[Italicized text is what I am annotating now. Regular text is copied from Facebook posts.]

November 26

We photographed this kitty who approached us right before we left for Vespers. I put her in the backyard and put out some food and water. I posted her photo on a neighborhood site and asked if anyone were missing her. The general answer was that she was a stray who had been hanging around for a long time. We continued to put out food and she would come by occasionally.

December 5

It got cold and rainy. The cat started hanging around our front doorstep. I first put out some nested cardboard boxes with old towels and such in them, but it was a poor shelter. Nevertheless she curled up in them, trying to stay warm. My heart hurt, but I couldn’t let her in the house.

Soon afterward we let her shelter in the garage and left the garage door cracked enough for her to get in and out.

It got really cold, below freezing at night, and the garage was frigid, especially with the door not fully closed. We wrapped a heating pad in a blanket and put it in a styrofoam cooler. She slept in that until the cold snap was over. This is when we decided we had to keep her.

January 6

Considering taking that stray tortoiseshell cat in to get a FLV check and some shots. Any ideas on what that will run? 

January 8

She’s making herself at home.

January 9

At the clinic to get this sweet girl an exam and some shots. She’s been on the streets for a while.

She was FIV/FeLV negative so we let her come inside with the other cats. The vets said she needed to see a full-service vet because she had a bad tooth that needed to come out.

January 10

 Aww. The (still unnamed) kitty was rolling in the grass and wriggling on her back just now. I think she’s happy. 😊

(Just looked out the window and she’s curled up in Duchess’s lap while she does schoolwork.)

January 11

This sweet girl is now part of our family. Only a month ago she was thin, pitiful, and always approaching us cautiously but hopefully. Now she’s had her shots, is scheduled for dental surgery, is putting on weight and making herself at home. Yesterday she was seen actually rolling in the grass in the sun, and today she chased a string. ❤️ 

All of this doesn’t come cheaply and I tearfully asked God to help me afford the medical care she needed. I was honestly afraid we would have to have her put to sleep rather than have her suffer for lack of care. 24 hours later St. Tikhon’s ordered 10 censers and 48 hours later someone bought the set of play vestments I had long ago given up on. 

Now she’s curled up on Father’s sweater (naturally) on our bed, her head lying on my hand, and purring. I hope her sad days are over.

January 13

The other cats are giving her a wide berth.

January 18

She looks so content, despite her obvious discomfort. 

January 20

I’m feeling so sad tonight. We took this baby to a vet in Houston today to have dental work done. As it turns out, her problem wasn’t a bad tooth. She has an autoimmune stomatitis (her entire mouth and tongue are covered with bleeding, infected ulcers). It’s a chronic illness and the treatments are just comfort measures to buy a little time. The most effective (but not guaranteed) treatment is surgery to remove all of her teeth. We just don’t have a few thousand dollars to spend on something that isn’t even a cure and may only increase her suffering. Every minute she’s awake she’s in pain.

We can’t let her continue to suffer. She has an appointment tomorrow morning to be put to sleep. It breaks my heart because I had really hoped she had a chance of a happy life. I can’t even give her the gift of one day without pain before she dies. I know she’s “just a stray cat”, but this is very painful. We had finally given her a name: Cinderella. I’m so sorry she can’t have the happy ending…