On the last day of March, just as the pandemic was becoming real, Dave and I had to put down our sweet kitty, Tiggy, because she had advanced lung cancer. It was a sad day in the world already, made even sadder by the loss of our playful furry friend. After that day many people encouraged me to get another cat and told me that I would know when the “time was right” to welcome a new member to our pet family.
Three months later, on the very first day of July, Dave noticed on the NextDoor website that a woman in our neighborhood was fostering a mama cat and her five kittens. We looked at their pictures and knew right away that the “time was right!” We made arrangements to meet our neighbor and the kittens, and that very we day picked out two little sisters to adopt. We had to wait several weeks before we could bring them home since they were so young, but during that time we became friends with Stacey, the foster mom.
At the end of July we welcomed “Gracie” and “Lizzie” into our home. Those names are special to us because they are derivatives of our granddaughters Madeline and Maya’s middle names, Grace and Elizabeth. Gracie is a grayish white kitten with a black and white raccoon-like tail. Lizzie is a colorful calico mix. Right away we noticed that Gracie was unlike all the other kittens in the litter, but we thought she must resemble her father and really thought little more about it.
Until…we learned more about her background from the foster agency, New Hope Animal Rescue. Gracie, it turns out, was found as an abandoned newborn in Laredo, TX, and placed in the litter with Lizzie in hopes that the mama cat would accept her, nurse her, and help her to live. She did! That’s GRACE! The entire litter was moved up to the Austin area to be rescued by Stacey, who became a volunteer human mom for these vulnerable little ones. That’s GRACE! About the same time we decided that the “time was right” to welcome new kittens into our home and we found these little cuties. That’s GRACE! These sweet babies have loved each other from their earliest days. That’s GRACE! Dave and I have made a new, unexpected friend in our neighborhood. That’s GRACE!
It strikes me that this is a story about all of us. GRACE is God’s undeserved love and mercy. By grace we are saved. By grace we grow strong in Christ. By grace we are part of the community at Triumphant Love and also part of the larger Christian community. By grace we know Christ’s love and are able to share it with others.
I think of these things when I look at these little creatures and marvel at the appropriateness of their names. Gracie = undeserved love and mercy. Lizzie = my God is bountiful. What could be more perfect?
Submitted by David & Debbie Seddelmeyer