Request

Dear friends, we have a situation on our hands. Today I went and shipped 4 boxes to the Special Helping School in Sliven, Bulgaria where special needs orphans receive schooling. Through our work with the Linda McDonald Foundation and a generous donation from the Molnar family from North Carolina we were able to make sure that all the children got some warm pajamas and new socks for the long, cold winter ahead. The shipment was immense and the cost was staggering. We were able to cover 75% of the cost but there is still $575 that needs to be raised. The shipment was sent via an account and we will need to pay back the costs in about 3 weeks.

In the past, through the generosity of our members, we have raised $1000 in just 30 days. This is possible and I'm trusting that everyone will rise to the occasion. These children are precious and if we don't support them then who will? You can see for yourselves the recipients of these gifts on the school's Facebook page. Please consider donating the cost of a cup of coffee, a movie, or one meal out to help us meet our goal.

If you would like to donate just click on the link below:

We appreciate your support of the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project as we work to meet the needs of orphans and vulnerable children.

Thank You

The Eastern European and Russian Orphanages website is sort of "under construction" at the moment. There are some little things that need to be tweaked and fixed. One of the changes will be to integrate my personal blog with the EEROP blog. It's just too much to keep up two blogs at the same time. I'm interesting but not that interesting. So, I'm going to do some "thank you"s here for some wonderful EEROP donations. P.S. All pictures of donations can also be seen on the EEROP Facebook page in a few days.

Thank you to...

Mrs. Whitney from Texas for toys, a hat, some gloves, and socks.

 L. Wright from Ohio for hats and a scarf.

Cliff and Jennifer Jones from Georgia for some stuffed animals and a blanket.

Sue Maples for a blanket, some mittens, booties, tons of hats, and some scarves.

Melissa Grissom and the Elm City Center knitters for lots of toys, a blanket, some sleep sacks, a bib, *tons* more hats, a scarf, some cute necklaces, mittens, pants, tops, a vest, and a sweatshirt!

Judy Resh from Pennsylvania for some hats, a scarf, and a cowl.

 Sue Johnson and Barbara Crowell for some hats, scarves, a blanket, and a pair of socks.

And to Kelly Trevithick from Virginia for a whole whack of scarves!

Thank you so much to everyone who donated! Hopefully I got everyone credited for the right things. If not then please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due. The best part is that some of these items have already been shipped off to Moldova and Ukraine! I still have more boxes to unpack and more thank yous to send out so be sure to bookmark this page.

The Rat Saga

I feel like a lot of what I've blogged about lately is pretty heavy stuff. So here's a little crazypants adventure to let you know my life isn't always serious.

So, my parents (who I live with) have two cats, Red, a cat they've been fostering for several years who lives in the basement, and Moo Moo, the cat who chooses to live outdoors. I say "chooses" because with Moo Moo it's choice not force. She's had the chance to live indoors many times but she would rather roam the neighborhood with her brother Oreo who lives one street over.

Red

Moo Moo

Then when I moved in I brought my cat, Penelope, who lives upstairs on the second floor with me.

Gizmo (Source)

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Orange Cotton Candy (Source)

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Penelope

Now, Red is a very sweet cat. And Penelope is attention starved and isn't too fond of anyone but me but she isn't demonic. Moo Moo on the other hand....Well, Moo Moo is 75% maniacal serial killer and 25% stinky, scabby, scruffy cat.

"I resent all those statements, even if they do represent me accurately."

I love Moo Moo but she plots a little too much for comfort. This is the cat that if I died today she would have no problem eating my face off tomorrow. She murders small rodents and birds for fun. She is known for her "love bites" and "love claws."

Example of a "love claw." It says, "I'll love you until you feed me and then I'm going to smother you in your sleep."

Moo Moo's two greatest attributes are her fangs and her razor sharp nails. Her newest favorite pastime is trying to sneak in the house to go upstairs and get all up in Penelope's business. But we all still love this crazy cat and wish she would settle down and co-exist with us peacefully.

Well, as I mentioned, Moo Moo likes to kill rodents and birds for fun. I say for fun because she comes up to the house looking for canned cat food at least 5 times a day. A month or so ago when I first moved in with my parents she went on a killing spree and killed a bird and a mouse and maimed 3 other birds (that my mom had to take to a wildlife rescue). About a week ago Moo Moo killed another mouse and dropped it at the garage door. My mom made *me* do down and poke it with a broom to make sure it was dead (it was). However, last night's saga took the cake.

My dad was leaving to go to my grandmother's house and he pokes his head in the garage door and says, "Look at the size of this rat Moo Moo brought up." I thought he was joking so I followed him out and there was one of the biggest rats I've ever seen. It's tail alone was at least 6 inches long. As a side note: We live near a really big field. This rat wasn't just hanging out in our neighborhood. As I'm looking at it THE THING MOVES. I scram, ran inside, and slammed the door shut. Moo Moo, who was lounging nearby with an eye on the rat barely flicked her tail. I then yelled at her through the door, "It's not dead yet! Kill it!" My mom decided Moo Moo needed a new motivational statement: Finish the Kill. So, we waited for her to finish the job and before we sat down for supper I check on Moo Moo again. At first I didn't see her but that was just because she was around the corner of the storage unit in the garage with the half dead rat cornered behind a can of bird feed. So, my dad came home, we ate dinner, and took the dogs for a walk. When we came back my mom wanted to see if the rat was still in the garage. By this point Moo Moo had grown bored and wandered off and the *still half dead* rat was behind the storage unit in the garage. My mom yelled, the rat ran further behind the unit, and we all raced inside. Well, my mom wanted the rat out of the garage but my dad wanted to just wait until the morning to deal with it so *I* had to go out into the garage with a broom. When I poked the rat he ran towards the open garage door. And then stopped. Behind the can of bird seed. I poked him again and he just sat there. I poke him several more times but it was clear he was well on his way to the eternal embrace of death. I left him there to die without me poking his rear end and went to bed. The next morning as I was leaving for church I asked my dad if he'd gotten the rat out. "Moo Moo got it," he said, "And left it under the back end of your car." I went to look and sure enough, THE CAT HAD PUT THE MAULED RAT UNDER THE BACK END OF MY CR-V. All I had done last night was push him out into the open so she would drag him out and feast on him (because it kind of looked like he might have been missing his head). Thanks, Moo Moo. Thanks a lot.

I'm kind of worried that it might have been a warning.

And she also killed a bird and left that in the garage this morning.

I wish I could make this stuff up.