Dudley

As many of you already know, one of the two cats we got after Christmas lived a very short life due to an unhealthy liver. Judah met his end a few weeks ago after a vet visit that confirmed the worst... The girls cried their tears. Ethan was relatively unemotional and very matter-of-fact about the whole thing. With very little fanfare, we buried Judah in a box in the backyard with a popsicle stick to mark the grave. The children never even really asked the "Did Judah go to heaven?" question you hear is so typical for children to ask. I know we've talked before about animals being different than humans (not made in the image of God, therefore do not have an eternal spirit) and it seemed like they were all ready to accept that as truth even when faced with the death of a beloved pet. Sarah did wonder about what would happen to Judah when he died. When I said we'd bury his body, that was enough for her. After the burial, there was some discussion about what happens to Judah in the ground (a very nice little biology lesson by the way). The kids excitedly asked how long it would be before we could dig up the grave and see Judah's bones! So as you can tell, the grief passed quite quickly...







Nedra inquired with the Humane Society about whether or not we could get a deal on a new kitty, and as they have been blessed with an over abundance of kittens at this time, they were willing to give us a new one. So in order for Selah to have another playmate (and to keep Mommy happy), call us crazy, but we picked out another kitten last Saturday. It was Nedra's "birthday" present since we picked it out the day before her birthday. They had named him Cheddar at the Humane Society and we were originally going to keep that name, but got sick of it after a couple of hours, so the search for a new name commenced. Nedra came up with a list of 7 names and everyone in the family got to rank their favorites. Alas, Dudley won out over Wally (Mommy was able to sway Sarah's vote to her side:o)





He's a 10-week-old kitten and is everything that goes along with that label - playful, energetic, adorable, curious, funny, frisky. He loves attention. He's into everything (if you've ever had a kitten, you know that they don't do boundaries). He goes in the litter box - hooray! He adds much life and laughter to our household. Rudy thinks Dudley's great, and the feeling is mutual on Dudley's part. Selah wasn't so sure at first. She seemed determined to mother him and boss and hiss him out of his chaotic behavior (she's a much more refined playful at now almost a year old), but today we caught her letting Dudley crawl all over her. She even ended up giving him a bath. The kids love everything about Dudley except the fact that he hasn't been declawed, and they have the scratches to prove it... Mommy and Daddy enjoy all of the fun things we can do with his name - Dudley Do-right, Doodles, Cuddly Dudley...you get the idea.




So here he is! Isn't he cute?!