Happy New year!

As usual it has been too long since I have written. I often think about it and even get as far as logging in before I decide that I need to head to bed instead. I do have to work tomorrow so this will be brief with a New Year's Resolution to try to be more consistent.
We had a good Christmas and as I had hoped it was far less stressful than last year. I think actually having time off was a big plus. Natalie and I were able to do more this year. She participated with the Children's Choir two nights, we baked lots of cookies (still eating those) made a gingerbread house together (check that one off the list to NOT do again :)) decorated the tree, opened a day on the advent calendar each day and did our best to keep Pippi out of the tree. Natalie went "shopping" at school and bought some sweet gifts for me and Bashka for Christmas. Two of the Christmas parties got cancelled due to weather or sickness so it was fun to stay in on those nights.
We continue to work hard every night on her letters, counting, sight words and reading. I have seen such an improvement in her skills. This past weekend Natalie went and spent several nights with her cousin in Virginia. She was very anxious to come back home and yesterday and today she has told me numerous times how much she missed me. When I went to get her, I was thinking about the first time she spent several days with her cousin. Oh, how she did not want to come home with me. She cried and cried and was as mad as could be at me for making her come home. I heard from an old friend on Fasebook today and he commented how much Natalie looked like me. The funny thing was that he had no idea that she was adopted. Yesterday I was telling my mom how corn would affect poor Natalie's belly. My mom turned to me and said, "she gets that from you!" Ha ha! (I have had a sensitive stomach) On one hand I love the fact that so many "things" are assumed and yet on the other hand, I am always willing to share that Natalie was adopted (not that I go around broadcasting it, but if the opportunity arises then I share) if only to show others was a wonderful blessing adoption is.
2009 was a hard year in so many ways. I lost my beloved cat Selah, my cat Maxx came very close to dying and Natalie going to school has been a way harder transition for me than for her. Yet, 2009 has been a great year in the relationship that has developed between Natalie and me. I do love my little girl even more than last year if that is possible. I am excited to see what God has in store for 2010.
May you all have a Blessed and Happy New Year!!

Catching Up

Natalie and Pippi

Pippi growing up fast

Pippi helping decorate the Christmas tree.

Natalie and her cousin Heather at Thanksgiving.

I know it has been awhile since I posted and I really don't have the time to write tonight, but I did want to share a few pictures. We had a great Thanksgiving at my sister Susan's home and as always she blessed us with lots of clothes and toys for Natalie. As we head into December and the many activities going on, I just want to pause and try to stay focused on the true meaning of Christmas. Natalie had a "homework" assignment tonight (one of several) to make a list of everything that she wanted for Christmas. We didn't do the assignment. Natalie doesn't really understand the concept of making a list of what she wants for Christmas and as long as I can get away with it, I really don't want her to be in that mind set of "getting" at Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I love giving gifts and getting gifts, but I really want the focus to be on Jesus and the greatest gift we have ever received. I want Christmas to be about giving and appreciating the "getting" and not just opening of one present and rushing onto the next gift.

Already people have asked her if she is excited about Christmas and Santa coming. Everyone has a different view about Santa and I respect however people have decided to include Santa. For us, Santa is a part of Christmas, but Santa is not the focus of Christmas. I am determined this year for Christmas to be far less stressful than it was last year and also more meaningful to Natalie as she understands so much more. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas just in case I don't write before then!!

Joey with his new friend Pippi!


Natalie and Pippi

Natalie at Pilot Mountain

Natalie, me and Bashka

Yikes! It is November!

But I am glad it isn't October any more. October was a rough month. As you well know, it was the month that Natalie had the H1N1, Selah died and Joey was very sick. Yet there were good things that happened in October too. We made our annual trip to Southern Supreme who host an Open House every year where you get to taste their yummy treats. Two weekends ago we went to the Black Walnut Festival which turned out to be a disappointment as they did not have any black walnuts for sale or children's activities as they had advertised. But we decided to take a trip to Pilot Mountain and it turned out that we timed it well as the colors were really pretty. Last weekend we went to Fayetteville and spent the weekend with my wonderful friends, the Boyles. We had a great time and it was also neat to catch up with some friends I have not seen in years. Natalie had a blast even though she was quite worn out by time we came home.
Another thing that happened in October was the arrival of Pippi. My good friend and co-worker found a kitten in her yard about 3 days after Selah passed away. I was not sure that I wanted another cat so soon. (She has dogs and couldn't keep her.) This was also at the time when Joey was so sick. The vet suggested that I wait 2 weeks until I took her so Joey could adjust. So my mom kept her and I slowly transitioned her to living with us.
She is a sweet kitten, but she is also a terror! The "boys" have adjusted to living with her and Joey definitely is more playful with her around.
This past week I also got some good news about Natalie. Last April she was screened for kindergarten. At that time she was showing a year delay in language skills. So earlier this month I asked her teacher for her to be tested in her language skills. They agreed and retested her with the same test from April with the understanding that is she still showed a significant delay, then they would do in depth formal testing. Well, it turns out that in April Natalie was at 3 years 10 months and now 7 months later she is at 5 years 4 months which is her chronological age. Whew!! All those days of repeating, working and going over and over things has definitely paid off. It also shows me her ability to learn when there are opportunities and encouragement to learn.
This weekend we have stayed home and it has been glorious getting the yard done, the house cleaned and maybe just maybe some time to do a little reading.

Correction :)

Upon reading my blog, my friend Todd told me that I needed to make a correction about the night Selah was in his apartment. It turns out that Selah was not under the bed like I thought, but rather she had crawled up under the covers. So when he pulled the covers back there was Selah!! I can just picture it and it makes me smile to imagine little Selah giving Todd quite a surprise.

Joey went back to the vets again on Friday. Turns out he had a fever and was dehydrated. He had been vomiting all Thursday night. So he got fluids, antibiotics, and medicine for nausea. I am happy to report that he is doing great and back to his usual self now.

Natalie and I carved a pumpkin the Saturday before she got sick. She drew the face and I cut it out. Here are some pictures.

