11/16/2013

I love the text message from you this morning.  I didn't see it until part way through orchestra, but it made me smile.  Yup, just the note "I love you.  Be safe." can make me smile!  I loved coming home to see the girls' tiny snowman, the first of the year, out in the yard.  I even enjoy lying in bed next to you writing this on my phone and listening to your gentle snore.  Clearly something is wrong that I'm content to listen to you snore even though you were sleep when I left this morning and I'm painfully exhausted!  I'll take contentment for now, though.  I'll also finish this up and hurry to get a nap in before I have to do something else. 

I love you.  Be safe.

11/10/2013

To think that as I was posting my last post there, Pierre was on his way out.  Thank you for being the man who will sit and hold his blubbering wife in the middle of the night over a kitten who died.  The man who will drive nearly an hour roundtrip at 2 am to take the surviving kitten for fluids.  The man who will tenderly break the news to the children, then hold then tight.  The man who will take the day off work (working very long, early hours the next few days to make up for it) to spend the time together as a family, to respectfully take care of the body of the kitten who passed away, and to keep tabs on the kitten hanging on to life against the odds at the vet's.  To be the man who truly cares and mourns when the little one fails and he, too, passes away from distemper.  The man who cares to know that the two kitten brothers bodies will be taken care of together.
Thank you for being that man.
And in the midst of all that, thank you for creating such bright moments in the day, as it was also my birthday.  For the flowers, the steamers for the girls to tape to the wall, the gifts for me from the girls.  And for the love.  Bummer that my present still hasn't arrived!  The one besides my camera, that is.

I love you.

11/5/2013

Trust me, tonight when you were so worried because our little foster kitten Pierre didn't seem "normal", I was just as worried as you.  I keep trying to convince myself to just go to sleep, but what if something really is wrong with him?!  What if he is literally starving?  What if he has internal injuries? What if the new type of kitten food only he ate is poisoned? What if.....?
I may have played it cool at the moment, but that's just how I work.  Oh, I hope little Pierre is okay!  He's been through so much already, what with being underweight, losing his mama and two siblings when they were all thrown out a window on the freeway...  I don't want us to have somehow added to his pain.

As I type this Sabrina just came in for a cuddle.  She had had strep and even though she has been on antibiotics over 24 hours I can tell she is still running a fever.  At least I know what to do for a fever and I know better what she is dealing with right now.

Come on, it's my job to be sick for all of you.  It's no fair for any of the rest of you (cats and kittens included) to take on extras!

Maybe I'll just go check on Pierre one more time while I tuck Sabrina back in...

11/3/2013

Yesterday our youngest daughter was baptized.  It was a beautiful Saturday morning -- warm and yellow with fall leaves.  Dan and Michelle did the music, Suzette and I said the prayers, the Bishop and Primary President gave the talks.  Your dad and Dave (my brother) stood as witnesses.  Sabrina chose When I am Baptized and Child's Prayer as the songs.  It sounds so simple laid out in this fashion, and it was -- it was a very simple meeting with the focus on Sabrina's baptism and confirmation, the way it should be.
Thank you for doing the most important part of the day. Thank you for being a worthy priesthood holder so you can use the priesthood in our home.  That means the world to me.  To us.
As a child I remember a few instances when there was a storm.  There was a large tree not far from my bedroom window.  The branches reached that corner of the house.  During a storm the roof creaked and the branches rattled against the windows.  On these occasions I equated safety with the power of the priesthood in our home.  After that was no longer the case I felt vulnerable -- as if the walls and roof were hardly there.  It is important to me to have that safety net around our family.