Saying Goodbye to Callie

Tonight we took Kayla to meet her Sunday School class so that they could go caroling. While she was caroling James, Noah, & I ran errands so that we would be ready to leave for my sisters as soon as James gets off work tomorrow. After he pulled in the drive way I asked him if he would back in instead so that I could load the van tomorrow. As he was backing in we quickly became aware that we had hit something. At first James thought it was Kayla's bike and then the horror and reality hit. It was quickly confirmed that the family cat "Callie" had been hit.

It is best that I leave out details but I am sorry to say that Callie did not make it. She was laid to rest between two trees that she loved to hang out by. Most people know that James and I are not big cat lovers but God brought her to us several years ago and she was a great kid cat. She loved to hang out with the kids. They even jumped with her on the trampoline. They would hold her while they jumped. She loved it. Any thing to get attention.

Kayla took it pretty hard but is already doing better. When she is ready we will show her where she is buried. She helped make the decision but did not want to see her and it was just too cold for the kids to be outside. Plus it was really dark. Noah will not stop talking about it which is not helping sissy's grief. It is very hard to explain death to a toddler but we refuse to lie to him. Death is a part of life and we have been very open with both of our children on the issue.

Please pray that we can leave this sadness behind us for a few days and enjoy our time with family. This is Kayla's first experience with loosing a pet. It is the first pet that James and I have lost together. Well unless you count a fish or hamster. Please pray for dad as he bears the weight of being the driver. Callie was always greeting us and getting so close to the van or truck. We have worried so many times that she would get hit.

I better go it has been a long day and it promises to be very busy tomorrow.

Merry Christmas.