Selah-The cat of nine lives

The expression that cats have nine lives seems to stem from the idea that cats handle amazing feats or accidents and survive without a problem. I'm not sure if Selah's long life was due to the fact that she used many of her "nine lives" but she certainly appeared to do just that. The first time was when she was just a little kitten. I believe I have shared on another post that when I first got her, she was just skin and bones and full of fleas. The next day I had to attend an event out of town all day. I asked a friend to watch her and keep an eye on her. She told me later that she prayed and was so afraid that Selah would not make it through the day, that was how tiny and sickly she was. But she did and she continued to gain strength and weight. For years she weighed in at 10.5 pounds. Her next life event occurred when we lived in Newton, Massachusetts. I lived in a side by side duplex. My neighbor Todd and I shared a common front door that opened into a little screened in porch. The door to his side was on the left and mine was on the right. We also shared a common basement. Todd was a great neighbor and often when he had to be away, I would feed his dog. One night I left my apartment and went into his kitchen and fed the dog and went back to my apartment. Several hours later, I headed up stairs to bed. I couldn't find Selah. I looked everywhere upstairs and down stairs. I was beginning to get upset. I even looked in the basement, but couldn't find her. I figured she must has some how squeezed under the bulkhead in the basement and gotten outside. By this time it was 11:00 at night and I was walking up and down the streets calling her. I lived near a major road and was so afraid of what could happen. At midnight I gave up and headed home. About that time, Todd arrived at home and I told him Selah was missing. He kindly helped me go through the neighborhood again, but we had no luck. I decided to put food outside the door and sleep down stairs just in case she showed up. I had no sooner laid down on the couch when the phone rang. It was Todd and he said to me, "Sherri, come get your cat!"
It turned out that when I went next door to feed his dog, I had left my door open. I had gone in the kitchen and she had come into the apartment and gone upstairs. When Todd went to bed, she came out from under the bed and scared him silly!! I was so grateful to have her home!
Fast forward several years and I had just moved to North Carolina. I was using a mover and I had arrived at my apartment with Selah and Maxx and personal items. The truck was to arrive in 2 days. So I left the cats in the apartment and went to spend the night at my sister's. I came back the next day and there was no Selah. Maxx was there, but I could not find Selah. There really weren't any boxes and there was no furniture for her to hide under. I kept calling her and the only thing I could think of was that some how she has climbed up the dryer duct and was stuck inside. But I couldn't see anything. So I began a wide sweep of the apartment again. I went into the bathroom and opened up the doors under the sink. Lo and behold, there was Selah. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her. She must have pulled the door open with her paw and then slid in with the door closing behind her. So she had stayed under the sink possibly for the whole night. Again I was grateful that she was okay.
Often when I had to go away for a week or so, I would load up the three cats and take them to my mom's house. At that time she lived about 45 minutes away. One time I left them and went somewhere. I found out later that my mom could not find Selah for a day. She looked everywhere and was so afraid that some how she had managed to get out the door. Finally she found her. She has squeezed herself under the decorative edge of the dresser and had slid under it. You couldn't see her behind the dresser, but only if you got on the floor and looked directly under it.
In the next year or so, Selah began to lose weight. I finally figured out that she was having trouble with her teeth. When she was a kitten she was so malnourished that her teeth suffered. So she had to have several abscess teeth pulled. She made it through the surgery okay and began to put her weight back on. Last year right after I returned from Russia with Natalie (I had been gone a month at this point) I noticed that Selah would go to eat, meow, shake her head and walk away. It took a week or so for me to finally realized that she was probably having trouble with her teeth. Sure enough she had a huge abscessed tooth. At that point she was almost 19 years old and I was afraid she would not make it through the anesthesia. But the vet promised that she would have her under only a short time. I felt I didn't really have a choice. Either she would continue to starve to death if we didn't do the dental surgery or I could risk that she didn't come out of the surgery. So I agreed. The vet told me that I could go home and she would call me. I left the office and headed home. I don't think I had been home more than 30 minutes when the vet called to tell me that Selah was up, moving around and doing great. The tooth had been really bad. I picked her up later that day and she continued to eat without a problem and gain some weight back. By then she had come down to 8 pounds and stayed steady at that for about a year. She would never eat can cat food and only ate the crunchy dry food. That always made it hard when she was having trouble eating.
In April of this year, she began to show signs of weight loss and slowing down. I would take her in periodically and the vet would give her fluid subcutaneously. She would perk up and be fine for awhile. Between April and July I averaged a visit about once a month. In July she seemed to take a turn for the worse and one day I went into the vet's office sure that I would have to have her put to sleep. It was a difficult day. But the vet showed me how to administer the fluids and I began doing this at home. I did this for 2 weeks and she also began to eat Maxx's special formula food. She bounced back, gained a pound and I stopped the fluids. But the last one or two time I gave her the fluids, she had begun to meow whenever I put the needle in. So for 3 more months she did great.
Then 2 weeks ago today she began her decline. Her weight had dropped and it was too painful for her to have the fluids administered. She continued to eat some, but it was evident that she was having trouble eating the crunchy food. I began syringe feeding her which she hated. I think I knew in my heart that there would be no returning from this decline and that she was not going to be able to use another one of her "lives." It was so heartbreaking to watch her begin to struggle every day.
As hard as it was and I cried all the time, I had to also focus on the long and wonderful life she had lived. I have been corresponding with Gwen Cooper who wrote the book "Homer's Odyssey, A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned about Love and Life with a Blind Wondercat" (www.gwencooper.com) I had shared about my three cats and so I wrote to tell her of Selah's passing. She wrote a very kind and quick response. She wrote one sentence that really spoke to my heart. She said, "To live long and well and ultimately go quickly is about the most any of us can hope for, which makes Selah an extraordinarily lucky cat." Selah did live long and well. I found a chart online that converted cat years to human years. Selah had lived to be 96 years old in human years. What an extraordinary and wonderful life she did live. She has been and will continually be greatly missed. Thank you for taking the time to travel down memory lane with me and remember so many things that make Selah the great cat that she was!

