Who knew Zeus was a catnip freak?  I bought one of those catnip-scratcher things that one sprinkles catnip over and rubs in.  Zeus was all over it, eating it before it could be rubbed in, then rubbing herself all over it:

Mind, all the cats love it!  Last night (I'm jumping ahead a couple of days) it was accidentally tumped over, and after all three cats fell to, this was the sight:

Dan came over a couple of times, once with Sarah and once without;  here he is with Max:

Magellan and Eisenhower have taken nicely to each other, and there's no doubt but that they enjoy playing together:

I have a new camera.....a 14.7 megapixel Canon!....and on Friday night I tried it out on the fireworks display:

And also tried out the night shot feature (along with photo editing afterward, naturally):

Dan and Sarah came over last night before going with Joe to watch the fireworks at LaGrave Field after the Cats' game (which went into the 11th inning and the Cats lost):

Now I'm watching the Next Food Network Star, and wondering how often the word "little" can be used in a minute;  many, many times, apparently.

This week has a couple of events I'm looking forward to quite a bit, the first being a bus trip on Tuesday with the widows' group at CCBC....we're going to Babe's in Roanoke, which has killer fried chicken from what I hear, and then Sam Moon's, a shopping mecca.  On Wednesday is the July Women's salad luncheon, which is always fun.  Then on Thursday is choir, which I've missed for the past couple of weeks. 

Of course, the BIG news is that next Saturday Alex, Beth and the girls return to the States from Japan!  They'll fly into Seattle then Alex flies to Millington, TN so he can process out, and that evening Beth, Hannah and Faith arrive at DFW.

I can't wait. 

When Don and I adopted Dmitry it really made the doctrine of "adoption" come alive;  here's an article by Russell Moore, who also adopted from Russia and his thoughts on it:  The Brotherhood of Sons

And where I live?

Actually, I'm pretty sure I have but now would be a suitable time to reiterate it, as yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of our moving in here.

Thirty years.  In one house.

Not common these days, is it?

Oh, Don and I used to occasionally bat around the notion of moving but nothing ever came of it between the high prices of houses (compared to what we owed) and the unusually convenient location.  Plus the ability to see the fireworks from our front porch.  That was surprisingly important to us, once it got going (and it's been going on for years now).

Of course I wish my Donald were here with me for this auspicious occasion, but one can't have everything, can one?  I still rejoice in three decades in my house, which has seen several children and more cats that I can count raised in it.  It may be comparatively small, but a lot of living has taken place in it. 

Brianna and Bethany and I started out downtown, to see the newest "Ice Age" movie.  It must be nice to be that young, for the entertainment began when we parked on the 5th floor of the parking garage:

They ooh'ed and ahhh'ed over the view for a bit, then finally agreed to go down the elevator to get to the theater.  They liked the movie (and are anxious to see "Aliens in the Attic", which starts later in the month) but I, for one, was grateful it wasn't in 3D, considering the gross bits involving mucus and such.  Disgusting enough as it was...certainly I wouldn't want to see it in glorious, life-like 3D. 

After the movie we headed for Ridgmar mall where Brianna was bound and determined to have her ears re-pierced (they'd been done before but she failed to wear earrings enough afterward so the holes closed).  Jessica had said it was okay with her, and though I'd just as soon not, there are few objects so immovable from their determined path as a nine year old girl wanting her ears pierced.  

So guess who wound up at Claire's immediately upon arriving at the mall?

Naturally when it came time to Do The Deed, Brianna turned chicken and required a lot of encouragement (which came out as "Look, you don't want to do this, fine...let's go" on my part):

Eventually she at least permitted the woman to mark where the holes would be:

Clearly the employees have experience dealing with those who turn tail, for two of them arraigned themselves on either side of Brianna, having her hold Bethany's hands, and shot the earrings in at the same time.  Success!

Once it was over she was enchanted with her star-shaped crystal earrings.  Tell you what, this is such a crazy age!  In a couple of hours the girls both prowled through Claire's, selecting various accessories....

Is it a Look?

....to stuffing bunnies at Build-a-Bear:

Talk about a mixture of little girls and teenagers!

Their Gran thinks they're adorable, of course. 

Am @ the downtown AMC with Brianna and Bethany, waiting for Ice Age 3 to start. Not 3D here, unfortunately.

