Ash Wednesday

I have never given up anything during the Lenten season. But this year, I am.
Well, I'm trying.
This year I am giving up meats and sweets.
For forty days.
I hope.
You see, it's 6:30 p.m. on Day One of my Forty Day Lenten Fast, and already I find myself bargaining to get to the next meal.
"Here you go ... some almonds until lunch time."
"Here you go ... some fruit to tide you over til supper time."
When of course all I really want is the Double Stuff Oreos that are on sale at Ingles.
I am hopeful that some local seasonal fruits or veggies will be available before Easter, but probably not.
So if you have vegetarian recipes you want to share, please do ... I am not giving up dairy, so feel free to share those recipes, too.

In other news ...

• School is going well for all at our house.
• Our 8-year old is on track for the 3rd 9-weeks Principal's Honor Roll (all A's) and our 4-year old loves preschool more than chocolate (which is a tremendous accomplishment for preschools everywhere).
• I am doing well and can hardly believe May 1st is just 9 1/2 weeks away - Wow! I really need to buckle down on my application for Grad School, as it's due 3/15 (yikes!). 
• We need to re-home two pets. We are re-locating and have 4 pets (two dogs, two cats). Since we are going to be renting for a while we have run into an issue with that number of pets. So, we are looking for a new home for: 
•  Jedi (20-month old male orange tabby cat who has been fixed and is in excellent health). Jedi is a rescue kitty who is the opposite of every stereotype about cats - he is incredibly affectionate and loves to play and snuggle. 
• And for Lucky, a rescue dog who has been with us since Thanksgiving of 2005. We think that he is about 7 years old. He weighs about 45 pounds and prefers women to men. He is also in great health. If you or someone you know might be interested, please comment with your e-mail and I will happily tell you more. We will be asking for veterinary references for any home that either of our pets go to - they are very loved, but we have to be reasonable about where we can live. 

Ummm ... that's all, for now.

Happy Ash Wednesday!

A Quiet House

A quiet house is something that I don't have often. 


I am a talker. My husband is a talked. My 8-year old is a talker. My 3-year old is a talker.


We also like to listen to music. Or the television. 


Tonight, I'm sitting at home. Alone. My husband is at work and my children are sleeping over at my parents house.My dogs are sleeping in their crates, warm and toasty. There's only one show I want to watch (ABC's new show, Grimm). 

And so my house is quiet. 

It's a little unusual, and normally I'd be at a loss for what to do with my quiet time. But this week I've had a special project - praying for my friends. 


Last week a friend of mine did a half-marathon -less than 11 months after surgery to repair a compound fracture in her ankle. She did not run the half, she walked it. And while she walked it, she carried a notebook filled with the prayer requests of friends and family, people she knows and some she does not. 


Since I'm not doing a half anytime soon (I've just recently started 'training' to run 5Ks - phew!), I've been using Facebook (this week) as a tool to collect the prayer requests of my friends.  Since I'm generally a pretty selfish person, this has been a big departure from my 'normal' prayer time. 


Normally, my prayers revolve around my family - my husband and children, my parents, sister and sister-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews. 


But this week I have tried to focus on the needs of others. And I can say, with honesty, that I have looked forward to my quiet time each day and the honor of bringing the cares of friends and acquaintances to the feet of God. 


Friends, I have, and continue to be, honored to pray as you:

• Add to your families (through adoption and biological);
• Seek church homes in new communities; 
• Worry over the health of your Mamas and Daddies; 
• Seek new job opportunities; 
• Overcome financial hardships; 
• Work on and honor your marriages; 
• Got to school; 
• Raise your children;
• For many, many other things. 

It is such an honor to step out of my comfort zone to pray for you. Thank you for giving me a focus for my quiet time. 


BJM

Dogs

We have two dogs.

We also have two children. And two cats.

And they each need, and deserve, lots of time and attention.

Our first pet, Neci, came to us the week before we got married. My soon-to-be-husband and out were visiting my Aunt the week before our wedding, when as we were leaving we heard kittens crying. It was really quite pitiful and off went my soon-to-be-husband to rescue the kittens, which had been abandoned. There were four kittens and as I had just read Rebecca Wells' The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, we named the four girl kittens after the four main female characters - Neci, Caro, Vinnie and Teensy. The next week we returned to our new home where "our girls" were already living with my Husband after our wedding and reception to find our Teensy kitten very ill. I spent the night holding her, trying to get her to drink from a dropper, keeping her warm. The next day, we spent the morning at the Emergency Vet, where we ended up having her euthanized due to her sever illness. Several weeks later, after placing ads in our local paper and at veterinary offices, we gave one of the calico kittens - Vivvi - to a new home. We kept Caro and Neci. When the kitties were two years old, Caro was hit by a car, leaving us with one car - a calico, our Neci. 


When our older child was almost two years older, we decided our family was ready for a dog. So we looked around and found a breeder in Tacoa, Ga. and we got our Sully, a golden-doodle male (his dad is a Standard Poodle and his mom is a Golden Retriever).  We chose a golden-doodle because they don't shed (their hair grows like ours - and it needs constant attention!) and also because they are such an easy dog to train - with consistency, that is! They are (generally) very intelligent dogs and very loving. We have definitely found this to be true with our Sully. He is a very happy dog who, even at close to 70 pounds, thinks he's a lap dog and loves to flop on our feet. He also is still very high energy and needs to be walked a lot  ... 

Our second dog (Lux) and second cat (Jedi) came to us as strays. Our cats live outside and our dogs are inside-outside. We have a (fairly) large fenced back yard, so they have lots of room to run, but we have to make sure that they get exercise. Lately that means lots of walking - 2-3 miles each day! But over the last few weeks, as they days have gotten cooler and daylight hours seem to grow shorter, the walks have been great. I tend to do the walking, which is hard for me as I'm soooo out of shape, but I also enjoy it. We walk in neighborhoods near our home and sometimes go to a nearby park to walk. And if we're lucky, we have a friend to join us. 


What do you do to keep your pets healthy, socialized and tired out enough to sleep?