The Water Cat

I like to drink water. I like it filtered and I like it cold. Nothing tastes better to me than fresh water and cold at that!! Selah on the other hand had an entirely different opinion on water. Not that she didn't like to drink it, but the less clean, less fresh the water the better. Early on when I first got Selah, I would take a shower, get out and find Selah sitting on the commode waiting for me to finish and then she would jump into the tub and finish drinking the droplets of water. She did this for a number of years and then just stopped for several years and about 4 years started doing it again. When I lived in Fayetteville I had a 10 gallon fish tanks that was on a stand about 3-4 feet high. It had a lid that covered only half of the tank in the front. Selah was jump on top of that tank and drink that fishy water. She would sometimes paw at the fish through the glass but never stick her paws in the water. But she loved that water. When we lived in an apartment in Boston, we had sliding glass doors. When the door was steam up and and the condensation would trickle down to the metal threshold, she would drink that water. She always had fresh water available but loved that "dirty" water. She has preferred to drink out of the trays around plants or flower pots, swimming pool water (from Natalie's inflatable pools) puddles from rain water and most recently the creek water through the back yard woods. My mom and I joked that she would travel down to the Fountain of Youth. I don't know, maybe all that "dirty" water was what kept her going all these years.

Updates

Several people have asked how we are doing since Natalie was sick. Neither my mom or myself caught the flu and we are very thankful for that. Natalie went back to school this week and every day she has come home so tired. She is sleeping 11-12 hours a night and still tired in the morning. It has been an adjustment for her since during the week home, she slept later in the morning and had any where from a 2 hour daily nap to up to 5 hours of napping. Her nose is still runny, but the cough is just about all gone.
Joey is still having a hard time, though he did sleep curled up to me last night and late this afternoon he did eat a little can food. He did rub against my legs a couple of times and now is sleeping on my bed. He seems to sleep better there when Maxx is sleeping at the foot of the bed. He did respond more to being brushed today. In this picture Joey is awake, but that is how he looks lately. He keeps his eyes almost closed as if he is just too tired to open them. He reminds me of some one who is so depressed that all they want to do is sleep. But if I compare the last 3 days, today has been his best day so far.

The Traveling Cat

When I was growing up, my father was in the Army so we moved around quite a bit. When I became an adult, not only did I like to travel to see different places, but I also moved a lot because of jobs or other opportunities. Since Selah lived with me, she had no choice but to move with me or to travel with me when I went home to visit my family. Selah was a great traveler and mover except for one thing. She would get motion sickness. The day I picked her out was right after work and I lived about 45 minutes away. So I put her on the floor of the car on the passenger side. Not far into the ride, I heard this little cry and soon the poor kitten had purged from both ends. I had no idea that this would become routine with her. I learned to travel with plastic bags, paper towels and extra newspapers and ALWAYS put her in a carrier. I had heard about a woman who was traveling through the area where my family lived. She was not from the area and was traveling with her two cats. She was in an accident and the cats ran away from the car. Complete strangers in the area combed the area for her cats and thankfully found them. After I read that, I always made sure Selah was in the carrier. The other thing about being in the carrier was that any where between 10-45 minutes into the trip (which could be as simple as a visit to the vet or 9 hours to Pennsylvania) there would always be the moment when you knew what was coming. Selah had this distinct meow. You would hear her start to meow in this fashion and you knew the purging was about to begin. When I traveled from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania, there was one rest stop that we consistently stopped at about 45 minutes into the trip. It was like clockwork! She wasn't always the quietest traveler either. It seemed the older she got the more she would meow during a trip. When I moved from Massachusetts to North Carolina, I don't think she stopped meowing the entire trip.

Although traveling in the car involved a little upheaval for her, moving did not. She quickly adjusted to her new surrounding and it was never traumatic for her. She started her life out with me in Fayetteville, North Carolina where she lived with me for 4 years. At that point I moved to Romania to work in an orphanage and with a local church. Leaving my friends and family were hard. But the hardest part was leaving Selah. You can talk and correspond with family, but you can't with your animals. At that point she moved to Pennsylvania and lived with my mom for 2 years. It was a great time for her as she got to spend a lot of time outside. She loved chasing grasshoppers. When I returned to the states, I picked her up and we moved back to Fayetteville into an apartment for awhile and then into a house. We stayed there for a year and then moved to Boston. In Boston we lived in a company provided apartment, the second floor of a two family dwelling, (both of these in the same suburb) a side by side duplex in Newton, Ma and then another side by side duplex in Brighton, MA. Our total time in Boston was 6 years and then we moved to the Triad area in North Carolina. We first lived in an apartment and then 6 months later moved into our current home, where she lived for 7 years.
Maxx joined us after 10 years together in Boston and Joey joined us 2 years after living in North Carolina. I really think our current home is the one she liked the best and I am glad this is where she was at the end of her life. I can't help but look at the woods in the back yard and think of her last travels down to the creek and back. Even at the end, she was still a traveling cat!

Joey Update

This morning I found Joey under the bed and curled up in a ball. I took him down stairs to the litter box and he did a few things that had me concerned. So this afternoon we were back to the vet. Joey saw the vet that performed Maxx's life saving surgery and I saw the vet that was with me on Monday passing by and she stopped in. I explained what was going on with Joey. He had some tests done and it turned out that everything was okay, but both vets felt that the major changes like the litter box being gone, the cups of water gone and the bathroom door being closed were quite traumatic to Joey. So just like a little child, he was waiting as long as he could before he had to go which was causing some problems. They also felt that he was indeed grieving for Selah. The vet that saw Selah commented that "cats don't live in our houses, we live in theirs." So they suggested that I put a litter box back up stairs as well as the little cups of water. When we got back from the vets, Joey ran up stairs and began eating. I showed him that "things" were back where they had been before. Only this is a different litter box so I am not sure if that is going to be a problem for him or not. I hope in the future to gradually move it back down stairs. But for the time being if it helps him, it will be worth it. He does seem a little more like himself though he does indeed seem sad. He is actually sleeping on top of the bed instead of under it right now.

