We welcomed a new member into our family a few days ago. His name is Mac, and he is apparently the offspring of my parents’ cat Socks, who was a stray that came up in their front yard over a year ago and is now living with them. We found him under our deck, and my husband was finally able to coax him out (with a little tuna bribery!) Monday evening.
My husband has always been a cat person; I have always had a dog. Over the course of our marriage we have had a mix of both with a turtle and a bird in the mix, although neither of those are still with us. At one point we had quite the managerie (I apologize for the spelling) of dogs and cats, but with the circumstances of our big move we had to find homes for many of our animals. I miss each and every one of them, mostly my cat Tiger. Tiger was with us since he was about 5 weeks old, for about 5 years, and it broke my heart to give him away. Luckily we found a home for him with a sweet lady who treats him like the king he is and is able to provide him with the care and attention that he went without for so very long with the health problems I was having at the time.
Mac is a wonderful addition to our family, and even has fights with his “brother and sister”, our 2 Chihuahuas. They are getting used to him, which will take some time, but they grew up around cats so they’ll be used to him in a day or two. They are just used to having our undivided attention, as our animals tend to be the center of our worlds (other than each other of course, and our families).
I just love to watch him play. It’s hilarious, the funniest thing in t he world to me is to watch a small kitten play. Please excuse the rest of the house; Michael isn’t too good about putting up his shoes, but I have a feeling he’ll get better about it once they get chewed and clawed by Mac.
If you’re interested, we think he chose his own name. My husband has an old Mac computer and the cat constantly plays on top of it…so, that’s his new name! We were considering Rascal because, well, he’s a mess. But Mac it is!
For those of you who are bored, and care, you can see the rest of our “children” hereand here.
As I sat here getting ready to post a “Blast From the Past” video for our Wordless Wednesday something kept nagging me that it wasn’t a good fit for today. That something, I’m sure, was God (duh, right?!) reminding me that it was about time that I do something to honor one of the biggest blessings in my life- my marriage to my wonderful husband, Michael.
Through all the tough times we go through together, for all the good times we celebrate or sometimes even take for granted without realizing, Michael is my rock and constant source of love and inspiration. The support that I’ve gotten from him has been something that I never thought I would have; with him by my side, I believe that if I can dream it I can do it. I wouldn’t have this blog if he hadn’t made me realize I had a voice others might want to hear and hadn’t had faith in me that I would find a way to make it successful. When I’m not doing so well and I get discouraged, his pep talks keep me going and getting back on track.
We married on June 17, 2004 but were together for 2 years prior that while I tried to finish college when I still had my father’s health insurance and lived at home bill-free. You never quite appreciate the bill free days, do you, until you start paying them! We quickly learned how to make lemonade from the lemons life kept handing us, and we’ve been doing it ever since. Rarely will you hear him complain about anything. We gripe and grumble and argue; I’ve always heard that you take your issues out on those you love the most, and I truly believe it considerng the battles I had with my mom growing up and the battles we have in our home now. But at the end of the day, I know that if I wake up the next morning it will be beside the love of my life. Life’s been rough lately; today started out rough and got worse, but we got through it together, as we do any tough bridge we have to cross.
We have a wonderful family who loves us and who mean the world to us, and 2 dogs that we have to remind ourselves aren’t actual people. Thinking about that makes any bad situation a little better; some days I have to keep running my blessings through my mind so that the trials and tribulations don’t overwhelm me. When I hear “I Will Be Here”, I think of Michael because he HAS been here through so much, the good, the bad, the ugly, and he’s never waivered. He is the reason I am still here, for more reasons than you know. He is the answer to any and every prayer I ever made. I thank God for my marriage every day, because without my marriage I’m not sure I would still be around. I can for sure tell you I’d never be so happy!
Marriage is hard and takes work, especially if you are faced with multiple challenges as we are. “I Will Be Here” reminds me to stop and appreciate the treasure that I have in my marriage. Neither of us is perfect; I am hard to live with on my best days and he…well, he can be just too darn unpredictable. After so many years together, we know each other so well that we don’t have to finish our sentences and often say the same thing at the exact same time, but there are some times when I’m so off-base about what he’s thinking that you’d think we were complete strangers. Do you ever have those days with your special someone?
I started this as a Wordless Wednesday. Life happens, as it typically does, and it’s now 5 AM on a Thursday morning. I’m not changing the title, nor is this “wordless”. It’s just the opposite: full of words to express how grateful I am for the One who brought me to my husband. That’s paraphrasing a line from this beautiful song, which I hope you love as much as we do!
When you read this, go hug your significant other and thank them for being such an important, wonderful part of your life through the good and the bad. For those of you who can’t say you have that, pray and ask that God bring you such a wonderful blessing because eventually He will answer those prayers. Just as on the Ark, I believe we are meant to go through life two by two. When the two of you are so perfectly fit, such a complete package of love and support, life is so much better no matter what you go through.
Friends, I hope this song gives you that same warm feeling of love it gave me the first time I heard it.
Michael, I love you and I always will. I will be here.
My babies, the big one’s name is Baby Lexus and the tiny one’s name is Cobra. Yeah, after cars…but aren’t they SO adorable? And can you tell I’m a tad biased?
and is able to provide him with the care and attention that he went without for so very long with the health problems I was having at the time. 
