Sick kitty

I wasn't planning on blogging tonight. I thought I'd be in bed by now because I've been very tired all day. But Little Sister is still up, and I'm not sure I'll sleep very well anyway. Last night, I tossed and turned and woke up with a little prayer stuck in my head all night. It was a prayer for a cat. I know some of you probably think that's stupid. If so, go ahead and stop reading now. But if you're willing to at least consider that God, in His unfailing, intimate love for us, might care about the things that are most important to us, then it should make perfect sense.

I brought Keaton home with me one day during my student teaching. She was one of several tiny kittens in a litter that someone was just giving away, and she was covered in fleas. Hubby and I would sit & just pull them off of her, and she would just lie still and content in our hands and purr. Al was curious and licked her a lot but was generally very gentle. She has since become a member of our family, with her own stories and eccentricities . She used to roll seductively on the floor when she was in heat, before we had her "fixed". Once she shredded some of our new wedding registry towels when she used to knead her claws into them to fall asleep in the linen closet. She used to come when we would whistle for her, but only if we whistled Gershwin. She has always been able to find an open window in record time, enjoying the fresh air and peering at birds and squirrels through the screen. She even talks to birds and bugs. If you pet her when she's in the right mood, she'll purr loudly and give you a love bite. If you touch her when she's in the wrong mood, and you have a history of pulling her tail (Big Sister) she might give you a real bite. Despite that, Big Sis thinks she is the best animal in the world. She adores her and is always delighted to walk into her room and find Keaton in the window or curled up on the bed. One more thing about Keaton: she can stare anyone into giving her food.

But lately, she hasn't wanted any food. That's been the problem. A little over a month ago we found a lost mangey puppy and brought her into our home. Keaton has not adjusted well. We resolved to give it time, and after some deliberation, she seemed to be doing alright. She would mostly stay upstairs, away from the dogs, but she would venture down in the evenings and eat a little. But when Sophie (the new pup) figured out how to jump the baby gate and get upstairs, Keaton did not take it well. She got too stressed out. First she stopped coming downstairs. Then she stopped coming out of her little hiding places. And now she has stopped eating.

So, that brings me to last night. She looked awful- frail, pitiful; she even had a touch of jaundice. I woke up all night and checked on the baby, checked on the cat, whispered a prayer that she would make it until I could get her to the vet, and tried to go back to sleep. This morning I loaded up the girls and we all went to the vet. Big Sister made up a song to sing to the cat that went something like "it's ok, it's ok, it's ok you're sick. The doctor will help you" (okay, I think the words "throw up" were in the song too, but I'll leave it to your imagination). The vet did a lot of expensive lab work and told us they need to keep her on an iv for a few days to help her rehydrate and stablize. Now we wait, and, I admit it, we pray. This little animal might not be a person, but she is a member of our family. And she is precious to us all, especially Big Sister. Honestly, I'm not sure what would tear me up more: losing a cat I love so much, or having to explain that loss to my dear three-year-old. I can't bear the thought of either, so I pray. And, if you're not above it, I'd love for you to join me.

Ordinary Radical

Today my husband & I, along with our friend Hope, drove up to Lee University to see Shane Claiborne speak in a chapel service. We got there right as things were getting started and were almost turned away. In fact, we later found out that they had to close the doors with nearly 200 students waiting to come inside. I suppose the fact that Hope & I had infants strapped to us helped earn us some sympathy- they let us stand in the aisle and listen. I love Shane Claiborne because he does the things I am afraid to do. I'd love to run off to Africa to love on babies in an orphanage, or sell everything and live with the poor, or be arrested for sleeping in the park with homeless people, but I've got a mortgage and kids and what about insurance and... you get the idea. But he follows Christ in a "radical" way. He talked about his time working alongside Mother Teresa in Calcutta and the kids in his neighborhood in Camden and worshiping with believers in Iraq. He challenged the notion of "pro-life" and suggested we need to love people "from the womb to the tomb"- changing the way we look at welfare, war, the death penalty, and much more.

