#multiplesclerosis – Amy's Axons

January 2026

A New Year Prayer: To You, O LORD, I Lift Up My Soul

January 6, 2026January 6, 2026by amysaxons2 Comments

Psalm 25:1-9 (NIV) Of David: (1)To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul; (2)in You, my God, I trust. Do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me. (3)Surely none who wait for You will be put to shame; but those who engage in treachery without cause will be disgraced. (4)Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. (5)Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; all day long I wait for You. (6)Remember, O LORD, Your compassion and loving devotion, for they are from age to age. (7)Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my rebellious acts; remember me according to Your loving devotion, because of Your goodness, O LORD. (8)Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He shows sinners the way. (9)He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.

Birds of Missouri

Downy Woodpecker, female

White-Throated Nuthatch

Carolina Chickadee

Mourning Dove

Northern Cardinal

Tufted Titmouse

Tea and Holiday Pies

My favorite mug for birdwatching 🫖

Blueberry Pie

Pumpkin Pie

From My Sewing Room for Christmas

I made several book holders as gifts, here are a couple I actually remembered to get a picture of.

A quick little gift card/money envelope. I found the underwear fabric at a garage sale. You can’t just give that kind of print to anyone 😂

Everyone on both sides of our family are serious dog lovers, save one nephew who has a cat. So, when I saw this fabric I immediately knew I had to get it and quilt it into makeup bags for all the ladies on our Christmas list.

I also made all the ladies on our list a nightgown from this adorable cotton jersey print of frou-frou canines.

The donkeys at my in-laws farm in Kansas came up to the fence looking for carrot treats, they were pretty adorable.

Our Cats

I LOVE the custom pillow my sweet sister-in-law gave me!

Frank knew which gift was his.

Birdwatching

Frank’s pose 🤣

Clemmy loves to make biscuits 🥰

Sweet Wally 👅

May God be with you! ❤️, Amy

December 2025

Cute Cat Clips

December 11, 2025December 11, 2025by amysaxonsLeave a Comment

Wally and Frank keep an eye on the birds in the sewing room.

Clemmy likes to use Frank as a pillow.

Peek-a-boo! I’ve been “quilting in hand” a lap quilt for myself. Of course it’s cat-themed.

Morning snuggles with Frank.

Frank!

My favorite armful 🖤🤍

…wait for it!

Wally and Frank 😂

An original Howard Garrison (if you know, you know) passed down to me from my Mom and a modern piece of moving art – FRANK!

Frank being Frank.
The end.
May God be with you! ❤️, Amy

July 2025

Summer In Our Own Backyard

July 31, 2025July 31, 2025by amysaxonsLeave a Comment

Hello Friend! I hope you are well. Summer in the Missouri Ozarks has been mild enough most days that I’ve been able to take the cats outside in their little catio to enjoy some fresh air. It’s always fun for me to take pictures of the cats, birds, and flowers. The last five pictures are from a special road trip last weekend 👰‍♀️🤵‍♂️💞!

Clemmy in the catio – Honestly, it’s impossible to take a bad picture of this gorgeous girl!

Frank is a study in elegant feline form.

Those preposterous whiskers and bold black stripes… FRANK is such a looker!

Wally has the most darling, long, curly whiskers 😍!!

Clemmy’s whiskers are adorable too! Her whiskers are more typical for Cornish Rex -wirey, short, curly.

Frank birdwatching from the comfort of the catio.

Randomly got this shot with Wally’s tongue hanging out, it made me laugh 👅

My little patch of wildflowers has attracted all manner of critters…

A pair of Goldfinches come to the zinnias on and off most days to forage for seeds, they are so light that they barely bend the stalks.

I’ve seen a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird quite often flitting around the various flowers sipping nectar.

Several butterflies, skippers, and moths frequent the blooms. Yesterday I noticed a rabbit had found his way into the backyard and was nibbling on some leaves.

Aww, Dad House Finch showing his juvenile son where the snacks are. The young bird’s chest feathers are just starting to turn red, they grow up so fast.

