Meet Finn - katelyn lilian

I’m going to be honest, I have a LOT more to share with you all. I mean multiple COUNTRIES worth of stuff. But it has been difficult to get the energy to write about my travels and offer advice, when it renders rather useless for the time being.

So I took a well-needed break. BUT, I’m getting back in the groove of things and have a ton of content to share with you all. This means more pictures, more stories, more itineraries, more updates, just a whole lot more.

However, I figured I should give a few updates on what has been going on since I stopped sharing.

First, I graduated from college, HALLELUJAH. For those of you wondering, I graduated with a double major in Entrepreneurship and Strategic Communication. And no, I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with it. Which leads me to my second point…

I got a job! Currently studying for all of the SUPER fun exams that I need to be licensed as a Financial Advisor. The opportunity could not be better or have been timed better, but that’s a story for a different day.

My trip to Ireland and my trip to Turkey were both canceled, but I’ve been busy trying to figure out how to satisfy the exploration/travel bug both safely and locally (more on that later).

I suppose those are my go-to conversation pieces lately (because most people don’t want to hear about the books I’ve been reading or how my workouts are, but if you want to know, I’d be happy to tell you).

BUT now for the real meat of this post, the update that tops all of the updates: I got a puppy!

I know what you’re thinking, I hopped on the COVID bandwagon… well yes and no.

So here is the scoop: My family has always had dogs. And for those of you who didn’t know, we trained service dogs for 10 years so we had 100+ circles through our house as a puppy we raised or as a foster pup. That being said, this came at no surprise to my parents or to my friends.

I knew I wanted to get one in a year or so, but I wanted to do my best to adopt if at all possible. So, I did my research to be ahead of the game. I knew I wanted either a Golden Retriever or a Labrador Retriever (the two we primarily had during training), leaning more towards a Golden (they are a little more people-focused than Labs in my experience).

I think everyone is entitled to their own decision when it comes to adopting or choosing a breeder, there are benefits to both. However, I wanted to avoid a breeder if I could, so I primarily looked at Golden rescues.

Somehow I came across a pup that was just born and looked into him more.

Essentially, this was the only litter they had and it was to raise money for an orphanage and school in Myanmar. WHAT, I know. (P.S. if you’re confused, I was in Myanmar at an orphanage and school in February 2019) I reached out just for more info particularly on the places they were working with.

Turns out, they were affiliated/donating to some of the organizations I participated in. To speed up the story, I basically chatted with the family and said if they do more litters for this cause to let me know because there was a real purpose in the breeding.

Fast forward 3 weeks, they called me and told me someone backed out and asked if I was interested. And the pup that was available was the very one I was looking at (which they didn’t know).

I know that you obviously know how the story ends, but after a day or two of deliberation (and a butt ton of prayer), it felt like a God thing and I put my deposit down.

A month later, I drove (with all the proper COVID precautions) the 13 hours to Ohio (just south of Columbus) to pick him up. We spent several days with my SAS friend Caroline in Lexington, Kentucky afterwards.

So, I’d like you all to meet Finn!

He is an English Cream Golden Retriever (so yes, he’ll stay this white).

That was him when I picked him up, but this is more of what he looks like now!

I’ve raised a lot of puppies in my life and call it bias or not, but he has been the best pup we’ve ever had.

He is incredibly mellow, LOVES kids, LOVES the water, doesn’t chew on things, AND sleeps through the night. Apparently God knew what I needed and I needed Finn.