Honestly, there wasn't much that he said that we hadn't already heard or read from him before, but it was still so refreshing to hear it again. It was even more refreshing to me to see a group of young people so excited to hear him that they were sitting on the floor in the auditorium. Especially in this election season, when "evangelical" and "values voter" are again loosely defined phrases being tossed around, it was good to see young people who understand that poverty and war and hunger are "values issues" too. It gives me a hope for the church, our future, and our relationship to the rest of the world.

Speaking of the future, this was Little Sister's second time to "hear" Shane, and she is only 4 months old. Granted, the first time she had to hear him through my tummy, and I'm not sure she had developed ears yet, but still, she was there. Both of my girls are amazing, and I have great expectations for both of them. But part of the reason we chose her name (aside from being able to agree on VERY few names and even fewer Biblical ones) was because of my favorite professor at Georgetown. She taught me about the Bible & church history, but also about being a strong, intelligent layperson and woman of God. There were many times I looked to her as an example of faith and grace when I found myself angry or cynical about the church and our imperfections. She introduced me to Molly Marshall and encouraged me to be the first female student to "preach" (careful now, might make someone uncomfortable) in a Georgetown convocation. My hope & prayer is that my little girl might change the world, like Shane, or at least someone's world, like Dr. Hoyle did mine & countless others. And maybe, as I'm trying to encourage my girls to live out their convictions, I will be further encouraged to do the same.

Top ten reasons I had a great birthday

10. A new date outfit from my husband- he even got it on clearance!
9. A hilarious picture of the day by Kevin K Lewis that made me laugh my way to sleep- conference girlfriend... haha!
8. Well-behaved (mostly) puppy dogs
7. Yummy rich chocolate cake from Fresh Market
6. Phone messages from my crazy family singing "Happy Birthday" on the answering machine
5. Lots of Facebook birthday wishes from people from every stage of my life- from elementary school through mommyhood.
4. Getting a bunch of stuff done around the house because Little Sister gave me her gift- she took a nice long afternoon nap
3. Sweet friends to watch our kiddos so we could have dinner without involving crayons, grilled cheese, pacifiers or chocolate milk.
2. White Canterbury Bell flowers, my favorite, bought by my hubby & delivered by my sweet girl
1. Very thoughtful gifts from a very thoughtful husband- including a Dvd of the 1925 Phantom of the Opera movie that we used to watch at the Alabama Theater every October when we lived in Birmingham. I've missed you, sad & creepy Lon Chaney!

Oh yeah- and I'm still in my twenties for one more year!

1930's wife score

60 As a 1930s wife, I am Superior Take the test!

Trash to treasure

I have a confession to make. I am a terrible cheapskate. I clip coupons, buy nearly every article of kids clothes second-hand, and (gasp!) have been known to regift things a time or two. I love the back clearance rack and the days after Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since becoming a mom, I've switched from the Clinique counter to CVS, and from the Limited and Ann Taylor to TJ Maxx and Target. In high school & college I used to get really expensive haircuts & coloring. Now, I can't remember when I last got my hair cut, but I am fairly sure it was at Supercuts.

Part of this is due to the fact that I was an elementary school teacher. During student teaching, I started collecting ANYthing I could use in my classroom. It was pretty much a requirement for getting a certificate: "gathers junk and turns it into a teachable moment? check." The (wonderful) teacher with whom I student taught moved up to a higher grade the year I was hired, so she gave me a lot of her primary resources. Lite brites, cookie cutters for play-do, dry erase boards, and any number of other teaching treasures were all mine, all free. It was teacher heaven!

