cats, cats everywhere!

sam. one of my very first set of foster siblings, sam's brother kater died a few days after my mom brought the litter home, so she passed sam and her brothers fred and purrfect off to me. they've all since been adopted and have new moms and dads. :)

bo. from my second set of foster siblings, bo is awaiting adoption now. she looks evil here but she's really cute LOL.

godaddy is my newest foster. he was in poor condition when i brought him home. he has neurological defects and is a special needs kitten. his eyes here are watery because he has a slight eye infection. but what he lacks for in balance he makes up for in personality! godaddy is afraid of the dark so i keep a light on for him at all times. *sadness to my soul, godaddy died on 10/14/09 in my arms. he died from complications from injuries and neurological complications. it was difficult for me to deal with, even moreso than the kids. :*( *

bamino, my 2 month old foster, rubbing heads with my sleeping daughters. bambino is also the kitten in this post. when i brought bambino home with his sister bo and his sister purrina *i don't have a picture of her :( *, they were so little and new i thought they would all die (he fit perfectly in my daughter's hand pictured next to him now). their eyes had JUST opened and they were still bottle babies! NOW he's fat and heavy and handsome and fresh!

dean! he's 11 years old, and is an old ornery man. but he's still a doll. he is battling an eye infection right now and bowel problems but he still thinks he's a young whippersnapper LOL. see the huge mess he made with his litter *and got caught in the act doing*?!

so at the beginning of the summer, inspired by my own desire to change the world, mr. president's encouraging words about volunteering, and my general love for animals, i decided to volunteer at my local humane society. i had also been going through a series of stressful health situations and figured that doing something for animals in need and their caretakers would help me to not worry so much about my own issues.

so on may 2nd i believe, i went to an open house and first timers meeting for becoming a humane society volunteer. immediately i loved the animals, the flexible schedules, and their generosity to take any help the volunteers offered, from washing clothes to walking the dogs *some people and organizations actually aren't generous about receiving volunteer help*. my mom came with me *also prompted by mr. president's volunteer pep talk* and she decided to volunteer too.

we started that day, folding dry laundry and washing dirty laundry, totally not adequately dressed for the event but in love with the place nonetheless.

over the weeks we got to know everyone and the pets to the point where we were indistinguishable from the actual employees other than the lack of a biweekly paycheck. eventually we knew the ropes and where everything was, and we stuck to walking and giving the dogs some extra love and cleaning their areas...until one day we wandered into the *back* of the shelter.

to the kitten room.

in this room we were immediately hit by the stench of sick babies and mama cats who desperately needed help because they were just dying slowly. eye infections, upper respiratory infections and digestive tract problems ruled the land there, and almost every cat in the room was dying. since the humane society we volunteer for is a no-kill shelter, instead of putting the cats down, they strive diligently, patiently and sometimes pleadingly for the cats to get better and the illnesses to subside. we were told that since the economy weakened the shelter was rationing out medications and it just wasn't enough, but there wasn't enough money to purchase more medicine. so the only thing that could really help was taking home the best off kittens to keep them from getting sicker and taking home the worst off kittens to try and help *aka pray* them back to life and health. right then and there my mom picked a family of kittens to bring home. i picked an adult orange cat named dean who has irritable bowel syndrome in cat form (and he actually was in the sick adult room, not the kitten room, but it's a very similar place), and my mom brought home a set of kittens that were doing the best out of the room. the next day we went back to the shelter and dismantled the entire kitten room, disinfecting the whole place and letting the kittens out group by group to get exercise. over time the room got worse and then better, sometimes the kittens would die and one or two HAD to be put down because they were already basically dead, but then sometimes there would be a burst of cuteness coming from somewhere that just made the whole ordeal worth it. i eventually got my moms group of kittens because she wasn't prepared for the difficulties of raising little babies without a mama cat.