I’ve had a pair of Mourning Doves bring their fledgling to the feeders over the last couple of weeks. I think this is the youngster, I have a hard time telling them apart.

It’s been so fun watching this male Downy Woodpecker grow from a fledgling to a grown up this summer. The cap on his head has slowly turned from brown to red and from a small dot to his whole crown.

Female fledgling House Finch – not my favorite bird, but she is a pretty specimen.

Chipping Sparrow, a plucky little bird 😊

Female House Finch coming in for a landing

This little fella is a regular under the feeders

We attended our eldest nephew’s wedding this past weekend in Nebraska. It was such a joy to see them so happy and committed to their future together. We love you John and Riley!

When in Nebraska you go to RUNZA! (We’d never heard of it before but it was good 👍)

The wedding venue was so picturesque, what a backdrop!

I hope your summer has been safe and happy. May God be with you! ❤️, Amy

June 2025

Around Our House

June 3, 2025June 3, 2025by amysaxonsLeave a Comment

Fledgling male Downy Woodpecker – he was a marvelous creature and I love how he was showing off his wings

My sister asked me to make a stuffed dog for her use at work. I went through my fabric scraps and thought these would go together well.

I appliqued the muzzle, nose, and eyes then used a zigzag stitch for the philtrum and mouth.

After the puppy, I was inspired to use up some more of my mountain of cotton fabric scraps and thought I’d try my hand at book sleeves. This is one of my favorites 🤩

I especially think the pocket is handy AND cute

Whew, I certainly need to go through my scraps more often. I ended up making 49 book sleeves (!) and still have leftovers 🫣

I also had a lot of leftover canvas fabric and wanted to make something useful with it. Fifteen years or more ago my Mom, sister, and I made key wristlets. I decided to try it again and here are the first few I did. I think I ended up with about 25 by the end.

My Dad got a flat of strawberries back in May and shared some with us. My Mom always made strawberry shortcake with homemade pie crust so, of course, I do too.

On Memorial Day, we made the homemade ice cream recipe my Dad always made when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s. It was just as good as I remembered and it was fun to share it with Hubby 💕

Cats are cats are cats and cat naps are one of my favorite cat behaviors – so cute 😻

Wally keeping Clemmy close with a tail-wrap 🖤🤍🖤🤍

May God be with you! ❤️, Amy

May 2025

Sweet, Sweet May

May 4, 2025May 4, 2025by amysaxonsLeave a Comment

Hello, friend! I hope you are doing well. We’ve had a stormy spring in Southwest Missouri. Matter of fact, last week we had SIX confirmed EF-0 tornadoes in and around our city and the region of the Ozarks! Several people had property damage in our area and many trees were uprooted causing road obstructions and damaging electrical lines. Clean up in our city is ongoing and some are still without power, though they expect it to be fixed in the next few days. Thankfully, we just had a few branches down and never lost electricity. Tornadoes are a fact of life here and it’s wise to have a healthy respect for them and a safety plan.

On the upside, we’ve had a lot of rain making the leafy forests of the Ozark Mountains look like a lush, green sea. My plants have been thriving with the joy of spring too.

About three weeks ago I noticed a house finch with a yucky eye, a sign of a contagious infection among songbirds that can be passed easily at feeders. So, I took all the feeders down, disinfected everything, and raked the ground under them. I just put the feeders back up a couple of days ago, I sure missed my little friends and am so happy everyone looks healthy.

The Chipping Sparrows are back for the summer, one of my favorites.

Though they don’t hang around long, it’s always exciting when the first red breasted grosbeaks arrive in the spring on their migration north. This is one of two females I’ve seen at the feeders, no males so far.

A pair of robins nested in one of our evergreens in the landscaping near the front door. I had fun watching them grow up through my binoculars, their Mom and Dad were excellent parents. I saw one of the babies stretching its wings in the nest yesterday and thought they might be close to fledging soon. Sure enough, the nest is empty today!

I made my hubby’s favorite cake earlier in the week. I had put the cake pan on the counter, turned around to get some ingredients out of the fridge, turned back to put them down, and this is what I saw. 😸 (Don’t worry, I washed the pan and Frank got to hang out in the bedroom while I made the cake.)

