

The job hunting is starting to pick up. I (Britney) finally got a call back from a guy at Region 8 Mental Health who wanted me to come in for an interview last Friday morning. I did, and it went well. Within about 2 hours, I got a call back from someone in the mental health center who wanted me to come in Tuesday afternoon for a 2nd interview. This time, I met with the clinical director and clinical coordinator of the day treatment program. I think this one went pretty well, too. They told me a little more detail about the job, and one gave me a tour and showed me the classroom that they are considering me for. The position is a behavioral specialist, which is a social worker that works with young children, ages 3-5, who haven't started preschool yet. They all have a mental health diagnosis, like ADHD or adjustment disorder, and I would be providing clinical services to help them transition into kindergarten. It' s kind of like teaching, in that I would have lesson plans, but I would be using clinical intervention, i.e. anger management, social skills building, reinforcment, etc. as well. Since I want to be a school social worker eventually, this would be excellent experience. I hope to hear something from them soon. My supervisor at URC has already received a call from them, since he is one of my references. I think they are pretty anxious to fill the position. Please keep me in your prayers as I continue my search for a job. By the way, I received word last week that I passed my comprehensive exams at UT! Graduation is only one month from today!

Wedding Video

Not too much has been happening lately in the Freeny household. Bailey had her 1st birthday on March 25, and I'm still promising to take her to PetSmart to celebrate. We bought some flowers for our porch this weekend, so here's hoping we can keep them alive. We've put out some birdseed again (and we don't care what Ms. Polly thinks), and we are enjoying watching the birds (and squirrels) eat it. Today, a squirrel actually climbed onto the feeder to eat, but it wouldn't hold still under his weight, and he nearly fell off, spilling all the birdseed out in the process! It was really funny to watch him try and figure out how he was going to get from the feeder back onto the porch. Once he made it, he proceeded to eat the sunflower seeds from the porch, which may have been his intention all along.

I (Britney) haven't heard anything yet on the job interview, but I'm sending my resume out to everyone I think I might want to work for. No more interviews yet, but there's still time. Graduation is May 19, and I'm counting down the days! Only 3 more classes left! On a different note, Brad and I got our wedding video back from our videographer this week, and it is wonderful. We are so pleased and cannot imagine not having done it. The day was such a blur for us, so this video allowed us to really see what it looked like and what was said. We didn't remember anything that happened during the ceremony, and we didn't even realize that we forgot to blow out the unity candles until someone told us later. Stan, our videographer did such a great job with the video. He made a "movie" out of it, set to beautiful music. He was even able to use the theme from "Somewhere in Time" for the ceremony. And Stan put the raw footage from the reception on a c.d., so we were able to see how beautiful the courtyard looked. I was so happy to see people dancing--including Brad's dad trying to salsa dance! I could go on and on about the movie, but I won't bore you. If anyone wants to watch it, just let us know. Brad's only rule is that you have to watch it at our apartment. That seems to be the only way we can get people to visit. (Justin and Lyvie are the exception, since they live in Memphis.) We are so excited about it and want to share it with everyone!

Job Hunting

Well, my (Britney's) compreshensive exams are over, and there are only 5 more weeks left for me in grad. school. There is some exciting news on the job front for me as of this weekend. I got a call last Friday from a guy at Youth Villages who had seen my resumé and wanted to interview me. The job is a family counselor for their home-based counseling program. I'm interviewing on Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. The job sounds pretty interesting--I would have a caseload of 5 families that I would travel to and provide services to them in their home, hence the name home-based. From what he told me, the children in these homes are in DHS custody, so these are their foster families. They are children with emotional and behavioral problems. It sounds right up my alley. I want to learn more about it though. So everyone, please be praying for me as I interview on Wednesday! I've put my resumé out there at several different agencies, so I hope I will get more interviews in the near future. I think Brad's pretty tired of me mooching off of him. He'll be glad when I finally get a real job.