And Jessica pulled out all the stops to throw her a magnificent party, by golly.  It was a carnival theme and held in her back yard, with carnival games, face painting, hair coloring, water balloons (that's when I left), Red Rover, grilled burgers and hot dogs...all manner of goodies!  Jonathan said he overheard one child earnestly tell another it was the best birthday party he'd ever been to.

Here's Benjamin with the card trick guy:

An exciting photo of the backs of a couple of my sons, plus my eldest granddaughter, Kirsten, on the right:

Bryson was being his usual grumpy-bear self....at least until he visited the hair-spray stand:

Nothing like green hair to put a smile on one's face, it seems.  His sister, Bethany, also chose green, though Brianna stayed with princessy pink:

Here the two of them later on, with Charles in the back:

I've no idea who this was but got a kick out of his obvious fondness for balloons; it doesn't show well here but he was wearing them around his waist:

Charles and others at the grilling station:

Dmitry in close proximity (unintentional, I'm sure) to Brianna and Bethany, with a boy adorned with either shaving cream or whipped cream.

Jessica rounds the kids up for a rousing game of Red Rover:

And there goes Brianna!

As I said, after this the water balloons were coming out so I prudently chose to head on home.  It was a terrific party, though, and Jessica's hard work over many days paid off. 

Perish the thought that a lot of unseemly panting should be taking place when I have the means to stop it, so here are a few pictures of the Gruesome Twosome....the Dreadful Duo....the Pernicious Pair:

Magellan and Eisenhower fighting over the mouse on the cat toy/scratching post Kenny made for them:

Eisenhower's claws make short work of climbing to the top.  And here's a rare photo of all three cats within picture range of each other:

Cats aside, my next project  -  apart from clearing out the bookcase outside my bedroom so Kenny can get to it to paint and so on, then starting in on my bedroom, a task which would give Joshua pause ("Couldn't I go retake Ai again?")  -  is trying to figure out how to operate the automatic sprinkler system.  This was one of Don's Chores, about which I know zip.

Well, considering the widening yellow patches on the yard and the way Don's special drooping crepe myrtles are looking definitely peaky, I'd better figure it out PDQ. 

It is with the heart well kept as it is with the eye; if a small dust get into the eye it will never cease twinkling and watering till it has wept it out: so the upright heart cannot be at rest till it has wept out its troubles and poured out its complaints before the Lord -- John Flavel

This afternoon was the first of the summer's "Back Yard" events at Christ Chapel, which featured hot dogs, chips, lemonade, and a bounce house for the kids after the 5 p.m. service.  Kenny had kindly agreed to help as well, so at 3:30 p.m. we showed up for duty, spending the next hour wrapping and stacking 500+ hot dogs, along with a few others.  Fortunately someone else handled the steamer.  Still, shoving that many hot dogs into buns and wrapping them in foil and stacking them on trays to be conveyed to the warmers set up in the Great Room (the large area outside the sanctuary) takes some doing.

I'd gone to the 11 a.m. service (though after a restless night I fear I skipped SS and choir), but went into the afternoon service for the intense pleasure of singing "I'll Fly Away" and "Victory in Jesus", which are two of my favorites.

Do you know, almost all those hot dogs got eaten?  There were more than enough, however, leading Dr. Kitchens to spend a little time hawking hot dogs:

He was taken aback to discover I'd scurried off for my cell phone so as to take his picture.  He don't know me very well, do he?  The senior pastor pushing hot dogs on people definitely caught my fancy.  ;^)

As I said, there was a bounce house that was immensely popular with the small fry:

On July 12th will be ice cream after the afternoon service (all this is free, BTW), with another Hot Dog Event on the 26th.  It's my fond hope Alex, Beth and the girls will come to that one! 

Today the church prayed over and "commissioned" both a young man leaving to be an Army chaplain (first one from Christ Chapel, so far as Dr. Kitchens could recall), and a team leaving for one of those "sensitive" regions west of China for a couple of weeks, up in the mountains, to villages where the gospel is unknown:

Backpacks and inflatable kayaks are involved in this trek!  I'll certainly be praying for both the success of their mission plus travel mercies.

We now possess not one but two devil cats.  As given as Magellan is to biting....which is VERY...is how given Eisenhower is to using his claws. 

We're a scratched, bitten mess around here. 

Zeus spends most of her time hiding, and when she does come out it's to look at me accusingly, and really, who can blame her?