Happy New Year!

Well, here I am!  My hope is to keep this blog as an up-to-date record of what's going on in my life.  I will definitely try to do A LOT better on this blog than I did on my last one! :) 

Anyway, I thought I would start this new year and new blog by reflecting on this past year.  A lot of changes, both good and bad happened in my life in 2009.

I started off 2009 with a new job (I actually started in late November, but it was still new at the beginning of last year.  I still work for the Department of Veterans' Affairs, but I now work for the Department of Workforce Management (which is out of Washington, D.C.) instead of the Central Arkansas VA Medical Center.  I work for Recruitment and Staffing Services in the Little Rock office as a Human Resources Specialist.  I still post jobs, only now I post the jobs that are open to the public.  It's been an interesting year with this job.  I have travelled to both Dallas and Atlanta for training and made some very good friends.

I also moved to a different house up here on the VA grounds in July.  It's a smaller house than I lived in before, but it has a much better view of Little Rock.  It has a great screened in porch that I can sit on and read or relax in warmer weather.   The only drawback to these old houses (mine is 110 years old) is the mold, but the VA is working to remedy that.

Mom also came up from Jackson one week and painted my kitchen for me!  The zebra part is done by hand!  WOW! 

The windowsill

Entrance into the laundry room

The entrance into the rest of the house

The biggest and most exciting change in my life this past year ithat I got a new nephew!!  Katie and Ed told us that they were expecting on Christmas day of 2008!!  We were all extremely excited about this new addition.  And, on August 24, 2009, Andrew Harrison Hill (Drew) entered the world at 5:28 pm, weighing in at 8 pounds even and at 20 inches long.  I got to witness his arrival, and it was one of the most touching and beautiful experiences of my life.  It showed me just how AWESOME God is! 

This is Aunt Beth's first real peak at baby drew just minutes after he was born!

Now, Drew is almost five months old, and he is the light of all our lives!  He is a charming, talkative, and loving little boy, and I love watching him grow up!  It's also so neat to see my sister as a Mom!  And, it also still makes me do a double-take whenever I hear Katie say, "my son." :)

This is sweet Drew earlier this month during his first snow.

Unfortunately, 2009 ended on a very sad note for me.  I lost my precious kitties, Holly and Harmony within two weeks of each other.  They developed a condition called Histoplasmosis, which caused a horrible infection in their lungs and made them very sick.  The vet told me that the disease is not contagious, so he thinks it came from the soil around my house.  My cat, Holly was rather mischevious and got out a few times, so the vet says that he probably brought contaminated soil into the house and Harmony also picked it up.  I made the decision to have them both put down- Holly on December 20, and Harmony on New Year's Eve.  I also had an autopsy done on Harmony to determine for sure that it was Histoplasmosis, and it for sure was.  I also had my house tested for the histoplasm spores and for mold, and fortunately, the test came back negative.  Unfortunately, that means the histoplasms are in the soil around my house, which is pretty scary for me!

It was such a blessing for me to get this picture.  I was decorating for Christmas This past Thanksgiving and found this!

But, I was blessed for six years to have the two sweetest kitties in the world!  Holly and Harmony will definitely be missed, but I smile when I think of the happy, fun times I had with them.

I am really looking forward to 2010!  I just have a feeling that this year will hold some new and exciting adventures!