Life at the Freenys

It's been quite awhile since we've posted a real message, so I thought I'd take a minute to give everyone an update on life at the Freenys:

Brad has been working hard all year, teaching Spanish at the high school during the week, as well as teaching a continuing education class in basic conversational Spanish for Mississippi College. In addition, he has been rehearsing for the school play, The Crucible, in which he plays Willard, the jail keeper. He has really enjoyed exploring his dramatic side, and he thinks he may have missed his calling in life. Look out, Tom Welling! Right now, Brad is off for Spring Break and has been busy cleaning the house and his car.

Britney has been busy with her school work and internship at the University Rehabilitation Center. She is just weeks away from finishing her Master's degree in Social Work. She is off right now for Spring Break, but has been studying all week for her comprehensive exams at UT this Friday, the 17th. After that, she will be taking her licensure exam for the LMSW in April. She'll finish up with her classwork on April 28, and graduation is on May 19 in Memphis! Currently, she is job-hunting and hoping to find something in the school system.

The animals, Bailey, Zoe, and Zippy are doing great! Zippy keeps going into heat every few weeks and keeps us up at night with her unusual meowing. Since the weather has been nice out, we've kept our windows open much of the day. All 3 of them love this, because they can feel the cool breeze and hear the birds chirping. They will crowd around the window for hours, just watching the world go by.



Zoe loves her spot in the kitchen window.



Bailey likes to watch the children play outside. She would love to go out and play with them, if we would let her.



Zippy likes to watch for the birds and the bees.

Our new website

In case anyone is wondering what happened to our blog, we have moved it to this new website. We both liked it much better, and it allows us to display pictures easier. We have copied all of our old blogs onto this site, and the original dates are in parentheses next to the titles. We hope you enjoy it!

Valentine's Day (2/18/06)

Recently, Brad and I celebrated our first Valentine's Day as husband and wife. It was also the 2 year anniversary of our engagement. To celebrate this special day, we recreated the night we were engaged, so to speak. We both dressed up nicely and went to eat at Olive Garden (my favorite!). Just as we were walking up to the hostess, a nice man behind us asked if we wanted his spot. Apparantly, he was tired of waiting for a table (the wait was almost 2 hours), so he decided to leave. We felt a little guilty accepting his beeper, but decided to anyway. We told the hostess, who put our names in his place, and we were seated in about 10 minutes. The salad, breadsticks, and appetizer were awesome, and the main dishes were delicious! As we were leaving, some people dressed up as Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty, from Liberty Tax Service, gave us a balloon and a red carnation. It was crazy! We felt like people just kept giving us stuff! After this, we went back to the bench on the Quad at MC where he proposed. We sat there for a while and talked. It was much warmer and dryer than the last time we were there. We also took a few pictures, which I've posted below. Finally, we came back to our apartment and watched a movie called 84 Charing Cross Road. It was really sweet. This was the 2nd best Valentine's Day ever!

Bailey's Surgery (1/9/06)

Last Wednesday, Bailey's life was forever changed. She had what is described in medical terms as a uterohysterectomy. Basically, she got fixed. Spayed. She is no longer eligible to have children (puppies). She seems to be okay with the whole thing. Her incision is only about an inch long. She enjoys licking the hot pink stitches, even though she isn't supposed to. We threaten her repeatedly with the head cone if she doesn't stop, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Her tummy was shaved for the surgery, and I think it is so cute! She is now on day 5 of her antibiotics, the final day, and she gets the stitches removed on January 16. Until then, I will continue carrying her up and down the stairs outside our apartment, since she's supposed to get minimal exercise. I think that is supposed to include not chasing the cats around the apartment, but she does it anyway, despite my protests. Recently, Bailey has enjoyed the upgrade from cage to kitchen as her living quarters. We bought a baby gate, which we use to enclose her in our kitchen area when we aren't home or are sleeping. We even got her a fluffy bed and new toys. She loves to drag all of her toys out of the bed and spread them around the living room, just so I can put them back up. Anyway, I have really enjoyed spending time with Bailey while on vacation from school. I'm going to miss her when I go back to my internship on Wednesday, January 11. It was also really nice having 2 whole weeks off with my wonderful husband! I was so sad to see him go back to work. Keep your fingers crossed that I get a job as a school social worker, so Brad and I can have the same vacations every year. If not, I will be one jealous person every summer, Christmas, and third week in March.



