Super Power: Praying Cats into Being...

Yes. A super power. Not many people can say that they have such a thing, but I think I do. I pray cats. I call them unto myself. My record is 2 for 2.

...Okay this is nonsense...It's not a super power. I think it is just the favor of God. But nonetheless, let me tell you about my history of praying for cats.

Back when I was a little girl I wanted a cat so badly. My parents said "no" for years. I would pray and pray and hope and hope, but no cats appeared. One night, when I was about seven or so, my parents and I were discussing cats on our back porch and finally said "okay, you know what, you can have a cat if God sends you one." Now, with their permission, I prayed even harder that night.

The very next day my mom and I were again on the porch. My mom answered a phone call: my dad. I could tell she was trying to be all hush hush or speak some secret parent code, but I was onto them. "ITS A CAT, ISN'T IT?!" I yelled.

Yes. It was a cat. A calico kitty about 3 years old. She had shown up at my fathers law office. She had jumped into his vehicle. She snuck herself into his office.

To summarize that story, that day I got my first cat because God sent her to me. We named her Csokolom (meaning: "kisses to you" in Hungarian). She was a fantastic cat and was so very tolerant of the loving "torture" I put her through (such as wearing hats and doll clothes or being worn around my neck like a scarf). I also had a rather bizarre made up language I spoke to her in. I was devastated when we had to put her down due to cancer several years later. I never thought I would love another animal as much as I loved that cat.

Now fast forward a couple years to JoJo's first deployment. He and I had always talked about having pet cats. I wanted a gray kitty named Trinculo, named for the comic relief character from Shakespeare's The Tempest. JoJo wanted an orange cat named after Milo from Milo&Otis, his favorite childhood movie. By the time we were into month 5 of the 6 month deployment both of us were miserable and there was little that we could discuss over skype which made us happy. Cats, however, were an exception. Whenever we were grouchy we would both google images of cats, watch cat youtube videos or look at ridiculous cat memes. Perhaps this is not a normal deployment strategy but...whatever. It worked. Towards the end of the deployment we also spent some time looking for images of the future kitten we were talking about getting once he got home. We would try to find kittens on google that just resembled what we would want. Somehow it was a good pass time.
These were my favorite dream kitten images:

 

I began praying that the two of us would be able to find the perfect kitten for us once we got to our new home in Washington.

Then, 2 days later ,in mid-November of last year my uncle sends me a text with this image (Mind you, I was in CT at this point and JoJo was in Qatar).

My uncle's family came home to find a cold and hungry Maine Coon kitten (who of course looked exactly what like what I had wanted) in their garage. The temperatures outside had been below freezing and he just wanted to get warm. My Aunt and Uncle weren't interested in another cat, but they thought I might be, knowing I am a softy for all critters. I tried to turn him down at first. I didn't think I could possibly manage to adopt a kitten, get it all its vaccines and whatnot, and get him on a plane to Washington in a span of 2 weeks. Plus, I thought my husband would think it was a crazy idea. But my uncle kept on texting me all day trying to guilt me into that kitten. I kept refusing to go see it because I knew I would wind up taking it home. When it came time to talk to my husband over skype that day I sent him the picture and explained the situation and was like "just going out on a limb here...any chance we should adopt this kitten despite all the craziness we'll have to do to get him to WA? He needs exams and shots and..."

His immediate response: "Bella, that kitten needs love. Go get him. Now."

 My husband is the coolest, by the way, and is just as much of a softy as I am. Immediately, I went to my uncles house and brought that baby home.

That 8 week old baby cat got lots of vaccines, a $150 plane ticket, a fancy $70 traveling bag, lots of treats and toys, and an 8 hour flight across the country to be able to come and live with us. He's a tough little bugger.

Having him made the last 2 weeks of the deployment so much more bearable; God's timing is so perfect like that. He knew we needed that little guy before getting to Washington. He kept me busy and it made my husband happy to be able to skype with a silly kitten. God knew he was perfect just for us.

JoJo and I adore that cat. More so than any pet either of us have ever had.

 

He is our Trinkilo (changed the spelling so it better matches with Milo) and he is so perfect for us. We have about 5 million nicknames for him- HiHi, MisserWhissar, Stinkilo, Weis , OwlEyes...and many more that also don't make sense! He is our furbaby. He has the most adorable personality. He is loving and sweet, but very rascally and ridiculous. He makes strange sounds- rarely meows but often "trills" and "chirps." He does weird things like attack the imperfections in the wall, bites eyebrows, attacks bear legs, and chews on just the ends of all our bananas.  He can jump 4 feet in the air and also specializes in catching popcorn between his front paws. He is the absolute perfect cat for us. He is now about 7 months and is 11 pounds and still growing! I really get a kick out of looking at the pictures and seeing how much he has grown!

 

Now, fair warning: I am praying for the seemingly magical appearance of our second cat, an orange kitty we can call Milo. Hopefully, updates on that to come soon! I apologize for the very long post; obviously, I am an unashamed cat lady!