Summer update

How is your summer going so far? Did you take a vacation or staycation or are you planning one for off-season?

I’m still praying to go back to Destin, Florida this year! The beach is my place of peace and refilling. God can make a way!

If you are a family member or a friend or you’re a subscriber on my website’s email list (for my newsletter and most recent updates), you know that I recently took in a stray cat. His name is Silas. I wrote a blog post about his story here.

I also created a vlog about his recent surgery and other things here on my YouTube Channel. (Subscribe to get my newest vlogs and videos.) Silas is doing well since his surgery. He eats like a horse! He and my adopted black cat (she also has green eyes) still fight occasionally, but they also play and chase each other.

His loud yowling (the male mating call) and meowing have drastically decreased since he was neutered, and he doesn’t usually try to mate with Natalya. I couldn’t believe that he was trying to mate with her, even though she’s spayed and wasn’t in heat, but my husband Ray said it was just his instincts.

My prayer is that they can now become best friends! One day I came into our front entry room and they were both laying on the loveseat together. It was SO cute! It gave me hope that they can become pals!

 

Silas still yowls and meows at times, usually around 3 a.m.! But it’s much less than it used to be (it used to be all day and night long, with him constantly pacing throughout the house). Instead of him training Ray and me, I’m now trying to train him by NOT getting up to feed him in the middle of the night!

I simply leave his and Natalya’s food and water dishes out during the night, so they can eat and drink whenever they want. Elevated, tilted food and water bowls adjusts the cat’s feeding position, which reduces pressure on their stomach, helping them to swallow more easily, prevent vomiting, and improve digestion. It can reduce your cat’s neck and back strain, providing a comfortable position to eat.

Sometimes I do get up to pet him, because I sensed that he is just lonely. Last night I left my bedroom door open so Natalya can now roam the house freely again at night. (Silas has been doing this and I’ve been keeping her in the bedroom with the door closed with me, to prevent them from fighting or him trying to mate her.).

I’ve moved the two litter boxes to their usual places (where Natalya went), and they both use them. I’ve started buying Pretty Litter and we’ll see if that works better to reduce odor and to make litter last longer. 

I guess the good word spreads! More stray cats have been coming here. I’m primarily feeding one of them twice a day – a male tabby cat with a bushy tail like Silas’ tail, who Ray and I think may be his brother. Ray named him Nichodemus this week, Nicho for short. 

This morning Ray heard a knock on the door before he left for work. He went to the front door, looked out the little window in the door, and nobody was there. He opened the door and there was the cat, looking up at him. So he set out food, both at the front door and the back patio, where I usually feed him, because he hid when Ray went to get the food for him.

An orange and white male cat has been visiting here lately, too. I’ve named him Marmalade. But he looks mean. Maybe he’s had a rough street life! He ran off Nichodemus the other day from the food bowl that I set out. Nicho patiently waited in the bushes until he finished eating. I brought out more food for Nicho, and the orange cat came back and ate that, too. Finally, I was able to feed Nicho when the orange cat left!

Silas loves the sunroom like Natalya and I do, to watch the birds and the squirrels. They both understand what I mean when I ask them, “Do you want to go to the sunroom?” and run toward it. (They also understand the word, “treat.”)  I call the sunroom their TV entertainment room.

 

Besides Silas who we’ve taken in, Ray and I are visiting a new church, Hope City Church in Harrisonville, Missouri, about 20 minutes north of us. We’ve been looking for a new church home for years. 

I love Pastor Chad Fagerland’s Biblical, practical messages. The anointing of God is there. The first Sunday that I visited, I felt the presence and the anointing of God there. The worship is good and I love the passion for Jesus of the worship team, led by Pastor Chad’s beautiful wife Amy.

Recently they had a Night of Hope, where there was worship and praise for an hour. It was so good to be together with other believers in the house of the LORD, worshipping Him! They also had a time for a prayer team to pray for healing for the sick and hurting.

Our long-time friends Jim and Deann attend there, and were on the prayer team, praying for people. When I saw Deann last Sunday at church, I was so excited! They’ve been at this church for 10 years and love it. 

Pastor Chad invited people to put prayer requests for their loved ones or other people on sticky notes and to paste them on a wall at the front of the church. The staff prayed for the requests. It was powerful. God hears and answers our prayers!

 

All ages attend this church, which is great and I think rare today. Lifeway did a survey of young adults in 2017 and discovered that 66% said they stopped attending church. The reasons given were they were moving to college, they believe church members are judgmental or hypocritical, they didn’t feel connected to the church, they disagree with the church’s stance on political/social reasons, and work responsibilities prevented them from attending church.

This church’s staff want to reach the youth. They have a nursery, a kids’ church, and youth group (on Wednesday nights). They just had a Summer Blast event for kids and raised money for needy children to receive school backpacks. I agree with the church’s beliefs.

 

This past Sunday evening, Ray and I attended the Welcome Supper, where you meet the pastor and the staff and learn more about the church. They served a good BBQ supper there (I wish I had eaten more!) and gave us a pamphlet to go over. We also discussed ice-breaker questions with our group at each table.

 

For the next three weeks, there will be a Growth Track class which meets during the second service for us to learn more about the church, take a spiritual gifts inventory, and find out where we can best serve if we choose to stay there. I’m excited about it.

Ray, our daughter Leah, and I just attended our daughter Eden’s combination birthday party for her oldest daughter Piper (turning 8 years old) and her youngest son Asher (4 years old). Our daughter Leah came and gave them great gifts. Ray and I brought their gifts and I bought a donkey pinata. Piper had seen one before at a friend’s party, but never hit one, and neither had Eden’s daughter Willow or Asher. It was so fun!

 

 

 

I couldn’t believe the pinata didn’t break, though. Even Ray couldn’t get it to break hitting it over and over, and he finally ripped it open for the kids. We needed a harder stick or bat! It was filled with little chocolates and cute miniature toys. The kids loved it!

Eden and her fiance Andy provided a pretty birthday cake with sparkles, home-made limeade, mini roast beef sandwiches with au jus, and a southern dish that Eden’s Mimi used to make. It was good.

I will do a separate blog post with pics or  a vlog about the party, since this post is getting long!

What have you been doing this summer? I hope it’s been blessed and fun. Please share your comments below. 

 

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