amysaxons

December 2024

Frank

December 15, 2024December 15, 2024by amysaxons4 Comments

Hubby and I weren’t sure if we were being tricked or treated when the Kitty Stork landed a very sick, flea-ridden, worm-infested, 8-week old kitten in our laps on Halloween night. The little tike had apparently ridden into our neighborhood in the engine of a car and was running around between houses trying to find a safe place. He was super sweet but exhausted and scared. When God brings such a needy creature straight to your door – you take it in, of course. As we bathed him to get rid of the fleas, we realized he had sustained some injuries to his nose and mouth from his hitchhiking exploit. (He also has a couple of uncontrollable squirty black stools when washing him up.) So…since there’s no such thing as a “free kitten”, my tenderhearted Hubby spent 3 hours at the emergency animal hospital getting our new boy sorted, not getting home until midnight.

Awaiting antibiotics, a shot for pain, a bolus of fluid (he was severely dehydrated), a dewormer, some special food, and blood work at the emergency vet hospital.

We named him Frank, put him in the guest bathroom for quarantine, and took turns sitting with him for the next couple of weeks. He slept and slept for three days straight, only waking to eat, use the litter and PURR as he snuggled and looked into our eyes with soft, slow blinks.

His chin had a big ol’ scab and some puffy proud flesh. Within less than a week his fleas were gone and so were the worms. He started perking up, exploring the room, playing with toys, and giving lots of kitty kisses 😘.

Our regular vet saw him and eventually gave us the all clear for him to meet Wally and Clemmy! They had already met through the bathroom door but we kept their face to face visits short and carefully supervised. Slowly but surely, Clemmy and Wally made friends with Frank and have continued to help him learn proper cat manners 😉.

The scabs finally fell off and in this photo you can see his injuries were well on the way to healing.

Oh, what a JOY Frank has been! He is now 14 weeks old and we’ve had him for six weeks. He has a gorgeous classic tabby pattern and is a looker!! He loves to be held, follows us everywhere we go, gives lots of kitty kisses, has a sonorous purr, and is a voracious eater. He plays and plays and plays and plays some more! He is goofy and funny and sweet and cuddly and adorable…I could gush on and on.

I took this and the following pictures this afternoon. It seems like he has grown a noticeable amount every day this last week – he’s getting long and tall!

Frank LOVES Wally. (Who wouldn’t?!) Frank is growing on Wally (😂). Seriously, Wally has been extremely tolerant and gentle with Frank, especially since Frank seems to have chosen him as his mentor and roughhousing playmate. Thanks to Wally, Frank is learning the rules and boundaries of how to interact.

Wally has a gentle, sweet, yet playful nature, he’s such a good boy 🥰!

Clemmy has wowed us with her sweet, gentle, loving ways. She was the first to boop noses and to lie down next to Frank. Soon thereafter, we noticed she would groom his ears every time she was beside him. She now licks his face and grooms his neck too. Mutual grooming is a very important cat bonding behavior and it’s been wonderful to watch Clemmy initiate it with Frank.

Clemmy is inquisitive and sharp as a tack.

Clemmy amid an array of Christmas gifts I haven’t wrapped yet. She’s stunning 🥰!

Turns out Frank is a real TREAT! I guess the TRICK was how he stole our hearts so quickly❣️

May God be with you! ❤️, Amy

October 2024

Anonymous Words

October 18, 2024October 18, 2024by amysaxonsLeave a Comment

The following is from my daily devotional and attributed to the always eloquent Anonymous. I pray it blesses you as it did me.

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. ~ Galatians 6:14

They were people who were living to themselves. Their hopes, promises, and dreams still controlled them, but the Lord began to fulfill their prayers. They had asked for a repentant heart and had surrendered themselves with a willingness to pay any price for it, and He sent them sorrow. They had asked for purity, and He sent them sudden anguish. They had asked for meekness, and He had broken their hearts. They had asked to be dead to the world, and He killed all their living hopes. They had asked to be made like Him, so He placed them in the fire “as a refiner and purifier of silver (Malachi 3:3), until they could reflect His image. They had asked to help carry His cross, yet when He held it out to them, it cut and tore their hands.

They had not fully understood what they asked, but He had taken them at their word and granted them all their requests. They had been unsure whether to follow Him such a long distance or whether to come so close to Him. An awe and a fear was upon them, as Jacob at Bethel when he dreamed of”a stairway… reaching to heaven” (Genesis 28:12), or Eliphaz “amid disquieting dreams in the night ” (Job 4:13), or as the disciples when”they were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost” (Luke 24:37), not realizing it was Jesus. The disciples were so filled with awe, they felt like asking Him either to depart from them or to hide His glory.

