BREAKTHROUGH

The cats are an important part of the family that don’t get much press, so we’re making it up to them by letting Gumdrop write this month’s news.

Well, the house has been a little noisier this month. The big guy in particular seems to be addressing our Creator in a no nonsense way. Last week he even drove 2 hours to a bridge and stood in the driving rain to declare that “a real YWAM Alsace would take root and as an adopted son of Alsace he would walk as an adopted son of the King and no longer as a slave.”Two days later when the phone rang, he got really loud, running towards the missus, narrowly missing my tail, yelling, “TEN YEARS!” whatever that means. They walked over to the mayor’s office and when they came back the big guy looked a foot taller and the missus had wet cheeks. I think this is the latest ceiling tile that the missus was waiting to drop. The big guy is already getting paid for giving guitar lessons to a girl in the village who wants to join her worship team. He also wants to start a part-time computer repair business. The missus is suddenly very motivated about getting certified to teach English as a Second Language. Apparently, renovating our habitat no longer sounds like an impossible dream…

It’s been a good month in general. One day, I was moved to jump into the lap of the missus and give her some lovin’. Her cheeks got wet again, and I think it’s because I made her wait 4 years for this moment. I don’t know why it me took so long, considering that she’s the one who cleans my litterbox and picks up what I regurgitate. I think Creator had a hand in the timing and used me as his messenger boy, (even though I am an adult female.) It played out like this: She had been feeling pretty “shlumpy” once the glow of the blessing ceremony had worn off. The big guy was horizontal with the flu for a week, she was having relational tension with several people at once, and one of her students transferred to another school, (reducing her hours to almost nil.) Then one day a neighbor friend knocked on our door while we were home alone. Their family had been struggling with the immature behavior of their 13 yr old son for many years and that day it had come to a head. She could not continue like this any longer and wanted to ask Creator together for an answer. So they cried out for mercy and agreed to meet every week until they had a breakthrough. That very evening, this neighbor called a long-distance friend who started describing a syndrome that her big guy struggles with. It sounded like her son. A quick look at the glowing box gave her a pretty good indication that his behavior was not his fault. Immediately, all their anger turned to grief and compassion and their son’s attitude has completely changed, as well as the atmosphere in their habitat. The missus is completely bowled over by Creator’s quick attention to this matter, and my long-awaited display of affection turned into a very physical reminder of how He feels about her and her prayers.

Our Precious (Olivia) just got glasses and can now enjoy our antics from a distance. I am also getting much more empathy with our ongoing fight against fleas since she’s been battling head lice. We are beginning to look like a family of orangutans: Precious sits and picks at me while the missus nit-picks Precious. The big guy keeps his distance and is grateful for his balding head. The French call them “poux,” which is pronounced “poo,” which is a pretty good translation.

Precious disappeared for a whole weekend while her parents hosted guests who were attending the annual French-speaking Christian teacher’s conference. I’m always restless when Precious is gone, and panicky when strangers are in the house. The missus battled constant migraines and dismissed any hope of celebrating Valentine’s Day. The big guy carried the sound and recording of the weekend on his shoulders, including the set-up and tear-down of the stage twice for a theatrical production. It was a tough weekend for all of us. But 260 teachers (and even a few home-schooling missuses!) from Belgium, Switzerland, and France got their one yearly dose of encouragement to continue fighting the good fight. Her miserable weekend prompted the missus to go to a “healing room” for some concentrated prayer and she’s going to start getting noisier too, telling those headaches that they are not welcome, instead of expecting them to drop by.

One of my favorite pastimes is watching paper wiggle out of a humming gray box. When I hear the machine come to life, I leap into position for the best view, which is also near the big glowing box that my family loves to stare at. Anyway, in this position, I’ve noticed that several anonymous deposits have appeared on the glowing box this month. I think they are still walking in the blessing of Precious, but apparently a bunch of books that they ordered still haven’t arrived, so I’ll bet they’d love for you all to put in a reminder to Creator about that. Speaking of books, the BFA book swap was recently attended by the missus again this year and Creator made sure that she got lots of books she’d been wanting – all for free!

Halloween seems to be celebrated in February in Europe and it’s called Carnival. From a window a safe distance away, I watched costumed schoolchildren parade through the streets of Soultz throwing confetti and using “fur-raising” noisemakers. The bakeries sell beignets to enjoy during the 2 week school break and I’m told they are delicious. My family is spending this time renewing their passports, which is no longer a simple matter, due to the fight against child trafficking. Precious and big guy jr. have to be seen in person at the closest US Embassy, which means a 2 hr drive to Switzerland. Their government has also gotten picky about the identity photos, so they have to travel to a professional photographer in another city and pay a lot of money for 8 small, but exacting images. Life may be getting more complicated in the fight against evil, but I think Creator put us felines here as a reminder that rest and peace is still possible, especially in the company of my distant cousin, the Lion of Judah.

Well, the paws are pretty petered out. Thank you for reading. This was almost as tiring as all the tongue-bathing I do all day.
I think I’ve earned a nap.

Gumdrop

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