Seven Swans A-Swimming

1.  Walking to the Big Dipper after Sarah's Birthday dinner at Charleston's!
2.  Pool party with the Whitaker fam around Diesel's birthday!
3.  Chet Lee's Birthday dinner at Whataburger!
4.  Seeing Superman in 4Dx with the Parrishes!
5.  Happy summer pic with two of my favorite people!
6.  Pool pic with presh Parker Elizabeth!
7.  My candidacy website launch... (it will make a comeback eventually)!
8.  Final Tulsa pic with the Shoemakers after the Farewell Fiesta party!
9.  Girls pic, 4th of July party at Mom and Dad's!

This = month number 7 in my 12 Days of Recaps with a few blog quotes and my top nine photos from each month of 2025!

JULY:

"You know when a player lobs the basketball from half-court as the buzzer goes off, and the shot goes in?  Well, in light of knowing it was the final day of the first half of 2025, yesterday felt kinda like that! lol  ...I received an email from Dallas IVF approving the embryo match, so that's big news and further than I've ever gotten before! ...I also finished setting up my HIPAA-compliant business email, simplified website, and Pyschology Today page, so YAY for getting those time-consuming-but-important things done yesterday!!"

~Halftime Pep Talk, 7-2-25

"Every once in a while, I'm just gripped with intense thankfulness to have a friend group like this.  Seeing Parker and Hope and Kristin holding hands while Chet prayed was one of those times."

~Food & Fireworks with Friends, 7-7-25

"Exactly six years ago today (7-7-19), Chet invited a few friends to help his clients paint their new home.  That was my first time meeting Mark and Rachel.  They came to Friendsgiving that November, and to nearly every fun friend group event over the past six years!  I so appreciate people who show up and participate and engage in conversation, and they've been top-tier, dependable friends in that way through the past six years!! With this move, they will be closer to their families and better able to support Rachel's mom through her cancer treatments.  So I'm sincerely happy for them, while being genuinely sad to see them go!"

~A Fond Farewell Fiesta, 7-7-25

"After 10.5 months without counseling a single client, my LPC-Candidacy has finally begun.  My first session back took every bit of two hours, but it went well... It's such a learning curve in the beginning with all the new software and mountain of paperwork and regulations and more, but the actual real life connection and the sense that (with God's help) I am capable of helping someone improve their life in a real and lasting way makes the rest feel very worth it... Trying to reframe the nerves as being excited - and honestly, both are true."

~I'm Back, 7-16-25

"Signed the contracts to officially adopt 2 living-but-frozen Snowflakes embryos (on 7-18-25 - YAY!!), writing a thank you note to the placing parent today, and navigating next steps and medical appointments moving forward... I'm planting good seeds, and God will decide what grows from it!"

~In God's Hands, 7-28-25

"Dr. Burkhart:  "I have seven weeks with you, and I want to push you as hard as I can, but I want you to know that I am doing that because I actually care.  I am 100% here to support you… My motto when it comes to teaching classes is: High expectations and high support!"

~High Expectations and High Support, 7-29-25

"The exit on the way to Dallas IVF is "Legacy Drive."  Reading that made me happy, so I snapped a picture... My emotions did such an intense down-and-back-up swing during that appointment - I feel truly relieved and grateful that I get to move forward here!"

~A Clear Path Forward, 7-30-25

(*The very next day, I got a voicemail from Dr. Ku that changed the entire trajectory of that story, but for that one day, things felt glittery and perfectly aligned.  Reading that post is still hard for me now, but I'm also highlighting it for myself to remember how easily we can get it wrong and misinterpret things as "signs from God" when we want something and get caught up in our emotions about it.  Not a shame-based thing, just a reminder to try to be emotionally healthy and prayerful and wise and maybe a bit better at guarding my heart in the future - not putting expectations on God for things He never directly promised.  Hard but important.)

❤ ❤ ❤