HOW DO YOU DO THIS????????????????

Most people are very complimentary of what we do here. I get the following comments all the time-

"You are surely doing God's work." (Well if I was a missionary I'd be CLOSER to doing God's work, but this is where He put me for right now and I do talk about God with almost everyone I talk to so it is God's work.)

"I am in awe and amazed at what you do."

"How do you do this? I can't keep up with one dog."

"Thank God you and Jon do this."

"How do you do this, it's unbelievable"

"I am so proud of the work you do."

So for the most part, I get positive marks for my work. Occasionally I get some angry and bitter person who thinks I am a nut, or that I am wasting my life. That doesn't bother me, though. I am really in touch with what is right, good and what God wants me to do. We don't live in filth, our kids are well taken care of, and the animals have the best care available. So, it's our work and we are happy doing it. The only job I remember loving more than this one was taking care of my infant and toddler girls and working with crack babies. ( I know, that sounds horrid, but taking care of innocent babies of all kinds has always been WHAT I DO BEST.) I loved holding those tiny black (most of them) babies and helping soothe them through withdrawals, feeding them, changing them- all of it. I LOVED IT. I would love to do that again one day. The work is the same - you are loving, nurturing, calming, stroking, feeding, murmuring to, and holding a tiny defenseless creature- whether human or animal. It's exactly the same work. It's gentle and loving work. (Of course, there is a larger responsibility when raising human babies, of course, but the actual motions are identical.).

Now as for the actual, " HOW DO YOU DO THIS?", I think people want to know- how do you schedule all of it and how do you have time for your kids or yourself. That's easy most of the time, with the only difficulty being when new animals arrive - and then that takes about 48 hours to find the "new rythym". So I thought I would let you see the schedule here- now granted, it changes if a child is sick, a dog is sick, or if we have a brand new zoo member who requires extra TLC. Surgery throws everything to heck and back. (Pica's surgery threw us off for a good three weeks.)

5-6:00 am- I awake or Jon awakes- whoever wakes up first does the morning shift or one of us wakes the other if we are running behind or not feeling well or just plain tired. The greyhounds get let out first, then let back in and given two dog biscuits. Then the porch dogs are let out and let back in. Porch dogs are fed breakfast. Greyhounds and inside dogs are fed breakfast. Then someone takes Pica out on a leash to do her business, as she is still on restriction. The cats are fed. The baby squirrel is fed. (Somewhere in here, for me is a piece of Ezekiel toast and coffee and my ADD meds- the sooner I have that, the better I feel to do all of this.) The girls wake at any given time and I make their breakfast or they make it themselves, depending on what they want- we do stress independence in our kids and we think that it is a GOOD AND HEALTHY thing for them not to think they have a waitress, maid and butler working for them. The kitchen looks like holy you know what in the mornings- it just does and I know that once the girls are at school it will all get cleaned up. So I just ignore it until the girls are gone.

7:30-9- roughly, the girls are taken to school and I uncover all the birds' cages and take out all the bowls and give fresh food and water. The girls are required to take care of their own personal birds before they leave for school. No tv in the morning unless you are ready to leave and your animals are fed and watered.

9:00- all dogs who are on meds get their meds, all dogs go out if it is sunny- they run and play and have a great time. I vacuum every day and clean the kitchen, start a load of laundry. From 9:00- 12:00 is when I am inside, doing my wifely and motherly duties.

12:00-3:00-Dogs are crated on porch with AC if it is hot. If weather is nice, they may stay outside. On rainy days, obviously this schedule is a joke- I am constantly running back and forth putting dogs out and letting them in, to avoid 13 wet dogs. It's no big deal- a pain in the tush, but we're all used to it. During this time I catch up on phone calls, laundry, scheduling, or nap (rare, but it happens).

