December Winds Down

Well, the holidays are almost over. Joe and I don't usually do anything on New Year's Eve. He doesn't even stay up to ring in the New Year. It's just another night to him. Maybe Steve and Michelle will come up and play games this year. If they do, I'll stay up. I won't plan on getting up at 5:00 a.m. on New Year's Day if I do, though. I do seem to remember them being here and going out on the deck with them and making a racket banging spoons on pans in years past so I'll just play it by ear. (What a funny saying.... I can't play any musical instrument by ear really.)

I noticed a young girl in Church last Sunday sitting in the bench in front of us. She had some pencils and was drawing the face of a girl. It reminded me of when I was her age (about 14) I used to draw girls faces too. She was pretty good for not having any training. I thought it would be fun to teach her some tips to help her along with her talent but I forgot about it when the meeting was over.

I happened to see her mother in Relief Society and went over to sit by her to see if she thought her daughter would like to come over and let me teach her a little bit. She was thrilled about it. After the meeting her daughter came in the room and I asked if she would like to do it. She was very enthusiastic about it so she ended up coming over yesterday. I thought it would only take about twenty minutes or so. We ended up talking and drawing for over an hour. It was really fun for me and she was very willing to learn and seemed to enjoy herself.

I suggested she get a book at Provo Art and Frame that showes how to draw faces from all angles. It will really be a good book for her to learn from. I told her she could practice drawing from it and then come over after she has some more work to show me and I will teach her a little more.

Joe and I tended Joshie, Brianna and Brayden yesterday afternoon so Stacey could have a break. I was somewhat apprehensive about our ability to take care of them all because I don't get around very well but it turned out to be a lot of fun.

We had only been in the car coming home from their house for about 4 minutes when Brady asked if we were there yet :) He asked the same question about 4 or 5 more times before we got home. It reminded us of when we had little kids. It must be a rite of passage for 3 year olds.

When we got home we played with "grandma's toy box." We played the teddy bear game, played with the clay, went through both decks of cards that teach words and numbers (counting) and did the alphebet puzzle. They were all very good to take turns and share in the games. Brady did very well for a three year old and Joshie was so excited to be doing the "toy box" again he had to be restrained from giving all the answers to the questions in the card games before Brady and Brianna could have a chance. Brianna was her sweet little self and excitedly helped Brady do some of the cards. They were all so cute.

Then Joe set up the TV upstairs and turned off the lights and we all watched 'The Incredibles" like we were at the movies. Brady was in constant motion as he watched. I was laying on the love seat and he came and laid down with me about 5 different times (which melted my heart) in between climbing on the rug we have rolled up on the floor, laying on the floor himself and rolling around on the floor. All this time he had his eyes on the TV so I know he was watching the movie. About half way through the movie the cd went on the fritz so we had to turn it off. It was just as well because Brady was getting hungry so we took them to Artic Circle for supper.

I was apprehensive again about what we would do if they got to playing on the gym set they have there and wouldn't come down when it was time to eat but it turned out not to be a problem. I was afraid Brady might not mind us and get up on the part of the gym where we couldn't reach him and then what would we do? Luckily it didn't happen. We got them some tiny ice crean cones after they ate their food (Brady only had fries but Joshie said that was all he would eat so we didn't push it) We told them we would buy them a gum ball when they had their boots and coats on. They all minded so well it was a joy to have them. I'm glad Joe was there, though, as I couldn't have done it alone, but with him, we all had a great time.

It was altogether a very good day. Today was good as well. After going to my mission and my 12 step meeting I came home and had a good, long rest this afternoon.

I had a little bit of a flare up after all the excitement from Christmas but have been doing much better the last two days.

It's good to feel good. Lots of good things going on :)

Best Christmas Ever, without a doubt!!!

(Just a warning, this is an extra long post and I don't expect anyone to read it, but I wanted to record all the details so I can look back and remember how great, fun and wonderful it all was.)

So, by the title of my post you can guess how my Christmas was. Organized bedlam :) I wish there was some way to make a huge smiley face because that's how it was.

