He's Leaving On A Jet Plane Again!

Oh these are the days, I dread the most. The packing of the suitcase, making sure nothing gets left behind, printing out boarding passes and loading up the car. Yes, it's another travel day for Steve. We've actually got used to him traveling so much over the last four years and with fingers crossed in anticipation, we are hoping the time apart since last October might in fact garner a much needed and hoped for dream job for him.

His project since last October has been working to install an upgraded antenna and fiber optic network at the Daytona 500 raceway in Daytona Beach, Florida. What this does in a nutshell is provide accessibility to those of us that want to text, talk and access the internet while watching the race at the Daytona 500 racetrack without getting failed connections. Now with wireless carriers offering 4G speeds you don't want delays of sending the latest picture message of you driving in the car with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Well, we can all dream right?

So he's been spending countless weeks away from us under the premise this might lead to a permanent job with one of the largest antenna companies on the market today! We had been doing all we could to support his efforts to hopefully score him a position with the company. What it might mean besides a great job with some security is a definite pay increase, benefits and compensation and a lot less travel ((Crossing our fingers)) We should know in the next couple weeks if this had paid off.

For now, however he is traveling these next couple of days to North Carolina for corporate meetings. We are hoping that something may happen when he actually at their headquarters and that he'll fly home with great news.

It still doesn't make his absence any easier to deal with.

I'll still go to bed tonight alone with my only company being a virtual escape into one of my many books awaiting review, which I love. It's my guilty pleasure and one I really enjoy but hate at times to take time away from spending those precious hours with him. So I'll do what I do best, paste on my happy face, and find things to do to occupy my time. One thing for certain is the house will be spotless by the time he gets back. It's one of my filler activities and of course, looking forward to making plans with him this weekend.

Please keep him in your prayers this week and that God will provide a job if this is truly want He wants us to do. Who knows this may create a doorway for me to visit some of you that I've never met before!

I love you Steven! May you truly have a wonderful time and God is with you all the way!!!

RIP Toshie Man - Prayers Needed!

Oh how I am so sad and melancholy today! It's been just 48 hours since the passing of our young cat, Tosh that died suddenly on March 3rd, my birthday of all days. While Facebook was supposed to make me feel better with all the updates of birthday wishes and blessings that day, it was a bittersweet day, one spent filled with tears and grief.

So how could this happen so unexpectedly and where were all the answers to the questions of why? Well let me go back and fill you in a bit more. This will also help when I need to look back on the day and hopefully not feel as sad and lonely as I do today.

We woke up Saturday morning at about 7:00am with my oldest daughter promptly waking us up to tell us that something was wrong with Tosh and that he wasn't moving. I vaguely recall hearing one of the cats meowing just before she came in and thought they must have had a conflict over something. We both raced out of bed to find him just laying on his side just inside her door, not moving at all. We called out to him and tried to revive him, tried moving his head or legs to see if perhaps he had had a stroke, but his eyes remained unmoving and his mouth was open. It was then that my husband noticed he wasn't breathing any longer. He tried to give the cat mouth to mouth while my daughter watched just crying, hoping that something might help. After a few moments, he said he's still not breathing and we both realized, he had passed away. The only thing I could think of as we continued to stroke his super soft fur was "Oh please no! Not Tosh!" The only thing I can think of is that he must have had heart failure because it was so sudden, even though he never had any breathing problems or was diagnosed at a young age.

I looked over to my daughter and sadly told her I believe he has died and watched her run down stairs to get her boyfriend and then the crying began for all of us. Our youngest daughter woke up to us all crying and we had to unfortunately tell her the same thing.

Oh what a day to begin with. We carried him downstairs and wrapped him in his favorite blanket and placed him in a box and buried him. The kids made memorials and brought him flowers. Even though I know he didn't suffer, doesn't make the loss any easier to bear. The only thing we know for certain, I believe, is that we will see him again.

I mean God created animals for us in the Garden and it certainly doesn't seem like he would allow them to die for us to never see them again. They certainly are his creation and I don't believe God would allow His creation to never exist again. God also went through the provisions of making sure that one of each animal would be allowed on the ARK even though he planned on destroying the world. He wanted them to gone on. That is my hope certainly and one I desperately cling to even today.



But for me, this is my first loss of a pet and definitely one I didn't see coming. I am grieving so hard for the cat who made my life a whole lot more richer just by him being here. Even at only 3, I have to hold on to the fact, I had him for 3 years to love and adore. He made our lives a better place by being in it. As a rescue kitten from the pound, he gave us all his unconditional love. He loved Johnson's baby lotion and if you put it on your hands, he would lovingly grab them and try to like and nuzzle your hands.



He was also fond of chocolate. He loved smelling it and we had to make sure at all costs, he didn't eat any, although he loved scooping them out of the candy dishes and even found him licking an M & M at one point. He loved to jump up on my vanity in the bathroom as I got ready for the day and loved for me to brush his face with the round brush. Not only that, each time we opened our mini blinds and curtains in our bedroom, he was the first to jump to the top of our headboard and check out the view til we were done.

He gave us his all every single day and now there is such an empty hole where he used to be. One of my Facebook followers commented that the hardest thing to do, is see where they used to sleep and realize they are not there. How true that statement is! We would find him sleeping on our loveseat on his blanket just looking out the window or curled up on my pillow on my side of the bed if you went looking.

If you called him, he would float down our stairs and wait for you on the landing. He loved to be outside, whenever we would take him out and let him wander in our back yard garden. He loved sleeping under blankets or simply lay in the windows.

Oh how I look around our house and feel the emptiness here. The worst part is our other cat Bella seems to be searching for him. They were as close as a brother and sister could be because we adopted them at the same time so they grew up together. You can almost sense her deep sadness and she has been meowing for him and searching for him under the blankets where he used to be.



So today I ask for your prayers for not only myself and our family but also for Bella, his sister that each day will find hope again and the sadness with gradually decrease. We've all been asking God for help during this time and it seems like He is silent even though I know deep in my heart He isn't. We need sleep and are plagued by the morning of his passing each night as we try to sleep. I am hoping it gets better and again thank you in advance for your prayers.

Rest in Peace, Kitty Soft Paws in Jesus' loving arms! You will be missed deeply!May you wander in God's heavenly gardens until we are all reunited one day!

Urgent Prayer Request Required for Ken

Here's the latest on Ken's progress and which is the reason I am sending out this prayer update:

Ken hasn't shown any significant improvement since being on the antibiotics since Thursday. His lungs remain the same with 94% of his left lung functioning and very little of the right. His doctors were able to complete the CAT scan yesterday as well as a biopsy of his lungs and the good news is there, that what they were looking for, came back negative.

Yet with no change in his overall status, they decided to change his antibiotics to something much stronger called Zyvok and Rocephin now since the others weren't working. He also has a condition called Merca? Not sure of the spelling. It's a bacteria that works against the antibiotics that lies dormant in the body. That's his biggest challenge, so the doctors say that within 2-3 days they should see some improvement. We are hoping for something by tomorrow.

If any of you can provide me with any details of this, I would gladly appreciate it. They have also reduced his oxygen flow in the ventilator from being at 100% to 60%. His wife is not doing to well emotionally as I am sure you can imagine, so please add her to your prayers as well. Her name is Tina. She has taken this week off to be there as much as she can.

I will keep you posted as I get more updates. Please keep him in your prayers that these series of antibiotics will work and he will begin to show improvements in his pneumonia and his right lung will show more improvements.

Right now we have had some severe thunderstorms here and not to mention that, I work up with an abscess in my tooth and once the infection clears up, it's off for a root canal. Still believing in God's timing and powers as always.