Boots

So a few months back, there was this cat...

and he kept hanging around...

cause apparently stray cats just love homes with 8 kids, 4 dogs and 2 resident, crazy cats!

I mean come on!

I am the "Dog Lady"...

except now I am the "Dog Lady" AND the "Wow, You Have 8 Kids Lady"!

Somehow out in stray cat land, things got all jumbled up cause "The Cat Lady" is NOT one of my official titles!

For real!

However, every cat that we have owned (and I use that term lightly😉) has chosen us!

From Memow...

To GiGi aka Grumpy Girl...

To Boo...

To Doc...

And now Boots!

For months and months, he watched us.

At night, I would see his face looking in but he would not let me near. 

Slowly, the end of our porch became his safe spot and slowly some of the fear began to fade...

*some*

He began to hiss less and "talk" more and then one day...

He came close enough to actually touch my leg...

 with his tail😉

He still wasn't sure, but after months of feeding and patience and lots of cans of Tuna... 

I got him!

And he wasn't happy!

And I was worried.

After working so hard to gain his trust, I just knew we would be starting all over so I prayed.

I took him to the vet and I prayed.

When I picked him up, he wasn't sure and he wasn't happy but he was calm.

So I watched him this time and as he began to understand that he was "home"...

he melted into me and allowed me to pet him...

as well as my partner in crime rescue, Lizzie...

Not only was his trust restored but God seemed to place such a peace within him.

He exhaled and finally seemed to feel safe.

So now what! 

We have these other two crazy cats who don't really like each other, much less this porch prowler!

But with age comes wisdom... and older children!

*wink*

Because now I have this grown child and this grown child has an apartment and... 

a sweet girlfriend...

and they needed a cat!

Right?

Right!

Done!

And while Boots' health journey hasn't been easy so far, his life now sure is...

and I get to watch as my first born chooses wisely and loves well!

And while Boots is still sporting "the cone of shame"...

I think he has determined that even with the "cone of shame", apartment life is way better than porch life!

He is sweet and snuggly and I honestly cannot believe that our first "grand" is a cat and not a dog!

Go figure!

Tis The Season

No, not that season...

Although I seem to be thinking about Christmas earlier and earlier each year.

With 8 kids, Christmas is never far from my thoughts.

*wink*

No, the season I am referring to is that season in life that overtakes you before you even have a chance to exhale, that season that takes all of your moments and flings them into a future that stands there waiting, as you breathlessly catch up.

Some anxiously race toward that future while some (me) deliberately meander through each moment, clinging even to those memories that are yet to be made.

For me, this season is a incongruous jumble.

With six still at home and four of them exhibiting all the signs and symptoms of teenage girls...

*gulp*

I'm still livin' large in the land of chores and curfews and consequences and "make it all better" hugs...

but I am also learning how to let go and allow the Lord to do what I have prayed for as my two oldest begin their seasons...

cause I don't think you have seasons until you are at least 21...  right??

*grin*

 I will never forget the day I walked in and saw Christian's b*llet proof vest on my kitchen counter.

NOT something I see on my kitchen counters very often ever!

In the past, my kitchen counters have been the depository for books, school papers, snacks, sweatshirts and yes, sometimes even dirty socks!!!

*gasp*

but I can say with certainty that this was the very first time for a b*llet proof vest and unlike the afore mentioned items, I did NOT threaten to throw this one in the trash, if not removed from my counters!

My Christian has graduated and now feels called to join the P*lice Ac*demy and I am proud and nervous and humbled by his desire to serve but his timing stinks😉

Soooooo...  I am praying and trusting and releasing as those middle of the night moments come flooding back to my heart, those nights that seem like forever ago and just like yesterday all at the same time, those nights before I was truly walking with the Lord but He, in His mercy, was there... 

those are the nights that I held and rocked and sang to my first born baby boy.

It was during those moments that the Lord ministered to my heart and began to prepare me for this season.

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19

One of my favorite verses and one that I cling to as I reminisce about one season and anticipate another.  

And then along came Charlie.

*snicker*

Charlie is not quite 21 yet but I am beginning to believe that Charlie IS a season!

*haha*

Charlie is a junior this year and was offered a most amazing internship, one that keeps him busy and out of trouble (mostly😉), but one that keeps him away from home...

Again, Charlie is his own season... you know, sort of like hurricane season!

Bwhahahahahaha!

In other words...

I MISS HIM!

He is a presence and when he is not here, he is missed and this was our very first Thanksgiving without him.

Yep, that dang season of helplessly watching as they grow up and away.

Thankfully, my sweet Sis-in-law and her family got to enjoy Hurricane Charlie for Thanksgiving.

He wasn't alone, and for that...

I am thankful.

Jealous but thankful!

*wink*

and while I am having to dig deep to be thankful for this season that has come way to fast for him, I am thankful; as this internship and the people he finds himself surrounded with, answers a constant prayer from the heart of this Momma who has lived the difference between believing in God and walking with Him. 

So while I don't always find myself "jolly" in this particular season...

I do find my peace in the One who never gave up on me, as I trust that He will relentlessly pursue my p*lice officer and my hurricane and all my other "yet to be's" as they lead me into seasons to come.

Treasuring and Pondering Fall 2018

Fall 2018 

So this Fall we welcomed Christian home for a semester as he prepared to study abroad for the Spring semester.