And it was fun and loud and boisterous with tons of little people running around and a half-frazzled kitten (well she's almost a cat now, she's about four or five months old)venturing out from under the Christmas tree over and over again only to run back after she'd gotten her fill of all the little people (and I do mean little people - Camden is only 18 months old and Matthew isn't much older) following her around trying to pick her up when she was already stressed out from chasing her little cat's toy that the kids kept teasing her with. The kids are all enthralled with the kitten (except for Holly and Brendon who have had two cats for a long time now.) They all want to play with her at once, it seems.

Luckily we have the family room downstairs where the kids can go to play so that we have some respite for the adults. I don't know what they do down there. There's no furniture down there but they seem to have a ball. You can hear their screams of sheer joy and laughter as they run around chasing each other. They also play hide-and-seek although when Seth was down there watching he said there were only about six places to hide. That's not many places when you figure there were about 40 kids to hide (just kidding, there were only 16 down there - it just sounds like 40 when you hear their screams of delight when they "find" someone.)

Actually, it's not that bad because there is a hallway that turns once and then a turn into the stairs down, a turn after you've gone about 6 steps down and a turn at the bottom of the stairs so the screaming is like a faint roar by the time it gets to where the adults are.

Even so, when you get 18 happy, joyous adults all talking and laughing together there is a lot of noise, too, so we can't say too much about the noise the kids make. It's just so fun when we get together, what can I say? We are just so incredibly blessed that all 9 of our children settled in Utah Valley. And just think how many more people there would have been if Jenn and Jan had married. Or I should say how many more people there will be when they do marry.

Christmas Eve we talked and visited until everyone got here which was about a hours wait. Actually, it was a much longer wait for Seth and Karla who came about an hour and a half early and the girls who came 45 minutes early to help us get everything ready. I was so grateful for Karla who got all the vacuuming done which I hadn't had time to get to yesterday. I was exhausted by the time they got here and didn't have the strength to do anything more.

We had the small dining room table full of ham and rolls for a light snack and then five bowls of hard candies, three boxes of See's chocolates and various cookies and brownies. We left it up to everyone's discretion what they ate. The kids were hesitant to take the candy at first but got a little more courage as the night wore on. Fortunately no one got sick from eating too much though the kids were even more wired (from the sugar rush from the candy) as the night wore on.

Anyway, we had the children all dress up in costumes to do the Christmas pageant. Daniel made a huge (8' x 10') vinyl backdrop of the nativity scene. We hung it in the opening of the family room that separates it from the extra space (room?) behind it. It was just the perfect place for all the kids to wait in for their part on the program. Janelle brought a whole box of simple costumes for the kids to dress in for their parts.The kids were all hyper they were so excited to be in this "play."

It all went off well except for a little drama with Logan who wasn't sure whether he wanted to be Joseph or a Nephite. He ended up being both but wearing one of the wisemen's costume as Joseph because the Joseph costume was too hot. (cute kid :) It was all resolved in the end and the play went happily on.

At the end of the play Joe read Luke 2 as was our tradition.

Steve and Michelle let us use their digital piano for the songs we sang as an audience. We were also going to use it to sing Christmas carols after the play was over but we decided to go upstairs to exchange white elephants and open one gift for each family before we sang the carols. Unfortunately several of the families left right after we opened the present (which was an animated board book about what happened here in America the night Jesus was born) so we only had about 8 or 10 people left to sing the carols but it was all good in the end. The carols were all sung a'capella but were beautiful just the same. Finally we sang Silent Night, to which Janice and I sang an impromptu descant. It was a nice, calm carol to end with. It was a beautiful song and a wonderful night.

Christmas morning was wonderful as well. The breakfast was the best organized ever. Daniel let us use two large chafing pans from his rental center so we could cook all the food and put it in the pans to keep warm until people came to eat. That made it so we could serve each family as they came, instead of having 37 people, all at once, waiting in line to get their food. It was so much better this year, much more calm and easy.