2:00- 3:00- varies by day but I always try to feed all the zoo BEFORE MY KIDS GET HOME. That way I am open to JUST MY KIDS from 3-5 or 6. When the kids get home, I am mom, not zookeeper. I make a snack, they sit and tell me about their day and I ask questions, help with homework, etc. When the kids are done with homework, they have afternoon chores and then they can play or get on the computer etc. Their afternoon chores are easy like "feed the cats" or walking the greyhounds, or taking out the trash. Nothing too stressful. Dogs are out from 3-6 pm.

5:00- this is when I always feel like exploding or losing my mind. I don't know WHAT IT IS about 5:00 but I am tired, hungry, and it seems that EVERYONE WANTS TO CALL OR COME OVER. I HATE IT. I take the phone off the hook, I tell people not to come over between 5-7 and I am much calmer that way. There is some frantic energy in the air between 5-7 if I don't take the phone off the hook and allow people to come over. So I have learned to work with that. I have also learned to snack with the girls at 3:00 so I don't get low blood sugar at 5:00. The birds are vocalizing- they get some special treat to shut them up- like a piece of fruit or a small cracker- that solves THAT problem. I fix dinner and wait for Daddy to get home, or if Daddy is working late, we have easy suppers. I long ago quit beating myself up for my kids not getting five fruits and veggies a day- I don't, Jon doesn't, they don't, it's ok. IT"S OK. :) The do get fruit at least twice a day so if veggies are 3 times a week, that's fine.

6:00- zoo is closed. Birds are covered, dogs are porched for night and lights in house go off. (Encourages birds to rest.) This is a nice time of day here- the girls watch TV quietly or read or get on the computer or sometimes we play a family game. It's peaceful. On rough days, I may go to sleep at 7, or stay up until 9. Everyone is in bed by 9:30.

10-12:30 pm- Jon comes home if he has worked late, lets all animals out for final rest stop and then all are back in crates or house for the night. Jon is a night owl, so he doesn't mind doing the last let out and let back in of the day. Thank God for that. I am still asleep unless a squirrel needs to be fed or someone gets sick- then I am up feeding or cleaning up. Then the next day we start all over. As Kate says in Jon and Kate plus 8 (I hate her attitude and I don't endorse the show) "It's a crazy life, but it's OUR life!!!"

Willow and the pups off to new home sweet homes!!!

Saturday I am meeting my dear friend Christa, who runs RocketAngel Italian Greyhound Rescue in Cape Coral- her website is listed on my sidebar. She will take Willow and the puppies and Daisy and find great homes for them and get them all sterilized. She is a pro at this and has successfully placed over 130 dogs in the last four years. She has alot more time at her discretion than I, and has an application and screening process. We are meeting in Orlando and I hope to see my brother and sister in law while I am there. It has been great watching them bloom and play- My bathroom floor will be free of "pee pee pads" and pee pee. Heavens, puppies pee ALL THE TIME. It will be hard to see Berkley and Willow go- we have all gotten attached to them- Max is a bulldozer- you get the feeling from watching him that he will be FINE no matter where he goes- Willow and Berkely are a bit more tender and vulnerable acting to me. But I am grateful for the help placing them. Have fun in your new homes, little ones.

Sisterly love

Here are my girls yesterday after a long day of pinky duty. :) (They watched, I fed.) Emily had been thrown in a pool and landed on someone else's head with HER HEAD, so she's had a headache for a couple of days. THANKS UNCLE RANDY!!!! :) Anyway, Em wanted to sleep THERE with her sister and Jules was quick to let everyone know to BE QUIET, EM IS SLEEPING!!! (That should have quotes but I am tired.) These girls have their moments of anger and arguments but I have to say that they love each other deeply and would defend each other to the death. I AM SO PROUD OF YOU TWO!!! They truly understand the love of God. I want to say a huge thank you to Randy and Donna Clark, some of our dear dear friends from church who watched the girls all day Sunday so I could rest and get over this bug. They took them to church and kept them until 9pm. What love that is. Thanks guys- we love you. Randy and Donna are the ones who adopted Lainey from China this spring. They are great folks.

