Sadness (II)

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I talked to my dad this evening and Mom went to the vet today with Bessie to learn how to inject fluids under her skin to keep her hydrated. The vet was ready to put her down today but Mom couldn’t do it. They’re going to try to make Bessie as comfortable as they can and God willing, she’ll die on her own and not make Mom have to euthanize her. I don’t think Mom can make the decision to euthanize her — this cat has been her baby for the last 16 1/2 years and it’s like killing a child for her.

I really pray that when the time comes, Mom can make the decision or my dad and brother can intervene and make the decision themselves. If nothing else, euthanizing Bessie would give Mom a chance to pick when she says good-bye and it would be a relatively painless death for Bessie instead of having her linger and possibly be in pain from her kidneys malfunctioning.

Pray for my mom… she needs some pretty amazing strength right now…

The Passion of Christ

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Attention:

The Passion is not anti-semitic. It tells the story of Christ’s last 12 hours on earth… which means Jesus is going to be hauled in front of the Sanhedrin and the Jews are going to want to kill him. The Romans are going to wash their hands of it. If you don’t believe me, there are accounts of this in all 4 Gospels.

Anyone who feels it is necessary to go an perpetrate violence against Jews because of what is depicted in The Passion has probably already got the idea in their heads and knows fully well that doing it “because of X movie” is on par with the Twinkie Defense in terms of stupidity.

That is all.

Sadness (I)

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I called Mom today to ask her about something and casually asked how the vet appointment went yesterday for Bessie and Mousie, the cats they’ve had since I was 7. Mousie is doing fine. Bessie, however, has some serious kidney disease happening and Mom was waiting to hear back from the vet on how long she would survive. I could tell Mom was crying and I started getting teary. As crabby as the Bess is, she’s been Mom’s cat since we got her — almost 17 years ago. This is on par with losing a child for Mom, so I feel really bad for her. Apparently, they’re not sure if the brat has 6 months or 5 years. Depending on how the quality of life might be, Mom might be learning how to administer injections for her.

Not the news I wanted to get on a Saturday, but such is life.

On a nicer note, Edda’s doctor called to see how she was doing. I think we’re sticking with this vet.

Postponement

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I’m getting the feeling right now that my plans to return to school this fall are perhaps not the ones the Lord wants me to have. Last year, I was chomping at the bit to get back to seminary. Right now, I’m kind of not as diehard about having to be back in school in September.

This is kind of shocking considering my anguish last April when I was denied candidacy for ordained ministry. I remember being so crushed and devastated by the news that it took HOURS to stop crying. The bitterness and my attempts to get back in didn’t even stop until November when I realized that my attempts were not helping me or my case. (The candidacy committee of my synod in Ohio is tough to work with and has been declared so by about 70% of those dealing with them, but that doesn’t mean I need to badmouth them at every turn. It also makes me look like I’m not mature enough to deal with this.) If the Lord wants me to serve Him as a minister of Word and Sacrament, He can direct my steps in that direction.

Maybe I’m healed from the pain of last April. Maybe I still have a little more to work on before I’m really ready. Maybe I’m just really satisfied with my life here and don’t want to face another transition or the fact that I’d be away from Jon and the cats three or four days a week. All I know is that if I’d been in school this year, the following things wouldn’t have happened:

  • We wouldn’t have adopted Freya and Edda.

  • I wouldn’t have been able to go with Jon to call interviews, which means that I wouldn’t have met the call committee at the churches here who were the deciding factor in our decision to come.

  • I wouldn’t have gotten to sing Fauré’s Requiem with St. Paul’s and that’s an experience that was incredibly healing after this summer.

  • I wouldn’t have gotten to participate in the funerals this summer. It was a tough experience but it taught me how I grieve and also how to deal with grieving people. Death is also not as freaky to me.

  • I wouldn’t be teaching 14 Vikings about the tenets of Lutheranism and be dragged into discussions on embalming practices.

    • As usual, the Lord knew best. Now to see what’s next in store for me…

    Answer: Glasses, Basketball, and Bossy Kitties

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    Question: What has ruled the last 24 hours at Casa K-M?

    Glasses
    Jon popped one of his lenses on the bed and we haven’t been able to find it. (I’m thinking it was gone before it hit the bed.) Lift up some prayers that we find it — I’m not in the mood to make a journey to Watertown to get it replaced, even if it would be covered by insurance.

    Basketball
    After a trip to Watertown for banking, lunch, and Wal-Mart, we quickly headed home to drop off groceries and then went to the high school to watch some basketball. Three of my confirmands were playing (one in each game in addition to a girl from the churches) and two of them were playing games at the same time. I watched the first half of B-squad and the second half of C-squad before I headed in to watch varsity. Varsity and C-squad lost (a shame because they were playing our big rivals) and B-squad kicked major butt. I usually am bored to tears by sporting events, but I had a great time tonight. I also got some work done on my afghan — a good thing since I’m having some problems in being able to work on it…

    Cullen being... ummm.... helpful

    Bossy Cats
    This morning I was awakened by 13 lbs of fluffy tabby roaring loudly for me to get up and follow him. I followed him downstairs into the Confirmation room and he walked into the chapel… where Jon was doing devos and his brother and sisters were “helping”. Methinks the cats are in favor of family devotions???

    Off I go to fold bulletins like a good little khouria!