We've gone to the rats...

Meet "Skunk" and "George". Yes they look alike but if you look at their tales they are different. Skunk has black that goes straight down his back unto his tail. George has the same black stripe but stops and has white and then a few patches of black on the tale. Their personalities are a bit different too. Skunk is calmer and George is more high energy. Both are boys so we wont have any issues with breeding more! (Goodness I think I would have a heart attack if that happened!)

Yes I think I have totally lost my mind. But a promise is a promise! You see when Kristofer was 3 years old a one of the teens in our church had a pet rat. Kristofer fell in love with it and has been asking ever since to have one. When he was 4 or so I told him that when he turned 8 yrs old that I would get him one then. Well the boy has a memory that is astounding and he remembered the conversation word for word!

So we have gotten him (George) and Jaron (Skunk) one each for their birthdays. They are sweet little things. Ok did I just say that? Uhm, yea I did! Why is it when we get a field mouse in the house I freak out and when we go to the pet store I fall in love with the little things like they are puppies or something. There is something wrong with that...I know there is!

As you can see from the smiles on their faces these two little guys are a hit in our house! Now the problem is is that Eli and Sara now want one too. Uhm...no I think 2 are enough for now.

So let's see what have we had as pets in the ten years that we have had children:

dogs

cats

fish

turtles

crawdads (aka crayfish)

guinea pigs

ferrets

lizards

a rabbit

salamanders

birds (cockatiel and parakeet)

and

now rats.

Goodness what in the world are we thinking?!

Laundry ...Sara loves it!

So if you have been reading lately, you know that our dryer died. YAY! Ok, so not really a shout out but I have to say it has been nice to get in the sun and hang those close and thankfully we have had weather that allows meto do this. I am still trying to "catch up" with all the laundry from when the power went out but I know eventually I will get there . . . eventually. . . it's not like when you get it all done there won't be more anyway! So in the last few days Sara has enjoyed helping me hang the clothes. Something about it is exciting to her. If I remember right I always enjoyed helping my mom hang the clothes too. Then there was hiding in them when we would play hide-n-seek. Our feet always gave us away...fond memories. The other day I thought I would capture a few pictures of her helping me and then she want to pose for the camera So I have encluded those pictures as well. I can't believe she is growing up. The other day she wanted to make her own chocolate milk, "all by myself Mommy!" Naturally I was envisioning the mess I would have to clean up and didn't want to let her...but I stepped back and let her do it all by herself. I realized at that moment I am living on borrowed time. Soon she will be saying "hey Mom, can I have the keys to the car?" Boy do I NOT look forward to that. But for that moment I let go and as mom's that is what we do, teach them to fly so that eventually they will soar! By the way she did fantastic and made no messes! YAY!

oh by the way, last month in the midst of finding homes for our puppies, we adopted a little guy named Bentley. Bentley will turn 1 on May 29th. In his short life he spent 8 weeks in an abandoned home when the owner left him because his home was forclosed. He and a few other animals were left to fend for himself. Poor little guy. The original owner/breeder that sold him to the gentleman (that lost his home) went to visit him. What she found him and the other animals in were deplorable conditions. They were surviving on their own feces and were very ill. One of the pups had a bad staph infection. She took them home, got the cleaned up, fed and took them for medical attention. Bentley is a full blooded Minature Schnauzer who has all his shots and is healthy now! She was very excited when we responded to her ad about them. She herself is a trucker and has 4 pups that go with her in her semi and she could not keep Bentley and his brother Ludwig. So he is now a part of our family. We got him for Kristofer because he was having such a hard time letting go of the puppies. Ok some will say, why not keep one of the puppies . . . the truth is we can't handle two large dogs. Thankfully Izzy and Bentley get along great! Bentley is perfect for our family!

Don't forget! I am doing a short series about what our fishing adventures have taught me over on my other blog Broken Potterie. So far I have discussed - God & the Fishing Line, Tangles, and today's is Celebration.

When does life slow down?

