Swiss Cheese Revelation

It occurred to me last night that I feel like swiss cheese.

Let me explain.

Life kicks your butt. In one way or another life just chips away at you. It's all part of living in a fallen world. You get sick. You get old. Loved ones die. Your children go through issues. Spouses go through stuff. It can just be hard at times.

So, last night I was lying in bed thinking about the issues our family is facing right now and I realized I felt like swiss cheese. It's like I have all these little holes from the things that are eating at me that we are dealing with.

What are those things you ask? Well, our good friends are moving away. Friends who our whole family has become friends with who are really more like family. It sucks. None of us want them to go.

My cats are in kidney failure and could have months or years ahead of them. It's hard to tell.

We may need to find a new home for our dog Daisy who is honestly the sweetest dog you would ever meet. And, she is as loyal as loyal comes. I love her so much. But, my kids have asthma (another issue eating at me with fall/winter coming) and I am thinking Daisy, more like Daisy's hair, is part of the problem. She sheds SO much. I had never had a shedding dog before. I had no idea how bad it could be.

So, facing all these issues I realize it is not just me facing them, but Madelyn too. Dan and Elijah will cope better than Madelyn or I will. I think. And knowing that your kids are going to suffer too makes it all that much worse.

Thinking on all these things made me realize that I feel like swiss cheese. A lot of holes.

But, when I look back at past trials I realize that while I emerge feeling wounded I am somehow stronger too. I haven't figured out how the stronger part works into the swiss cheese analogy yet except that maybe swiss cheese is still strong enough on the inside to be sliced like a whole cheese? hmmm. I don't know, but yeah. I am still going to stick to my swiss cheese analogy.

I think ...

We aren't in Disney anymore ...

My last post mentioned what my friend Jess said about a Disney movie going on at our house recently, what with the bunnies, birds, and rainbows here. Well, today after school the kids noticed this ...
In case you can't tell what it is, it's a pile of feathers that looks as though the bird was plucked before being completely devoured except for a couple of wormy looking red pieces of innards that looked like earth worms ... blech ...

Also, look closely at the next picture. See the yellow things?



Okay, they are kind of hard to see, and they seem to be more orange-red. Those are the pieces of the beak. Poor little bird.

I don't think this happened in Snow White. Sure, a queen sends a man to kill her step-daughter (Snow White) in the woods with a knife. Of course, he has mercy on her, lets her go, is killed by the queen when she finds out he didn't kill Snow White. Then the queen goes and poisons Snow White herself.

But, no birds were being ripped apart. I mean sheesh! We all have limits to the violence we can handle!

And, to think this episode of violence went down in our back yard, our very own gazebo-thingamabob. I wonder if any of our other bird friends saw what happened and are afraid to come into our yard.

I should go sing a song to them ... (I really need to get myself a princess dress)

And so it continues ...

My dad (who is still recovering from major surgery and could use prayer for ease of pain so he can sleep and he needs his appetite back) sent me an e-mail yesterday. He loves to send forwards. Well, this one said something about a computer crashing or something crashed the computer, and here it's a picture of a little kitten sleeping on its back on the keyboard of the computer. I wanted to just pick it up and snuggle and love on it!

I used to never consider getting a kitten because we have 2 cats and I just thought there was no way we could do another cat until my 2 are in heaven (prove to me our animals don't go to heaven then I'll stop saying that). hee hee ...

Well, Dan's sister Susan and her hubby came to visit and brought their new kitten. Me oh my. He was cute. Dan even caught him and snuggled him for a while (another reason I love my husband so much. he just couldn't resist.)

So, that showed me it would not be impossible to get a kitten at this point. The kids loved the kitten too. His name is Bauer. Elijah was a little confused though because Susan is pregnant. He knows she is having a baby and was calling the kitten the baby kitten. He also asked Susan at one point if she still had a baby in her belly, etc. This is all new to him. His webkinz skunk (Potty) is now a baby skunk though.

Anyway, so all it took was this picture in a fwd to get me thinking of all those little kittens in shelters just needing a good home ... until last night.

