A Flower in our Midst

On Tuesday Jon brought home a stray little hound dog that he had found wandering the street as he drove home. She is a medium size dog, but still obviously a puppy by her behavior (very high energy, playful, chewy). Anna named her Flower even as we told her we could not keep this dog. (Unfortunately Anna knows that Dixie was a stray that Jon had found, that we did keep, so I'm not sure she believed us this time.) Poor little Flower (or "Dog" which she answered to much better) was wearing a chain around her neck that had a wire "leash" of sorts attached to it, and her ribs were showing, so we did not put much effort into finding her original owners.

As a new youngster will do, Flower upset our normal routine and way of life. We had to barricade the carpeted areas of the house because she was not housetrained. We had to relocate the dog crate for her to sleep in because she cried at night when first put in there. We had to put her in the crate whenever we needed to do something in the carpeted areas of the house because she would knock the gate over and pee on the carpet. She was inconvenient, but so very sweet... a wiggly, kissy, jumpy, good-hearted pup.

On Wednesday, Anna, Will, and I took Flower to the vet for shots and a check-up. The vet estimated she's about a year old. Flower needed three days of treatment for hookworms, but other than that, she was fine. I called around to the local animal rescue groups to see if anyone could take Flower, but all the groups have too many dogs already and are not taking anymore right now. So today, Saturday, after our church picnic, we loaded up Flower in the van and took her to the Humane Society shelter, which is where we adopted Lucy from years ago. I'm sure Flower will find some nice family/person to be her own. But even though I knew from the start that she was not for us, it was hard to say good-bye. I have such a soft spot for animals, especially dogs. We left Flower with a proper collar and a chew toy, and she actually looked happy (as always) sitting in her cement dog pen (we could see her from a distance).

The whole situation just highlighted for me again the plight of pet overpopulation and neglect and ignorance. All of these sweet dogs and cats out there, who are here through no fault of their own, are just waiting for a loving home. How many will be put to death - due to health or mistreatment that ruined them or simply a lack of interest on the part of anyone wanting to take them in? How many will wander the streets and meet their demise there? How many will grow old in foster care for one reason or another? And people breed more... because puppies are cute, because they don't bother to spay or neuter their pets, because they want to make some money, because they just don't care. What does it take to get the message out to spay and neuter your pets? Every animal welfare group that I looked at stated that one thing as their main purpose, and still the problem remains. Some of us are working on the problem, but what does it really take to get the message through to people? I don't know. If I had unlimited resources and space and time, I would adopt them all and throw balls and hand out treats all day (with the help of Anna and Will, of course, who love to give dogs their treats!). Of course, that's unrealistic, but what will it take? Spay and neuter, please! Click to go to the Savannah Humane Society page www.humanesocietysav.org and hopefully in a few days Flower's picture will be posted.

Runaway Bunnies

Tonight I read "The Runaway Bunny" by Margaret Wise Brown to Anna at bedtime. We've read it a thousand times... the story of a little bunny who wants to run away from his mommy, but she pledges to pursue him endlessly no matter where he should go because she loves him so much. It is a great tale of the relentless, unconditional love that a mother (or father) has for her child. And tonight, it finally clicked in my head what a beautiful picture the story is of God's love for us. The "Hound of Heaven" pursues each of us little "runaway bunnies" tirelessly in His great grace and mercy and love for us. No matter where we may try to run or hide, He will seek us, constant in His love, even to the end of the age.

Misadventures of Lucy Dog

Tonight I let the dogs out in the backyard for a while until Anna wanted them to come in. So I opened the door and Dixie trotted in, but no Lucy. I called and whistled for her, but still no response. Now, Lucy is a boxer, a true "people dog" who will follow me around the house underfoot just to be near me, much to my aggravation, so it was very strange for her not to come in. Finally I put on Jon's flip flops that were by the door and went out into the yard, where I discovered that somehow one of the gates had come open and Lucy was nowhere to be seen! Anna and Will were barefoot, in their pj's, so I told them to stay inside and I ran around the house calling for Lucy, not knowing how long she'd been out or how far she might have gone. Fortunately my neighbor was outside with her daughter who had seen Lucy run by. She said she looked like a pitbull, but I assured her she's a boxer and very friendly. My neighbor said her dog always heads around the bend to the woods near the railroad tracks when he gets out - oh, great! I called and whistled, and a few houses down the street I saw my goofy-grinning pooch come running out of someone's yard, happy to see me! After an I'm-so-happy-to-see-you-please-don't-be-mad-at-me greeting, Lucy had to go over and visit with the kind neighbors. By this time, Anna and Will had put their shoes on and come out of the house to see what was going on. Anna said she "just knew it wasn't good!" But it was after all, and we all went inside, happy to be together again.

So this all got me thinking about how we sometimes take loved ones for granted or find them inconvenient (like when Lucy had "accidents" on the carpet that required a visit from our friendly carpet cleaner recently). But when faced with the possibility of losing them, we regain perspective and realize how important they are to us. Let's hope we can realize it more often without facing a crisis! "Love one another."

Will's First Day of School

Yesterday was Will's first day of school. He's two (which he will tell you proudly) - two and a half, really - but still a full year younger than Anna was when she started school. So I've been wondering if we are rushing things with him, though I really think he'll enjoy school. Last year he always wanted to stay at school when we dropped Anna off in the morning. He'd look up at me and say, "Bye-bye, Mommy!" with a big grin. And it's only three mornings a week... not even close to a full-time daycare scenario. So what's the harm, especially if he enjoys it?

