My kids (well, Linda and me, too) are grieving after we found our cat choked to death with his collar wrapped around a fence wire. Charlie wandered into our home about four years ago, half grown but very confident.

Obviously a stray, we decided to keep him. We had him fixed and he became a member of the family.

Every night when we’d send the kids to bed he’d make his way to the boys’ room and climb on one of their bunks to sleep.

On those nights that someone would forget and close the boys’ door, he’d drive us crazy crying by their door and running back into theliving room to let us know he needed to be in there.

Needless to say we are grieving and already miss him. The kids are dealing with the anger and sadness of losing who they considered to be a dear member of the family.

Please remember them in your prayers as they deal with this.