Little Black Kitty Without a Name

I know this is not profoundly interesting to anyone but me, but it's better than complaining about the economy, elections and the fact that I only have a quarter tank of gas and all of the gas stations in my area are out of gas. Seriously, if I don't find a gas station with gas in the next day or so, I will be home bound until this crisis blows over! These are scary and crazy times. So I am choosing to focus on the more mundane and amusing things in my little bubble of a life - and today, that happens to be my little stray black kitty. :-)Well, we still haven't decided on a name for Kitty yet, but he is soooo sweet. He has met the other cats and he minded his manners perfectly. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for my two girl kitties. They were not happy about our visitor and took their aggression out by fighting with each other - not kitty. Nice. Maybe it is a female/male cat thing. Apparently, there is a reason why the term "cat fight" is only used for girls! Kitty watched the girls fight with a sleepy, half interested smirk in his eye.

Then kitty caught sight of a scary beast coming out of the bushes . . .

Poor Teddy was greeted with this little show of affection. LOL

Teddy was unimpressed and uninterested. He just ran off to play with Linzi. He loves cats, they are just another playmate to him. In no time, these two will be best of pals, I am sure of it.

Update & random pictures

First of all an update - My mother is FINE!!! Her tests showed nothing abnormal. She was referred to another doctor to take care of what has been making her feel so bad. But it is not anything near as awful as we feared. Your thoughts and prayers were so cherished this past week. I am so grateful to be blessed by you! Lisa, I read your message before I knew what my mom's prognosis was. I wanted to wait until I had answers before I responded and the weekend hit and my computer was forgotten. Please know how moved I was by your message, I WILL get back to you personally soon! :-)

I am sure most of you have been following this family. Is our God awesome or what?!!! I am so honored to have witnessed such an amazing show of His grace and mercy. This story and this family is one of the most amazing testimonies I have ever seen. Little Susannah still has an uphill battle, but after this past week, there is NOTHING this little girl can't overcome! They are on their way home from China right now - which is a HUGE miracle in and of itself.

Last week, we met up with Sharon & Ella Kate of Blooms & Blessings for lunch. Linzi, Ally & Ella Kate are so cute together! I only wish we all had more time for play. I am working on Ella Kate's video and the further I get into it, the more I just love this family!
This next one is for Lucy. Sweet little Ally is THRIVING - but I don't understand where her nutrition comes from because this child refuses to eat her fruits & veggies. No matter what I do, I cannot get her to eat anything remotely healthy. Linzi on the other hand, is the healthiest eater I know, she LOVES her fruits & veggies. At lunch, I ordered broccoli for Linzi and Ally just reached over and helped herself! Sharon saw it too! She even went back for more several times. I was so shocked, I had to take a picture just to prove to her mommy that I didn't make this up. :-)
Mandi has been having so much fun cheerleading this year. I have so many pictures I need to edit and post. In a couple weeks she will go to the Cheer Off competition - her squad is awesome and I just know they are going to rock the house! I am not sure who is having more fun with the cheerleading - her, or Linzi & I. Linzi is learning the cheers and next year, she will be old enough to be a team mascot. How cute would that be?!!! My two girls cheering together!

Alex had his first homecoming dance last weekend. Sigh... I look at this picture and wonder what ever happened to my little boy.
After I made this LO, we decided to change the kitty's name. Mandi had named him Prince Charming (Prince for short) because it suited his personality. But it just doesn't feel quite right and the boys in the family refuse to call him that. Eric is calling him BlackJack or BJ (I am sooo not liking that!). Linzi calls him Prince Casper or Casper. Mandi likes Oliver (for black olives - Linzi's fave condiment). I like Jett, but we have an Uncle Jett so we can't use that name. I also like Prince Boo but the rest of the family thought it was too silly. Major decisions here! What do you call a little black cat (boy) who shows up just in time for Halloween? Any ideas?!!! BTW, our other pets are Annabelle, Sophie & Teddy.

Please Pray

I don't have a big following of this blog, but I do know that my few faithful readers are also some of the best prayer warriors out there. Today, I would really cherish those prayers. I just found out last night that my mother has been having some health problems. She kept it from me because she didn't want to worry me. I just happened to call her last night about something and when she answered the phone, I could tell she was sick. She then tells me that the problem has gotten so bad, she can't ignore it anymore and has had a few doctor appointments and today, they are doing a colonostomy. (sp?) This is not a routine, preventative one, but a diagnostic one. Apparently, there is enough reason to believe that something may be wrong. She goes in for the procedure at noon today, and hopefully, we may have some answers by the end of the day.

My mother is young - 60 years old. I am an only child and my parents divorced when I was young. Most of my growing up years were just my mother and I. Besides my husband and children, she is all I have. I can't shake this feeling of dread. I am not ready for this. . .

