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.

Photo Albums (12/31/05)

Brad just found out that we can share our Facebook photo albums with others. All we have to do is copy & paste the link. So here are a few of the albums on Britney's Facebook page. Enjoy!

Our First Christmas:
http://mc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2002368&l=1b786&id=61702151

The Newlyweds: Brad & Britney:
http://mc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2002210&l=8ab7f&id=61702151

The Freeny Family Pets:
http://mc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2002209&l=1d565&id=61702151

Merry Christmas! (12/24/05)

Christmas is almost here, and the Freeny house is buzzing with excitement! Our holiday plans have been made, and we have braved the crowd to purchase the traditional gifts. Our apartment is decorated to the hilt, and we're even cooking something for Christmas dinner. With all the hustle and bustle, it's easy to forget why we are celebrating this season. It's not about Santa Claus or giving the perfect gift. It's really about the miracle of the birth of our Savior, Jesus. The ultimate gift from God. So, as we are celebrating this time with our families, let us not forget to give thanks for this wonderful gift we've been given.



Merry Christmas from the Freenys!

The Freeny Family Pets (12/22/05)

Since getting married in May, Brad and I have aquired quite a few animals. Brad is a "cat-person" and I am a "dog-person", so naturally we have to have one of each. Recently, however, my cousin, Jeremy moved into a petless apartment and needed new home for his cat, Zipper. Being the big-hearted animal lovers that we are, Brad and I said we would take her. So now there are 3 animals living in our apartment; 4 if you count Brad (just kidding.) Since we don't plan on having children for a while (at least 5 years), these pets will have to suffice.
Here's a picture of our darling, Bailey, whom I wrote of in the last entry and Britney holding her.















Also, here is a photo of Zoe. Isn't she pretty?



And finally, this is Zippy, our latest addition:



We hope you've enjoyed seeing our lovely pets. They sure bring a lot of joy and laughs into our lives. Look for more photos in the future!

Out for the Holidays (12/7/05)

Classes at UT finished up for me on Tuesday, at least for this semester. I have a nice long break for the holidays; I'll start back on January 11. I'm excited to be out, because there's so much that I've been wanting to do. Paint houses for my Christmas village, organize the closets at our apartment, read books, make a scrapbook, just be crafty, and a little shopping, too. Also, I'm happy not to be studying and writing papers for a while. (Although I do have to start studying for my MSW license and comps. at UT.) I won't miss the long drive up to Memphis, but I will miss seeing Lyvie & Justin every week. Pretty soon, Bailey will have to have her "surgery". Luckily, I will be home to take care of her. She's such a sweetie! She's a really affectionate dog and isn't afraid to meet new people. She sheds like crazy, though. I told Brad just today that Bailey acts like she's got ADHD. She has the attention span of . . .well she doesn't really have one. When I take her "out", she can't stay focused on the task at hand. She is easily distracted by every single little noise, so it takes us forever to get the job done. I didn't mind so much before, but now that it's about 20 degrees outside, I want to spend as little time there as possible. That's okay, though, because I wouldn't trade her for anything. And I'm sure Brad would agree!

Spanish Club Christmas Party (12/5/05)

Friday night was the Spanish Club's Christmas party. Brad is the sponsor, being their Spanish teacher and all, so he was the host. I tagged along for moral support. About 25-30 kids showed up at El Sombrero restaurante mexicano for dinner. This is always fun because Brad's students are hilarious. Some of them do crazy stuff, like chug an entire bottle of salsa or call him on his cell phone from the other end of the table to say hi. After dinner, 6 of them came back to our apartment to watch a movie (Elf) -- luckily our apartment was already decorated for Christmas. Brad, of course, makes them watch it in Spanish audio with English subtitles. But while he was in the kitchen making hot chocolate, someone changed it to English audio, and we watched it like that for the remainder of the movie. I had never seen Elf before, but I really liked it. So we all watched the movie, drank Abuelita (mexican cocoa) and watched the animals (Bailey, Zoe, and Zippy) chase each other around. It was a fun night.

Decorating for Christmas (12/1/05)

This past weekend, Brad and I decorated our apartment for Christmas. This included going to the Christmas tree (and pumpkin) farm to cut down a tree. Brad chopped it down and loaded it in the truck all by himself (so manly!). My parents brought us all of our Christmas decorations from their house, and we spent all day Saturday making the place festive. I even made a little wreath for our door and a centerpiece for our table, ala' Martha Stewart. (I just love her!) Luckily, the animals weren't too concerned with the tree and decor. We have cute little stocking for them hanging next to ours, which we will fill with lots of goodies! We will post some photos of the tree and decorations later on. It's hard to believe Christmas is already here! Our first Christmas together. . .it's going to be so much fun!

Our first Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We managed to make it to 3 different dinners with our families. First we went to the Freeny's for lunch, then to the Howell's for dessert, and finally to the Hodge's for dinner. We were stuffed by the end of the day! But it was so good to see everyone! We didn't mind all the running around one bit.
Friday, we got up at 3 am and went shopping! Yes, we were among the crazy people in line at Circuit City at 4 am. When the doors finally opened at 5:15, I thought I was going to break something. There were people pushing against me from all sides, anxious to get in and spend some money. After this, we spent over an hour in line at Toys-R-Us waiting to purchase a DVD. I'm not sure what we were thinking. But by noon, we were done with our shopping and headed home. We were so tired, that we didn't even have the energy to eat at Olive Garden! Instead we got Chinese take-out. What a day!--and it wasn't over yet!

After a 3 hour nap, we cleaned up the apartment because my birthday was that weekend as well, and my mom had a party for me at our apartment. We had pizza and strawberry cake, which was delicious. I received a lot of nice presents and really enjoyed having everyone over to see our place. Afterward, we went over to a friend's house to watch Nightmare on Elm Street-Part 6. We made it to bed at around 1 am--almost a 24 hour day!

Our 6 month Anniversary (11/28/05)

Today Brad and I have been married for 6 months. That's half-way through our first year of marriage. I can hardly believe it. It's going by so fast, and I want to remember every moment. If I had the time, I would make a scrapbook (which I plan to do someday), but school & work keep me too busy. Instead, I want to start this blog thing, so I can keep up with all that we do and post pictures of us and our pets. A friend from college has a website where she and her husband post messages about their activities, and she has kind of inspired me to do the same. So I will try to be faithful in posting little notes about our life for all to read, even though I'll probably be the only one who cares to look at it. All the personal info in the profile is actually about me, not Brad, because he has his own myspace site, and it gets really confusing trying to do it for two people. So until next time, adios!