when the brakes on my van went i couldn't get back and forth to the shelter anymore *neither could my mom*, so we just decided to become full time foster parents of the neediest kittens and mama's in the shelter. why the kittens? because while the dogs are higher maintenance, the kittens and cats have more needs. i chose to take on the kittens because i already have adult cats in my house and more adults just makes it harder for me to keep the peace *at one time my only female adult started spraying this one particular wall EVERY DAY because of stress! *EEWWWWW*

right now, i have godaddy, bambino *pictured above* and dean *pictured above, whom i adopted*. dean has an eye infection that may cause him to lose his right eye so that has me a bit wacked out, and his irritable bowel syndrome is getting worse. but he's alive and i'm doing the best i can. every other kitten has been adopted save bo, who is waiting now.

i didn't expect the financial costs to rise of my household with fostering kittens, but it has. i'm already strapped for cash to the point where i am statistically in poverty, and i buy the cats food and litter because the shelter is having a hard time. medicines are low and i can't afford vet bills *which is why dean's eye is so bad off*. most people would say don't adopt a cat you can't afford but taking dean back to the shelter is out of the question and struggling together with half of the problems you had before has gotten to be better than struggling alone with all of them. i am blessed for the opportunity and so are the cats. i used to feel that praying for animals was silly until i went through the stress with baby, now i see that you can pray for anything that you feel is important to pray for, and if you have to pray for it, it must be important. God must smile down on me because i send up my prayers for my fosters and He answers them. if He doesn't answer them, there's a reason and i accept that all things have their time.

we eat everynight and have lots of love and warmth to give. the kittens get their needs met with me and my girls love them, and i feel like i'm really making a difference, despite my dire financial situation and sometimes lifestyle stress. so really, i'd say i'm rich. and so are my kitties.

*btw, the kitten room has improved DRAMATICALLY and i am HAPPY to announce that this season was the worst season the humane society has seen for cats in years...good! so we basically got indoctrinated in the worst season--now i know it doesn't get much worse than that. from here we can only go up. hopefully next season won't be nearly as bad*.

this Christian woman's view on abortion.

now i know this is a difficult pill for some believers and non-believers alike to swallow, but this is my blog so i'm going to give my opinion re: Christians and their problems with legalized abortion.

legalized abortion is a very touchy subject and it's one of those damned-if-ya-do damned-if-ya-don't type situations. however, after alot of soul searching myself, i have simplified the trillions of facets of abortion into two basic sentences: abortion is allowed under governmental law and therefore is the law. and there is nothing wrong with abortion being legal.

any studious Christian knows that governments are a secular concept, not a spiritual one. any country that deems to make abortion legal has the absolute right to do so imo under it's government. bottom line, there's nothing to argue there. now to go a bit deeper.

the reason i even started this entry is simple. it irks me to see Christians get upset at the government, each other and whomever else is in earshot because the government (i suppose mr. president in particular according to some) refused to take away the right to abort.

one Christian i heard on the television today *my back was turned so i didn't see him* had the nerve to say that president obama is "allowing" abortion and "encouraging" it. how exactly, pray tell, is barack obama "allowing" or "encouraging" abortions to take place? as far as i can tell abortions were legal in many places before the man was born himself and the secular society we live in encourages abortions, not one person. no one person has the power to encourage thousands of abortions per year across a country. i have never heard mr. president say to someone, "please, go out and get an abortion. and if you can't find a clinic that will safely abort, please, please PLEASE stick a hanger way up there and tug hard."

there is nothing worse than a Christian that makes me look bad. as if i don't do things that make me look bad enough being my own Christian. but that Christian made me as a Christian look very bad. not only that, but he added yet another log to the political fire by outright lying on mr. president. i can hear the masses now, "that wasn't very God-like!!!"