The food was delicious. We served 3 pounds of bacon, 5 pound of sausage, 6 dozen scrambled eggs with a pint of whipping cream and three cups of shredded cheese mixed in, 3 large loaves of Texas toast for French toast, a gallon of white milk, a gallon chocolate milk, a gallon of orange juice, and a gallon and a half of hot chocolate. And that was just breakfast. We had most of the candy and cookies left over from last night as well.

The crowning event of the day was opening the presents. The kids were all playing downstairs so we left them there while we opened the adult gifts first. We all ooood and ahhhhd about everyone's gifts which was fun. Then we passed out all the gifts for all the children to their parents and called the kids upstairs to open them. They were so excited to finally get their presents (to which we ooood and ahhhhd as well.) I think having the kids stay downstairs until the adults open their presents first may be a tradition in the making. :)

Finally, Karla, Jan and Jenn cleaned up all the dishes, picked up all the odds and ends and vacuumed again for which I will be eternally grateful. The house looked as good as it did before everyone came minus the food, which they also put away.

We has such a good time giving and getting presents. We gave all the adults the little board book, a large, #10 sized can of hermetically sealed non-hybrid garden seeds for their food storage, and a large, family sized Book of Mormon that has all kinds of explanatory notes and definitions that make it much more easy for the smaller children to understand. We gave Jennifer two Church books both of which have absolutely beautiful illustrations. (We gave her the two books because she already had a copy of the Book of Mormon.) One of them tells the story of the last days, the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ. This book has a picture of the garden of Gethsemane that is almost the same picture that Jennifer is painting with me. Besides having beautiful illustrations, this one's are also extremely moving, touching pictures. The other book tells the story of a young girl who experiences a miracle in her life.

We gave all the boys from Truman's age (5) on up a Transformer, which is a robot that changes form into an army truck or a jet or some kind of vehicle for fighting the bad guys. We gave the girls from Sabrina's age (4?) a little suitcase full of crayons, markers, paints, scissors, glue and colored paper to do crafts with. We gave Joey and Brayden felt storybooks of the movie "Cars." Matthew got a little wood workbench that has various shapes of wood blocks to pound through the matching sized hole and Camden got a small truck with a driver. Holly got a set of four Nancy Drew books and a the same Church book of the young girl's miracle that we gave to Jennifer.

The children and grandchildren all drew names and exchanged presents as well. Joe just said I shouldn't write about all the gifts as it sounds too mercenary. and it would get a little long to write everything. Suffice it to say we got some fun gifts from the white elephant game and Joe and I received some got some really nice presents from our children.

I am going to mention what Joe gave me and what I gave him. He gave me four packages of ten doorknobs each for my cupboard and drawers in the kitchen and bathrooms. I've been wanting some all seven of the years we've lived in this house. He also gave me matching picture albums which hold 300 pictures each. I picked out both of these "gifts" myself. Secretly, in my heart, I was wishing I didn't know every gift I was getting. Suddenly he pulled out a small a surprise gift! It was a pair of sparkling earrings which are just beautiful, an understated beauty, not gaudy. How fun!

I gave him the first volume of 'The Joseph Smith Papers," (I found out about three weeks after I bought it that he really didn't think he'd buy it because it was basically the same as reading the volumes of Church History which we already have.) I also got him a small box of See's chocolates just for himself (6 cherry chocolates and 6 chocolate marzipan) and a very nice (expensive) pair of slippers (which were too small even though they said they were a size ten.)

I have to say that besides all the joy and laughter, pageant and gifts, one other thing made this the best Christmas ever, for me. Joe was relaxed and mellow. He enjoyed it all this year and let things happen at their own pace. He exuded a spirit of peace and tranquility in spite of the noise, happy confusion and (organized?) chaos that went on all around him. His contribution of money to pay for all the festivities (no small thing in itself), his quiet reading of Luke 2 and his idea to open the gifts one at a time so we all could see what each person was getting (which prolonged the fun of the gift giving) all added substantially to the whole holiday. (I should say that where several people were getting the same gift, we did have them opened at the same time.) Anyway, he brought with him a spirit of love and tenderness that was especially meaningful. He is such a good man and I am blessed to be married to him

The final tradition, after everyone has gone home for the day, which happens at about one or two o'clock in the afternoon, Jan and Jenn come back (after a good nap) and we spend the evening watching a movie together or just talking and laughing. We made ham sandwiches and ate some of the leftover candy and just had a good time talking and laughing together.

