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Monday, June 19, 2006

A Heart Full of Compassion


We have had two days of torrential rains here. The rain has come down so hard at times it sounded like hail hitting our roof and windows. It blew in from the south and fell in sheets, unexpectedly. That's how it does here in Texas. The old saying goes, "Don't like the weather? Stick around...it's sure to change".


Earlier this week, my eldest daughter discovered that one of our many outside cats had given birth a few weeks ago. She was delighted to have finally found the "hiding spot" of the kittens. Unlike her father and myself, she has not been raised on a farm, but she does know and understand that she's not supposed to touch babies of any sort without permission from us. (That's to protect the babies.) She has watched those kittens over the last week like a new momma - keeping a watchful eye on them so dogs don't get them (the momma kitty hid them very well...in the briars), and making sure their "birth mom" feeds them, etc. She's going to make a great HUMAN mom one of these days, as she has a very nurturing and compassionate nature.


Then the rains came. Unexpectedly. And all Katie could think about was "her kittens". She keep looking out the window and down where they were hidden by the side of the house. She could hear them screaming out for their momma, who was trapped on the other side of the field under the shed (we verified this by looking out the window on the OTHER side of the house). The rain kept coming. It fell harder. Just about the time it was falling the hardest, she decided she couldn't take it any more. "Momma...I HAVE to get those kittens. They are going to DROWN where she put them!" She was right.


The momma had unknowingly put the kittens right where the downspout is on our house. It was falling right into the flowerbed (hence the briars, or rosebushes thriving right there) and the kittens were literally floating in the water, about to die. So we did what any mom and daughter would do in gale force winds and torrential rains. We donned some raincoats, grabbed some dry towels and went out to get them. Yeah, we got soaked. But we did it! We got all five and brought them into the house.


My husband had taken a cardboard box and filled it with towels and brought out the heat lamp, which unfortunately wasn't big enough for Katie and I to fit under too. Katie sat and watched over those kittens for two hours until they were dry and warm enough. Then the rains stopped and the skies turned blue again (I told you, just stick around). You'd have never known we had just had a monsoon of sorts, except for all of the standing water in our yard. We took the box outside and set it by the flowerbed and left it so the momma kitty could get her babies. They were gone within about 3 hours.


I don't know if that momma knows that Katie saved her babies, but I have noticed that she's been friendlier toward us the last day or two. She even went so far as to leave a crawdad on our doorstep this morning (they live underground near our "gulch" in the front yard)...and I know it was her, because I looked out just in time to see her deposit it there. I guess that was her way of thanking Katie. I hope Kate never loses that. I want her to ALWAYS have a heart full of compassion for others. I want her to be concerned with what is happening around her and I want to encourage her to get involved. I am pleased that she is growing into a fine young lady. I am truly blessed.

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