Day 2-Joey Grieves

Today I had planned to write more about Selah, but I will save that for tomorrow. Thank you so much to all of you who have called and sent emails. Everyone has been so kind and I appreciate it so much. I am still so sad today and I know with time it will pass as so many of you who have lost pets have shared. It has hit me hard, but I am surprised by how hard it has hit Joey cat. Yesterday when I came home, I cleaned up all the special things I had done for Selah to make her life easier. I had a litter box in my bathroom, little Dixie cups of water in the bathroom and a towel at the foot of my bed where I left treats and her dry food so she didn't have to get off the bed to eat. Joey thought these were all for him too and he enjoyed the benefits. Today these are all gone and I am not sure if that has affected him as well.

Every day my mom comes over the house and lets Maxx outside. He usually just hangs out around the patio but stays outside until I get home from work. Joey on the other hand would sleep on my bed where Selah would also sleep each day. At night Selah would be on the pillow and Joey would lay almost on top of me right next to me near the edge of the bed. As soon as I would get up, Joey would be at my feet, rubbing on my legs for some Whisker Lickens his favorite treat. This morning I didn't see Joey the entire time I got ready for work. I finally found him hiding under a side table. When I called his name I could hear him meow almost like a cry. I gave him a few treats and today when I got home from work, they were still there and he was not. I expected to find him on my bed, but he wasn't there. Instead he was under my bed lying in the exact spot that Selah laid for the last week. Again he meowed that pitiful cry. I gave him some treats and he ate a few. This evening I came upstairs and again he was under the bed. I took him out and tried to brush him which is something he loves, especially on the side of his mouth where his whiskers are. But he just laid there and didn't move. So I picked up up and held him and we just rocked in the rocking chair. Seeing him like that made me cry all the more. When I put him, down he left the room and went under the bed in the guest room.
It just breaks my heart to see him like that and I am hoping with time, his little heart will heal too. Joey has always been a one person cat, but I had no idea that he was so attached to Selah. Please pray for little Joey that he will be alright.

Good-bye Sweet Selah

(Correct date on picture is supposed to be October 10, 2009)

It has been an awful week and a half. Last Sunday night Natalie started running a fever and by Monday she was so sick she couldn't eat and wasn't talking. We went to the doctor's where she was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus. The fever stayed until late Wednesday morning and she was doing better Wednesday and Thursday though still congested and coughing and she had a runny nose. So I planned to send her to school on Friday, but Friday morning she was running a fever again that lasted until Saturday. Back to the doctor's, a new prescription and she was able to go back to school today. I have never seen her so sick or run a fever as high as she did. It was heartbreaking to see her so sick. I am grateful she is doing so much better.

The Friday before Natalie got sick, I could tell that Selah had lost more weight and sure enough she was down to 5 pounds. So on Saturday I tried giving her fluids subcutaneously as I had 3 months before. I had done that for 2 weeks 3 months ago and it make a world of difference, to the point that she was eating, gaining weight and I didn't have to give her fluids any more. But this time it was different. She meowed when the needle went in and she "cried" the entire time and struggled to get away. Before she would lay contently and purr. It was so hard to see that I decided that I wasn't going to put her through it again. She was still eating and drinking, but then about 4 days ago she stopped eating. I tried feeding her by syringe, but that was a struggle. On Saturday I stopped giving her food. Meanwhile she seemed to have more difficulty walking as though she had arthritis. But she wanted to go outside more which was unusual for her. Twice a day she would make a journey down the yard through some shallow woods and drink from a little creek that was there. The other major difference was that she stopped sleeping on my pillow at night.

By Saturday I was struggling with whether or not to take her in to the vets. They were only open in the morning as was the doctor's office. I decided that it was more important to get Natalie into the doctor's office. I wasn't sure if Selah would make it through the night. But she did. It was hard to watch her make her way to drink water and go back under the bed. Originally I had plans for the entire weekend, but because Natalie was sick I cancelled everything. Some how the Lord was using that to allow me to be home and spend some time with Selah. I have to confess that I have been crying all week and this weekend as I knew the end was coming soon. I had made up my mind on Sunday that I would take her in to the vet's first thing Monday morning to end her pain. On Sunday evening she was out from under the bed a lot and wanted to be picked up and held. It was a sweet time. I went to bed about 10 and woke up at 11 and checked on her. She was under the bed and okay. After I got into the bed, I heard her meow and fall as she tried to jump on my bed. My bed is higher than the average bed. So I picked her up and she laid on my pillow for about 10 minutes and left. About 5 minutes later, I heard her jump on the bed and she came over to the pillow. She slept on it for about 4 hours. Snuggled up next to my head. She would get up and move to another position and it was so hard to watch her struggle to get comfortable. It was as if this was her gift to me, one last time sleeping on the pillow.

This morning she was under the bed and came into the bathroom. For years she has loved to jump in the bathtub after my shower and drink the residue water. This morning she looked at me and I gently lifted her up into the tub. I added some water and let her drink. Then I took her out. She did this twice.

Then it was time to go. I was the first one at the vet's office and had to wait about 5 minutes for the vet to arrive. There are 2 out of 4 vets there that have seen her the most and one of them was the first one to arrive. I carried her in the exam room and laid her on the table. She was purring and still rubbing her head against my hand. The vet administered the medication and it was quickly over. As heartbroken as I am, I know that she is no longer suffering and no longer in pain. I will miss my sweet girl. Twenty years is a long time and I have been so blessed to have had her that long. We have so many wonderful memories and over the next several days, I plan to blog about some of them. Good-bye sweet Selah, thank you for your love, companionship and all the joy you brought into my life. You will be greatly missed!

Please Vote

I read a book several weeks ago called Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper (http://www.gwencooper.com/) It is the story about a blind cat. It was well written and I think any one who loves animals would enjoy it. I've been following Gwen's blog and through it found out about an organization called Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary. Apparently there is a contest running and each day you can vote. The organization that gets the most votes when the contest is over will win $20, 000. If you have time, please take the time to vote to help this wonderful organization. I was excited to learn that they are located in North Carolina. So click on the link below and vote!

