Our Beloved Oliver........

Ohhhhh how hard it has been for my family the last couple of days. I feel like my heart is truly broken. We had to make the agonizing decision to put our family cat to sleep. After we got back from vacation we realized our sweet Oliver was sick. 2 weeks of agony and realizing there was nothing else we could do for him we laid him to rest on August 21.

After sobbing and bawling for the last 2 days I can't help but think "it's just a cat!" But he was so much more then a cat to us, he was family. It's amazing how the best of friends can come in the form of an animal. I have an enormous soft spot for animals, I always have.

I got Oliver when I was a single mom, I wanted Nolan to have a pet to bond with, he was the start of new beginnings for us. He was the big fat fluffy cat that shook in his cage from fear at the Kalamazoo animal rescue. It was love at first sight for us. We applied for him and took him home 2 days later and he was known as the "Man of the house."

Oliver was there with me through some really dark times. I cried many nights with him in my lap. He was the buddy that laid with Nolan everyday all day when he had H1N1, he was so worried about him, and laid there after both of my surgeries. If one of the kids were crying he'd be concerned enough that he'd be right by their side to make sure they were ok. He would curl up with us at night and snuggle and was a best buddy of Jason's when I worked at the CPA firm out of town. Truly an awesome friend.

I know that the bible makes no reference to our pets going to heaven, yet I lean on the idea that God knows what makes us happy and he provided Oliver for us to love. My children, dogs and cat are all devastated with the loss of Oliver. My dog Lizzy paced and whined for him yesterday, she just knew something was wrong and it broke my heart. Jason had the daunting task of taking Oliver to the vet, holding and comforting him in his final moments and coming home and burying our beloved friend in back yard. Later on the kids adorned the small grave with flowers, crosses and many prayers.

Abigail was surprisingly sad yesterday. She talked about being sad for Oliver. This was good in terms of bonding, that in the short time here she bonded with him. She's never been around animals of this nature and in Uganda it's not customary to have pets like we do. Nolan has had tons of questions and he went out this afternoon by himself to pray for Oliver. It was very sweet.  It's a lot for kids to take in, yet I didn't want to give them the ol' Oliver went to a farm story.  I thought it was fair to be honest with them and let them have the chance to grieve him in their own way.

I apologize for not posting anything from our vacation yet, we've been wrapped up with Oliver things for the last two weeks. My heart weeps for our dear friend and I pray that if it's in God's Will that Oliver may be in heaven laying on a white fluffy pillow playing with the wrinkles.  You will be missed friend.

Psalm 34:18

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit