Red Hood -n- Wolf

We humans fear the beast within the wolf because we do not understand the beast within ourselves. -Gerald Hausman

Everyone who knows me, knows how much I HATE Halloween. It does nothing to honor the Light and Life of my Lord. It does far more to honor the Anti-Christ, pagan gods, fear, and death. With that said, I do love costume parties and face painting. Last night my daughter attended the youth costume party at our church. All the costumes where cute, but there still had to be one...a boy who used makeup to look like a dead person and even made a coffin out of cardboard. This is the reason I do not like costume parties at the church around Halloween time: that element of Halloween ALWAYS comes in. That is all I am going to say on the matter.

My daughter decided she wanted to be a modern Little Red Riding Hood and was hoping to use Mishka as the wolf, but I thought he was just too undisciplined and just large enough to create havoc at the party. We did not find that long, oversized red hoodie we searched for, but we did find a hooded jacket that she liked at Goodwill. After all that we talked about makeup yesterday, because I know that she does not like looking "sweet and vulnerable," so I came up with some ideas to make her Red Hood -n- Wolf, that would not be frightening or gory or bloody or whatever else that I hate about Halloween costumes and makeup. Perhaps it was skirting the edge, but I just saw it as twist on the a fairy tale and the Princess actually wanted to sit for the face painting, which she has not wanted to do in years. We also silvered her hair on the wolf side.

She won third place in the costume contest.

She originally got the idea for her costume from this picture:

Now some people see a scary Fenris about to eat a vulnerable, frightened little girl in a red hooded raincoat, but we have a Fenris, so we decided that if we just turn a bit we can see a pet Fenris, who looks threatening to everyone else, but is smiling and just wanting to play with the little girl he loves and who is smiling at him.

It is all about perspective.

Thank you, my Lord, for giving so much to my daughter and help her crave Your Light more and more.

Sick Kitties Getting Better Now

The phrase "domestic cat" is an oxymoron. —George Will

I have been rather busy not doing the things I would like to get done, but things that required immediate attention for one reason or another. I just realize that most of this week I did not even think about eating breakfast and often not dinner!

For one, both of the Mitten Kittens had abscesses. I am not sure from what. I suspected that it was a combination of two new supplements I had begun giving them, but having talked that over with my Lord while using my gift of empathy, I am thinking now that was not the case. They both got abscesses, but in different places. Sharii was on his left fore leg and was huge. Midnight's was on the right side of her face and was big enough but not as big as Sharii's. Being that they are outside cats and do hunt in tandem at times, my husband thought it was possible that they tangled with something that passed on the infection to them and that seems more likely.

Since I dealt with Sharii having a huge abscess before on his neck and knew it would be at least $100 vet bill to have it lanced and drained, and then I would have the task of keeping the wound clean and open to allow it to continue to drain. Back then the vet told me that the abscess would likely break open on its own in a day or two, but being the first time I had ever dealt with such a thing, I decided to have the vet do it. This time I hardly even got to think about it before Sharii's broke open at the top why he struggled just a little bit as I examined it. Undoubtedly it was quite painful. He had already pulled off all the fur in the area, but unfortunately, it did not stay open to allow it to drain in the following days. I gave both cats colloidal silver in their food and water to help them both fight off the infection.

Midnight is the scrappy one about such things and she has the curviest small nails; I don't think they ever retract fully, but thankfully she is small and more controllable when it is a necessity. Midnight's broke open a day later while I attempted to examine it and it drained for about 48 hours, although I did have to reopen the wound once with a soft wet cloth; she is healing up nicely.

With Sharii, however, this process keeping the wound open so it would drain was not working out so well and the abscess filled up again and again, although smaller. His abscess was far lower than the first opening so I had to assist more with his draining every day. He is not one to use his nails on people unless he really means it. He is the one who purrs when he just looks at you. He is the one is strong enough to put up a challenging fight, but rarely does it. He is the one who always is ready to eat. However, yesterday he was not a well kitty at all. When we returned from a day of errands, he would not come out from his hiding spot in the garage were I purposely left him for the day. He picked a good spot, one that required me to do some interesting gymnastics to get to him. He had felt feverish around the abscess that morning, so I was not surprised, although quite concerned, that he was not interested in food and just wanting to not be bothered by anyone, but Mama had to do what Mama does.

After we had gotten in all the groceries and had all the other furry ones fed and the puppy had been out, I got out one of our pet carriers and lined it with flannel throws we had gotten for my Jamie cat, who just could not stay warm enough in his old age. Sharii was quite comfortable and happy to lie down, even in such confinement. (He was in so much pain that he growled every time I touched him and picking him up was cause to try to bite me. If he had felt better, I am sure he could have done some real damage to me, but if he felt better he would not have.) Then I made him a homeopathic remedy with my remedy maker, one that I had an inventor design for me over ten years ago but I never got to market it. I gave Sharii seven drops of the remedy every fifteen minutes for three hours. After the first hour, he seemed to perk up a bit and began licking the abscess area, which was not as low on the leg as it had been previous, and it broke open on the bottom, which would allow it to drain better.