ANSWER: NEVER

There never seems to be enough time in the day to do what I want to do. Like to day I spent 3 hours trying to figure out this crazy photo software. It's great and it does a lot! I am really excited about it too but 3 hours is a lot of time spending on one photo ya know! It was all good though. Learning is always a good thing. Specially when you plan to use what you are learning to start a business or use it in ministry or even just enhance your talents. Well here take a peek at the picture that took me three well actually almost four hours to complete and its still not exactly what I wanted.

I would like to introduce you to a few new members of our family. The first two are Jeffery the orangatang and Pete the Macaw. They are puppets I will be using in church. We are waiting ont he arrival of two more. When they come in I will post them.

The other animal members that have come to live with us are Pebbles my 4 mo old cockatiel and Jasper a 12 week old ferret. Both have been a blessing to have. The kids love both. Personally I am so happy to once again have a bird. I grew up with parakeets and cockatiels. In fact my first pet was a parakeet named Petey. We thought he was a boy and then my grandmom "Mom" gave me another parakeet named Petey Boy and well my Petey was no longer considered a boy.

Pebbles was giving Kristofer kisses, she was liking his cheek.

Here Jasper had climbed up on my lap and was typing a message to Michele on facebook.

Sara loves Pebbles! Pebbles was playing hide and seek in Sara's hair. It was really cute, she would hide and Sara would say, "where are you?" Pebbles would chirp and peek out. It was so funny.

Besides te change of new pets in the house, being snowed in or sleeted in 4.5 inches of sleet and 4.5 inches of snow on top of that, we have been busy with the kids having snow days and I am still working on the Children's church room. Almost completed...well maybe not, still have a lot to do and its been hard to do with the kids being out of school plus having sick kiddos. Sara has battled strep and a UTI the last couple of weeks. I am praying that Monday all 4 will be able to go back to school. I need a break and I need to finish the stuff at the church. Which is where I am heading in a few minutes. I am hoping to get more pictures tonight and get things really moving and done. As soon as I have it completed I will post before and after pictures. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Ferret Fanatics

We have two wonderful little guys~even if they are theives!

Ferrets...

These two are so much fun!

Woody and Uno.

Woody is 2 years old and is the dark one and Uno is 1 yrs

old and is the white. They have completely different

personalities. Woody is a rambunctious adventurer who

isn't afraid of anything or anyone. He loves to play hide and

seek with anything he can steal as well as play chase

with the kids. Many times the kids will chase him

and as soon as they stop he turns and attacks chasing

them right back down the hall.

Uno, is the more loving and quiet type. He loves to be held

and loved on. He also loves to play and hide under covers

or in my cabinets or under anything he can squeeze

his fat little body under. He too likes to play chase

with the kids but would much rather lay in your arms.

The other night we let them run free in the house and we

had so much fun watching and laughing at them. I am a

animal lover. If I could I would have two of everything; cats,

dogs, turtles, ferrets, birds, rabbits, ect... But I have to say

besides my love for dogs & cats, ferrets are my absolute favorite!

I would love to have another one to add to our family if I

only had a cage big enough to keep them from getting hurt.

Man's Best Friend

Today is dedicated to the best dog in the world.

Katie Joy

Nov 1997 – Nov 2006

Katie was and will always be my dog! I do not believe in cloning of any thing but this is one friend I would love to have back. Just mentioning her name brings a smile to my face and tears to my eyes. She was my friend. She always knew if I wasn’t feeling well. She also seemed to know when I was pregnant with the kids. She would lay on or near my stomach as much as she could as if she protect the babies. I remember the day we brought her home from the pound. She was so small that she could sit in my palm. We had no idea who big or small she would be but we fell in love with her instantly. Katie became my baby and stayed my baby till she died. She filled a place that was left empty when our first son was stillborn.
In the years that followed she became the protector of our children and playmate as well. When we brought Jaron home for the first time she jumped into my lap and smelled him, licked his nose and would laid down next to him on our bed. She never left his side. She loved him as much as we did. She loves all the kids. When we brought Kristofer home she was the same way and when the twins came home for the first time she would go from one to the other smelling them. I think it confused her as much as it confused the boys as to why we had two babies instead of just one. Katie was a true friend, protector and companion. If I could have her here with us today it would make everything perfect. Instead she is, I believe, in heaven keeping SeanPatrick company like she kept us company.

