Cat Sitting

Two of our friends went to Japan over the 3-day weekend to renew their visa for work. They live on the floor below us and Amanda acknowledges my affinity for the beautiful creatures known as los gatos. I happily accepted as I am constantly missing my furry cuddle companions that are being taken care of back in Portland. We decided to bring our new pals over for our spaghetti dinner on Saturday night. I tried to get them to watch Lipstick Jungle with me while Patrick worked on his latest crab meat sauce. No dice. Lucy and Steve-o are still way cooler than these guys. However, I was pleased to have them over and share with them about my children back home. Here they are fascinated with the outdoors. Their apartment window doesn't really look out to anything.




Needless to say they are a treat but I was very sad when I had to return them. Somehow God knew I was feeling low about my gatos and low and behold I received an email from Dan Geist; who in my book is a rock star. Dan is a close family friend and my brother-in-law's father. Did you follow? Anyhow, he generously took on the responsibility of being guardians for my gatos while we are away. He writes and sends pictures of how they are. Below is the latest email.

Dear Mom and Dad,

Today we saw a squirrel in the bird feeder, but then Lucy got
distracted by a bird (must be her ADD) while I kept paying attention.
I just wanted him to give me a high 5, but he wasn't into being
friends and ran away.

love, Steve

Dear Mommy and Daddy,

Tell Steve to stop telling people I have ADD.. oh and I got to play
with a toy mouse - oh and sometimes I take rides on the shoe wiping
mat. We kept trying to say "hi" to "Mr. Buddy" because that's what
cousin Misty calls that really big mouse.

love from your favorite daughter,

LUCY

Basically the Geist family is the best. I know some of you may think, "Wow I'm glad Patrick married Maria, otherwise she would be the old cat lady!" But, they are my children substitute until I am ready for children. They have such amazing personalities and Patrick and I adore them. After we cat-sat, Patrick even said, "I miss our cats, they are good ones."

On a separate note: I got a morning block schedule!! I work from 6:20 - 4:00pm. It's so nice to feel like I have regular working hours. I get a 1.5 hour morning break and come have breakfast with Patrick and then he has an afternoon break from 4-5pm and we can have dinner together. Not the easiest but it will suffice until he can get on a morning block. Thanks for all who were praying for a more normal schedule. I appreciate it.

Patrick kicked butt on Sunday's 10k race. He came in 2nd for Pagoda. This guy from Scotland is pretty fast and won by a minute. Patrick ran 6:13/mile. Not bad. I finished and represented the asthmatics well. Pictures to follow if we can get them from others.