Happy Birthday, Sweetie!!

Today is my husband's 31st birthday. I am soooooo very grateful for his birth! He blesses my life beyond measure. Brandon is my best friend, ever. Period. He is my favorite man in the whole world. It took a little while for him to achieve this stature, as I have always been a Daddy's Girl... He is a manly, self-made man. I respect him for his hard work, for being his own boss and taking on the difficulties of that task. I admire him for taking such good care of me, which include emptying and refilling the dishwasher, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, scooping litter boxes, opening jars, reaching things out of my reach, taking out the trash..... I like that he worries about me, wants to know that I am safe. I know he loves me dearly because he wants me to be safe at all times!

Brandon makes me laugh. He is soooo funny. I adore his sense of humor and his razor sharp wit. He makes me feel really young, like a teen... or at least in my early 20's! ha! I admire his intellect, knack for uncommon-common sense, logic and reasoning skills... He has taught me so much about logic and reasoning... and he has taught me to do math in my head!! He has taught me more about myself than I ever dreamed I could know, or realized I needed to know.

It will be the ultimate honor for me to create children with him. I am blessed to have him in my life.. Thank you, Jesus! for saving us for each other!! I love you, Brandon James Wilhite. I love you madly, passionately, and forever!

Your Juniper.

Misha

This is Misha. She is 18 years old. Daddy got her when I was a junior in high school. He named her Mishamakwa, which means "little bear" in one of the Indian languages, after a trail that he and the Boy Scouts hiked. Misha lives on my mom and dad's farm. She is still very spry and catches all sorts of critters. She is one quarter bobcat; her granddaddy was a real bobcat, so she is not a manx, but bobcat. When I was a kid, we had a cat named Pete. He lived to be 19. I am hoping she lives much longer!!

Seven Random Things

This post has been inspired by a blog I read: Our Little Acre. I highly recommend you browse this sight/site.

Seven Random Things about myself. (Not in order of importance, randomness, or weirdness.)

1. I have no wisdom teeth. I never did and never will. I had x-rays done over 10 years ago, and they are just not there.

2. I have circumferenced the globe. In 2000, I flew to Australia via going west, out of L.A. then to Singapore, to New Zealand to Perth, Western Australia. After a 6 weeks stay, I flew to Holland and stayed for 3 weeks, then flew to France, then to Cincinnati, thus circumferencing the Earth!

3. I have a "thing" for the numbers 11:11 & 1:11. It's weird. When I see those numbers, it's a special thing. Psalm 91:11 says that angels watch over us and protect us. I have two other friends who have a weird "thing" with 11:11 and 1:11... When I see those numbers, I think of my friends... and well, it's a positive vibe... Weird, I know.

4. I do not eat green bell peppers (or "mangoes" to some! Thanks Kylee for an informative post!!) They hurt me. Waaaay too acidic. I will occasionally have yellow or orange bell peppers, due to their mildness. I also do not eat canned peas. It's a texture thing. I can't stand the squoosh in my mouth! I will eat snap and sugar peas, especially when stir fried! Yum! (My hubby does not eat celery -texture thing- green bell peppers (same reason as me), nor does he eat onions - we differ there. I do enjoy a good onion with a meal! My Hub'Dub, having a theological background, says that after Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden, THEN God created the onion, out of the darkness of sin and wrong-doing of Man. Ha!!)

5. I met my husband in a bar. Neither of us frequented bars then (Seven years ago! Where does time go???). Neither of us had ever been to that bar before, and we have never been back. A divine appointment in a bar. Hooda-thunk?

6. I bought my wedding dress in Australia and had it shipped home. I paid less than $285 for it. It was called a "Marilyn Monroe-style" dress, and I bought it at the "Memphis Boutique"... in Australia.

7. I can still do the splits. Yes, ok.. that's random and weird.. But, having a dance background, I understand the importance of flexibility and maintaining that flexibility on into life.


There you have it. Random, weird information about me.

The Kitty Jackpot!

This is our Ragga-muffin kitty, Mareth Dale Ohana. We say that she has won the Kitty Jackpot. We have no idea how long she wandered around hungry, starved- for food and attention. But now, she enjoys, literally, the "lap" of luxury. Her belly is always full, and she naps often. Mareth Dale has been the source of much laughter. We are glad to have her as an addition to our family. (She is missing fur on her right front leg, and has patchy-thin fur at the base of her plume-like tail. The Doc thought that it is an allergy of some sort. I have purchased some shampoo to hopefully take care of that, along with some healing prayers at bath time!)

Tilly, LiLa & Mareth...& Our new place.

Here is Tilly as an adult. I think this was from last winter, as you can see the snow in the background. This was their favorite place to be, the window seats in our old apartment on Chestnut Street in Winona Lake, IN. I am also including a picture of Mareth. This is a few days after she found us, so she had eaten some here. She still looks really thin. I plan to upload several of her current photos, where she looks much, much more healthy and content. Also, for those of you in Indiana, here is our new place. It's a three bedroom and has a lot of space inside. The outside is a bit plain, but I have since added a few pots of flowers to brighten up the brick.

Tilly as a Baby.

Some of these are a bit out of focus, but you get the idea of how tiny she was when we found her. The picture of her in my hand... She had actually grown a bit...














We found Tilly when she was about 10 days old. We bottle fed her, 3 a.m. feedings, the whole bit. So, she is really our baby. So, indulge me as I post her baby pics. Feel free to oooh and aah over her cuteness.

LiLa & Tilly

Hubby and LiLa. This was one of her favorite places to be, on our shoulders.







Tilly and LiLa.


This is LiLa and Tilly. LiLa is the black one in the back, and Tilly is the white one in the front. They were about 5 months old here. Tilly is a Snowshoe (yes, you can Google that...), which comes from Siamese. She is mostly cream and white here. You will see that as she gets older, she gets darker.

We still miss LiLa terribly, and speak of her often.

Special thanks to Margo for her photo assistance!