Oh, Emma!

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Emma is our very pregnant cat.  She thinks she’s a house cat, but really she’s not.  I can’t count the times somebody has come to the door for something, and when I open it she races inside.  It’s, extremely, extremely, oh so very, annoying.

Last night at bed time I was putting some laundry away in our bedroom and straightening up a bit.  I hung a dress up in the closet and as I was doing that, I heard an unmistakable, “meow, meow”.  Tiny newborn kittens, IN MY CLOSET.

Now if you’re wondering what kind of ship I run, I can assure you it’s not a very tight one, since a cat can come inside, have a litter of six, and I’m oblivious.

It turns out, that when Gene came home from work yesterday, Emma slipped in, unbeknownst to me.

Now, a good mom would have seized the opportunity to show her children the miracle of life.  It  would have been the perfect opportunity for an impromptu Biology lesson. (Or is it Science? Or Nature?)  Those ideas did not even register on my Richter scale, as I basically flipped out and forbade my children (and Josh & Danielle, who happened to be here) to enter the bedroom to have a look.  Then I ran to the barn yelling for Gene to come and quick because it is a kitty emergency.

Then I huddled on the couch with Elena until Gene came inside.  I’m not sure why, but the idea of a postpartum cat bonding with her newly born offspring, in my closet, totally and completely freaked me out.  Also, I was worried about my new shoes from Target.

Fifteen minutes later, and the problem is solved.  No shoe damage done.  Instead, I discovered that she had picked my fuzzy blue bath robe to be her delivery room.  I insisted on throwing it away, and Gene thought I was completely insane, but I know I will never wear it again.

 Gene thinks this just proves what a smart cat Emma is, since she obviously planned to have her kittens in our house, the safest place for her.  What can I say?  Emma’s a smart cat.  Tame. Nice Tempered.  Gray and White.  Good Mother.  Anyone interested?

On kids and the Bible

.Reading time 3 minutes.


A frustrating thing for me right now is:  Bible Stories. (Yes, my life is simple)  Seriously, Elena picks the weirdest stories to fall in love with.  If they weren’t Bible stories, you can bet your life I would say something like “That is such a silly and pointless story, sorry kiddo, not going to read it to you.” 

Since you can’t do that with Stories of the Good Book, I just swallow and read over and over the grim tail of Samson, how he went on a killing spree,  and his head got shaved, his eyes got gouged out, and then the happy ending  in which he pushes over the pillars and kills everyone.  Just lovely. 

On the last page there are pictures of terrified people running down the temple steps while the walls are crumbling down.  Elena always asks about these people and what they’re doing, and where they’re going.  And I say “Oh they’re just getting killed.  Samson was filled with the Holy Spirit so he could kill all the people.”  If nothing else it’s caused me to pull out the Bible and read the story of Samson over and over and try to find meaning in it.

Is it weird to anyone that the same God would fill someone with the Spirit and cause him to do something, that if done today, we would point to it as an obvious lack of the Spirit?  Anyone follow?

And as far as teaching my kids theology, I think they are seriously going to be messed up.  First off, I used that wonderful old cliché.  “Jesus is in our hearts”.  So of course Elena wants to know what he’s doing in there.  So when I used that phrase immediately I was all annoyed at myself, so I made it worse by saying “Oh, he’s probably just playing baseball in there”. (I know, can you be a worse parent? I’m thinking of erasing this since it reflects badly on me.  Oh well, I’ll keep it real.)

Tonight Elena goes:  “Jesus is playing in my heart.  But what is God doing?”
Me: “He’s in your heart too. I guess. Well actually, I don’t know.”
Elena: “What’s he doing in my heart?”
Me: “I don’t know.”
Elena: “I guess he’s working on the computer in my heart.” 

Yup, kid that works for me.  Theology?  I’m sure she’ll teach me more than I teach her.