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces?siteId=3

Pick Blind Cat Rescue in the state of North Carolina

Here is the link for the Blind Cat Rescue:

http://blindcatrescue.com/

Too Funny

On Wednesday Natalie told me they had a fire drill at school. She then proceeded to get down on her knees and tuck her head. I responded by saying, Natalie, you had a tornado drill. She said, "That's right Mommy." We talked a little about tornadoes and then she went on to say, "Mommy it will blow really hard when the tomato is on you!"

Happy 20th Birthday Selah!!

Although I don't know officially when Selah was born, I estimated it was sometime in September based on how old she was when I got her in November. She was a tiny kitten full of fleas and just skin and bones. But I saw something in her and chose her over the other healthy kittens at the vet's office. Now here it is 20 years later. Health wise she has been holding her own and is doing okay. I think she feels lighter when I pick her up, but the scale still says 6 pounds. She has been such a sweet cat all of these years and maybe some day I will sit down and write her life history. I am truly grateful that God has allowed her to live this long and she is such a joy to me. Happy Birthday Selah, may there still be many more!!

School Days

I can't believe that Natalie has been in school 3 weeks already. The time is flying by. It has been an adjustment for me having to do homework with her every night. She has sight words (one of several nightly assignments) and Thursday night it finally started to click for her. Some nights she has had quite a bit to do and that leaves little time for play. Thankfully there is no homework on the weekends. Some times I have to sit back and think not so much about all the things she is learning or has to learn, but at all the things she has learned. It is really amazing!! It is hard to believe in the 17 months that she has been home how much her language skills have improved. I am not just talking about speaking English, but counting, writing, colors and so many things that she was behind on compared to other children. She is doing great!

Hello School!

Natalie started school on Tuesday. She is really enjoying school. Other than adjusting to getting up at the crack of dawn (really it is before daylight) and working out the bus schedule, everything has gone well. Last Sunday there was an open house as she is attending a brand new school. I got to meet her teachers and tour the school. Tuesday there was a brief meeting for all kindergarten parents and it took me longer to get to the school (due to traffic and finding a place to park) than for the meeting itself.

She was disappointed yesterday as it was Saturday and she didn't get to go to school. This weekend I have spent a lot of time catching up on things that needed to be done around the house and especially outside. Natalie has been a great help and it is amazing how fast she is growing up. The other day we were in the car and she told me about a boy at school who had a cut above his eye. Her next remark was that we needed to pray for him. So I told her to go ahead and pray since I was driving. She prayed for him and I was really touched. It is sweet and encouraging to see her compassion and concern for others.

The last several weeks we have been going through tons of winter clothes for her to try on. It is unbelievable how many clothes she has outgrown. The pants and sleeves are too short and some things are too tight. She is definitely having a growth spurt as this child is eating more than me at times. But the good thing is that she likes healthy food and she is not a picky eater at all. Joey Cat even got in on trying on clothes!

It is hard to believe that it was 2 years ago this time that I received word that I had a referral. All I was given was her name, age and one primary diagnosis. Based upon that, I had to decide if I would accept the referral or not. If I did, I would receive more information later on and then still could change my mind if I wanted to. I spoke with the doctor and decided to accept. I would have to wait another 3 weeks before I got all the other information. I can still remember that time so vividly and how surreal it was. Now 2 years later, I still marvel at God's goodness and perfect timing. I am truly blessed by this little girl!! She was so little and now she is in kindergarten. Everyone tells me how fast the time will go and so I am trying to cherish each moment. She has learned so much in day care and I think she will learn even more this year. It is hard to believe that a year ago she spoke very little English. Now it is hard to believe that this little Southern Belle ever spoke Russian. She is amazing!!

Good-bye Summer

Several weeks ago, Natalie and I had what I hope will be an annual camping trip. All in all we had a good time. She was a big help in setting up the camp site and she was good at entertaining herself when I was busy cooking. We learned some valuable lessons along the way. One, if possible try to check out the campsite ahead of time. I chose it online and picked it because it was close to the bathhouse. Well, not only was it close to the bathhouse, but we could hear every time the door opened and slammed shut and even when the toilet flushed!! The site also was VERY rocky and had a lot of tree roots. Poor Natalie was always tripping. Second, flip flops are good only in the shower. Natalie would live in flip flops all year long if I let her. She was always falling out of them, falling or stubbing her toes. Third, bring bug spray. I know that sounds a bit odd, since we are camping outside and there are bugs outside, but we had bees (small and large) flying around all the time. It would have been very handy to have a large can of Raid to aim at them!! Fourth, never leave your garbage hanging in a tree. Since I had not seen any type of critters throughout the day, I figured that the garbage would be fine and I left it in the tree. About 3:40 AM I heard scurrying feet outside and I am not sure what all was out there. I stayed put in the tent and Natalie slept through it all. The next morning when I got up the bag had been ripped out the tree with a big hole in the bottom of it and it had been opened up and gone through. I did find a banana peel at the end of the campsite. Fifth, always clean your dishes before going to bed. We had made some s’mores. We ate them over a plastic bowl. I figured I would wash them in the morning since there was only a small amount of marshmallow residue on the bottom of the bowl. So I stacked the two bowls together and left them in the dish pan to wash the next morning. After I got up and saw the garbage bag on the ground, I realized the bowls were missing. Now these bowls were about 6” X 6” and I never did discover what happened to them!! That made me even gladder that I did not get up at 3:40 in the morning to see who was outside enjoying my new camping bowls that I had just bought. Needless to say, the next night everything was washed up, packed up and in the trunk of the car! Sixth, the tee pee style of campfires is not effective. I tried this style (remembering my Girl Scout days) the first night with limited success and the next night with limited success. I then tried the box stack (don’t know that it is the correct name) and had the best campfire. It lasted all night long and it was great sitting by the fire while Natalie entertained me with her own original song and dance routine! I had originally planned to cook our supper in the fire but when the second attempt failed to produce a good and long lasing fire, I ended up cooking on the stove. Seventh and most importantly, camping is a wonderful way to experience God’s creation, to slow down the pace of life and a great way to have lots of one on one time with the people in our lives who are the most important to us.

