Saying Goodbye

This weekend was a difficult one for us for two reasons. We had to say two very sad goodbyes. One was to our dear friends who are moving to another state to pursue a career in ministry. We were so blessed to have had this sweet family in our lives for so many years. Our kids play together like siblings. Sometimes that means fighting, but most times that means a love that is seen in their every interaction. Here is a picture of their oldest with our oldest when they were itty bitties. Apparently neither one could figure out how this bike was supposed to work. 

And here they are a few years later. Besties for sure!

And while I'm at it, I might as well include a pic with our littles too. Here is our silly crew:

Such sweet friends. We love them like family and our hearts ache as we let them go. But that said, we are so proud of them and all the Lord is doing in their lives.

The other goodbye we had was to our sweet cat Digit. Oh how we will miss that sweet boy. I got Digit almost 12 years ago. I had one cat at the time (Coda) and the vet recommended that I get a second cat so that Coda wouldn't be so lonely when I was away at work all day. So, being the cat lover I was, I jumped at any excuse to get another one. I always joked that I only owned 1 cat because Digit belonged to Coda.

Just before our move to Alaska, the vet told us that Digit was in the throws of kidney failure. This was not something that could be reversed. There were several things we could do to help slow down the progression, but eventually it would take its toll on his body. Within a year of that diagnosis, Digit's body weight went from a healthy 10 pounds to just under 5. The poor cat was withering away. He was quite literally skin and bones. Over the last month, I have played nurse maid to him. I've been administering medications twice daily and have also been injecting IV fluids under his skin once daily. He HATED these procedures, but in true Digit fashion, he never made a fuss. He was such a good boy.

I could tell he wasn't feeling well because he had stopped purring. This was a big sign to us that something was wrong because Digit always had a strong pur. So much so that the vet could never really tell if  his heartbeat was strong because she could never hear it over his pur. So when the purring stopped completely, we knew he must be miserable. I finally decided that we needed to see if any of these interventions were doing any good.

On Friday, I took him in to check and found that he had lost weight yet again and his symptoms had only worsened. At that point, the vet and I agreed that the most humane thing to do was to let him go. So we said our sad goodbyes and on Saturday morning, we let the vet put him to sleep. SO HARD! I held him the entire time and it was peaceful and quick. Harder on me than him really. Claire is sad, but handing it well. Sarah is clueless. I don't even think she has noticed that he is gone.

Here is Claire holding sweet Digit. She had just drawn a picture of him on her easel and wanted a picture with him beside his picture. Look how she is holding him. Such a patient cat.

Goodbye sweet boy. You will definitely be missed!