They found it easier to obey than to suffer, to work than to give up, and to carry the cross than to hang upon it. But now they could not turn back, for they had come too close to the unseen cross of the spiritual life, and its virtues had pierced them too deeply. And the Lord was fulfilling this promise of His to them: “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself” (John 12:32).

Now at last their opportunity had come. Earlier they had only heard of the mystery, but now they felt it. He had fastened His eyes of love on them, as He had on Mary and Peter, so they could only choose to follow Him. And little by little, from time to time, with quick glimmers of light, the mystery of His cross shone upon them. They saw Him “lifted up from the earth,” and gazed on the glory that radiated from the wounds of His holy suffering. As they looked upon Him, they approached Him and were changed into His likeness. His name then shone out through them, for He lived within them. Their life from that moment on was one of inexpressible fellowship solely with Him above. They were willing to live without possessions that others owned and that they could have had, in order to be unlike others so they would be more like Him.

This is the description of all those throughout the ages who “follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Revelation 14:4). If they had chosen selfishly for themselves or if their friends had chosen for them, they would have made other choices. Their lives would have shone more brightly here on earth, but less gloriously in His kingdom. Their legacy would have been that of Lot instead of Abraham. And if they had stopped along the way or if God had removed His hand from them, allowing them to stray, what would they have lost? What would they have forfeited at their resurrection?

Yet God strengthened them and protected them from themselves. Often, in His mercy He held them up when they otherwise would have slipped and fallen. And even in this life, they knew that all He did was done well. They knew it was good to suffer in this life so they would reign in the one to come; to bear the cross below, to wear a crown above; and to know that not their will but His was done in them and through them. ~ Anonymous

It’s been quite a long while since I’ve shared any photos. The following are a few of the highlights since my last post.

A friend gave me a beautiful pot of mums in the spring. I planted them and they are about to burst open now.

The last flower of summer still hanging on in our garden.

A few autumnal scenes…

I’ve continued to enjoy the birds, of course.

Wally and Clemmy continue to bring us plenty of entertainment and snuggles!

God be with you!

❤️, Amy

July 2024

Created

July 9, 2024by amysaxonsLeave a Comment

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.” ~John 1:1-3

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” ~Romans 1:20

“O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.” ~Psalm 104:24

“Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created.” ~Revelation 4:20

“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.” ~Romans 11:26

“You are the Lord, You alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and You preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships You.” ~Nehemiah 9:6

“For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him.” Colossians 1:16

“God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.” ~ Genesis 1:25

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” ~Job 12:7-10

“Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” ~1 Corinthians 8:6

“All the earth worships You
and sings praises to You;
they sing praises to Your name.” ~Psalm 66:4

“Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” ~Psalm 124:8

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth.” ~Genesis 1:1

“For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.” ~Hebrews 3:4

“Ah, Sovereign Lord, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for You.” ~Jeremiah 32:17

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” ~Psalm 121:1-2

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom.” ~Isaiah 40:28

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” ~Ecclesiastes 3:11

“In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the hills are His also.
The sea is His, for He made it;
And His hands formed the dry land.” ~Psalm 95:4-5

“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” ~Hebrews 11:3

“The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.” ~Genesis 1:12

“I am the Lord, the Maker of all things, who stretches out the heavens, who spreads out the earth by Myself” ~Isaiah 44:24

“Rich and poor have this in common: the Lord is the Maker of them all.” ~Proverbs 22:2

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.” ~Psalm 90:2

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable.” ~Isaiah 40:28

Clemmy and Wally signing out 😴👅. “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!” ❤️, Amy

“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be” ~ Psalm 139:13-16

April 2024

April Birding

May 15, 2024May 15, 2024by amysaxonsLeave a Comment

February 2024

February Snaps

February 26, 2024February 26, 2024by amysaxonsLeave a Comment

Cardinal and House Finch

Tufted Titmouse

Eastern Bluebird

Male ⬆️ and female ⬇️ Red-bellied Woodpecker

Clemmy Clementine 🖤🤍

Wally Cornwall 🤍🖤

May God be with you. ❤️, Amy

January 2024

Music in the Rest

January 31, 2024January 31, 2024by amysaxonsLeave a Comment

There is no music in a rest, but there is the making of music in it. In our whole life-melody the music is broken off here and there by “rests,” and we foolishly think we have come to the end of the tune. God sends a time of forced leisure, sickness, disappointed plans, frustrated efforts, and makes a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives, and we lament that our voices must be silent, and our part missing in the music which ever goes up to the ear of the Creator.

How does the musician read the rest? See him beat the time with unvarying count, and catch up the next note true and steady, as if no breaking place had come between.

Not without design does God write the music of our lives. But be it ours to learn the tune, and not be dismayed at the “rests.”

