Bailey Boots

On September 17, our family said a tearful goodbye to "Bailey Boots" Erb. She had been a part of our family for 11 1/2 years. Geoff and I had adopted Bailey on Easter weekend '97, just a couple of months after moving to Peoria, IL. The shelter wasn't sure of her age, but thought she was between 2 and 3 years old. Apparently, she had been abandoned at the shelter with a box full of her kittens a year before. All of her kittens had found homes, but no one had wanted Bailey...until us.

We really could not have asked for a better little kitty. Bailey was a wonderful cat. She had a such a sweet little personality and the softest fur. We called her our "purr box" as she would snuggle up to us at the end of the day.

We have so many wonderful and funny memories of her...

- Climbing up our apartment doorjams before she was declawed :-)

- Roaming freely between our house and our wonderful neighbors, Ken and Margie's. They had a cat of their own, April. And, although the 2 cats barely tolerated each other...Bailey knew she was always welcome in their home for a treat or a scratch on the head.

- Being the fierce rabbit and chipmunk killer of the neighborhood...in the prime of her youth.

- Being so inquisitive and welcoming of little baby Micah when we first brought him home...and later being very patient with him (and later with sister, Emma) during their toddler (let's-pull-the-cat's-tail phase)!

- Faithfully sleeping next to Micah's bed every night.

- Loving being subjected to games of dress-up with Emma.

- Mothering 2 other kittens who we adopted...Maya in Peoria and Lucy here in NC. She gave those kitties so many baths when they were tiny!

"Time for bed, Bailey."

Getting one of many cuddles from Emma.

"I know I look good!"

Bailey and Lucy taking a cat nap...Well at least Bailey.

We found out in July that she had a very aggressive form of mouth cancer and the vet gave her between 2 weeks and 2 months to live. Although she was felt sick, had lost a lot of weight, and very tired in her last days, she never did stop purring when we would let her crawl up on our laps.

The day that Bailey died, the time came to tell the kids. We waited until they were both home from school. Micah reacted as we thought they both would, immediately dissolving into tears. Meanwhile, Emma, who wasn't crying, ran downstairs and wanted to look for Bailey. We had planned to bury her in the backyard, and Emma was even eager to go outside to help Geoff dig the hole. After supper, Micah said that he felt ready to bury Bailey. So, we all trudged to the woods in the backyard. Emma had picked out the "perfect spot" for Bailey's "tomb"... at the base of a tall tree with a hole at the base of the trunk. She said that hole was where a squirrel lived and that the squirrel would watch over Bailey's "tomb." After Bailey was buried and as we walked inside, Emma finally must've realized the finality of it all and said, "But I won't see her anymore..." and with that, she cried in the most heart-breaking sobs that I had ever heard from her.

Well, a couple of months have passed, and the kids still talk about Bailey and go back to Bailey's grave. But a lot of their attention and affection has now turned to Lucy, our 1 year old cat (whether she wants all of this or not is another story).

We will always have a special place in our heart for Bailey. To this day, the Micah will often pray at night, "And thank You that we could have Bailey in our family for a little while." And, we are all indeed thankful for that.

Back to School

Micah began 2nd grade at Wake Christian on August 13. How can my baby boy be in 2nd grade already? Ok, please don't tell Micah I just called him a baby...That is about the worst insult known to a 2nd grade boy...other than being called a girl. :-)

Micah's teacher is Mrs. Connie Beck, and we can already see the Lord's hand in placing him in her class for this year of school.

Emma's preschool didn't start until after Labor Day, so with Micah at school, she and I enjoyed a few weeks of "girl time" at home. A big highlight for her during those weeks was the day of heavy rain we had. (A side note: Here in NC we had an extremely dry spring/summer...so much so that there were serious drought-related water restrictions.)

We hadn't seen rain in weeks...months...until one day in late August there was a DOWNPOUR!

Could it be? There's water in our rain gauge!

SpLaSh!

All that rain must've helped Emma grow. Doesn't she look tall in this picture taken of her the first day of pre-K? It seem like lately, I'll just look at her, or hear her talking, and think, WHEN in the world did she turn into such a little lady? She loves school, and has some sweet friends that she enjoys playing with. I pick her up right after lunch, but we usually stick around for a good half-hour after school so that she can play a bit longer.

Summer Re-Cap

Micah, Emma, and I have a tradition. On our last day of summer, we sit around the kitchen table and brainstorm about our summer. I ask them to try to remember as many things as they can about our sumer together. Of course, the first things that come to their minds are usually the "big" trips we took with our extended family. But then, it's neat to hear them begin to talk excitedly as they suddenly remember some of those not-so-big-deal-things we did together...like playing "bus" at the park, or the "camp outs" (complete with a paper fire and fake marshmallows) that they had in each other's rooms over the summer.

Here's our list for the Summer of 2008:

Micah attended his first (semi) pro baseball game in July with Geoff, when they met up with others from their Y-Guide tribe at a Durham Bulls game. Following the game, the kids (and dads) pitched tents on the field and slept there for the night. They had a blast!

Here's Micah around midnight, trying to decide whether he's really tired, or ready to run around and play a few more rounds of tag!

The boys had so much fun at the Bulls game, that we decided to go as a family a few weeks later. Micah's friend, Noah, was also with us. After seeing the "pros" play and really being interested in keeping score, Micah decided that it would be fun to play machine-pitch baseball this Fall. But, more on that later.

Here's Micah and Noah...

...And Geoff, Emma, and I enjoying the game! Go BULLS!!

One final "hurrah" was the camp-out the kids had the backyard right before school started. Micah's friend, Carter, came over for the pre-camp-out activities of 'smore roasting and apparently running around without their shirts (while stuffing their mouths with graham crackers).

3 1/2 Months!

How can it be? My last post, as you see below, was on July 12...Three and a half months ago! I'm not quite sure how it happened, and I won't go rambling on with excuses either. We're all busy, and I'm sure you all will understand. However, it recently hit me that my intent, when starting my blog several months back, was to use it to keep a record of our lives here in the Erb household...A scrapbook of sorts. And, remembering that, I realized that an entire season had practically passed us by without a single entry.

Of course, many things have happened in our family over the past 3 1/2 months...some wonderful and exciting, as well as some sad moments. My hope, over the next week or so, is to take a bit of time each day to chronicle and post pictures of our lives since July 12.

So, here we go...Time to turn back the calendar to July...