Eggs anyone??

So, as if 13 cats are insufficient, we got 11 chickens for the chicken coop on Sunday. As of today, 3 have gone missing (weasel? owl? fox?). Not really sure how these birds can crank out 2-3 eggs a day, but that's what they supposedly do. The shock of the move will cause a bird to stop laying temporarily. We should have eggs coming out our ears in 3 weeks or so. Unless the predators arrive.

The Feline Microcosm and Self-Loathing

Intro: For 45 years, I have hated cats. All cats.

The rest: My daughter Abigail has begged for 3 years for a kitten. She's sweet, adorable and virtually irresistable. 3 years is an incredible amount of time to ward off her pleadings.

At family camp at Trout Lake this summer, I gave in and allowed her to pick out a kitten. Tom was 10-12 weeks old and was raised in the horse stable at camp. He has a motor that never stops--literally uninterrupted purring 24 hours a day. I gotta google why cats purr.

On the way home from camp, Andrea called me (we had 2 cars up there). She said that Tom needs company and that her friend Char had 5 barn cats she was looking to find homes for. Growing more reluctant, I agreed to have another 2 cats brought over. Amongst the rules: no cats inside any part of our house, and I don't participate in care for the animals since I am allergic.

Muffin and Oreo came that next day. Friday, 1 cat; Saturday, 3 cats. They all seemed to be OK as cats go. Nothing special in my book (did I mention that I pretty much am a card-carrying member of the "I hate all cats" nation??). No cat is special, of course.

On Sunday, we head off to The Journey for church. We had an after-church picnic/potluck for the July 4th weekend. Good fun. We then went home for some family chores and stuff around the house. When we got home, the kids ran into the DETACHED garage (technically not part of the "house"). About 30 seconds later, Nate yelled "Hey, there's another kitten here!!" Fearing that they had befriended some stray runt, I went to check it out.

There, sitting in a kennel was a wet little rat-like thing. It had been born just 5 minutes before. Muffin was delivering kittens. AARGH. The evening was magical, to watch Muffin deliver kittens, lick them off, nurse them, eat placentas and do all the things that God had hard-wired into her puny brain. The kids watched in awe (mostly...a little shock too). But, I was starting to ooze frustration. I don't want ONE cat, let alone THREE. Oh, wait, make that EIGHT cats. When the heck did I agree to this??

Of course, the kids all said that they should each get a kitten...5 kittens, 5 kids. Makes sense, right? NO!!!! After weeks of tense negotiations, I have seen to it that 3 of the kittens will be given away. In fact, one is already gone.

As the time went on, I realized that I'm not allergic to short-haired cats. Only 1 of the 8 is long-haired. So, I could play with the kittens, Tom and Muffin. Then Muffin gets all affectionate and jumps on my lap when I'm on the front porch sitting enjoying a nice evening. I give her a saucer of milk and she flipping starts to cuddle with me. Tom plays all the time and comes running up everytime I inch outside the door. The kittens are ridiculously cute. Andrea and I were in the garage the other day and I said: "I loathe myself for liking cats." I feel like a traitor to all I have held dear...

Oh, yeah, as if going from 1 to 8 cats wasn't enough, Oreo showed signs of pregnancy within a week of arriving. So, she proceeded to deliver another 5 kittens in late August. 13 cats. Shoot me now. Except they are cute and fun. Keep them all. Get rid of them all.

As I look back on this whole cat thing...it's a microcosm of life, especially as I live life. I love to sign up for new things and to pursue new things, not always sure of the implications of it all. Every once in a while, something seemingly innocuous comes in to view...and I pursue it...and BAM!!--it explodes into something I never anticipated.

Kinda makes life fun. Usually.

Yippeeee!!!!!!

Kids all back at school. No one forgot a lunch. No calls about a kid who barfed or has a headache. What a lovely day.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The twins are safely ensconced at college. The others start school on Tuesday. Andrea, it appears, will be employed by next week. Life is calming down.........

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I could use a few uneventful months.

Wow.

So, this is my first time back "in the office" since Sunday. Yesterday was a "day off" for me. And I did take some time to re-charge the batteries.

Over the weekend, I ran a wedding rehearsal on Friday night, and the wedding on Saturday afternoon. It was, uh, different. I was concerned that I'd have to ask a groomsman to stay out of the wedding because of being sorta kinda buzzed. Also, the best man lost one of the rings 40 minutes before the ceremony. He and the rest of the wedding party were all scrambling to find the thing (of course it was the bride's ring...couldn't be the groom's ring...that would be far easier, so that just couldn't happen). The groom eventually had to go and tell his bride that they'd use a "plan B" ring and look for the other later.

Sunday was spectacular. We had worship in the park at Fish Lake Park in Maple Grove. About 75 there, a full band which totally rocked, and the morning clouds yielded to a gorgeous afternoon. The highlight of the day was getting to baptize Justin, Jeromy, Beth and Perry. It's always poignant to hear how God is a work in others' lives. We then hung around and ate some awesome food.

I went home and had a Skype conference call with Pastor Vasily and Boris, a translator. It was great to catch up with him. We have spoken a few times with out a translator, which means it's a mishmash of "Hallo. How arrrrr you? Gude. I pray for you and your family..."

Monday morning brought a new outreach for The Journey. We saved the treats from Sunday morning and took them, and all the bread, over to Weaver Lake Elementary. It was their first day of work for the staff. We blessed them with a huge spread of bagels, pastries, cookies, coffee, tea, juice, plus all the bread they wanted to take. They were blown away, and many of the 60 people were served asked about the church. The principal is a believer and she's totally open to allowing us to do some relationship building with the staff there. We're going to see if we can make this a monthly event.

That was 4 hours well-spent.

For the rest of my day off, I watched about 5 episodes of Lost, Season 2. I promised the kids we'd get through Season 2 before school starts. We are halfway through it...maybe Season 3 as well?????