Celebrating 4 Years with Linzi Lu

Linzi & I had a wonderful afternoon celebrating our 4 year anniversary. What did we do? Mani's and pedi's - of course!!! Yes, she's definitely a princess. :-)

She picked the most fabulous hot pink for her nails and purple for her toes.


After our visit to the nail salon, we stopped for Linzi's favorite treat - Brue*ster's chocolate chip mint ice cream in a waffle cone! She didn't even share with mommy - but I am sure it was only because she had my best interest at heart! :-)


We ended our day with a family dinner out at a favorite local restaurant. I had planned on Chinese, but my LuLu wasn't in the mood. So we had good ole' American food. We read a special story about China and talked about the significance of today. Then I said a very special prayer of thanksgiving for this precious princess of mine and kissed her goodnight. God is so good.

Four years ago today

Today we celebrate the day we held our daughter for the very first time.

Four Amazing Years!

How time flies! How blessed we are!

Following is a long post intended for Linzi. It is an excerpt from my journal and the Lifebook that I am still creating. You can watch our Family Day video here.

September 12, 2004. . .

I was wide awake at 3:30 am, Partly due to jet lag, but mostly due to excited and jittery nerves. This was the day I had waited and dreamed of for so long! I wanted to jump out of bed and get on with the day. I needed to be busy, actively moving closer to my daughter. We still had to catch a plane, travel another 1100 miles and travel by bus for another hour to hour and a half before we arrived at our destination. As I lay there urging the clock to move faster, I thought about my sweet baby sleeping for the last time in a crib in the orphanage. Little did you know, your little world was about to be turned upside down! Soon, your nannies would wake you, feed you and get you ready for your journey to Lanzhou, the city where we would finally meet!

11:00 am - Our flight followed the path of the Great Wall from Beijing to Lanzhou. Somehow, our seats had gotten scattered on the plane and Daddy and I were separated on our flight. This was fine because I was lost in my own thoughts, too emotional to even try to have a conversation. I sat in the window seat and stared out the window for 1100 miles, trying to grasp the reality that the time was actually HERE! I wrote a note to you to be added to my journal and as I wrote, the tears of joy spilled over. How was I ever going to hold it together enough to not scare you?!!! Looking back at that piece of paper, I can hardly read my writing - I was a wreck!

3:30 pm - After the long bus ride from the airport to the hotel, we were told to report to the 4th floor conference room to meet our babies! It was cold and rainy in the city of Lanzhou. The pollution cast a thick fog over the already dreary day. But inside the Sunshine Plaza Hotel (most appropriately named!) the room was aglow with the happiness of seven families and the bright future waiting for eight children. We watched the nannies come in and immediately, I spotted you. You were wrapped in a pink blankie and the sight of you took my breath away. The nannies sat in a row facing the families for several minutes (seemed like forever) before they started calling names. In that time, your nanny scanned the crowd, zoomed in on us and locked eyes with Daddy and I. She NEVER stopped watching us. She knew who we were and I believe you did too! Soon after your nanny spotted us, you looked straight into my eyes and all the way to my heart. You were busy playing with your nanny one last time, but several times you stopped, looked over and stared at us - not the people in general, but US! It still amazes me that in all of the chaos, before they placed you in my arms, you already knew we belonged to you. When they finally called our names, time stood still. I felt God's presence in our lives like I never have before. How could it be that of all the children we could have been matched with, we were matched with THIS child - sweet, little wonderful you! I had known you in my heart for so long and now I was breathing the same air, feeling the warmth of your body and lost in your sweet, serious little face. Random? I think not. This was the work of God. Four years later, I am still in awe of you and all that you bring to our lives.

Happy Family Day, my sweet Lu Lu! I love you more than words can ever say. You are my heart and my joy! You make my heart smile!

Love,
Mommy

Happy Birthday my sweet angel girl! You are getting to be such a big girl. Thank you for filling my life with unmeasurable joy. I love you so very much!
Love, Mommy

I have been told that the date 09/09 is considered "lucky" in Chinese tradition. It sure is a lucky number for us - it is the day we celebrate our daughter's birthday and it was the day that we left for China to bring her home one year later. As I type this, she is playing dollhouse with her sissy and I can hear her giggles down the hallway. It is the most beautiful, happy sound in the whole world. Yes, I am definitely a very lucky mommy! We have a busy afternoon baking her cake, making her requested dinner (spaghetti), and oh yes, the presents! I am pushing her big party out to the end of the month when it is not so miserably hot. Linzi has her heart set on a Unicorns & Rainbows in the Enchanted Forest theme. She made up this theme herself and at first I didn't know what to do with it. But after talking it out with Mandi, we came up with some really fun ideas and we found a great location too! I just love her imagination.

We have also been busy celebrating DH's bday, Alex's 15th (!!!) birthday and on Friday, we will celebrate our Family Day - the day my most treasured dream came true.

I don't have much time for blogging lately, but I have so much to catch up on. I will try to get Alex's birthday, the first day of school and a few other fun things up in the next day or two.

Hugs to everyone!