Natalie outside our tent.

The lake we swam in. It was sooo COLD!

We have had a great summer and have done so many things. I am looking forward to the pace of life slowing down just a bit!

Clutter

I've been thinking about writing about this for several days. Recently I was talking with several friends who were in the process of removing clutter. One was downsizing to a smaller home and another in preparation for moving. When we think of clutter, we tend to think about all the physical "stuff" we own. But I've been thinking about clutter in a different aspect too. Since I started the adoption process, I have "joined" 6 chat groups specific to Russian adoption. You cannot begin to imagine the number of emails that I get related to those groups. One group I actually have to sign in and read in a general site so that does not fill up my mailbox, 3 groups I have changed my status so in order to read the emails, I have to go to the website to do so and the emails do not arrive in my inbox. Two of the groups, I don't usually get a lot of emails from and the other group tends to have quite a few emails that I never read. The other day I decided to join Facebook based on a lot of encouragement from other people. I never knew I had so many "friends" out there. :) Seriously it has been nice to hear from some people and other people I'm not sure why they want to be my friend since I barely knew them before. The jury is still out on how I feel about the new "clutter" in my life.
Another area that I seem to be experiencing a lot of clutter is the busyness of life. This summer has been almost nonstop. I am actually looking forward to slowing down as the school year begins and the summer activities end. Please don't get me wrong, I have really enjoyed all of the things we have done this summer (and the few remaining things left to do) but I am also looking forward to having quiet evenings at home where we read books, color, play babies and just enjoy being silly together.
Other things that clutter my life include time on the computer and emails. Again, I love being in contact with people and seeing how people's lives are going, especially those who adopted around the time I did, but it is amazing how much time I can spend on the computer. I recently watched a movie and in one scene a woman talks about dating and how now you have to check so many places (home answering machine, cell phone voice mail, email, MySpaces, etc.) to see if the guy had called. I find myself caught up in some aspects in the same scenario. Two months ago, I added email access on my cell phone. So not only was I paying for it on my home computer, now I was paying an additional $20 a month just so I could check to see if I had any emails. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there really was nothing that urgent that I had to see my email the minute it arrived compared to checking when I got home from work or home from a vacation or weekend away. So I cancelled the service.
At times I have to confess that watching TV or having it on for background noise can also be a clutter that I really don't need. I can honestly say, I really don't watch much TV, but the temptation can be there to allow it to be clutter. When I say watching TV it can be as simple as having the news on or a sporting event.
Lately work has been super busy and my desk always seems to be in a state of clutter. When I feel overwhelmed by the clutter on my desk or in my home, I reach a point where I just can't function until I get things back into some sense of order. The clutter is far too distracting.
In my spiritual life, the clutter can be so distracting and overwhelming that it can be difficult to hear the still, quiet voice of the Lord.
So as I go through and pack up the clothes that Natalie has outgrown and remove that clutter from the house, I am also going through and removing the "clutter" from my life so I can focus on the Lord and hear that still quiet voice.

Beach Trip

My favorite picture


Fun in the sun


A Bathing Beauty

Hmmmmm

The other day I read a quote in Reader's Digest (sorry I don't remember the name of the author at the moment) something along the lines of: "In raising small children: the days are long but the years are short" Wow! How profound. There have been days when I have felt like Natalie was never going to get the concept of what I was trying to teach her or the values I am trying to instill in her. Today I picked her up after work at day care and her teacher told me that the children were just wild today and just not listening. BUT she said that there were several children who did a great job listening and those children got suckers. Well, I am very happy to say that Natalie was one of those children. It was about a month ago that she got a "red" string in class for not listening to the teachers. We have talked on and on about how important it is to listen and obey. She has been doing so much better at school and at home since this incident (she did have a few things taken away from her as a result and since has earned them back) and it was so encouraging to me to hear that she did not follow the crowd but instead did the "right" thing.
So on those long days when I feel like I am repeating myself over and over, it is such a joy to know that she is hearing what I am saying and when the "tests" come, she is choosing to make good decisions.
May God continue to give me the wisdom and patience needed to raise Natalie and to help her to chose the right thing to do!!

Summer Fun

Several times I have sat down to blog, but then gotten distracted with other things to do. First of all I want to say that both Selah and Maxx are doing well. Maxx had his stitches out and lost a pound (which he needed to do) and Selah is no longer needing fluids subcutaneously and gained ½ pound. Truly both situations were an answer to prayer and I especially want to thank Hannah who was praying so faithfully for my cats. God is good!!
As I have said in the past, we have had a busy summer. After we came back from vacation we had a play date with my friend Christy and her son Evan. Christy took this great picture of Natalie and Evan.
In so many situations Natalie has been the younger child that others have lead around, but here it was so sweet to see her in the role of “big girl.” Every day she tells me how she is a big girl and the things she can do. She is becoming more independent and I am giving her more responsibilities. On one hand it is hard to let her grow up (because she is doing it too fast for me) and yet on the other hand I want her to be challenged. Her personality continues to shine through. Unlike her mother, she is a very outgoing child and makes friends so easily.
This was evidenced in the next week when we went on a camping trip with the church. She not only made friends with the other little girls in the camp, but won the hearts of many of the other people. She also won first place for the biggest leaf on the scavenger hunt with her partner Austin.
The next week was Natalie’s birthday and she was so excited about the children singing Happy Birthday to her at school. That weekend we continued the celebration of her birthday by going to the Museum of Life and Science. We saw butterflies and bugs, how the wind works, a variety of “wild” animals and lots of fun things related to NASA. For this trip we took Bashka along and had a great time.
The next weekend, Natalie headed to VA and spent the weekend with her cousin. They had a great time, but when it was time to come home, she told me that she was glad to come home. Such a difference from last year when she cried and cried and did not seem happy to see me. I continue to see how much we have and are bonding.
Weekly Natalie has been taking swimming lessons and I have seen such an improvement in her skills. She is also swimming 2 days at week at day care and at home in her little pool.