*sigh*

i am pro-life. period. this fact about me will never change. it took me six long years to admit that i was pro-life and not pro-choice. as a matter of fact, i believe that any pro-choicer who says, "i'm only pro-choice because i can't tell another person what to do with their body" is a pro-lifer without the guts to admit their true feelings. that used to be me. but today i will matter-of-factly state that i am pro-life. i do not believe in abortion as legitimate, fine, acceptable or "the removal of an unwanted growth". i believe abortion is the killing of a human being, bottom line. now some will say this is very callous of an attitude to have, but i digress. whatever. i am not saying i can't stand those who abort, i've had an abortion myself. so i do not stand in the face of people being mightier-than-thou. that's not my steelo, and someone having an abortion would not make me love, like or care for them any less than i love myself. things happen and people make decisions that they believe are best when they make them, and without sounding *too* preachy, God still loves us all.

but i'm not here to argue that point.

my point here *right now anyway* is, in this world you cannot force the hand of any individual. so what is the problem? why are Christians *SO* very upset over the fact that abortion is legal and that mr. president refuses to take away choice in the matter? abortion should be legal, because it's going to happen one way or another, legal or illegal. making it legal does not mean one has to have an abortion. if this was true it would be making abortion mandatory that would be the more important problem, and i believe true pro-choicers would have have just as much issue with mandatory abortion as they do with taking the abortion option away *or at least that's my "rose-colored glasses" hope*. if a woman wants an abortion then i would rather her to be able to have one legally and in a clean, safe medical setting versus doing it the underground way, or worse yet by doing it herself, as i've heard many a story about. i believe many more people would die from illegal abortion than would from legal abortion, since many would-be mothers would probably kill themselves accidentally having bootlegged abortions done.

imo, understanding a moral law does not mean that one must FOLLOW said law. what's moral to the goose may be immoral to the gander. the only law a person is MANDATED to follow is the legal law. i know that sometimes the lines that draw the difference between legal and moral seem murky, but i am pretty sure that there is a line there somewhere. when a person wants something, truly and deeply, there is no amount of persuasion concerning morals and legalities that's going to get them to change their mind. this goes for both sides of the argument. those of us who are against abortion will be against it no matter how legal it becomes and no matter how many people do it. those of us who are not against abortion won't be against it no matter how illegal it becomes or how many people don't do it. this is the way life is when people stand firmly in their beliefs.

when this world ends the only person's behaviors we will be responsible for are our own. yes, we can and should encourage those around us to follow the law of God and not abort for their own sake and the sake of their unborn child(ren) because that is Christian duty. however, in the end whatever decision they make is truly their choice and legal right to make. the Bible says *yes i'm preaching here* that each man will be responsible only for his own actions in this world, not those of anyone else. our final judgement will be solely our own. so we cannot force our judgement on another person nor will we be able to blame our decisions on another person. those who are truly Christian know that they are in this world and not of it. so why does it anger so many people that this world is just doing what it's supposed to do--being the world? if the world agreed with God, Jesus wouldn't have had to say "ye are in the world not of it"because it wouldn't have been the truth. if God and the world were on the same accord then the world would be in us, and we would be in the world, and sin wouldn't exist and neither would the choice to sin or not to sin. we'd all be following God's Word and Law to the letter because well it would be all we had to follow *since sin wouldn't exist*. we would be taking it back to the Garden pre-serpent days.

yes, it's what's in the heart that counts. if someone has it in their heart to abort, well then hey. that is their RIGHT to abort as written by the legal law. and Jesus was the first to say, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s” (Mathew 22:21). sure, the specific meaning of this verse was concerning taxes, but i believe the broader meaning of this verse is to follow the law and obey it, so long as the law of man does not conflict with the law of God. if the law of man conflicts with the law of God, you follow God. this law about *legalized abortion* does NOT conflict with the Word of God. why not you ask? it doesn't conflict with God's Word because this law is a choice, not a mandate. we have the choice to abort or not to abort. the law is simply, "abortion is legal and a woman has the right to an abortion if she so chooses to have one in this country". no more, no less. heck, i'm wondering if its even a law moreso than it is a choice. if no one in the world aborted, then God would certainly be happy i believe, and the law wouldn't matter one way or another now would it? but the government would still have the right to keep the wording and meaning of the law. the government's laws are not God's laws, and they were given the right not to be. so long as we Christians have the choice NOT to abort *and verily i tell you if you are Christian then you ought to be pro-life*, who is it bothering and why is it really bothering them?

if a person is under God, then they will know abortion is spiritually illegal and they will not abort. it's up to each person to decide which law he or she is going to follow. and God wants us to have the choice to do right more than He wants us to be forced to do what's right, believe me.