Bailey, showing off her stitches the day after the surgery. She slept for most of the day on the couch.



A close up view of the incision. Shouldn't leave too much of a scar! Let's hope her hair grows back soon.



Bailey wasn't feeling too good when she got home from the vet. She was still drowsy from the anesthesia and was in a little pain. One baby aspirin did the trick.

Our First Christmas cont. (1/6/06)

After all of this, Brad and I went out to my parents' house in Terry to have our Christmas with them.



Brad and I in front of their tree holding sweet little Maggie.



My family: Moma, Daddy, Maggie and me.

Finally, to wrap up Christmas day, Brad and I went back to our apartment in Clinton to have our little Christmas together and with the animals. Unfortunately, we forgot to take any of us together, but we did get some of the pets opening their stockings. Bailey was so excited over her new toys; she couldn't decide what to play with first. The cats were more low-key about the whole thing.

But our Christmas wasn't over yet. The next day, we went back to the Hodge family's Christmas dinner. It was moved this year to the day after Christmas, because Brad's family in Meridian couldn't make it on the 25th. We had a good time, eating lots of food and playing lots of games.

Brad's dad, Reid hanging out on the couch.



Lyvie and her dad, Uncle Maxie.



Lyvie and her mom, Aunt Lucy.



Justin and I were learning to knit.



Brad's Aunt Lucy, Mom and grandmother playing Scrabble at the kitchen table.



And finally, a picture of us on our first Christmas together as a married couple. Wish we could do it all over again!

Our First Christmas (1/6/06)

Our first Christmas together has come and gone. It was so wonderful! We are both lucky that our families all live near us, so we didn't have to travel and were able to see nearly everyone. Our Christmas celebrations spanned 3 days. Beginning on Christmas Eve, we had a dinner with my mother's family, the Taylors, around 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Everyone was there, 4 generations of Taylors. Here are a few pictures from that day.



This is the cute little snowball I made for the party. It found its way around to at least 4 different Christmas dinners that weekend. I was hoping someone would finish him off, but we had at least half of him left in the end.



Here's a family photo of Mamaw and Papaw and their 4 children: Mike, Billy, Lana, and Kim. I wish it were a little closer up. I may try to edit it later on.



The Taylor grandkids: Jeremy, Josh, Paul, me (Britney), Mellissa, and Michael. Shane isn't in the picture because he had already left.



Lana and her boys, Josh and Jeremy. They're bigger than she is now!



Josh and his new fiancee, Kelly. Aren't they cute together? I think the wedding is set for September 2006.



Jeremy and his girlfriend of 4 years, Laura. So cute!

Next, we went to the Hodges (Brad's mother's family) in Clinton for Christmas Eve. Following tradition, we all went to eat at Waffle House that night. Brad and I spent the night at their house, sleeping on the floor. We tried to go to Midnight Mass at the local Catholic church, but they weren't having it. The next morning, we got up and went to my dad's family's Christmas dinner in Brandon. Everyone was there, except for my 3 cousins from Grenada, who were at their other grandparents' house.



The Howell men. Not sure what they're doing in the kitchen. Probably waiting for the food to get done cooking. From the left, Johnny, Sammie (my dad), Papaw, and Mark.



My little cousins. Matt, who is Mark's son, and his wife, Melinda's 3 children, my newest cousins. They were all so well-behaved. Nothing like me and my other 3 cousins were at that age.



Mom and Dad in front of the tree. I thought I'd never get Daddy to smile for the camera.



Brad and I in front of Mamaw and Sissy's beautiful tree. And best of all, it still had our old ornaments on it from when we were little. You know, the one's with our names on them. So cute!

Blogger won't allow me to add anymore pics to this blog, so I will continue Christmas with the next one.