Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Tough Weekend...

This weekend was tough for us, and I have had a tough time deciding whether or not to blog about it. SO... if this is your first time visiting my blog, please believe me when I say that I'm usually not quit so "morbid"... don't judge me! :-) After that little disclaimer, I guess I'd better explain...

The weekend started off great. We slept in Sat. morning, and then went into town to eat breakfast and purchase a wheelbarrow. Luke had ordered a 1/2 truck load of composted manure to use as fertilizer for the garden, and we intended to utilize the free child labor we have to spread it. At first the girls were a little hesitant, because, really, it IS manure, but they soon got over it... it is already composted and pretty much is just like dirt. Soon they were playing on the pile of "dirt" and helping us spread it. The dog and several of the cats came down to the garden, and the kids were having a great time playing and working.

We worked for several hours, took a break for a picnic, and then continued working. Finally we stopped so that we could all shower and get ready for two b-day parties... one for a friend of Abby's from school, and one for a grown-up friend of ours, who was turning 50. Luke's parents had agreed to baby-sit and everything, so we were excited to go to a "grown-up" party.

Here are the kids, sitting on the "dirt" pile. Here is Luke, wheeling the girls around in the wheel barrow. Oh, my, they had fun!
So, as we are getting ready to stop work in the graden, Katie walked up the hill, but the rest of us loaded in the back of the truck to ride up the hill. We loaded the dog, but I thought the cats had followed Katie up the hill (they follow her everywhere.) As we were leaving, Luke backed over Gato, the cat, with his truck. It was awful. Truly awful. Little Abby saw her die on the ground. Then we had to come up the hill and tell Katie, because it was her cat. She was HEARTBROKEN. She cried and cried and cried. I guess it was really the first time that she lost something that she REALLY loved, and there was nothing her Dad and I could do to fix it. We had to carry the kitty up the hill and bury her. Katie was so upset... she didn't want us to put the dirt on top of Gato to bury her, because she thought it would "scare" her. She had all kinds of questions about animals and heaven and lots of specific things that I really didn't know HOW to answer. It was so emotional and I felt so helpless, because I couldn't "fix" it, and I couldn't stop her pain.

Needless to say, after all the "drama", we didn't make it to either birthday party. We were so tired... we finally agreed to let the kids still visit Luke's parents, because Abby and Grace still really wanted to go. Katie went, but she was sad the whole time.

In honor of little Gato, who really was the BEST cat, I'm putting up a picture of her with Katie from happier times.
The next day after church we went to one of our dear friends' houses who had baby kittens that were ready for adoption. Katie decided that these little babies wouldn't REPLACE Gato, but maybe they might help her be happy again. So, we now are a proud family of two new kittens, and let me tell you, they are sweet. Pure little "kitten sweetness" in a box. Just look at them!
The girls decided to name them "Pancho" and "Lefty". They are about 8 weeks old, and they are living in my spare bathroom until they get a little bigger (yes, I know I said NEVER AGAIN to animals in the house, but what do you do? They are babies!)

Welcome to the family, Pancho and Lefty. You have big paws to fill!!

3 comments:

Amy said...

Bless your hearts!! It makes me want to cry!

I havn't breathed a word of it around this house, but Jason accidently ran over Case's little "retarded" kitty that I always blog about. It was SO hard on him because Case loved that kitty so much. We havn't told any of the kids...I just can't do it!! They think she must be visiting all her friends!! I am SOOO glad the kids did not see because he did it backing out of the driveway on the way to school. Makes me so sad.

Tell Katie we are so sorry. It is so hard when they are little. But the new kitties are just adorable!! And as always...GREAT NAMES!!

Shelley said...

Your new additions are adorable! So sorry for you loss...

Charla (SHar-la) said...

Betsy,

I've been meaning to come over and comment since you left one on my blog the other day. I am amazed EVERY DAY at how small the world of bloggers is! I make connections almost daily! I have to tell you, we have a lot in common as far as our lifestyles are concerned. That's another thing I love about blogging...you realize how much you have in common with other people and that we are all just "people" living life. I'm SO sorry about Gato...I remember losing my first pet, our dog, Buster was rammed by a sheep horn and it was horrible. I bet the kittens will help tremendously. AND, we had a cat named Gatito, but we called Tito. Ha! Great "meeting" you, and if you don't mind I'm going to add you to my blog roll! Come see us in C-town sometime!