They are not to be slurred over nor to be omitted, nor to destroy the melody, nor to change the keynote. If we look up, God Himself will beat the time for us. With the eye on Him, we shall strike the next note full and clear. If we sorrowfully say to ourselves, “There is no music in a rest,” let us not forget the rest is part of the making of the music. The process is often slow and painful in this life, yet how patiently God works to teach us! And how long He waits for us to learn the lesson!
John Ruskin (1819-1900), English author, poet, painter, and art critic

These words have been a source of wise counsel to me through the month of January. As I’ve frequently written in the past, MS fatigue is my number one struggle. These last few weeks have been full of “rests” and the notes of the song seem few and far between.

Sometimes I’m an integral part of the puddle of rest…

I suppose January is as good a time as any to take a forced rest. We’ve had our fair share of lead-grey, overcast skies; bitter winds; freezing temperatures; and occasional snowfall in SW Missouri this month. It’s been the perfect time to hunker down and cozy up for most people in the Midwest.

The last couple of days I’ve averaged being able to be up and moving in 5-10 minute intervals before having to rest for a good 60-90 minutes.

Hubby has been so wonderful to take care of everything in the house during the long rests in the music of my life this month. Thankfully, he’s had some rests in the melody of his life too.

Like me, Hubby’s rests are mostly conducted and accompanied with a cat in arm – this time Clemmy.

I don’t know exactly when, but the notes of the song will swell again and I’ll be up moving. When do you think? March, maybe 🤔?

Between all the “rests”, Clemmy and Wally found the last great, uncharted frontier in the house. Apparently, you have to be an 8-months old kitten to do this 🤪

May God be with you! ❤️, Amy

January 2024

I Walked A Mile With Sorrow

January 8, 2024January 8, 2024by amysaxonsLeave a Comment

Hello! It’s been a long while.

We lost our sweet Laudy in October. Her loss so soon after Pip was one of the most difficult times of my life. We lost her at the same time one of our new kittens became very sick and the combination of it all was traumatic. For a few weeks my mind spun into a sudden, intense onset of anxiety followed by a bout of miserable insomnia. Though anxiety and insomnia are apparently common during the grief cycle, I was completely unprepared for them.

It seems impossible to explain the multitude of ways God, in His mercy and compassion, helped, encouraged, held, and slowly healed me. He used my family, friends, church family, scripture, devotionals, sermons, book recommendations, our vet, my doctor, and a psychologist to bring me through. At every turn He was present and grew my faith and trust in Him until my sorrow seemed a gift instead of a terror. Sorrow is never for nothing when seen through the eyes of faith.

Gratefully, I began to feel like myself again and came out the other side of the ordeal just in time to enjoy Christmas with family and ring in the new year. It brings to mind a poem by Robert Browning Hamilton that I learned long ago.

I walked a mile with Pleasure;
She chatted all the way;
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow;
And ne’er a word said she;
But, oh! The things I learned from her,
When Sorrow walked with me.

Clemmy and Wally healed up nicely from their spay/neuter surgeries with the help of some cat suits I made to keep them from pulling out their stitches.

They are a hoot and are doing their best to keep us young. They chase ping-pong balls, laser lights, and ribbons, carry toys from one end of the house to the other, climb every piece of furniture like playground equipment and take turns sitting on each other in their own version of King of the Mountain.

I’ll leave you with a couple stanzas of one more poem, this one is based on Isaiah 43:2, “When you go through the waters…they will not sweep over you.”

Seas of sorrow, seas of trial,

Bitter anguish, fiercest pain,

Rolling surges of temptation

Sweeping over heart and brain —

They shall never overflow us,

For we know His word is true;

All the waves and all the billows,

He will lead us safely THROUGH.

Threatening breakers of destruction,

Doubt’s insidious undertow,

Shall not sink us, shall not drag us

Out to ocean depths of woe;

For His promise shall sustain us,

Praise the Lord, whose Word is true!

We shall not go down, or under,

For He says, “You will pass THROUGH. “

~Annie Johnson Flint

May God be with you! ❤️, Amy

September 2023

Cats ❤️ Cornish Rex ❤️

September 20, 2023September 20, 2023by amysaxons6 Comments

My cat story, told through pictures of our new, 16- week old Cornish Rex (CRX) kittens.

Wally Cornwall – in honor of county Cornwall, England where the CRX breed emerged from a genetic mutation in a barn cat in the 1950s.

Clemmy Clementine – because Winston Churchill was prime minister in the 1950s and his wife’s name was Clementine, which I’ve always liked.

Growing up, my family always had dogs. I had never been around cats until I was 9 years old and my Dad took me to an animal care class through 4-H.

The farm where the 4-H class was held had a barn cat who had just given birth to a litter of soft, fuzzy kittens. I was mesmerized by their purring and mewling sounds, I had never heard anything so lovely before. My future was set the moment I actually held one in my hands – my heart was gone and, though I didn’t know it at the time, I was already morphing into a crazy cat lady.

