Sam & Libby

until a year ago i claimed to be an animal lover/happy pet owner. however, i began to realize that i really don't like pets. being the neat freak that i am pets don't fit into my idea of clean. the fur, the smells, the bad breathe, etc. i felt good once i finally admitted it. it was as if finally was able to stop lying to people about how i felt about animals. and i'm finally not afraid to say that i'm not an animal lover. i really don't think it makes me a bad person either. i don't mistreat animals, i just don't like them. at all.

well, with god's great sense of humor i am now housing not one, but TWO cats! i still can't believe it. my parents are in the process of moving here from NY, but they are still taking lots of trips back and forth. so, my mom and dad approached me about taking care of their two cats. i want to do everything that i can to help my parents, so i said yes. it wasn't easy to do though!

so sam and libby have been living here since december 24th. they are about 7 years old and they are brother and sister. cute names right?!?! they sleep a lot and like to go outside a few times a day. libby loves to cuddle on the couch and sam likes to sleep at the foot of my bed. they eat twice a day and use the liter box very well. they actually prefer to go outside and use the bathroom so that is a plus.

so, as much as i hate to admit it, i really don't mind having them here! i can't believe i just said that. so maybe i'm not as much of non-animal person as i thought. the jury is still out on dogs though.

sadness

so its been a rough couple of weeks for me. i hesitate to even say that because none of the sadness is directly related to me...yet i'm really feeling the pain. last week baby beau passed away. i didn't know him well, but i did have the privilege of watching him a few times when he was in the step-down unit of the hospital. beau was born with congenital heart failure and has struggled throughout the 16 months of his life. however, he was able to overcome so many obstacles and survived 6 major surgeries. he recently began to show a lot of progress and was learning to sit up on his own. then he had a brain aneurysm on december 26th and was pronounced brain dead. on sunday, december 28th he passed away. it was his mom's birthday that day. i struggle to understand this tragic situation. i attended beau's memorial service this sunday and listened to my pastor talk about beau and his life. he talked about how god grieves with us when things like this happen and that it is NOT god's will when things like this happen. this really made me think because i always thought that god was able to control life and death. i was one of the people that use to say "it was god's will" or "god must need him in heaven more than he needs him on earth." but my pastor really challenged my thinking and said that because we have free will things like this happen. as i try to wrap my brain around all of this i get more sad news today. one of my best friends sister is in the final stages of cancer, she is only 28. my friend just has a baby 3 weeks ago and now she has to say goodbye to her sister. i'm not sure i can understand all of this. my heart is heavy. i know this is were my faith needs to take over...but my mind is just trying really hard to figure it all out. sigh.