Animal Rescue Heroes

This was a day made in heaven for Johanna.  My dad has had problems with feral cats once in a while and unfortunately one found its way into my parents' garage and decided that would be a great place to have some kittens.  The garage is not used for parking, it's used for storage, so it wasn't until Michaela saw a cat go in through the rafters and we heard some meows that we knew there was a problem.  The bigger problem was that the kittens were way up high and not easily accessible.  After much effort, Johanna rescued two kittens (the mama ran off).  Oh, she was beside herself with joy, pity, and concern!

The kids all got to love on the kittens for just a bit and then Grandpa kindly put them in a box at the back of their yard.  Within 15 minutes, the mama had returned to claim her babies and carried them off to a safer place.  Phew!

But wait!  There's more!  Dad and Mom were hosting their monthly Int'l Night again.  Guests were just starting to arrive when more meows were heard from the garage!  So, it was back to hunting for yet another kitty.  Johanna was allowed to search for a bit, but we had to get inside and carry on with the evening.

We had over 30 guests with folks from Japan, Brazil, China, Honduras, Canada, USA, Ghana, and probably more that I'm forgetting.  Johanna and Ami had also invited the three neighbor children that they have been playing with and they came.  It was a fun evening of games, fellowship, singing, and devotions.  Dad and Mom have always had a gift of hospitality and have hosted countless people in their homes over the years. 

Most of the guests left by around 10:30, so then it was on with the kitty rescue.  This last kitten had fallen down in a very tight spot between some old barrels.  It was impossible to reach and would have taken moving a huge amount of stuff to get to it.  Through great efforts again, Grandpa and Johanna were finally able to coax it out.  It was definitely the runt and had been without its mama for at least the whole day.  It was pretty pitiful looking and shaking, but snuggled right up to Johanna's comforting.  Grandpa even took pity on it and offered to let it stay in a box inside overnight!  We decided the best thing for the kitten was to place it in a box at the back of the yard and hope that the mama would rescue it.  Sure enough, she did!

That's my story.  It will go down in history for Johanna as one the best days of her childhood, I'm sure.  That sweet girl has an amazing heart for animals and will either end up with a career involving animals and/or Chris and I will be visiting her farm/zoo when she has her own place!