Remembering the quiet, calm interlude of reading Luke 2 and singing the Christmas Carols between the happy merrymaking of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning all make a fitting end to the meaningful days of December.

Love to everyone!

Christmas Eve Festivities

Well it's Christ Eve and I'm already done shopping for presents, got all my Christmas card sent and shopped for all the food. Usually I don't get the cards done and shopping for presents are all done by Thanks Giving. So this year was a little different but enjoyable.

I am having a hard time staying away from the sweets. I've done really well until today when I ate a coconut bar that had fruit and nuts in it and I'm pretty sure it was held together by corn syrup or something sugary. And I took one bite of a brownie but whoever made them obviously forgot the sugar. It tasted terrible which was just as well for me. I'm going to have to pray harder to be able to keep my abstinence or I will be lost. Holiday are especially hard.

Tuesday Joe and I cleaned out our respective rooms so Steve and Michelle could move in. It was a Herculean task for me. It took about 6 or 7 hours to get my room done and there are still some things I don't know what I'm going to do with. I did keep the most important parts of my art supplies and my sewing machine with the two sets of drawers that hold my supplies for it. I'm trying to get everything set up on my tables, now, but I don't have enough room with the printers on the table where I want to put my things from my "desk" downstairs. Joe has gone to the Temple with Daniel so I am here alone and can't do it myself. Oh well, I need to study my scriptures anyway.

I am looking forward to tonight's festivities. Mostly I get to just sit back and watch. The pageant is going to include about 4 or 5 angels, four Nephites and Samuel the Lamanite (we are doing the Christmas story from the perspective of the Book of Mormon), several shepards and sheep and one donkey played by David. He's such a good sport. He plays the donkey every year. Seth is going to be the narrator. It should be a little better presentation this year as most of the kids are 4 to 7 years old and can pretty much do their parts alone (without parental help that is.) Melissa organizes this every year which is a real blessing. I would like to print out the lyrics to several Christmas carols that we could sing as part of the program but I'll need some help doing that I think. We'll have to see. I may be able to figure that one out for myself.

Anyway it looks like it's going to be a fun night. And tomorrow is going to be even better although I know what I'm getting. Joe doesn't want to surprise me which makes me a little sad. I don't like to know what I'm getting but I do like what I am getting. I found some knobs for my cupboard doors (four packs of ten each) and I also picked out two photo albums for my pictures at Costco. I'm excited to see if Joe likes what I got for him and the kids as well. Michelle, Jenn and I wrapped about 40 gifts for the family. It's a good thing I start shopping for Christmas in early summer. We couldn't afford this many gifts if we left it all until December.

Well I need to get on with my day,

Love Loves!

Melancholy December Day

Today is my Father's birthday. I always think of him in December. I wonder what he was like when he was a little boy. Seth reminds me of him. I don't know why. Maybe it's because he loved his children so much. Seth once said to me that all he ever wanted to be in life was a Father. My Father probably felt that way too. He was so affectionate. He always gave you a great big hug whenever he saw you. Friends, ward members, everyone! Well maybe not the lady in the grocery store checkout line, but close. ;) I loved him and I miss him at this time of year.

I remember going with him to deliver milk (one of three jobs he worked at the time). It was early in December and it was a cold winter morning. The sky was just starting to get light. He let me help him when it was just a bottle (quart) or so. I would run up to the house and find the box to put the milk into, put the bottle or two I had in and then run back to the truck. I ran because it was so cold but I could slip on the ice so I had to be careful. I remember how cold it was in the back of the truck. It was refrigerated to keep the milk cold but it was even colder outside. There was a heater in the front of the truck but it didn't do much good because we had to open the door to deliver the milk every 5 minutes or so and the cold air would blow in. (Did I say how cold it was? :)

The truck was very noisy because the bottles were glass and rattled in the metal shelves as we drove. I remember getting to have some chocolate milk which I loved. I think the paper cap on one of the bottles came off so we had to drink it (of course) It was a real treat because we couldn't afford chocolate milk at home. The chocolate milk only came in pint bottles so it was easy to drink out of the bottle, even for me. Wait, maybe they did come in quart bottles, too, but the bottle Dad gave me was only a pint so it was perfect for me to share with him.

