Hannah Joy's Three Loves (besides me of course)...

There are three main things that Hannah cares about passionately in this life. They should be school, school and ME but instead they are Smokey, Jack and Zoey. The three adorable cats that the Mack Girlz household revolves around (and Brian tolerates).

Smokey (a.k.a. Smokey Joseph Mack when he gets in trouble) is a 7 year old Russian Blue with bright green eyes that we rescued when he was one. He is our first cat and the "guinea pig". Before he came into our home he was in a house with 19 other cats and clearly had to fend for himself. Hannah loves when I tell her the story of how he came to be in our home. She was 4 at the time and the only thing that she remembers is that we didn't come home with a kitten like I promised but instead a year old cat. It was a cold and rainy January day when we went to the adoption center to get a kitten and as soon as we walked in the door little Hannah zeroed in on two very cute black and white kittens. But as soon as the lady told me that we had to take BOTH and not just one I immediately started looking at other cats. (Ironic since now we have three). I broke it to Hannah as gentle as I could that we were not under any circumstance bringing home two cats and she should look at the other cats they had. She of course was disappointed and did not want an adult cat. Through her tears and the mini-fit that she was pitching her attention turned to the large Russian Blue that was trying to chat with her through his cage. He was already adopted by someone else so we kept going (trying to avoid those 2 kittens). The woman that had adopted the Russian Blue came in to pick him up and wanted to hold him a little bit before she took him home but when she was sitting in the chair, it was all she could do to hold onto him as he was squirming and trying to get down. The woman asked Hannah if she wanted to hold him and my stubborn daughter refused until I flexed my muscles and she reluctantly sat down and opened her arms. He jumped right on her lap, settled down and looked at all of as to say "This is my girl". Soooo to make a long story short my teary eyed 4 year old was NOT happy with taking him home but I thought we had found the perfect cat and I was right. He has since become my cat and the man of the house. He loves to talk and uses his large frame to knock some sense into Jack and Zoey. They love him and snuggle with him because he has more body heat then the 2 of them put together but when he is tired of them he tells them and they stay away.

Now Jack (a.k.a. Jack Black Mack). Jackie was supposed to be the kitten that Hannah was supposed to get the first time around, but both of us fell in love with him when we saw him. Again, we adopted him and poor Jack (or Porchie) as he was named when we got him had a

rough life for the first 4 months of his life. He was abused as a kitten by his previous owner who broke his tail and one of his front paws. (How anyone can be so awful I have no idea). When we heard this and held him we KNEW that we had to bring him home cause we had more than enough love to make up for what he had been through. So, no tail and all, we brought Jack home. It took him about a year to fully warm up to us and while he is still skittish and a little freaked out, there are times when you know that he feels the love we give him. He has become

Hannah's cat and will be the one to sleep with her and comfort her when she cries. He ends up wet with tears but stays right by her. Jack is our miracle cat. Awhile back he got out of the house and after 4 long weeks of tears in our house, he came home, thin as a skeleton and feet torn up he had somehow found his way home. I wish that cats could talk and he could tell me about his adventures. Hannah was a wreck during the time that he was gone and my heart was heavy hurting for her. The joy that came back into her when he came home was undescribable. Those two are truly special to each other. He is the unruly middle child though and tends to get in the most trouble around the house. Constantly picking fights with little Zoey and Smokey, I often end up playing peacemaker when Jack goes on his rampage. (Doesn't he just LOOK like a troublemaker?)

And last, there is little Zoey (a.k.a. Zoey Marie) who is the most controversial member of our house. She came to us by way of (well, ummm, I'll tell you the story and you can tell me if it's right or wrong)...Zoey is our princess and the smallest member of our house. She is almost 3 years old and is the size of a growing kitten, probably weighing 5 lbs. Very cute, very vocal about everything and very much a pain in the butt. She originally lived in a neighboring apartment before she just "happened" to show up in our house. She had been the property of a not so nice person who left her for an extended peroid of time in his 2nd floor apt. She would cry day and night and after doing all that we could legally, some of the neighbors decided to take matters into their own hands. Late one night after he had not come back for almost 2 weeks we took the pool scooper and poked a hole into the screen (the window was open just a little bit). As soon as it was big enough for her to get through she jumped willingly right into the net. And so she came to live in the Mack household. Weeks later he arrived home and was promptly arrested so THANK GOODNESS I grabbed her and didn't look back. She is by far the neediest cat in our house (or on the planet for that matter). If you are sitting down she is in your lap, when you are laying down she is on your chest of your back. Even when Hannah goes to the bathroom Zoey has to go with her and be held like a baby. So bizarre, but we feel very important and needed. Poor Brian...whenever he walks in the door there she is waiting for him to love on her like he is there to see her before he has a chance to say hi to Hannah and I...we call her his girlfriend and I really think that SHE thinks she is. She tries to snuggle up to Jack and Smokey and sometimes they tolerate her but most of the time she is too high maintenance for them. Hannah even has a cat stroller that she takes Zoey for walks in. Just for the record, I will not be caught dead walking that thing anywhere. :) I keep trying to pawn Zoey off on Janell and while she would love to have her I don't think Uncle Scott is too keen on a third furry member of the family and although she truly is adorable, her charm does not rub off on him. What if I beg Scott?

So that's the entire Mack household and there will be no additions in the near future....