You really have to read my last post to understand this one fully.
Several weeks ago, Boots, another mama cat on the farm began giving birth to her kittens right on the sidewalks. Our son, nameless for privacy, had never seen a freshly born kitten and walked up after it appeared and grabbed the gun to put the 'poor slimy thing' out of its misery. The mama was frantic when she came back and couldn't find her freshly 'hatched' baby. So she grabs a big kitten from Patches's litter, Milkshake, Annika's personal favorite, and runs off with her. Our son saw it all happen and ran after her and rescued poor Milkshake. The next morning when Annika came outside to play with her kittens, Milkshake was gone. We were all pretty certain that Boots had towed her away and claimed her for her own. Try as we might, we could NOT locate the stolen kitten or the rest of Boots's litter.
Annika was very distraught and I encouraged her to pray about it and leave it in God's Hands. I consoled her with the thought that if Boots took her, she was most certainly feeding her. But there was always the possibility that Milkshake had met an untimely death.
After Patches died, I told God that if He would send Milkshake back to Annika, it would just be incredibly special.
Well, guess what?! This morning one of the boys came running into the house saying that they followed Boots out to the garage and she went up to the rafters and maybe, just maybe, Milkshake was up there. It took about 20 minutes and a Daddy, and some brothers, and Annika and a saucer of milk to finally recover that lost little kitty. She was fat and healthy but she was a little on the wild side. After about 45 minutes in the house, playing with Annika, she is outside with her siblings and seems to be 'none worse for the wear'.
We have a very happy little girl! God answered her prayer in a marvelous way!
Life is never boring 'round here!
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
A Tribute to Patches
You came to us as a sweet little kitten. We all thought you were cute, but Annika claimed you as more than the family pet. You were her very own precious kitty! You put up with a lot and were brought into the house 'undercover' many times. Soon you got the hang of sneaking in yourself.
As you grew, you soon got big enough to have your own kittens. And have them you did! The last litter of 8 almost scared me. I mean, whoever heard of 8 kittens in a litter. You seemed to be overwhelmed with them. We don't know what happened, but 4 of them never pulled through. Each time, it caused a lot of tears from your owner, Annika and her little sister, Brooke. They loved those kittens almost as much as they loved you. The remaining 4 kittens grew and soon they were bouncing around on the sidewalks, eating big cat's food. They were all a mixture of your beautiful colors- orange, gray, black and white.
And then it happened. The neighbor found a dead cat lying by his mailbox. He called the man of the house, Annika's Dad, and informed him of the tragedy. A sadness filled the Dad's heart, and although he did not love cats, he did love you, because of the immense love his little girls had for you. You see, now there were 2 little girls in love with you. The dad was very busy planting corn. He took the time to pick up your dead body and bring you home. Then he gathered his 2 little girls in his lap and told them the very sad news. They cried on their Daddy's shoulder. Then this very busy Dad, who didn't hardly have time to eat lunch, dug a grave for you, our dear pet Patches. And we all buried you. Even the Mama felt very sad.
Jamison made a cross for your grave, the Mama painted your name on it, and Annika planted some flowers by your grave. You are just a memory, but it's a good memory. For a cat, you were a pretty special one. We all miss you.
As you grew, you soon got big enough to have your own kittens. And have them you did! The last litter of 8 almost scared me. I mean, whoever heard of 8 kittens in a litter. You seemed to be overwhelmed with them. We don't know what happened, but 4 of them never pulled through. Each time, it caused a lot of tears from your owner, Annika and her little sister, Brooke. They loved those kittens almost as much as they loved you. The remaining 4 kittens grew and soon they were bouncing around on the sidewalks, eating big cat's food. They were all a mixture of your beautiful colors- orange, gray, black and white.
And then it happened. The neighbor found a dead cat lying by his mailbox. He called the man of the house, Annika's Dad, and informed him of the tragedy. A sadness filled the Dad's heart, and although he did not love cats, he did love you, because of the immense love his little girls had for you. You see, now there were 2 little girls in love with you. The dad was very busy planting corn. He took the time to pick up your dead body and bring you home. Then he gathered his 2 little girls in his lap and told them the very sad news. They cried on their Daddy's shoulder. Then this very busy Dad, who didn't hardly have time to eat lunch, dug a grave for you, our dear pet Patches. And we all buried you. Even the Mama felt very sad.
Jamison made a cross for your grave, the Mama painted your name on it, and Annika planted some flowers by your grave. You are just a memory, but it's a good memory. For a cat, you were a pretty special one. We all miss you.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
It's May Already!
We pretty much wrapped up school for the year...just some History yet that the boys need to finish. What a huge relief! I took the children on our annual garage sale outing today and it had its funny moments and a lot of "Are these my crazy kids?" moments. But the sun was shining and I couldn't think of one thing to complain about. We came home with a few treasures, mostly memories.