Let me explain Will's class schedule. He is with Ms. Kristine and Ms. Shannon from 9:00 to 12:00. Then most of the other kids go home because their class ends at noon, but since Anna's class goes until 1:00, Will goes to a second room with a handful of other kids to eat lunch and play until their siblings are finished at 1:00. The transfer from one room to the other takes place before the other kids leave, which is good, but still... our little William does not appreciate transitions very much at this age. (For example, when we leave him in the church nursery, he picks one nursery attendant to be his own, and if that person leaves early for some reason, he will cry and cry just as if we'd left him again!)

So yesterday was Will's first day of school, and he toddled off with scarcely a glance back at me when I dropped him off. When I returned to pick him up at 1:00, however, it was a totally different scene. I spied on him through the one-way glass window, and saw him looking helpless and alone and completely pitiful. Then he poked his lip out and cried. Well, who can stand that?! I went over to the classroom and brought him out early (just five minutes). Of course, when I picked him up, all he did was cry "me want my Daddy!" But the teacher told me he had been fine and happy for the first three hours, and then cried the whole last hour and didn't eat any lunch at all.

So today, on the way to school, Will started out by telling me he did not want to go there today. And he cried terribly when I dropped him off - nearly bringing me to tears with him - while all the other kids played pleasantly. But when I came back this afternoon and spied on him, he was playing and chatting and smiling and interacting - all those good things you hope for. Apparently he'd been sad all morning in his first classroom, and then ate lunch and had a fine time in the second classroom. Go figure! Will was very proud of himself, too, saying "me not cry today!" with a smile, and telling me all about eating his lunch and playing and such. I'm hoping tomorrow will be a good day from beginning to end. This preschool stuff is hard on a mom!

Projects and Pets

Have you ever heard of painting an old laminate countertop? Well, that is our latest project/ experiment. Our countertop at the old house is a lovely 1960's "classic" that has seen better days for sure. So Jon found info online about painting old countertops, and we are giving it a try to see how it turns out. If it isn't wonderful, we can always defer to plan A and tear out the old and replace it anyway. So far we've primed and painted the first coat, and Jon is painting the second coat tonight. Then we have two accent colors to apply tomorrow, and then seal it with a clear finish. Just with the one coat of paint, it was already an improvement, to say the least! I'll let you know how it goes.

I think I've discovered that our boxer, Lucy, has a fly phobia. We've always known she was bothered by flies (she hides from them, whereas cocker spaniel Dixie likes to hunt them down). Tonight there was a fly in the house, and after a while, Lucy started shaking and looking around. I thought she might be having a seizure (our old dog Dakota used to have seizures - thus, I started wondering what was wrong with me that my dogs always get seizures). Then I noticed the fly buzzing around, and I got her to walk with me out to the living room and she seemed fine. Lucy wanted to go outside, so I let her out and she ran around like normal. So I guess it was just the fly getting to her. Personally, I am far more bothered by spiders (the bigger, the worse!) than pesky flies, but I will try to keep the flies away from Lucy from now on.

House For Sale

Finally our old, dear house has the "For Sale" sign in the front yard! We still have a few little fixes left to do, but it is officially on the market - yippee! So if you or someone you know is looking for a nice, solid three-bedroom brick house in the Berwick area of Savannah (Southside), let me know. It has a great fenced in backyard, bonus room/den, and good neighbors (sniffle, sniffle). If you're not interested, feel free to pray with us for the right buyer to come along quickly.

It will be so great to get back to a normal life after all this house stuff is done (or at least not so urgent anymore). Having time to go on fun outings with Anna and Will again, not having to drag them to a house so we can "work" or drop them off with kind relatives day after day, being able to take it easy on the weekend... these are some of the things I dream of lately. Three months of home renovation and improvement starts to wear on a person (at least on this person anyway).

Hello, again!

Ta da! I'm back - finally! We moved to our new home on Friday, August 1, but have not had internet or cable tv until today at long last. How can this be in today's modern high-speed world? I guess it's my fault... I wanted to keep our telephone number the same - I thought that would be easier - so Jon signed us up for some "bundle" for cable tv, internet, and phone. But, in order for Comcast to transfer our phone number to the new house, it was going to take two weeks, amazingly enough, during which time we would be without tv or internet. Our phone would remain active, though inconveniently located at our old house (where we no longer live, in case you missed that). So today was the big hook-up day... except that two days ago, Comcast called and said they had a software problem and our phone number didn't get processed in our order, so now it will be an additional five business days before the phone moves to the new house. Whatever.

In the meantime we have hosted Jon's brother Stephen and his family of four from Chicago at our new house, and Jon's sister Heidi with her family of eleven from Pittsburgh at our old house, so there's been a bit of excitement to keep us preoccupied during our "unwired" time. Everyone came into town to celebrate Jon's parents' 5oth wedding anniversary. There was a party/reception at the church last weekend, not to mention dinners out, trips to the beach, swimming at the pool, cousins playing together, etc. It was fun and exhausting.

So here I sit, in the midst of many boxes, with children sleeping (or "peeping" as Will says) and husband out buying groceries and retrieving more boxes from the old house (we're almost done - really). It is quiet - just the hum of my trusty computer and an occasional jingle of dog tags in the hall. Gradually, everything in these boxes will find its proper new place, a life rhythm will emerge once more, and we will find our new "normal."