I don't remember him saying anything but I remember the feeling of companionship I felt. I was about 10 or 11 years old. I really loved my Dad. I miss him. (Oh, I said that before ... oh well. It's the truth.) I didn't go with him very often, I don't think, but I do remember that one morning.

Actually I do remember one other time I went with him. It was on Christmas Eve. Mr. Stimpson, who owned the milk bottling and delivery business, allowed my Father to deliver the milk that night instead of having to deliver in the morning and miss seeing his children coming into the living room to see what Santa had left for them. I remember that it was in the early evening so the light of the day was waining and was much like delivering milk in the morning. Again there was that feeling of companionship and love. We were working fast to get home so we could enjoy Christmas Eve together with the family. There was something about the light of the morning and the light of the evening that makes it seem like a dream to me now.

Dad died in 1990 so it's been 19 years for Mother to wait to see him again. I can only imagine the love my affectionate and loving father must have radiated to her when he saw her come to the spirit world after her death. If the love radiating from Stephan when I saw him in my dream/vision was anything like the love Dad must have radiated when he saw Mother it must have been enough to consume her. I'm so happy for her that she has finally returned to heaven to be with him but it makes me a little melancholy this December.

I miss them both.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!!

I finished my Christmas shopping last night for my nine children, their seven spouses, and their nineteen children (my grandchildren, minus the one that will be born next summer :) I still have to finish shopping for my husband. Usually I am done by the end of October or early November so I was hassled this year that I didn't have it all done. (is "hassled" a word? it's how I felt out there jostling with all the other shoppers.{is "jostling" a word?}) :) So now I have a total of at least 57 gifts to wrap. Whew !!! (is "whew" a word or am I just making up my own vocabulary as I go along?)

I am giving three gifts to each of my children (family gifts, not individual - I really would be nuts if I had to figure out individual gifts for each person.) We buy all the same gifts for each family and then also for some of the grandchildren. The younger ones I have to pick out individually because they really have a difference in their abilities from toddler to three years old.

Besides all that we have three birthdays in December. That means three more to buy for by this Sunday for our family birthday party.

It just occurred to me how blessed I am to have all these people in my life. And I am glad for this time of year that I can give them tokens of my love. I should say "we." Joe provides the money for all this gift giving and is equally happy to have our children, their spouses and the grandchildren.

I am excited to have them all open the gifts we have for them; to see their reactions. I hope they like them. I start buying Christmas gifts in the summer so that by this time I'm all done. Well, I still have that one more gift to get for my husband. I hope it won't be too hard to find what I have in mind.

Next year we are going to have to seriously cut back on what we buy for Christmas and birthdays this next year as Joe has had a 25% cut in pay and we have been making that up by using our retirement money. On the other hand we've thought
that we should buy what we need and want this next few months because when the inflation hits as a result of the TRILLION dollar bailout and the TRILLION dollar stimulus package there will be no buying power in our money anyway. So cutting back on our expenses really won't matter. It's something that's hard to fathom. It's hard to go against our mentality that we have to save for our retirement.

Enough of the doom and gloom.