my idol marriages.

throughout my adult life, i've collected stories of the marriages of the couples around me, and picked what i deemed to be the three healthiest of them all. then i made a sort of "marriage collage" of these couples, and i listened to their stories and experiences and studied what i heard to come up with my own solutions for a successful marriage.

i've come to term these marriages in my life "my idol marriages". they aren't perfect marriages by far, and the people in them aren't perfect, but they are what i call perfectly imperfect.

they are really the epitomes of what i want my own marriage to be like.

the three couples that make up my list are:

donald and judith. these two composed an irish american couple who were married for over fifty years. they got married when don was i believe 22, 23ish and judy 18. judy was a coworker at my last job. i loved the stories she told me about their marriage. and whenever don called...you could hear the love behind the teases he had for us about judy. they have four children and judy really loved him so much. last year at this time, don died of brain cancer...he was in his 70's. judy hasn't been the same without him, but she still smiles when she speaks about him.

christina and michael. these two are african american couple who've been married i believe 28 years? they have two grown sons and what stuck out to me the most about the beauty of their marriage was the sense of togetherness between them. christina always told me how she and mike love to party together, and how she never gets into the bed without him. for me, that's a big one, because i don't understand marriages where the husband isn't home when it's bedtime, yet he's not at work. for me--that doesn't fly. but you can see the love these two have for each other, and they have a beautiful home. she told me about some problems they had, but that their solution always was to just take it one day at a time. to not jump to conclusions, and if they didn't know what to do, they didn't do anything at all until they did know what to do. they are still young and in love too...and that's what i love.

mance and martha. these two were my very beloved grandparents. my grandmother outlived my grandfather by over 25 years; he died from lung cancer in the 70's. my grandmother would show us family pictures, and there was grandfather, always hugging her close to his hip. they had 6 children and my mother is the youngest. my mother always recalls her father being very loving but strict with them, meaning when they did something wrong it didn't go unpunished. and she said grandma was even worse than grandpa, but that was because the times were so hard for them that there was very little room for mistakes and errors of any sort, because they could be costly. i know it sounds cheesy, but i can still see the love in their eyes in the pictures they took. my grandfather was very broody but he loved his wife. and she loved her husband. they were married for about fifty years--and they got married when my grandmother was 13, and she had their first son at 14--and he was a whopping 12 pound baby!

well today, i had to add a fourth couple to "my idol marriages", because i am so in love with how they love each other that i want to be the biggest copycat ever.

mr. and mrs. president have my heart in total rapture for them. they are absolute poetry in motion and they make me want to cry sometime. i can see the whole meaning of marriage in those two--everything. from the spiritual to the physical is there with them. i can see God in their marriage, i can see healthy physical, mental and emotional love. their children lack for nothing in the way of parents. they are all blessed, and i am blessed just to even be able to watch them!

so i put together my favorite pictures of them all. i wish i could really have a book of all my favorite marriage, but mentally will have to go...because i can't really get in touch with judy anymore, my grandparents are dead and pictures of them are scarce. christina probably would give up a picture of her family--i will ask.

but here are my favorite pictures of my fourth idol marriage. i love them so much, i wish them all the peace and blessings in the world, and i am keeping my eye on them!

as a sidenote.

i am loving my new president. *sigh* mr. obama is restoring my faith in government already. even my hubby is really loving him. he said, "a new year, a new president, a new chance!"

i wholeheartedly agree.

i am feeling much better already, since my new president is in office. =)

a late night laugh!

while reading the field negro's blog, i came across this picture, and honestly, it had me CRACKING up. i love it! lmao. i love reverend wright too. obama is growing on me...but he still has a ways to go. i am just so questionable about politics period that ANYONE running for president or anything else would get a bunch of scrutiny from me. but man oh man...this picture just sums up everything i'm sure obama was thinking when reverend wright was giving his speeches. i'm cracking up at that fricking tape across his mouth LOL.

i just might go out and vote after all! if i do...i'll vote for obama, and think about this picture LOL.