Adoption Day
Six little Stinkers, and two went away,
Now it’s time for the next two today…
That still leaves two, as you can see
You just have to understand,
I was in the minority!
~Me, on how we still have two kittens ~
That about sums it up!
The family couldn’t bear to part with all of the kittens, but we did want to find good homes for the last two little love bugs. Honestly, the longer we kept them all, the more dear every one of the kittens came to us.
But I made it my mission to find them a home, pronto!
Nobody else was going to…and that’s the truth!
Kitten Adoption, Attempt One and Two
If you check out this blog post you can read about Attempt 1, where I baked in the sun for hours, but still came back with two kittens. 🤷♀️
The day after that, I definitely made it my mission/goal/only priority if the day to find thise babies a home! At around nine weeks, they definitely needed a home of their own!
So that day, I never anticipated dedicating the entire day to the task, but so be it. I hung out at Walmart for several hours before it got hot this time. Found some wonderful people to chat with, and just stuck it out.
AdEveryone loved the babies, but didn’t want to take one home 😢 That’s just how it goes!
Next, I headed over to the local park and opened my van over by the swimming pool. There, too, I found tons of families. Some expressed interest, and almost got takers, but in the end, just well wishes as the people walked away.
Wow!
How hard is it to give away two adorable, and sweet kittens? Pretty hard, actually!
Time to Admit Defeat?
After getting snarled at by a huge dog at when I tried to quickly dash into the park bathroom, I hightailed it back to my van and looked at the sweet little babies. They were getting hot, I was feeling discouraged and defeated. all I wanted was a nice family for them, but where could I find that? Two days’ searching was so far in vain!
I put down my head on the steering wheel and cried out to God. Sure, it was a petty prayer in the grand scheme of the universe, but it mattered to me.
I pulled out to leave the park, and spotted more people. With nothing to lose, I rolled down my window and called out to them—a millennial walking with a younger girl.
“Hey—you guys want a kitten?”
“What did you say? Did you say a kid?”
“No, no, no! I’m not giving any kids away—do you want a free kitten?”
“Well…hold on. Maybe.”
And he trotted off to talk to someone.
I didn’t put much stock in it, but waited. After a couple minutes, he returned with a smiling lady, who had questions. But she also marveled that not more than half an hour before, she and her husband had discussed getting a kitten, but they had no idea where to find one “from a good home”.
I’m glad she thought were were that, and I did mention that the father cat was a man of the streets, but that reputation didn’t seem to put her off, so we were good. 😉
I seemed to have passed her test, because she said they probably did want to kitten, but would decide for sure that afternoon. “Don’t give the little girl away if you can help it,” she requested.
Kitten Promises
By 2:30 I was starving, but still the owner of our two little stripies! The longer we hung out, the more snuggly they became, but the little boy, I learned, was super scared of diesel trucks. Not that I can blame him for that!
I grabbed some fast food, then drove around and parked at a shady arboretum to eat my sandwich. This park was tiny, with only a couple older people walking about. None of them had a I love kittens vibe to me, so I drove on once I finished.
I was getting desperate and, therefore, more bold. So in pulled into the parking lot of what I considered the most hopping store in Rogersville—the local produce stand/flower greenhouse! I always see plenty of traffic in and out, so—why not?
I parked the van right out front, plopped my FREE KITTENS cereal box sign on my windshield, and just sat there to wait. No point in opening up the van—by mid-afternoon it was very hot, so we hung out in the van with the A/C blasting! I envisioned people knocking on my window, but wasn’t holding my breath.
Honestly, within a minute, three smiling ladies appeared at my window, wanting to take a peek. “Not to take, just to look.” Ah, yes—kitten window shoppers!
One girl who worked at the produce stand offered to take the boy kitten at 6 “if not one has taken him yet.”
Say, What?
Wow. Good, but…6 pm? It was just 3:30 then, and that is a long time to hang out with kittens in the van. Yet, since she was a last resort offer, I owed it to her to keep trying to find him a home before I could say no one else wanted him.
Sigh…
It was honestly way too hot in the direct sun, A\C or not, so we headed back to Walmart to find a tree!
Once at Walmart, the first family called, saying they did want the little girl kitten, and would just be a second while they went in for supplies. By then, we were pushing 4:30. I was exhausted, so leaned my head back, and apparently nodded off.
I awoke to someone knocking on my window, startling me awake. A lady stood smiling, looking in, asking to see the kitten. Not the lady from earlier. I gave her the little boy kitten, who she snuggled and whispered to happily all the way to her car!
If I had not been waiting for the first lady, I would have been gone when the second lady brought me back the kitten. She had tears in her eyes, and a mad couple of kids in her back seat. She explained that they remembered their neighbor’s vicious dog, so could not take the chance. 😢
Too bad…
Well…it was going to be ok.
The first lady did come back. She was all smiles and happiness! She loved that kitten so much, and planned for it to grow up with her little daughter.
She once again reminded me just how much of a divine providence it was that we’d met about the kitten. She told me that she completely believed that God brought us together, and, hearing how we’d both prayed, I have to agree with her.
Sparrows…kittens…
God cares that much for kittens, so surely He cares for us even more!
Back to the produce stand I headed at six sharp. I felt a bit hesitant bringing the kitten to my “last resort” girl, because I didn’t want to burden her. Once she spotted me out front, I could see her face light up and a big smile flash across her face. She quickly came out and collected her little striped package of love, and thanked me profusely! I knew that all of my hours of waiting in the van were worth it to see both kittens adopted by such loving owners.
Success is sweeter if long delayed. Remember that.
Follow up
The next day I received this photo of the little girl kitten with her new baby friend. They are going to be good pals, I think. 💕
You can see pictures of the cats on my latest Instagram reel. We miss them, but are sure happy they are in new loving homes!
They certainly are cute “little stinkers”! We are cat people, so I can hardly resist a kitten!
Yes, they are fun and aggravating at the same time!