I started begging my Dad instantly for one of the kittens on the farm. His response was a firm, “No, we already have a dog at home.” My response was something along the lines of, “Yeah, but he isn’t a cat.” Why didn’t my Dad understand that?! As the 4-H class progressed over the next several weeks so did my begging. I had never wanted anything so badly in all my little 9-year old life. Somehow, someway my Dad came around and on the last day of the class I took my first kitten, Princess, home.

The first thing I did when I was 16 and got my driver’s license was go to the Humane Society, without Mom’s permission, and get another kitten. I named her Bumpy because she meowed sweetly when I drove over a pothole pulling out of the parking lot on the way home. I also thought I could persuade Mom more easily if I had already named her 🤓.

Mom let me keep Bumpy, though she wasn’t allowed to come in the house. It wasn’t until I had finished grad school and had my first job that I FINALLY got an indoor cat. I was still living at home to save money for a house, as was my sister who had just finished her nursing degree and was saving for the same reason.

With Mom’s permission, my sister got a little Shih Tzu puppy that stayed in the house. “Hmm,” I thought. So again, without permission, I drove to my first ever American Cat Fanciers Association show in Joplin, Missouri, a little over an hour from where we lived. I was really excited about seeing all the cat breeds, but my real intent was to get a CRX kitten, if anyone there had one available. As fate would have it, there was exactly…one.

The rest is history. I brought Rexy home and, to my relief, everyone, Mom included, fell in love with him immediately! Because CRX don’t have a lot of fur and can’t live outside, my dream of having an indoor cat became reality. Though I now admit I went about it by a bit of hook or crook 🫢.

Aside from my method of acquiring him, living with a CRX has been even more profoundly wonderful than even I dreamed it could be. I moved into my first home just a few months after getting Rexy. Chemy, my second CRX, came soon after to keep Rexy company while I was at work – at least that’s what I told myself 😉.

Once you’ve owned a CRX you will forever be owned by the breed. You cannot not have at least one in your life. Laudy, our current 13 year old blue tabby CRX joined the family when Chemy died. Lest you think I’m a cat snob, we (I’m married now) had a sweet rescue boy, Harry, who lived with us until he passed away a few years ago from old age. Pip, our sweet CRX who died recently, came when we lost Harry.

My life has become very small now since I don’t work anymore and I don’t get out of the house much because of my Multiple Sclerosis. However, my life feels very full because of three main reasons: God, my family, and our cats. They are my constant companions, always with me in my arms, or on my lap, beside me in bed, or at my feet playing. We have a routine together of snuggles, meal times, and interaction. We experience each day together, which reinforces and deepens our bond.

I don’t know how to describe or explain my love for cats except to say it’s something innate within me. Perhaps it’s a bit like people who feel compelled to climb mountains or are fascinated by cars or need to garden and feel dirt on their hands. I know there are people who love dogs or horses or birds or all manner of other animals with the same passion I have for cats. I look at cats and see God as our Creator. Only He could love us so much to make animals so perfectly. I know, in His omniscience, He had my enrichment and joy in mind when He made cats!

May God be with you! ❤️, Amy

September 2023

A Mingling of Grief and Joy

September 17, 2023September 17, 2023by amysaxonsLeave a Comment

Hello, Friend!

Some of you know we lost our beloved Pip suddenly between the time of my last post and this. It was a crushing loss for us, we loved him so much. It’s still very difficult to talk about and the tears flow easily. We are so grateful to God for the 5 years we had with him. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the Name of the Lord!

In loving memory of our Pip. Rest in peace, sweet boy.

For those of you who know us it will come as no surprise that we knew we would open our hearts for another cat at some point. To our astonishment, God intervened and made an opportunity available more quickly than we ever expected. And, in the marvelous way only God can arrange, He took our sorrow and lovingly soothed us with not one but TWO kittens! We drove to Indianapolis Friday night and brought our Cornish Rex kittens home yesterday.

Introducing…

Wally and Clemmy brought us great joy and comfort through the weeks of our sorrow as we grieved our Pip and anticipated holding them in our arms. Now they are here, we are soaking up every moment and feel that Pip would approve. He was the sweetest cat who delighted in nothing more than bringing love and happiness to our lives. He would be glad we are comforted by two kittens who remind us of him in nearly everything they do.

Though there will always be a Pip-size hole in our hearts that nothing and no other cat will ever fill, he taught us that love is always worth taking a chance on. We’re so grateful we took that chance!

May God be with you! ❤️, Amy

July 2023

Summer and MS: 😂

July 18, 2023July 18, 2023by amysaxons2 Comments

Hello, Friend! Yes, it’s been a while. I’ve been under the thumb of 5Gs of MS fatigue lately. I’ve been mostly home enjoying my usual favs: cats, hubby, birds, and flowers in our garden.