Bathtubs & Brawling

A couple of fun home video moments we thought we'd share with everyone (although many of you on FB may have seen these already):  The first happened a few nights ago on the night we lost Hunter, so it was good for a nice laugh on an otherwise sad day.  When our backs were turned, Ginny hopped into a drained, but still sudzy bathtub, with her snow boots on.  Hilarious stuff.  

Below is a video shot just tonight at dinner.  Nathan has a habit of trying to pick a "fight" with his dad, and tonight, Ginny started to mimic the movements, so we hit record on the cameraphone.  Of course, in typical Ginny style, she tired of her brother's antics quite quickly.  

Our Story Featured

Ane Mulligan, a Ridgecrest friend and fellow Christian thespian (look that up in your dictionary, it's not a bad thing) hosts an adoption-focused blog, where different adoptive families share their stories.  Ane is a budding writer, was adopted herself, and this is a special passion of hers.

I shared with her a reader's digest version of our adoption story originally written for a grant application, and it is featured on her site at the moment.

Here's the direct link to the article:
http://adoptionshare.blogspot.com/2011/01/rev-chris-sharon-bridges.html

Missing Our Hunter

Many of you are already aware that we lost our cat Hunter over the weekend.  He was twelve years old, and had been with us 11 of those years.  Although he had been "slowing down" in activity over the past year or so, there was nothing we had expected, and also nothing we could have done differently to save him. All of us except for Nathan and Molly were downstairs with him when it happened.  We heard a loud noise, and noticed Hunter had fallen from the table and landed on his side (not his feet as they often do).  His back leg was spasming, and my first impression was he had broken it.  Then I realized he was having some sort of seizure, which only lasted a few seconds.  His little heart raced for a bit, he took a few more breaths and was gone within minutes.  The vet mentioned to bring him in to look over to see if they could diagnose what happened, and they did a brief visual autopsy (no lab work).  It revealed what we expected, a massive coronary event (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM) or possibly a blood clot leading to a stroke.  The only other abnormality was some scar tissue in the kidneys which there wasn't much explanation for.

Of our three cats, Hunter was the most affectionate, and the one with the biggest bond with Nathan, so that makes this very hard on all of us.  It's also sad that Ginny will never really know the cat she called "Shutya" or who Nathan called "The Best Cat in the World" and "His Best Friend."  I think the one thing Hunter taught us that we were supposed to learn is to not just love, but to love aggressively.   That's what he was best known for.  You didn't know Hunter without knowing you were loved back, in a major way.  We will miss his constant meowing, giant clumps of hair in random places, waking up to a raw nose from Hunter kisses, and especially the fact that you rarely had an empty lap here at this house.  If Nathan or Ginny wasn't in it, Hunter was.

Life will go on here with Peepers and Molly, or Pee and Molz, as they are better known.  Pee has been searching for Hunter's scent I think, as I've seen him smelling around the place where he died.  They are both affectionate in their own way, but there's a void here that I'm sure they'll even notice soon.

We'll really miss our "Hutter."

Ginny's Welcome Home Shower

Our Church, Southside Baptist Church, blessed us with a welcome home shower for Ginny last Sunday.  We got lots of cute outfits, toys, and keepsakes, as well as enough gift-cards to keep us stocked up in diapers and wipes for a while.  We want to thank all of the kind folks in our Sunday School class for helping to sponsor and make the party happen.  We are very blessed to be surrounded by such a nice and caring church family.  

She's warming to him...

Ginny hasn't exactly bought the "Team Nathan" t-shirt, but she is gradually warming up to him.  This morning before church, she actually let him give her a kiss.  So, Sharon was able to quickly grab the camera and capture the moment.

Molar Observer

Ginny wasn't satisfied unless she could be with Mommy, even in the dentist chair.

Prayer-orities

Nathan always does prayers before bed.  One of the things that I've noticed is that he's not quite used to including his baby sister in his prayers.  Usually the list of God blesses... and Thank you for's..... is in this order

Mommy

Daddy

Hunter

Peepers

Molly

My hermit crabs

My toys

My baby sister

Hopefully the priorities will eventually change.  :)  

However, Ginny is really warming up to the little guy.  She has started letting him hold her hand and even kiss him.  Ginny's even started to "kiss back" a little bit to all of us, which is very endearing.  

And today she actually caught onto the idea of "the zurberk" as being a fun thing.