I am happy to have this Christmas time of year. I'm happy to celebrate the birth of our Saviour. I am happy that He was willing to make it possible for me to repent and learn from my mistakes without losing exaltation. I am happy to look forward to our little Christmas pageant that the grandchildren will put on on Christmas Eve. I am happy that Joe will be home for the two weeks of Christmas and New Years. I am happy to anticipate our traditional BIG family breakfast we will be having Christmas morning. I am happy to be able to watch everyone open presents on Christmas morning, as well. I am happy that I get to have my 6 chocolates (three key lime and three lemon truffles , YUMMMM) on Christmas Day and New Years Eve. (I still have to figure out a way to get through from Mother's Day to our anniversary without any chocolates. Maybe I'll have to start celebrating the 4th of July and Labor Day with chocolates. hummmm. I'll have to think that over.) I'm happy that we were able to go to the Christmas program put on by the Church this year even though we were late because of HUGE traffic jams and the fact that we ended up in the very back of the balcony in the most far left corner of the Conference center.
Oh well, it was an inspiring production and I enjoyed myself. (Thanks Jenn for the tickets)

Christmas is going to be great! I can hardly wait!

Lub lubs, Everyone

Gingerbread houses and grandkids

Janice organized a gingerbread house making party for all the Grand kids. It turned out to be unorganized madness :) Well, at least she learned how she will do it next Christmas. And the kids were hyper with the joy of the season and seeing all their cousins and all the candy, Candy, CANDY.

Chloe got overwrought with all the kids wanting to hold her. Stacey brought the kids early because Adam had to go to school so Joshie, Brianna, Brady and even Camden got to play with her for some time before everyone else came. I ended up putting her in my bedroom and shutting the door and just letting a few kids at a time come in to see her. Still it was too much for her, so finally I let her just have the rest of the night alone. All the kids did get to see her if only for a few minutes.

I still can't believe Stacey's pregnant! I am torn between being concerned for her and being overjoyed at having another Grand baby. She said she was glad that if she is having another (unexpected) baby she is having it now and not ten years from now. They will be moving into our apartment the first week of January. It will really be cramped for them and Steve and Michelle and for us too, for that matter. I hope Adam can find a job, soon.

I went to bed in a lot of pain both Sunday and Monday nights but was able to recuperate on Tuesday. Tonight I feel a lot better though still not out of the woods. I spent the afternoon resting and dozing while the Glenn Beck show and the nightly news on the Fox channel played in the background. It amazes me that I can sleep through all that but I do.

Steve and Michelle came up and visited for a little while last night. I sure like having them here. We have a lot of fun together. They made Egg McMuffins for dinner and we made powdered milk (which is a really good milk - it doesn't have the powdered milk taste so much.) Jenni couldn't tell it wasn't whole milk. We didn't tell her, either. The chocolate powdered milk was really good. We mixed it up in my new Kitchenaid mixer which worked really well. Next time I think we need to mix the white milk with a little more water and that will take away the powdered taste completely. It was especially nice to have them come because Michelle did all my dishes and theirs too.

I think I'll spend the day tomorrow wrapping Christmas presents. I do need to get a painting done for Janice's friend before the end of the month, too though, so we can pack up all my art supplies for the kids to move in. (Steve and Michelle will be using the two small bedrooms and the family room downstairs to live in until they can get on their feet. They will share the kitchen and laundry room with us.)

I won't be going to Joe's (my brother) house tomorrow to do genealogy because we are all (Larry, Venice, Joe, Eileen, Joe and I) going to do Initiatories on the 15th. It will be special to do our own ancestor's work. These are names David Griffith gave us. It will take a long time to get all the endowments done for all the names we've got but it will be a joy to do it for them. I need to establish a regular day to do Temple work so I can get into a routine. I had planned to do it on Tuesday's but I find I'm needing that day to stay home and rest. I'm not sure yet how I'm going to work this out.

I hadn't intended to write so much tonight but I think I'll look back on the things I've written and be glad I did.

Cheers!

p.s. So Michelle, I didn't lose it this time. I think this computer may be warming up to me :)

Gingerbread houses and Grand kids

How Blessed I Am

I've spent almost the whole day from 5:30 this morning until about 5:00 this afternoon writing in my spiritual journal. Well I did spend a lot of that time deciding which scriptures and quotes from the D&C Study Guide I wanted to use in my journal and also which spiritual experiences I wanted to include.