It’s a snuggle fest every evening ❤️

May God be with you! ❤️, Amy

April 2025

Enjoying Spring 2025

April 7, 2025April 7, 2025by amysaxonsLeave a Comment

Hello, Friend! Spring is here again in the Ozarks.

Enjoying an early birthday gift from my sister 🥰. #hammockswing

A few blooms and seedlings around our neighborhood.

I planted a few wildflowers in the autumn, they are starting to poke up!

The birds are nesting, finding mates, singing, and eating a bit extra this time of year.

White-breasted Nuthatch and White-throated Sparrow

House Finches, Cardinals, and White-throated Sparrow

Frank is 7-months old and is in his I’m Cute But Destroy Everything phase 😜.

Clemmy is sweet AND knows how to hold her own with the boys. She’s small but mighty!

I hope you enjoy this change of season wherever you are in the world. May God be with you! ❤️, Amy

February 2025

February from My Window

February 19, 2025February 19, 2025by amysaxonsLeave a Comment

Hello, Friend! It’s a balmy 11*F/-11*C in Southwest Missouri with about 8in/20cm of powdery snow on the ground. I’ve had a lot of birds at the feeders as well as many come by to eat the peanuts I threw out for them to enjoy. It’s been especially exciting birdwatching because I’ve had two firsts for me, a Yellow-rumped Warbler and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 💛!

Yellow-rumped Warbler – a very inventive name 🤭

This little guy is so cute all fluffed out against the cold

He has been at the feeders a lot this week and made it easy for me to get some good shots.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – This fella has been at the suet feeder many times the last few weeks but doesn’t seem to like the camera. Every time I saw him and got the camera ready, he somehow knew and flew off just as I was getting him into focus. He’s way cool, though and I love seeing him!

A male Downy Woodpecker and the Yellow-rumped Warbler

Starlings are nuisance birds, but when it’s this cold my heart goes out to them. All of God’s creatures have to eat. I love his green and purple splotches.

This gorgeous male Red-bellied Woodpecker is a frequent visitor

A pair of House Finches – I particularly love House Finches, they are personable, friendly, beautiful, and always sing sweetly.

A pair of Carolina Wrens – they like suet, sunflower seeds, peanuts, and berries

Tufted Titmouse – always on my Top Five Favorite Birds list

White-throated Sparrow – A winter bird in SW Missouri that summers in Canada and the northern USA. Their song sounds like “Oh Sweet Canada Canada Canada”

No Amy’s Axons post is complete without cats!

Clemmy Clementine is our female Cornish Rex. Hands down, Clemmy has the cutest little face I’ve ever seen AND is blessed with a sweet, loving, gentle disposition. She loves to make biscuits and snuggle in our arms or on our laps. Be glad you’re not her prey, though, because she’s a stone cold killer! She’s the fastest, highest jumping, most athletic, smartest cat I’ve ever had!

This is Wally Cornwall, Clemmy’s brother. He is the most affectionate, sensitive, cuddliest, gentlest, funniest, hungriest (😂) cat you could ever hope to meet. Though he’s not quite as athletic as Clemmy, he’s no slouch and is always ready to play. He loves to lick our faces, purr in our ears, and be held non-stop. Wally is in a class by himself!

And last, but by no means least, is FRANK! He is our five-month old kitten who wandered into our lives on Halloween night as a very sick, injured, 8-week old kitten. Oh, my, he almost defies description! Frank is extraordinarily curious and wants to be part of everything you do. I’ve never had a cat with such an insatiable appetite to play or jump or chase – and if you know anything about the Cornish Rex breed, you know that’s saying something! But, when he’s not playing or jumping or chasing, he’s sitting on one of our shoulders or lying in one of our arms. He is always happy and always follows us around. From the moment we rescued him and every moment since he has endeared himself to us. He has brought us unbelievable joy and he is a wonderful gift from God!

The sunrise this morning over the snow we got yesterday was beautiful.

Stay cozy! Thank you for coming by ☺️. ❤️, 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

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