New kittens, new garments

From time to time I've mentioned the wild cats we feed; they live in the gully between our apartment complex and the neighboring one. We started a couple years back, when we realized that one of the cats (they would hang around our dumpster at night) had birthed a litter and was looking very malnourished. Since then, we've seen, I don't remember exactly, four? could we be up to five? more litters born. The dog sniffed out the den where the latest litter had been hidden, just on the other side of the chain link fence separating our apartments from the gully. A week after we discovered them, mom moved them someplace else, we don't know where.

Anyway, one of the things I want to do with today's post is offer a "baby blessing" for the new litter. So here goes:

God of creation,
Father and Mother of all living—

Your Son taught that not one sparrow falls without your noticing.
In his name, I ask you to bless this latest litter of kittens.
Let them be well nourished.
Let them grow up without disease.
Keep them safe as they begin to explore their world.
Teach them to avoid accident.
Let them have joy in the measure of their creation.

In Christ's name, amen.

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The other thing I wanted to mention today is that I'm now wearing homemade garments. I'd gotten to the point where my Beehive-manufactured garments (which I last bought 15 years ago!) were literally in tatters. So I ordered some exercise shorts online that come reasonably close to knee-length, and then for the tops I'm using just regular undershirts. I had considered taking them to a Latina seamstress here in the apartment complex and explaining what I needed to have stitched onto them, but when push came to shove I was too embarrassed. So little by little I've been stitching marks onto them myself. The results are quite clumsy—my sewing skills are at the level of "Look, Mom, I can sew on my own merit badges"—but I feel pleased and self-reliant. All that sewing is a pain in the ass, though, and we'll have to wait to see how long my stitching holds.

Cleave to the covenants you have made . . .
This is my voice to all.
(D&C 25:13, 16)