Although he protested my gentle hands last night, I felt all over his body. He had swelling in various areas particularly on the left side of his body. I believe it was his lymph system overwhelmed with the infection that had begun affecting him systemically. I was quite concerned about him, but seeing it drain, I felt that he should be better in the morning and that is what I believed I was hearing from God as well. In fact, I believe He told me Sharii would be well in three days. He will still have some healing to do in the area most affected, but the infection would be completely gone.

Last night, just before I was going to bed, I placed Sharii in the garage and gave him food, which he ate ravenously and wanted more. This morning he was up and out like his normal self. He was still tender and has swelling in the lymph glands, but he no longer was growling and he purred whenever I touched him. He is staying inside the garage for the next few days, most likely.

Sharii is my husband's favorite of the Tuxedo Twins and Sarah claimed him also. He loves to walk under foot when we are feeding the rabbits; he nearly trips me every day. I love both cats but I am partial to Midnight; because she is just so small, she seems to need a protector...especially from Sharii. However, I do love the male cat personality better than female cat's. They just seem to be calmer and less scrappy over all. I am hoping that this will be the last of it for Sharii so he can enjoy the outside again soon. Those squirrels are getting rather cheeky without him around outside.

My Lord, thank you for Your guidance in helping my cats to heal.

The Things in Change

Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are. ~Bertold Brecht

This is a bit different for me. I am just going briefly write on some things that have changed recently and could change soon. I usually do not like to write about things before they have happened because sometimes they just do not happen and yet because I wrote them, it feels like they should've-could've-would've.

Instagram
I originally opened an Instagram account to help bring encouragement to the Princess, who has a propensity for looking on the dark side of just about everything. I already had access to her account, but there were a few times I just wanted to nudge the conversation to be more uplifting. However, I found that I really like Instagram. I have never really been a fan of social media in general and seriously dislike Facebook because it requires real names, but Instagram allows usernames.

180° Teenager

Every day is different with a teenager, but since the incident with J-Void on the Instagram Direct Message, I now hear and read my daughter advising her friends to talk to their parents and do not hide things from them or go behind their backs. She is saying the things we have told her for all her life, but she mostly rejected since she hit the tweens. That is when we parents somehow transformed into her enemy and she knew so much more than we did...until the J-Void incident when she realized she had not seen that one coming and began to appreciate a little why we read all her conversations. The Princess has begun to stop seeing us as the enemy and trusting us again, although she still mostly knows more than we do.

Also, the Princess she is beginning to love to play the piano again. In part, that is because of the youth praise band that has been gotten off to a rocky start during the summer with vacations, but is now picking up steam. Another part was I heard her playing something on the digital piano without her earphones when she thought I could not hear from just outside on the porch. I suggested she play it for the Coffee Shop Recital this fall and she said she would not be allowed to do that. It took both her piano teacher and me to convince her that it is a casual recital so she has a far greater variety of choices, not just classical music, and that we all would love it. So, she is doing this very pretty piece that is played much faster originally, but sounds so lovely slowed down with dynamics.

Child Sponsorship

We have been sponsoring Judite Joao for the last three years with only three letters and two pictures from her, although we sent more. She should be about 14 years old at this time. A few weeks ago, we received a letter from a 7-year-old girl written to the Princess, who is the named sponsor. There was no notice, no explanation, and no choice of this change. All I could think was how awful it is to have a child write to someone, who she thinks is going to sponsor her, when that has not even been decided. I mean, we do not even know what country the child is in...! I called the agency and was told this was an interim sponsorship because Judite did not "qualify for the program"—whatever that means, because I was not told—so we are just suddenly cut off from her completely. I like sponsoring a child, but we do not like the way this particular agency goes about it, so we terminated our participation through them.

On the Horizon

My husband is being highly recommended for a opening with another company this month by a man helping to find his replacement so he can relocate. This man used to work under my husband in another company and thinks highly of him. This change would be highly welcomed if the pay offered is worth it. The stress from his current job has been difficult for him and he still has not been promoted after being promised for five years?

Braces Soon

Once we know if my husband is going to be switching jobs this month or not, the Princess is going to have braces. Our present dental insurance does help pay for them, but if we have to switch insurance companies, then we would have to think about our options. We were told she would be in them for about 2 to 2½ years. I found an orthodontist that I just love, who is board certified (meaning lots of extra hours of peer review), but he is on the higher end of pricing. There are cheaper places, but I do not like their impersonal clinic atmospheres and question how thorough their orthodontists would be.

Will Change

My husband and I named a cousin and his wife as the Princess' god parents when she was a baby. Since that time, some things have changed within their home and with their health, so we decided to consider a family we trust in the area. Actually, one of the Princess' best friends. Hopefully, it will never be necessary, but since neither one of us has family and the Princess has lived in this area all her life, we thought this would be a better choice for her should it be necessary.

My Lord, help us to only change in the direction You wish for us. Guide us to be where You wish us to be.