How is it that my days start so ordinarily, and then evolve into wild rides? Yesterday was just such a day. Nothing interesting to report. Just the usual taking care of things around the house, getting things straightened up, and looking forward to a work night which would involve tearing out the plaster in the kitchen. I worked steadily throughout the day, doing laundry, taking care of kids, and picking up around the house.

At midday I heard one of our two-week-old kittens crying loudly, so I went to investigate. I shined the light into their nest in the closet to see what could be causing distress. They all looked fine, but their mother, Indigo, wasn’t anywhere around. Ah, well, no doubt she’d be running to check on them soon. She never ignores their cries!

But then I realized I hadn’t seen Indigo for a while. She must be locked in a closet somewhere, or napping downstairs. So I called for her and then started looking through the house to find her. Hmmm. No cat. That’s odd, but no cause for alarm yet.

Several hours later Indigo was still gone and now I was starting to worry. Her kittens were still crying out and acting very needy. Romeo, our big ol’ cat was trying to do what he could to help. He was licking the kittens, carrying them around and acting worried. But they wanted more than a beneavolant uncle’s attention. They wanted to eat!

I called Michael at work and told him to keep an eye out by the side of the road on the way home in case Indigo could be found there. He looked, but didn’t see her.

By late afternoon I called our vet to inquire about how long kittens can go without eating. He said they shouldn’t go for more than two hours. It had been much longer than that since Indigo had disappeared. So I headed to Walmart to pick up nursing bottles and formula. About that time a big dark storm front was heading in. By the time I made my purchase and walked out of Walmart with my bag in hand the rain was coming down hard and the wind was blowing almost sideways. When I reached the van I was completely soaked.

The rain had pretty much passed over by the time I got home, which made me wonder if it might have been a good idea to just stay in Walmart for a few minutes to wait out the worst of the storm. Oh well. What’s done was done.

We put formula into the bottles and then started to feed the kittens. I don’t know what I was imagining, but it certainly wasn’t what happened. I guess I thought the kittens would gratefully slurp on the bottles and gobble down the formula. I didn’t know they would fight me the whole time and get milk all over everywhere. Both Laura and I tried and tried to get them to cooperate. Isaac and Michael both gave it a shot. Finally Laura was able to convince one of them to eat. How cute it was!

Once we got a little formula into each of them, they settled down for a little nap. Throughout the evening Laura would go back up and give them each a little more to eat. They were starting to understand what the bottle was for, but the more we worked with them, the more we missed Indigo. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way! Mother cats are so good with kittens, and people just don’t have the same knack. I remembered that God knows everything, and He knew exactly what had become of Indigo, so I prayed that He would help us know what happened, even if she was dead, just so we wouldn’t be kept in suspense.

Meanwhile, Joyce and Michael and I were working very hard in the kitchen demolishing the plaster and lathe. Laura and Nathan and Luke helped for a while, but eventually the dust and debris chased them out of the kitchen.

By bedtime we gave Indigo up for lost. She never would stay away this long on her own accord. How frustrating! How sad! I decided to post her as missing and call around to the local vet offices in the morning. I put the box of kittens by my bed so I would wake up in the night when they needed to be fed.

As I was laying in bed, my prayer changed from asking God to let us know what happened to one of asking Him to please bring Indigo home safe and sound. My “mature” prayer asking for information had turned to a “child-like” prayer of begging for my cat to come home.

At 3:00 a.m. the kittens did indeed wake me up. I turned on the lamp and put on my glasses and headed down to get their formula. I warmed it up and then fed each of them in turn. They were getting better at this bottle thing! After they each ate, I helped them each go potty and then I tucked them back into bed.

At 4:30 a.m. I heard another cry. This time it was MY baby wanting attention. Well, he didn’t need to be up at this hour, so I laid there trying to convince myself to get up and go settle him back into bed. While I was laying there I heard a noise outside. Could that really be Indigo? I didn’t know, but I was going to go check! I popped up, put on my glasses, turned on the lights and headed downstairs quickly (after a dash into the nursery to lay the baby back down). I opened the front door, and in ran two cats, and they looked an awful lot like Nick (another of our cats) and Indigo. I hurried upstairs following the two cats and turned on the light to see if it was truly our missing cat and to make sure she was ok. But she wasn’t there. Where could she be? I walked back to our room just as Indigo was coming out of the closet where she had left her kittens. I picked her up, examined her quickly in the dark, and then carried her to the box by my bed. She settled down immediately and the kittens swarmed over her. I woke up Michael and declared, “Indigo’s back!” He was as happy as I was, and he asked me a few sleepy questions. On that note, I went and fetched my baby and nursed him.

I must say though, happy feelings only get you so far in the morning when it’s time to get up. I had been up in the night and wasn’t ready to get up when the kids were up. So after struggling and trying to wake up, I finally begged Laura to take the little ones downstairs for just one more hour so I could sleep. She did, and I slept.

This morning I made waffles to celebrate our returned cat. My heart is full of thanks to God for answering my child-like prayer for a cat and her kittens. Every time I walk past, I peek into the box to admire the pile of kitties. It just looks right.