Molly Cat - or "God answers prayers . . ."
Over at Parent Bloggers a contest about pets is being sponsored by Burger King. I thought it was the perfect excuse to talk about how Molly came into our family!
When we moved to Colorado, one of the perks our kids were excited about was the fact that we would have a bigger home and yard, and therefore space for a new addition to the family - a pet, not a baby. We had been through more than our fair share of pets already, and my husband was not anxious to try another. We ended up with 2 parakeets and a fish for the girls. And while the parakeets are fun to listen to, and talk to, they aren't snuggly or cuddly, and don't really play with you very well. And the fish died. Note to self: tropical fish and cold climates do not mix.
So eventually, the girls started asking for a cat or a dog. The husband firmly said absolutely no dogs. I am a dog person myself, but they do take a lot of commitment and our last dog experience was not a positive one. So we started praying about the possibility of getting a cat. I started browsing the local humane society's website and looking at their pictures of cats. I was thinking of adopting an older cat, but the husband and kids were really hoping for a kitten. After lots of considering, I realized that in a loud household like ours, it might be better to get a kitten who could grow up used to the noise! And kittens are quite playful. Still, I knew that we needed a very special cat. One that would put up with being petted, maybe not as gently as we might like. One that would play with us, not run and hide from us. One that would not shed too much. And one that would be willing to stay indoors, and maybe even catch mice!
The girls and I prayed a lot for several weeks about finding just the right cat for our family, one that we would love and that would love (tolerate!) us back. One Friday afternoon while browsing on the H.S. website I came across an adorable blue-eyed siamese cat named Stevie. She looked so sweet, and I knew in my heart that she was the cat for us! We prayed about it again, and the girls talked to daddy, who said we could go look at her in the morning. That Saturday was the last of a special month of an adopt-a-thon, and it was SO busy! We wandered through the facility, but couldn't see Stevie anywhere. And I had forgotten the paper with her number on it at home, which is the only way the HS could look her up and find her for us. All the kittens that we liked were already spoken for, and we really knew that it was Stevie that we wanted. I remembered that I had e-mailed the hubby the day before, and he had his Palm cell phone with him, so we could look up the number! Hooray! I had to stand in a long line again to request a visit with Stevie's number, if she were still there. We got to the front, and lo and behold, she had been put into isolation because of the kitty respiratory virus. It was as if God had set her aside specifically for us. The isolation unit cannot be seen from the public viewing area, and if she'd been in the public area, she would most likely have been already adopted that day. We had no problem getting a kitten with the respiratory infection because we were taking her to the vet anyway, and we had no other animals that she could infect.
It was so perfect, and such a great way for my children to see the hand of God at work in their lives in such a small, but important way. We finally got to hold little Stevie in our arms, listen to her sweet mewing, and check her out. She took to all of us right away, and especially my husband. We were able to take her home with us that day, give her the name Molly, and just love on her like crazy.
To this day, Molly is the most unique cat I have ever known. She is almost dog-like in the way that she follows me around from room to room. She has to be a part of whatever I am doing, whether is working with power tools to put up bookshelves, or making the beds, or schooling the girls. She had to be right in the middle of the workers who were installing our new water heater last year. She comes when you call her name, just because she wants to be with you. She loves to play with hair bands and crumpled paper. And she loves to catch mice and wasps and spiders and moths, making the strangest chattering sound at the insects. She loves to curl up in her bed in the sun, or sleep on my lap while I type. She is in every way the exactly perfect cat for our family, and I couldn't ask for a better pet! We remind the girls all the time that Molly shows us how God cares about every detail of our lives, and we can go to him with our smallest concerns and our biggest ones.
I am sure there is more I could add about our sweet Molly, but I have to run to bake a pie, and I have already interrupted myself about 10 times in the middle of writing this post! If I have any chance of getting this published tonight, I'd better do it now :)
“This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Burger King Corp.”
When we moved to Colorado, one of the perks our kids were excited about was the fact that we would have a bigger home and yard, and therefore space for a new addition to the family - a pet, not a baby. We had been through more than our fair share of pets already, and my husband was not anxious to try another. We ended up with 2 parakeets and a fish for the girls. And while the parakeets are fun to listen to, and talk to, they aren't snuggly or cuddly, and don't really play with you very well. And the fish died. Note to self: tropical fish and cold climates do not mix.
So eventually, the girls started asking for a cat or a dog. The husband firmly said absolutely no dogs. I am a dog person myself, but they do take a lot of commitment and our last dog experience was not a positive one. So we started praying about the possibility of getting a cat. I started browsing the local humane society's website and looking at their pictures of cats. I was thinking of adopting an older cat, but the husband and kids were really hoping for a kitten. After lots of considering, I realized that in a loud household like ours, it might be better to get a kitten who could grow up used to the noise! And kittens are quite playful. Still, I knew that we needed a very special cat. One that would put up with being petted, maybe not as gently as we might like. One that would play with us, not run and hide from us. One that would not shed too much. And one that would be willing to stay indoors, and maybe even catch mice!
The girls and I prayed a lot for several weeks about finding just the right cat for our family, one that we would love and that would love (tolerate!) us back. One Friday afternoon while browsing on the H.S. website I came across an adorable blue-eyed siamese cat named Stevie. She looked so sweet, and I knew in my heart that she was the cat for us! We prayed about it again, and the girls talked to daddy, who said we could go look at her in the morning. That Saturday was the last of a special month of an adopt-a-thon, and it was SO busy! We wandered through the facility, but couldn't see Stevie anywhere. And I had forgotten the paper with her number on it at home, which is the only way the HS could look her up and find her for us. All the kittens that we liked were already spoken for, and we really knew that it was Stevie that we wanted. I remembered that I had e-mailed the hubby the day before, and he had his Palm cell phone with him, so we could look up the number! Hooray! I had to stand in a long line again to request a visit with Stevie's number, if she were still there. We got to the front, and lo and behold, she had been put into isolation because of the kitty respiratory virus. It was as if God had set her aside specifically for us. The isolation unit cannot be seen from the public viewing area, and if she'd been in the public area, she would most likely have been already adopted that day. We had no problem getting a kitten with the respiratory infection because we were taking her to the vet anyway, and we had no other animals that she could infect.
It was so perfect, and such a great way for my children to see the hand of God at work in their lives in such a small, but important way. We finally got to hold little Stevie in our arms, listen to her sweet mewing, and check her out. She took to all of us right away, and especially my husband. We were able to take her home with us that day, give her the name Molly, and just love on her like crazy.
To this day, Molly is the most unique cat I have ever known. She is almost dog-like in the way that she follows me around from room to room. She has to be a part of whatever I am doing, whether is working with power tools to put up bookshelves, or making the beds, or schooling the girls. She had to be right in the middle of the workers who were installing our new water heater last year. She comes when you call her name, just because she wants to be with you. She loves to play with hair bands and crumpled paper. And she loves to catch mice and wasps and spiders and moths, making the strangest chattering sound at the insects. She loves to curl up in her bed in the sun, or sleep on my lap while I type. She is in every way the exactly perfect cat for our family, and I couldn't ask for a better pet! We remind the girls all the time that Molly shows us how God cares about every detail of our lives, and we can go to him with our smallest concerns and our biggest ones.
I am sure there is more I could add about our sweet Molly, but I have to run to bake a pie, and I have already interrupted myself about 10 times in the middle of writing this post! If I have any chance of getting this published tonight, I'd better do it now :)
“This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Burger King Corp.”
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