I laid down to go to sleep. Everyone else was sleeping and then I hear Madelyn coughing (shudder) and coughing (another shudder). I go up and she needs the nebulizer. It turns into this whole ordeal because the neb decides to stop plugging into the contraption properly so I almost have a panic attach realizing I may not be able to give her the treatment if we can't get this straightened out. Well, I do and she does it, and we are both wide awake now at 12:30 a.m.

I stayed up with Madely in her room (which she LOVES) in case she had another fit.

A while later we drift off to sleep and Samson comes strolling in. He has always been my ornery cat, but he NEVER bothers me at night when I am in my own bed. He only bothers me when I sleep upstairs with the kids. On normal nights he snuggles with one of the kids after they go to sleep. Last night, a whole different story.

He comes in, jumps on the bed, meows and starts biting at my hair! Why?? Why are cats so weird at times?? I push him off the bed. He meows, jump back up and does it again. Argh!!!

I put him in the hallway and shut the door. That usually does it thankfully. Well, then Elijah wakes up a little after six, opens the door, wants to join me, Madelyn, and Daisy in bed, but I tell him to go sleep with Papa who has a queen size bed to himself! He does, but who sticks around? Samson. Again, meowing, biting at my hair, etc. I throw him out again.

As I lie there trying to go back to sleep I think to myself, "And, why would I want a kitten?"

So, for today I may be okay with not adopting a homeless animal, but may the Lord help me if one comes wandering up to my house or something. Or, like Kerry, she had a man approach her outside of PetSmart with a box of kittens. Get thee behind me Satan!!

So, I am realizing how much of an influence Dan has had on my animals because he doesn't tolerate any of the madness which is probably why Samson stays away from me at night when I am in bed with Dan. Daisy NEVER gets on our bed ... when Dan's around. That's why she sneaks onto the kids bed at night when she thinks of it and sacks out. I would be a stickler with them too if they weren't so darn cute and snuggly ... (sigh) ... again, my problem. Just keep the prayers coming ...

Animals

I love animals. Most people I know know that about me.

So, look at this video ...

I just want to hug and squeeze this cat. He is so fluffy and seeing his legs and tail all sprawled out when he slides across the floor is so adorable! I love it.

So, the other night at Bible Study we got on the subject of animals. I won't go into all the details, but it had to do with should we kill animals. Is it biblical to kill animals?

This is what I learned ... God created the animals for fellowship. The animals lived in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. Actually, it seems that God made the animals for Adam to have some company, but then made woman because let's face it, what would this world be without women right? ;)

So, it wasn't until Adam and Eve sinned that animals were killed to provide covering for them. Animals were then affected by the fall of man into sinfulness.

I also learned that the lambs that were slain for the Passover were in the people's house for 4 days before they were slain. This gave time for the family to bond with the animals before having to slaughter it to show the sadness of having to sacrifice for the sake of our sins. That would be devastating. Can you imagine?

I came home and discussed all of this with Dan. I told him this gave me a new perspective on animals to which he replied, "As if you need that." I really don't. I still cry over my poor little Liezl dog who we had to have put to sleep. Ugh. I hate reliving those days. I know. She was "just a dog," but really, they do become a part of your family. You can't deny that, and she was so sweet!

Now I have Daisy whom I just love like crazy. If I could clone her, I would. I want to have her forever!

Think about it. Animals were created for our fellowship. Studies have shown that people who own pets live longer. It is therapeutic for people to sit and pet an animal. That's why taking animals into hospitals and nursing homes is so beneficial for the patients.

I love coming home and being greeted by my excited dog. She is always so happy to see me. My cats love to sit on my lap any chance they can. I love it and they love it to.

Dan is right. I didn't need this new perspective. It's making me think twice about eating meat, and I want to get a rabbit for Madelyn. When I was looking for a dog to adopt she kept saying she wanted a rabbit, and she still says that. So far Dan is saying no which is probably good. I can just imagine what my mom is saying too if she is reading this.

That doesn't mean I won't keep trying for Madelyn :)