Natalie is growing up in so many ways and I am always amazed at the changes in her and her language abilities. But the area that I have seen a lot of growth is in her spiritual life. We have always prayed together before bed each night, but now her prayers have so much for depth. She prays for family, for my friends that she has met, for the soldiers, for people to be healthy and now in her prayers she not only thanks the Lord, she also tells Him how much she loves Him and wants to praise Him.
This weekend was very restful and we just spent the time around the house and playing. Next weekend we are off to the beach. We are having a great summer!

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Today Natalie celebrated her 5th birthday. She has a small party at school and we went out to McDonald's for her birthday dinner. She has been home for 15 months now and today was her second birthday celebrated at home. Life has been a whirlwind lately. Between all of our activities and 2 very sick cats (who are doing okay as of tonight) there has been no time to write or share about what we have been doing. I hope to do that in the coming days. Meanwhile here are some birthday pictures!

The Missing Tooth

Seasons

Lately, I have felt overwhelmed by so many things going on in my life. There have been some challenges at my job, returning home after vacation and settling back in, Natalie adjusting to a new summer class at the day care and most recently the decline of my sweet cat Selah.
It has been hard on me. I am up a lot of nights with Selah and that in turn causes me to be tired and my level of patience decreased. But God is faithful and it is his grace that is sustaining me through this difficult time. She has good days and bad days and this week seems to have a lot of bad days. I suspect the end is drawing near and as much as I don't want her to suffer, I already feel the loss. She has been a sweet, sweet cat and has lived in 10 different places with me. Two of those years she lived with my mom while I was in Romania. Those of you who have pets know just how much a family they become to you.
It is hard for Natalie to understand why her mommy seems sad and the whole concept of death is far beyond her ability to grasp. We have talked about my father (especially Sunday on Father's Day) and how he died and is now with Jesus.
In her child like way, Natalie tries to comfort me and often tells me how much she loves me. Because after all love does cover every thing and makes everything better and she is a child who has a lot of love to give.

On June 1, she bumped her bottom tooth with a marker and knocked it loose. That tooth had been loose the week before vacation, the week of vacation, the week after vacation and this week we started on the 4th week of being loose. She ate corn on the cob the other night and still that tooth hung on. Today I had a dentist appointment and got some instructions from the hygienist and tonight that tooth is sitting in a special tooth "cup." We have talked about the "tooth fairy" and she understands that it is "pretend" but we still put the tooth under the pillow. I so want her to understand the difference between pretend and real. Her love for Jesus is real and I want her faith to grow. Because she was "older" when she came home, I feel it is important to be careful in how I present what is real and what is pretend. I can dress up as a princess but that doesn't make me a princess. On the same hand, it doesn't make me one, but it sure is fun to pretend (when I am playing with Natalie) that I am one. So we can have fun pretending about the tooth fairy, Santa Clause and other things that will come up. But when the difficult times come, I am so grateful that I don't have to pretend that there is a God who cares about me and the ache that is in my heart for Selah. He is real and he is able to give comfort and peace.

As I go through these seasons of changes including Natalie loosing teeth and starting school, I am reminded of the scripture found in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven-
A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace.

What comfort there is in knowing the God who created a time for each event in our lives and the seasons that we pass through and grow through.

Boston Pictures

A True Red Sox Fan
Chilling out at the Cape with Tess and Tina

Make Up applied by Natalie on the way to the Cape

On the famous Swan Boats with our friends Lynda and Tess

Hanging out with Mrs. Mallard!

Vacation

Don't you love those vacations where you feel like you have been away from work for a very long time? That was how I felt. It was fine to go back to work though it would have been nice to have one more day at home to get everything caught up. Our time in Boston was great. It was a good combination of getting together with old friends, seeing some of the major sights in Boston and just having some true relaxation time. I must confess driving in Boston was a bit of a challenge. I had forgotten what traffic at rush hour is like!!!
Towards the end of the week, Natalie began to talk about going home and missing Bashka. It was neat to see how much she was missing her grandmother. My friends were all wonderful and spoiled her!!
I was also able to meet up with my friend and former neighbor Todd who was the "push" behind me in the adoption process. It was also great to meet his son who I have not met yet.
It was also neat to see people at church I had not seen in 4-7 years and it was as though no time had passed. I didn't recognize many of the children as they had grown so much and I had to ask my friends who they belonged too!
Natalie graduated from her school program right before we went on vacation. Yesterday she started in her new class for the summer and seems to be doing well. They will be swimming during the summer and she will also begin swimming lessons.
I will post some pictures over the next week of our trip.

Far Too Long

It has been way too long since I have posted. Life is just busy and I find that I am constantly behind on emails, laundry and house work. So I guess I have joined the ranks of many other families. There were several families that adopted around the same time and I used to daily check their blogs to stay in touch. Now I find I go weeks without checking in. Life has actually slowed down just a bit as the major renovations are done in the house. Natalie and I are looking forward to an upcoming vacation to Boston in less than 2 weeks. I consider Boston the start of the adoption process and here we are coming full circle.
We had some touch weeks with behavior issues but Natalie has settled back into a routine and is doing well. Last weekend we worked in the yard and she was such a big help. She is always talking about her birthday which isn't until July. Not only is she smaller than most of her classmates, but she is also younger. Next week she will "graduate" from her More at Four program. It is hard to believe that she has gone through a whole year of school without any major changes. In her first first 6 months home, she was at home for a month and then in 3 different day cares (due to location and aging out.)
Several weeks ago Natalie went to her kindergarten screening. I was really happy to find out that she was only 1 year delayed in her language skills. When I think that she has been speaking English for only 1 year I think she is doing really well. We have started having "school" every day at home for about 15-20 minutes a day. She enjoys this time and hopefully it will help her to catch up a little more. She continues to grow in so many ways. Instead of describing what they are, I think I will just post some pictures of our recent events.




