Belle

This is just a quick post to talk about our dog, Belle. I (Catheryne) have always been amazed by animal intuition. She is no exception. I have had a fairly easy pregnancy so far, I get a bit queasy, but not nearly like what I was expecting. There have been some days where I just don't feel well-tired, queasy, and a backache-it is on those days that she has been even more attentive to me than normal. She is our dog, but really more my dog in her attention. Just this morning as I was in the other room with the door closed, she laid down by the door as if she were guarding it. Her behavior is encouraging to me and helps me when I am home on Summer break when John is working. I believe that God chose her for us. When we went to the humane society to look for a dog, she was not the first dog we noticed. In fact, she was the last dog. Usually you have to wait to take an adopted animal home because the have to spay or neuter them. After we noticed her and asked about her, we were informed that was were able to take her home that day because she was already spayed. She has truly been a blessing to us. She is also a great guard dog. She growls and barks at people and strange noises in this apartment, which makes John a very happy person.

Baby, band, and flood

The McFarland's are having many exciting things happen. Catheryne is pregnant, she is due Jan. 11, 2011. This is very exciting for us, but it is also scary. We really want this baby, so all scariness it just anxiety over the newness of life. John's band has been very busy. The band won a battle of the bands a few weeks ago. One of the prizes was a 6 month free contract with an agency/management company called Fastrax. Fastrax has really been working hard for them. The company is meeting this week with Word, which is a record label. We could really use your prayers for this meeting. We are praying that the band will get signed, and that John will be able to quit his day job. The band's heart is truly for the LORD and their goal is to spread the love of Jesus in a way that can reach all people. All prayers are welcome no matter what. Hopefully, we will get better at keeping up with this blog. I think we are going to have many more things to write about now.

The national media did not do a great job with covering the Tennessee flood. The area of flood damage is equivalent to New Jersey. It hit more areas than just Nashville. According to news reports, this is the worst flood ever recorded for Tennessee (by the way, it also affected parts of Kentucky). The media is calling it the 1,000 year flood. Catheryne's school was greatly affected by it. The only part that remained dry was the top level. The entire school lot, portable classrooms and first floor were completely flooded. To help put it into perspective, this picture was taken before the bottom level of the school flooded. The building in the picture ended up having water all the way up to the roof line.

Music and Moving

John's band, Twelve South, has released their EP album. It is available on CDbaby. The band will be recording their newest songs this Saturday. We have also moved into our new apartment. It is much bigger than our old place. Thomas seems to finally be adjusting to it. He had a rough couple of days when we first got here. John is doing a great job with moving all of the heavy stuff. We have a lot of unpacking left to do.

Changes

The past few months seem to have been very busy. We celebrated Christmas with Catheryne's parents and Grandma Marion. It was perfect. All of the cooking turned out well, and we even had flurries on Christmas day. We also are moving March 6th to a bigger apartment that is A LOT closer to Catheryne's work. This will mean that whenever there is a extra event, she wont have to hang out at the school for 3 hours. January brought snow with it. Tennessee is not really designed to handle any amount of snow. Catheryne has had 5 snow days since January. This last storm actually produced what was predicted. We had about 2-3 inches of snow, with 1/2 an inch of ice on top of it. January also brought with is a 21 day time of fasting and praying for God's direction. We have been praying really hard for John's music career. Anyway, about 2 days into the fast a band called Twelve South called John about playing with them. John had practiced with them once before, but nothing really happened. John is now playing with them and loves it. Catheryne even likes the music as well. The band is having an EP release party on February 28th.

Holiday Season

We are excited to begin the holiday season. We have already put up our tree for Christmas. We have a little black tree. We went to one of Catheryne's favorite stores-The Dollar Tree- and found some really nice looking place-mats, napkins, napkin rings and a table runner. So of course we had to set the table, and because the table was set, we put out the tree. We are spending Thanksgiving alone, which we like. We don't really like the traditional meal, and by spending it alone, we can cook what we want. Catheryne's parents and Grandma Marion are coming for Christmas. This is what has us so excited. It will be the first holiday spend with family since we have been married. We have many exciting things to look forward to besides Christmas. We are moving to a different apartment complex in March-please pray that is goes smoothly. We are looking at a bigger place and it is closer to Catheryne's work. This will make a huge difference for her. She has a lot of after school things that she ends up doing and living closer will make it easier.

September 11th-by Catheryne

September 11th is my birthday. I have had a hard time with this since 2001. I know that it is important to remember the tragedy of that day, but why is it that every year on this day the media feel the need to replay the horrific images? I have had two students who also have this birth date and I wonder how they feel, as a kid, to have to share their special day with the media spewing sorrow. John always does an amazing job making this a special day and I have finally gotten over the quilt of feeling happy on it. I just feel that we must always remember the tragedies we have faced, but we must also focus on our strength. I do not think that the family members want to see this over and over again on 9/11. OK, now I am done ranting.

End of Summer events

Our summer officially ended with our trip to upstate New York to celebrate Catheryne's Grandma's 90th birthday. It was a 12 hour drive through Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. It was our first time going to Ohio and John's first time in Pennsylvania. Driving through counts as going to the state, plus gas stops help with that tally =). We had a great time. We took Belle with us and she loved it! We arrived on Thursday night and left on Sunday. We spent a few hours at the lake on Friday, Belle is a water dog. She loved the smells and stepped right into the lake. We even took her on the boat. We weren't sure how she would take it, but she love it. Friday night was spent getting to know some of the relatives and Saturday was the big party. Over 80 people came to celebrate Grandma's birthday, including her friend from her first year of starting school as a child. It was so wonderful to meet new family member and to revisit with family members that haven't been visited with in a long time.