Our 8 orphan baby lambs went back to their home, which made a certain someone cry hot, bitter tears, but that was all quickly forgotten in her recent quest to buy a baby duck, which has not yet been approved by headquarters.
The Pony express was at our house several days last week. The girls would ride their stick horses all through the house, upstairs and down, and toss old newspapers in every room. It was pretty cute and kept them occupied for a long time!
We finally ordered our own set of encyclopedias and the children have spent hours poring over them. Good-bye, Wikipedia, and I'm not even sorry!
Leon has planted a wee bit of corn and we're all ready for warm sunshine so he can finish that project. The early things are in the garden and doing well, now that we penned up our free range chickens. Every year I think, "Now this year they'll stay out of the garden," but after the cauliflower gets its leaves stripped off, I remember that they must be confined for awhile. They are a huge blessing later in the season, because all the garden bugs don't stand a chance with them around.
We have a huge BBQ chicken fundraiser coming up next weekend for our youth group and we have a meeting tonight to plan Vacation Bible School which is coming up very soon.
We made plans for our family vacation and we are all over the top excited about that! The best part is that I get to spend 7 or 8 days SOLID with my husband! Oh I know, vacations aren't always all their cracked up to be but somehow, when we remember them later, it seems like the good parts stick in your mind better than the bad ones.
Our farm is being over-run with kittens right now and I am constantly asked by my children if they can please, please borrow the camera to take a picture of the adorable kittens....hmm, the amount of pictures I found on the camera card was pretty impressive, if you like cats.
The girls helped their Dad put in 1400 baby pigs recently.
Brooklyn decided one day to chop a hole in the front yard with a hatchet. I stopped her after I took the pictures because after all, she'll only be 5 once.
We've had some special Sunday nights at the lake or going to 'visit' a unique swinging bridge. Family evenings like this are pretty special!
I celebrated a birthday way back in March and Logan was so sweet and helped make chicken fajitas for my birthday supper so I had to snap a picture! The kids made some really cool cards for me, including one that had 20 Reasons Why I love My Mom. I had to cry a little over that treasure! Leon took me out to Olive Garden for a special date several days later. (no picture- is he the only man that hates having his picture taken?!)
When life throws things your way that are too deep to express and you can't bare your soul on your blog or even share the things that you are passionate about because of offending some one, you just go back over your pictures and do a little update on your life and it looks to the world like life is good and perfect and sunshine-y and all that......don't be fooled, my friends. In the midst of the most difficult circumstances, God is still sovereign, and he holds our lives in the palm of His hand. And we learn again how to trust Him, because He never changes!
Our 8 orphan baby lambs went back to their home, which made a certain someone cry hot, bitter tears, but that was all quickly forgotten in her recent quest to buy a baby duck, which has not yet been approved by headquarters.
The Pony express was at our house several days last week. The girls would ride their stick horses all through the house, upstairs and down, and toss old newspapers in every room. It was pretty cute and kept them occupied for a long time!
Leon has planted a wee bit of corn and we're all ready for warm sunshine so he can finish that project. The early things are in the garden and doing well, now that we penned up our free range chickens. Every year I think, "Now this year they'll stay out of the garden," but after the cauliflower gets its leaves stripped off, I remember that they must be confined for awhile. They are a huge blessing later in the season, because all the garden bugs don't stand a chance with them around.
We have a huge BBQ chicken fundraiser coming up next weekend for our youth group and we have a meeting tonight to plan Vacation Bible School which is coming up very soon.
We made plans for our family vacation and we are all over the top excited about that! The best part is that I get to spend 7 or 8 days SOLID with my husband! Oh I know, vacations aren't always all their cracked up to be but somehow, when we remember them later, it seems like the good parts stick in your mind better than the bad ones.
Our farm is being over-run with kittens right now and I am constantly asked by my children if they can please, please borrow the camera to take a picture of the adorable kittens....hmm, the amount of pictures I found on the camera card was pretty impressive, if you like cats.
The girls helped their Dad put in 1400 baby pigs recently.
Brooklyn decided one day to chop a hole in the front yard with a hatchet. I stopped her after I took the pictures because after all, she'll only be 5 once.
When life throws things your way that are too deep to express and you can't bare your soul on your blog or even share the things that you are passionate about because of offending some one, you just go back over your pictures and do a little update on your life and it looks to the world like life is good and perfect and sunshine-y and all that......don't be fooled, my friends. In the midst of the most difficult circumstances, God is still sovereign, and he holds our lives in the palm of His hand. And we learn again how to trust Him, because He never changes!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)