Another reason I think I'm like this is because I am a stay at home mom. The church actually takes very good care of us, but owning your first home and having kids can be expensive! We weren't like a lot of our (smart) friends who waited and worked for a while before starting a family. No, instead we went from both being students to me being a teacher while my hubby finished seminary to parenthood. Even then, my cheapskate side showed through- I paid $15 to buy a high chair, crib, and changing table from a teaching friend of mine- and that was about all they were worth. Fortunately for Big Sister, my parents saw the absurdity of the labor and materials it would have taken to make those suitable for our little princess and went straight to Babies R Us. Most of my secondhand home purchases actually do work out. A majority of the furniture in our house came from someone else- I have sanded and painted tables, recovered chairs, made creative uses of slip covers, and more. If you don't want it anymore, call me (my husband will be so happy with me for saying that and volunteering to take more junk). Yes, it is an effort to save money, but it is more. Old stuff has character. It has its own story, real or imagined. And actually, I enjoy the project- seeing the potential in something someone else discarded as hopeless. Kind of reminds me of the gospel. Here is one of my favorite projects, my dining room set. In the background you can see some bamboo blinds we picked up from a freecycle post, and under the table is the puppy we "picked up" as a stray!


Honestly, though, I think I am the way that I am because God knows what He is doing. For one, He knows I'll never be uber-wealthy with a masters in education and a minister husband. Even the other career options I've considered (and there are many) are not the kind of professions you choose if you want to be rich: social work, counseling, law... trust me, if I were a lawyer I'd be the poor kind. Not only this, but God has given me a great passion for social justice issues, especially relating to poverty. Because of this, I have a very hard time being upset that I don't have an iphone when a child dies every 5 seconds due to hunger-related causes. I actually feel guilty for having the resources that I do and not sharing more. Hubby and I both decided in the beginning of our relationship that we wanted to be the kind of couple, now family, that helps others and gives freely when there is a need and that trusts God to provide. Lately, in my deepening understanding of living out the love of Christ, that has also translated into making wiser decisions about what to do with my money. I do believe money talks, and I don't want mine to say I support materialism or exploiting people in sweatshops or destroying God's creation or creatures. Of course, I am still a suburban mom, not a member of The Simple Way, so my money unfortunately still says a lot of those things. I'm just trying to keep turning down the volume. (Speaking of The Simple Way, Shane Claiborne will be at Lee this week. Any of you locals want to go with me?!)

So where did this random confession and ensuing guilt trip come from? We've spent the weekend with my wonderful parents, who came down to help us around the house. Besides patching, sanding & priming the former wallpaper-nightmare that is our hall bath, we fixed up some yard toys for Big Sister. The sandbox and playhouse have been around for a little while now, but they were well-loved by their previous owners. The swingset was one of my recent freecycle.org aquisitions. All of them are now cute & very usable, with the cost of some paint & elbow grease. Plus, we kept them from ending up in the dump. I know someday she will look around and notice that some of her "new" toys are actually older than she is (and don't go feeling sorry for her either, she gets PLENTY of new stuff from those same wonderful parents of mine, along with many other people who spoil her to pieces). I'm hoping that this realization will only help to further shape her into a passionate, caring person who refuses to fit any mold and leaves everything, and everyone, better than when she found it. That is my prayer for both of my girls.

So there you have it. Trash to treasure, the theme of my home. And hopefully a little picture of grace. Time to wrap this up. I've got to eat dinner, and then I have to sit down and go through three bags of clothes & shoes my mom brought me from my very fashionable cousin. I hope some fit- I've been worrying about what I'll wear this fall until I work off more of my pregnancy weight. I should know better than to worry. God dresses the lilies of the fields. He keeps giving & giving. I am so blessed.

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What kind of mom does this make me?

I'm thinking either really good for encouraging her creativity and not asking her to conform to other people's standards for fashion... OR really bad for setting her up to be disappointed when she realizes her days of wearing "interesting" outfits to the mailbox will someday no longer be cute. In fact, some day they could earn her the label of the town Boo Radley.

Just in case you're wondering about the ensemble: Ariel dress (or nightgown, to be truthful) and Belle shoes by Disney. Hat by Firehouse Subs. "Scarf" by- well, I don't know but she it used to hang on my oven. You have to love the resourcefulness.

One more thing- my husband will kill me for including the grass in this picture. He does mow it...