We have a name!

What's in a name? A name gives a pet a place of belonging, character and a connection with their caregivers. For us it has created a new family member.
First thank you to all that responded to a private email asking for names!
It was a hard decision to make! We had over 25 names to chose from. It came down to two...Dixie and Bridget. It took us more than 5 times voting as a family. Each time it was tied. Finally we put each name in a bowl and everyone got to pick a folded piece of paper....democracy at its best...no recount due to "chads" here!
Drum roll please........

The winning name is...........BRIDGET!

Jaron picked this name and stuck to it all day! In the end it won by a lead of 2 votes. Remember though it was all done by chosing a paper out of the bowl! Both names were equally loved. Other runner ups were as follows;

Mia, Hope, Lucky, Rosie, Trixie, Chansu, Daisy, Holly

Personally I loved Dixie but since we did not chose this dog, God gave her to us we decided that a family vote is what was needed this time around.

Update:
Bridget is doing better every hour we see a change. She is wagging her tail even though it seems to be broken in one spot. She has gained enough strength to push a fan out of the way to get in the house. Tonight she started barking at the ferrets in a soft voice but its a good sign her hunting insticts are there. Also just a few moments ago we heard her scratching at the door to come in. All good signs.
Tonight in Adventure Kids at church we discussed how God cares for the sparrows...cats...dogs... and how much more He cares for us (Luke 12:6-7).
If God's word says he cares for His creation then He cares for Bridget. Please pray that Bridget's neck and back muscles will begin to loosen up and that she will be able to turn her neck on her own. We belive it is due to the starvation she has endured because after I massage her neck for 15 minutes she is able with my gentle help to turn her head. God can do a miracle for her just as He does even more for us.

Judah...a refugee...

We recently...yesterday...found out that not only is our small community a host to a variety of not so pleasant things but is consider a "dropping grounds." It is home to a variety of homeless cats and dogs. I knew we had a plethera of cats, well we did in our back yard until about a month ago when all but two have disappeared. The word around our neighborhood is that someone has collected them and taken them to a research lab. I'm not sure but our kitty Daisy was part of the missing cats/kittens...frown...
Anyway, yesterday we had two unexpected visitors appear on our front lawn. Two young black lab mix pups, I am guessing to be approx. 6 mo old. One male the other female. The kids naturally took to them like a bear and honey. The poor things were covered in ticks of various sizes. After about 5 hrs of them hanging in our yard we fed them some scraps & gave them some water. We tried shooing them away with no success. So I spent an hour sitting on my porch pulling all the ticks off of both of them over 30 total. I know the female, who we have been calling Judah (Praise), must have been very grateful because she seemed to be so relieved. I cleaned up their ears and at midnight the pair were still on our front porch.
This morning we woke to just Judah waiting for her breakfast I guess. We did feed her and after church we gave her a great sudsy bath. At first she was terrified but I kept talking to her and she finally calmed down. She was much happier and prettier when she was finally dry. I even had some extra BioSpot for fleas & ticks that we put on her. At least she will be safe from those nasty ticks for a month.
We are not sure what we are going to do with her. We have been told that someone rescued the two of them from being killed but they do not want them or need them. They have too many dogs as it is. We will wait and see if she returns home until then we will host this loving refugee outside. She loves the kids and the kids love her naturally. I believe she has been mistreated, she is very timid and lays down in submission when you go to pet her but greets us with a body wag (tail wagging uncontrolably) when we go outside to check on her.
The great thing is the kids know she is God's creation and we must take care of His creation, so if she should leave and return to the home she came from then we know that we have done everything we can for her in the short time she has taken refuge on our porch.
I will try to post a pic of her but I am having problems with posting pics.