And my only goal from Education Week other than getting up at 5:00 a.m. from then on was to practice temperance. Does that mean like moderation in all things? Like not spending the whole day at the computer? I will be in serious pain tonight and possibly for the next several days from this but I honestly didn't think to eat or watch the time. It just got away from me.

I read about NieNie tonight and could hardly keep from crying. I am so blessed to have had healthy children and few serious life events over the 42 years of married life. What a great life I've had, what a great marriage and what a great testimony to the goodness of God.

Now I have to read scriptures with Joe and go to sleep. (I guess I should get a bite to eat, too :)

Nite, all.

More pictures of Chloe

This is Jenn again. Janelle sent a link to some pictures she took of Chloe, and Mom wanted to put them on her blog. Thanks, Janelle!

This is me now, not Jenn. I am so glad you got these pictures of Chloe, Janelle. They are special to me. She is such a pretty kitten and you know what I realized? She is color coordinated with my living room. When I mention it to Joe, he said "Gee, we'll have to get rid of her when we move and she doesn't match." (cute, huh) I should have said "We'll just have to paint the new living room to match her!" (we as in you!")

(OK. I don't know why the last three characters above came out bolded when I tried to get the "you" bolded and the computer wouldn't do it for some reason. Yep, it's just my touch with computers showing up again! What can I say? This computer hates me!!!)

Chloe still isn't scratching the furniture, at least when we are home and she's not alone. But then if you heard the hissing and clapping that happens when she even tries you probably wouldn't be surprised. That's what one of the handouts they gave us at the animal shelter said to do. We've only had to do that a couple of times.

I've heard her using the scratching post on her condo several times. I'm glad I got her young so I could train her. In the handout it said it was important to set boundaries for your cat as soon as you get her. That cats can be trained and that you aren't doing it any favors by letting it get away with anything you don't want her to do. So it looks like I won't be having her declawed after all.

She is such a sweet kitten. She is affectionate and playful. She follows me wherever I go, unless I am going into the office. She has learned by being shut out several times that she isn't allowed to go in there with me. She can't go in there with me because Steve and Michelle are going to be using the two small bedrooms (office right now) when they move into the other part of the house in January, and he's allergic to cats. If we keep her out of those two rooms, he said it won't be a problem.

When I go in the bedroom and lie down on the bed she comes up and lays on me. That's on not by. Even when I am on my side she jumps up and crawls around until she is balanced and then lays down. She has to do this several times because when she finally gets settled she finds she is not quite balanced right so she has to get up and try again. Joe said he woke up and turned over the other night and she was laying on me while I was on my side sound asleep. Cute kitten! And yes she sleeps on our bed, something I allow. (ok, now I can't get the computer to turn off the italics.... Like I said, it hates me. >:(

btw, Joe has come to love her almost as much as I do for all his calling her "Homewrecker." (Halleluyia, no italics. Beats me how it does this)

Pictures of Chloe Nutmeg

This is just a quick guest post from Corilee's daughter Jenn. I know Mom has been wanting pictures of Chloe Nutmeg on her blog, so I thought I would post some that I took on Thanksgiving. Isn't she a cute kitten? The kids sure love her, and she is so good with them. Enjoy!

Chloe, prayer

I named my kitten Chloe though my whole family (well the girls anyway) think I should name her Nutmeg. So her whole name is Chloe Nutmeg Southern.

I didn't have her declawed. I had some real doubts when I prayed about it and I got a sure answer not to do it. I reasoned with the Lord in prayer and finally came to the point where I was willing to hear the voice of the Lord in the words of the Vet. I had to pray really hard to overcome my will and submit to His. I also prayed that if possible, my strong desire to have her declawed would be lessened.

The Vet said to wait a couple of months to see how much she really claws the furniture and then if it is a problem we can do it when I take her in to have her spayed. My strong desire was overcome to a great extent so that when the Vet said to wait I felt alright about it.

Jan and Jen gave me their cat condo and a scratching post, both of which were well used but still look pretty good. They also had some spray to put on the furniture to discourage the cat from using the furniture instead of the scratching post. I am feeling a lot better about it tonight.

I just love this little kitten!