At the museum

On the train

At Ripley's Aquarium

At the beach

At the zoo

Easter Sunday

Just Cute!

9 Lives and the Mercy of God

Its been a while since I have written and we have been nonstop busy. Two weekends ago we went to the zoo and last weekend we went to the beach. What a great time watching Natalie collecting "shesells." We also went to an aquarium and saw "sharps." I will write more about that soon and post some pictures. I have also been continuing my inside renovations and now that all the painting is done, I am trying to put the house back in order.

The last several weeks have been quite emotional. Without going into a lot of details, basically my almost 20 year old cat Selah got sick and just when it seemed like she was getting better, we had to make a 2:00 AM trip to the emergency vet. I was sure I was going to have to make a decision that I did not want to make. Last year about this time, she had lost a lot of weight and was not able to eat. It turned out that she had an abscess tooth. They put her under and were able to pull it and she bounced back. At that time I felt so thankful to the Lord for allowing her to pull through and continue to gain weight and do well. On our trip to the vet, I just kept praying for wisdom to make the best decision and for God to give me peace. I did not want to see her suffer and was willing to let her go if it was in her best interest, even though my heart was breaking. Twenty years is a long time and I have a nephew who is just one month older than Selah. The vet was able to hydrate her and I was able to bring her home. The next several days were touch and go, but she steadily got better. Today she is pretty much back to herself. She is eating and drinking and just doing well. I am so humbled by God's mercy in allowing me to have her even longer.

Our Heavenly Father does care about what is important to us. I am so grateful and want to give the Lord glory and praise for touching my sweet Selah and healing her. He IS good all the time!

One Year Ago-HOME!!

I can't believe that we have been home for one year. The time has flown by. It is hard to remember when Natalie only spoke Russian and did not really respond to the name Natalie. In some ways it has been a hard year, but not because of Natalie but because of life and so many changes. But Natalie has adjusted well and I really believe has bonded well. I'm not sure what was going on last week and the beginning of this week, but Natalie was really just pushing things both at home and school but now is back to her sweet self. I tend to think that as her language has grown so have her emotional stages and she was just working through that.

Today I wanted to make it a special day, so I managed to get off work early and we headed to McDonald's for a sundae and play. She only ate a small amount of her ice cream (which is very unusual) and then played for about 30 minutes. I had planned for us to run a few errands, but she began complaining of her belly hurting. We came home for awhile and she took a long nap. Then we were off running the errands which included picking out a special toy. She chose a little doghouse with a play dog. Once we got home she began complaining again and the poor baby had about an hour of dry heaves. My plans for several other fun activities got put on hold. But now she is sleeping peacefully. I am just in awe that a whole year has gone by. My life is richer and Natalie is more precious to me than ever! She has grown in so many ways. I love seeing the changes, but in some ways I just want to freeze time and slow everything down and enjoy every moment.!

Gotcha Day-one year ago

After we picked up Natalie, we had to do some legal paperwork and then we went out to lunch. Back to the hotel for a nap and later supper and a bath. Natalie had a cold and cough during the waiting period and that night shortly after she went to bed, she began sitting up in bed rocking and crying. Of course I couldn't understand what she was saying and I couldn't comfort her. What a terrible feeling it was. Shortly after that, she began throwing up and running a high fever. It was a long night. As soon as I thought she was okay, it would start over. The lady in housekeeping was so kind and ended up calling the doctor for me. They gave her medicine and she was able to finally go to sleep. So I had jumped into parenthood with both feet.

Now I am so glad I can understand her when she is not feeling well and she is able to express what is going on. I am still amazed when I look at those pictures and recall those events just one short year ago. This week I have been working really hard on the paperwork to re-adopt Natalie in the state of NC. Having been born overseas, I know the frustration of trying to get a birth certificate. This will make her life a lot easier by having a NC birth certificate. It has been a lot of work and I finally completed it tonight. That is the first step. I have also been working a lot on her Life Book. I just completed the section dealing with the court hearing. It has been interesting the timeline of working on both these tasks and the year anniversary of bringing Natalie home. It certainly has made me think in great detail of this time one year ago.

We have also or I should say Natalie has spent the week trying on spring/summer clothes. We have been blessed by so many clothes given to us by friends and family. Today she completed the task and it is encouraging to see how many things she has grown out of, including shoes!! Since we have so many clothes in the next size this is not a problem. The fact that she is growing means that she is thriving here.

Here is a picture of her "reading" to her cousin who we went to visit last weekend.

Gotcha-One year later

On Friday one year ago, we didn't go to the orphanage to visit Natalie so I have no pictures from that day. Since Krasnoyarsk is 12 hours ahead of us, it was one year ago now that I went to pick up Natalie at the baby home after my 10 day wait after court. The day you pick up your child is often referred to as "Gotcha Day."

When we got there, they brought her into the play room that we had met in during those 10 days. There was no big bow in her hair and she was dressed in a simple frock. She was crying, whether because she was sad she was leaving or scared of what was to come. Yelana, the director of Krasnoyarsk side of the adoption process, talked to her and helped her out of her clothes into her "new" clothes. I have to confess on the one hand, I couldn't wait to finally have her with me and yet on the other hand, my heart broke for this 3 1/2 year old child who had no idea what was going to happen and who was leaving behind her "home."

Tonight I was sharing those memories with Natalie and she says she doesn't remember what she was feeling that day. I've been teary eyed tonight as I am reminded of that long journey that "ended" that morning with my child finally coming home with me. I'm glad that she doesn't remember that aspect of the day. It was a long day and an even longer night. I'll share more of that tomorrow.

This week I have steadily been working on her Life Book. I've made it to recording my flights for the second trip to Russia. I'm glad I have the blog to refer back too since I can't remember some details, such as the hotel from the first trip. That seems a life time ago. Even though it has been a year, in some ways it seems like she just came home. What a great year it has been!!

March 19, 2008, One year later

March19, 2008

March 17-18, 2008-One year later

March 17, 2008

March 18, 2008