Back to normal

Well, NTC is over and done with, and I'm proud to say I "thrived, not just survived," a la Switchfoot. That's a really good song, by the way. I am pretty obsessed with the whole "Vice Verses" album, but "Thrive" is one of my favorites. Check it out:

Anyway, I digress. ;-) In some ways the month flew and in others they dragged. I certainly kept as busy the rest of the weeks as I did the first week (which I related here), and between church, Bible studies, concerts, movies, game nights, lunches out, cooking dinner for friends, craft sessions, FRG meetings, ESC board meetings, volunteering, prayer groups, etc. the time seemed to pass so quickly. But once it got closer to Andrew's return date, it felt like the longest month ever since I had seen him! After lots of uncertainty about return times and then delays (would it really be the Army without either of those?!), finally I was in the parking lot waiting impatiently for the next dirty soldier loaded down with packs and rucksacks to actually be mine. I swear, no matter how many times you pick your soldier up from a long training cycle or a deployment, that moment never gets old. =)

Although he got home later in the week than I would've liked, we still had time for a relaxing weekend together before school started for me. We slept in late both days, had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, and watched The Hunger Games on DVD as well as a few things I had saved for him on the DVR. I love being out and about, but weekends like this are honestly my favorite.

The only thing that marred the homecoming and weekend was the knowledge that on Monday we were going to have to do a very hard thing. We had decided a couple months ago to adopt one of the cute stray cats who hung around the house.

He was so sweet and had the cutest meow when he wanted pets and cuddles. I finally got around to taking him to the vet for vaccinations last week, only to find out he tested positive for FeLV. Since we can't risk the other cats (even though they're vaccinated for it), the only choice was to have him put down. Andrew went by himself and did it yesterday. It was super hard on him, and I've broken down over it more times than I can count since Friday. We are definitely going to use this as a lesson to get any future cats tested before we get so attached to them. But considering we're both such crazy cat people, I don't think this is the first time we're going to have to put a cat down. Loving things so much definitely increases the amount of pain you're going to experience throughout your life, that's for sure. =(

Okay, don't want to talk about that anymore.

School started on Monday. I'm taking 5 classes this semester so I'm definitely going to be busy! Based on the syllabi I've received so far I don't think there's going to be a ton of homework besides reading and studying my textbook and class notes. I'll take that!

I'm well aware my blog has been all over the place lately. Hopefully with my life regaining structure I'll be able to add more structure here as well. In the meantime, be patient with me! ;-)