CATS!!!!!!

Cats! Lots of cats! We went from being a family with one cat to a family with 5 cats temporarily. If you know me then you know I am a sucker for animals. Danny and I have rescued over 25 animals since we got married. Most have been dogs. But, now, it is CATS! I have to admit, we have too many and two must go! Our sweet Gumbo is almost 10 years and we decided to add a cat to our family to give her a companion. We added 8 week old Cali the Calico kitten. She was our rescue at one day old when momma cat proceeded to give birth in our backyard and walk off (or so we thought). I will come back to that comment. Our Vet Tech bottle fed her and got her to a healthy age and then we took over. Two days into our new happy family, momma cat shows back up at our doorstep begging for food. Sidebar....Did I forget to mention we had been feeding momma cat for about 3 weeks before she gave birth(didn't know she was pregnant)? Our goal there was to earn her trust to get her Off the street. She would come in and eat in our kitchen and immediately want back out. She was very moody and took a long time for her to warm up to us. Bck to the story....two days after bringing our sweet Cali home, momma cat shows up for her evening meal and has a kitten in tow. Oddly enough the kitten is the same size as our little Cali. After our shock wears off, they both come in, eat and leave. The next morning, momma cat shows up with her baby plus an additional bundle of joy! Are you keeping count? Where were all these fur balls all this time? In a coinki dink, our neighbor was tearing down a shed in his backyard the same day the kittens appeared. They lost their shelter and momma brought them to us. At the very next feeding time, we let them in on the kitchen floor to eat. Momma proceeded to eat, sit down, and not want to leave! Her usual bit of eat and bolt was no more. We knew at that point she had no more kittens outside. Fast forward to today. The kittens are 12 weeks old and two WILL be finding new homes in the very near future. As for momma cat. She has turned out to be the calmest and laziest cat ever. So our family now consists of Our sweet Gumbo, 12 week old Cali, and Crytal the 2 year old who has decided we are her forever family. I am sure this will not be our last animal adventure. I truly believe, they put out a signal to animals everywhere that a sucker lives in our house and they will not be turned away. Oh, and if you want to know how to keep a house clean and smelling fresh with 5 cats, I am the queen of that department. Hopefully my next post will be written with two less curries pouncing around my living room.

Just Good or Absolutely Great!

I love my job! I don't know if most people can say that these days. My boss is fantastic, I get to use my creativity, marketing and speaking skills, and I get to build relationships with Raving Fans of Chick-fil-A everyday. He is a constant encouragement, source of knowledge, has a listening ear, and challenges me at every turn. I have spent the last couple of weeks mentoring and encouraging a friend in the marketing industry. She is good at what she does, and could be great, but is held back by a boss who sees her as just another employee. What I mean by that is that I go to work everyday with a couple of goals in mind. Represent the Chick-fil-A name well and lift my boss up by doing the absolute best job I know how to do. My friend desires that as well but is being pushed down with every idea or action. She feels frustrated, deflated, and stuck. Why do I bring this up? I was thinking, how many times do I (intentionally or unintentionally) limit God in His ability? Sounds like a strange question because God's ability is endless and perfect. How many times does He tell me something or put something in my path to move me His direction and I don't see God for who He really is? In the ordinary day to day life, do I make Him ordinary? Is He "just God"? I think life has a way of detouring God's plan for us at times. He desires to do great things in and through us but we miss the blessings because we are like that boss....we hold God back with what He wants to do. We get "good" but we could have gotten "great"!

Up To Speed

When I was a kid, time never moved fast enough. An hour in an English Lit. class felt like 4 hours, waiting for a date to pick me up felt like an eternity, and parents could not get home quick enough when babysitting. I find it interesting that time now seems to move at lightning speed. I remember almost every detail of the last two Christmases because they seemed like they were just a few months apart. The litle girl who I rocked and sang to just a year ago is now 3, and it seems like yesterday that our beloved BoBo died...and it's been almost two years.

What is it with time? I am just as excited about upcoming events as I was as a kid yet they seem to be over in the blink of an eye.

2012 is lining up to be a year of milestones for my family. Meagan will start Kindergarten in the Fall, Danny will prayerfully transition into a new company in late summer/ early Fall, we will be moving into a house in April, and Emily will be fully potty trained leaving our house diaper free for the first time in five years. With time moving so quickly, I wonder if I will remember the details of these events.

What is it about time? There is so much of it yet not enough. I am working hard this year to revel in the small moments and journal them through picture and words so I can capture the details that will be forgotten otherwise. I am blessed with every second of life God gives me and I would love for it to slow down so I can enjoy it even more.

Living With An Extremely Strong Willed Child

Don't get me wrong, our first child (Meagan) is strong willed, a leader, and extremely stubborn at times. How can that be magnified? How can that be topped?

Enter child #2.....Emily. Any idea must be her idea.....or at least she must think it is her idea. She tells you exactly how she is feeling all the time. You never have to wonder what she is thinking or feeling. Her facial expressions give it away every time. She is not good with change and has to be given warning when things are going to be different. This helps to prevent a nuclear meltdown of catastrophic proportions.

With all of this, we have two of the most amazing kids ever. Our two girls may be challenging at times but We love the fact that God designed them with extreme leader qualities, the desire to be different than other kids, and the ability to express themselves.

I remember something an old friend said when her first child was born 10 years ago. She said, "My job is to break the qualities that need reshaping without breaking his spirit."

This is soooo true. Our job is to allow God to work on her Spirit and for us to encourage it while molding and sometimes reshaping her.

No schooling prepares you for raising kids so I agree that it is the hardest job EVER. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it but it is still the hardest job EVER!

Oh and did I fail to mention that I am strong willed as well? Ha ha....that makes my job even harder. :)

So for all of you with strong willed kids, hang in there. For all of you who are strong willed kids, young adults, or fully grown....I would go hug the neck of your parents, guardian, or who ever raised you. Most likely you challenged them numerous times, gave them a few more grey hairs, and added a few wrinkles to their aging face. Yes, we can blame part of the aging process on strong willed children!

So this strong willed woman will go back to raising our two strong willed girls and love every minute of it. :)