Yeah, yeah, I know...  great opportunity, awesome experience...

blah blah blah...

talk to me in June and then I might agree with you!

*wink*

More on that later as I just cannot speak of it yet!

*sniff*

Now as we welcomed one home this semester, we delivered another to his Freshman year at college.

Funny, how quiet it has been around here since, oh I don't know...

maybe August 18th???

 Charlie brings laughter and chaos and love and fun and he is truly missed.

His first visit home was a complete surprise and just like Charlie and something I should have expected...

but didn't and it was the best surprise ever!

Halloween came and went...

try explaining that holiday to a 14 year old from China!

in the end, all he needed to hear was "candy", lots of "candy"...

the rest was unimportant!

*grin*

I have never been a huge fan of Halloween but I love Thanksgiving and Christmas and for me, the Christmas Season starts with Thanksgiving...

and this year, we had much to be thankful for.

As I look back on memories from this time last year, I am transported back to mounds of paperwork, heaps of fundraising, moments of sheer panic, an abundance of prayer and smack dab in the middle of all of that...

a fullness of peace...

a peace that defies all logic because it transcends our earthly boundaries of possible and real.

This time last year, we were in the race of our lives...

for - Will's - life.

This time last year, we were anticipating one more chair at the table...

one more running back for Thanksgiving front yard football...

 

one more helper to trim the tree...

one more hand in the Reindeer Food frenzy...

a few more gifts under the tree...

and one less orphan.

Yes, this time last year, we were giving thanks for a journey that had been years in the making but was just beginning to unfold and this year...

we are giving thanks for God's faithfulness and the way in which He prepares and equips us for those journeys that transcend the realms of our comforts and the world's definition of "normal" or even "doable".

This time last year, we were giving thanks for what we knew the Lord would do, as we had experienced this kind of trust before, each step taking us farther away from "normal" and "humanly doable".

It is almost as if the next step appears just as your heel leaves the last, your fear decreasing as the expectation of that next step and the equipping that accompanies it, is established.

This year we are thankful to have been chosen for this impossible journey and the privilege of walking out Matthew 19:26:

“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Cause y'all, there is just no way we could do this without Him...

and we are thankful.

Will was so excited about Christmas.

He told everyone that this was his first Christmas!

He thought maybe he would get a toothbrush...

yeah...

but he really hoped for, talked about and longed for a remote control airplane.

So ya know, we just had to make that happen, cause...

this was his first Christmas after all...  there was much rejoicing!

The best gift we got???

Will asked to speak to someone at our local Chinese Church.

Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.  John 8:32

Overall it was a very good Christmas, filled with much to be thankful for...

however, as Christmas quickly approached, so did the departure of our eldest.

Yes, this is an amazing opportunity and a wonderful adventure for Christian and yes, I am so very excited for him...

but as much as I long to cling to moments past... 

time rolls on, in an ethereal mixture of pensive reflection and anxious but optimistic expectancy, our grip loosening as we trust in the Lord's plan for the children whom He first entrusted to us.

I have been praying about this adventure ever since it became a reality.

I have been praying for the Lord to keep him safe and for the Lord to use this time for His good and I have also been praying for Christian's host family.

I have prayed for them every single day for a few months now. 

We didn't know anything about them until a few days ago, when we received an email with their information.

Dad, Mom, two boys (14 and 12 years old) and a dog!

So far so good but as I read down further I saw Christian's Host Dad's name:

Father's name:  "Jesus"

Jesus had this and I was once again overcome with the way in which He helps me to hang on and to trust and to cast my cares and to help me to remember that He really is listening and working.

The morning after Christmas was still hard and I still cried but not because I feared for my son.

That mixture, that beautiful, wistful melange of past and present and future as Christian stepped out of our story and into his own, was ever present that morning and I just longed to hang on to a few more moments of our past when his story was still entwined in ours.

  One of my favorite Bible verses is Luke 2:19

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

What faith Mary had...

a young girl who faced an impossible situation who knew beyond any doubt that it was all possible with God.  She was excited to behold what the Lord would accomplish through this precious baby boy...

her precious baby boy.

I can only imagine the hope and the anticipation and the fear and the pondering that lived in her heart in those first beautiful moments and all of the moments to come that would be "treasured up" as she prepared to lose the precious gift that was entrusted to her care.

I have treasured up so many memories over the years and in these moments, these junctures of letting go and trusting, I find myself pondering and praying and in awe of our God who began to prepare me even before I knew He was preparing me, even before I truly recognized His hand in my life.

In no way I am comparing myself to Mary, her faith, her loss and the immeasurable purpose she was chosen to fulfill but in some minuscule way, I understand.

I realize the treasuring and the pondering as I live within the anticipation of what God will do and this Christmas with its tinge of reflection, we are thankful...

thankful for what has past and thankful for what is to come because in between the two, He is there, just as He is in every single moment, past, present and future and as the Christmas decorations are packed up, once again, for their yearly hibernation, I muse over the circumstances under which they will return.

We have one going abroad, one headed back to college, one setting his sights on college, two who will be teenage girls very soon (shudder), two who struggle and inspire with every effort and one who doesn't yet grasp the bigger picture of why he is here, and the Lord is in the midst of it all...

and we are thankful.