PINKY SQUIRRELS!!!!!!!!!!!! My kids are young wildlife rehabbers!!! YAY GIRLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update on Tuesday- Charlotte the little girl is doing great!!!!

Well we never know what God is going to surprise us with on any given day. Today was extra special. While I was in the shower, Jules ran to me, " Mom, I checked the messages and someone called about three baby squirrels!!!" I am in mid shower which becomes end shower VERY QUICKLY. I yell to the girls- "Call her back and tell her I am coming." They were too shy. I called her and basically she had three pinkie squirrels that had fallen out of a nest that was so high up that we would need a cherry picker to put them back.Putting baby squirrels BACK is always the first priority. But that wasn't happening. So, I said, "Keep them next to your body and stay calm- don't let anyone hold them and stay in a quiet place away from loud kids." :( So 15 minutes later, me and my very trusted helpers were at her house, getting the squirrels and rushing to my vets for syringes and Ebsilac. We got home and waited for 30 minutes to make sure they were warm and then fed them. You have no idea what a PRECARIOUS job it is to feed pinkie squirrels- one wrong move and they aspirate the formula, get pneumonia, and die. My girls benefit in so many ways from our rescue work. They gain self confidence, compassion and responsibility. They also gain knowledge that might help them in future life if they ever take care of animals. Here are the pics of the 2 little boy squirrels and the little sister squirrel with my children. You can tell how tiny they are by the size- my friend who is in wildlife rehab guesses 10 days at the most. They will go to her soon And my kids know that they are CAPABLE and TRUSTWORTHY WITH A TINY LIFE. Good stuff. PS. Update- the two boys died- we got to them too late- they had fallen 30 feet out of a tree and both had injuries. I am in charge of the little girl and seem to be doing better.

Our purposes in life..............

WHAT IS OUR PURPOSE???

A recent disturbing phone call prompted me to write today. It made me think about what people's purpose in life is. As a Christian I believe that my purpose is to love God with all my heart and love my neighbor as myself. I also believe that whatever I do should help other people and not hurt them. My free time should even be proof of this. In other words, everything I do should be helping, loving, and good. I am not always successful at this, but I am careful not to say things to people that are mean or untrue or hurtful. Now, I have to admit that if I have been off my medication for depression for any length of time, I can say ugly things, but I am careful to quickly apologize and explain that I am truly a different person when I have not had my medicine.

Our purpose is to help other people, to love them, to treat them as we would like to be treated. My kids have grown up around this and just this morning Emily and Julianna were apologizing to each other for their short tempers as we ran late for church. I was so proud and I told them why. Kids need to know that apologies are God's pride. We all can be grumpy and say things we don't mean. The important thing is to recognize that and humble ourselves and say "I am sorry." My kids are the joy of my life and I could not be prouder of the fine young ladies they are turning out to be. They have grown up in love, constancy, and forgiveness. I know one day when I stand before God, I will not hang my head in shame over my parenting of those two.

What we spend our money on and what we spend our time doing tells the world what is important to us. If we watch sports all the time, that is important to us. If we read, that is important to us, if we nurture kids and animals, that is important to us. I believe that at the end of my life I want to know that I spent my time well on things that matter. I don't want to think that I wasted my life on things that have no value. When I die, noone will care that I didn't miss one hour of the Olympics, but they will care that I saved 100 animals from being killed. When I die, noone will care how much money I earned in the stock market, but they will remember that I loved my kids well. When I die, noone will care that I had the biggest or best house, boat, car, etc. But they will care that I told the truth and was willing to be a four in the morning friend. I am always thinking of how I can do better- how can I please God? What is my purpose? It's a good question to ask. This post was not so much to praise myself but to allow all of us to think, " What do we do with our time and how will that matter when we are gone?" I have a long way to go, but I hope God honors the efforts I make now.