After a full day of nobody seeing Penny, we realized that she was gone...AGAIN!! It was my fault this time, and I felt terrible. I had opened the back sliding door to let Penny get some air. She stays right on the back porch, and then she comes in after a few minutes.
I got distracted a few minutes later, and I shut and locked the door...for the rest of the night. The sprinklers went on that night, and I am sure, they scared her away. I felt so bad.
For the next month, we continued to check where we found her last time, ask neighbors if they had seen her, and we checked the shelter often. No had had seen her at all. After 2 months, and the cold weather, we finally accepted that she was probably dead, especially since nobody had seen her anywhere. We were all pretty sad.
I ended up throwing away her litter box and washing out her food dishes and putting them away. It was a sad moment.
Three months went by with no sign of Penny. We had given up all hope completely.
Then, one night as I was praying, I felt very strongly that I needed to pray for Penny to return, or for somebody to find her. I truly thought she was dead, but I prayed for her anyway. I prayed until I believed it.
The next day, I was out cleaning up the sandbox, and Sam came running down the road from his friend's house, yelling for me. I knew by the sound of his voice that it was one of two things. Either someone was seriously hurt, or something very cool had just happened.
He told me that he and his friends were playing in Trey's sandbox, and Penny ran right through the sandbox with a dead mouse in her mouth! He said that Trey and Blake were following her, while Sam came to get me.
I dropped what I was doing, and ran to Trey's house, while I told Sam to grab a blanket and meet me there. If it was Penny, and if I did get her, I was not going to get torn to shreds by a freaked out cat again.
By the time I got over there, the boys had lost sight of Penny. We were in a big field. I told everyone to stand still and be very quiet, and I quietly started calling for Penny. Seconds later, Penny came running to me, out from under a big wood pile. At least it looked like Penny.
The cat had her same coloring, but the cat was tiny, almost the size of a kitten. I almost didn't pick up the cat, but Sam's big, blue, hopeful eyes, made me decided to at least bring it home.
I wrapped the cat up in the blanket, and once I took a step, the cat totally freaked out! Thank heavens for the blanket! I still got scratched up, but not as badly this time.
I brought the cat home, and set it down. I just wasn't convinced it was Penny. It was so incredibly small, but looked clean and healthy.
Ben got home soon after, and I asked him what he thought. He wasn't sure either, so he pulled up a picture of Penny on his phone, and we compared the markings. There was no doubt it was in fact Penny!!! We absolutely could not believe it!
She cuddled with anyone who would hold her the rest of the day. She ate and ate and ate, and I had to scrounge up a bin and borrow littler from a neighbor to make her a litterbox until we could get her one the next day.
The kids were so excited to have her back!
The next day I went straight to Petco and bought her a litter box and a collar with her name and our phone number on it. William put it on her the second I got home. He really missed her so much.
As with the last time we brought her home, Penny tried to sleep like this the first night...
Sorry Penny, I love you, but nope, not happening. I prefer to not have cat in my mouth all night long.
I am so grateful for the prompting to pray for her. I am so grateful that Sam and his friends saw her. I am so grateful that even though I didn't think it was her, that I brought her home.
I am so grateful for tender mercy's...and that Penny is home safe and sound.
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