EXCITED MO!

Here is our little puppy Mo! I thought I would post some videos for all of you to see his transition into his new home. He is definitely warming up to us and he gets very excited when we come home from work! ENJOY!!

Walks, Dogs, Invisible Forces?

As some of you may already know, we adopted an awesome dog named Mo last month. He is a beagle, about 8-9 years old and was from a shelter. He is basically a dog that no one loved except his foster mother. We think that in his past years he was heavily abused. He was very timid, shy and cautious. .......... . but now he is fully alive. He has the greatest personality and it has been very interesting to see him transform from the shy pup to the outgoing and loving beagle that he is.
We had a wonderful Christmas break with our family and also with Mo. He was very cautious when we brought him to our different families, but he eventually warmed up to everyone including my sisters pup named Sammy. Overall Christmas break was a time of relaxation, reflection and enjoying the season of the Saviors birth.
But something that also happened over break and is continuing to happen on our walks has been very puzzling and has made me contemplate many things. I am fully aware of spiritual warfare and I firmly believe that there are many things occuring around us in the spiritual realm more than we'd like to think about.
Mo and us take the same walk everyday, every morning and every night. There is one particular house on our walk that has me puzzled. As we approach this house and the empty lot beside it, Mo gets this look of terror and panic on his face. Since he was abused, we can easily tell when he is scared because his tail goes between his legs and he gets very low to the ground. Every stinkin walk he does this as we approach this empty lot and house. Just a couple of days ago he even sat down on the freezing, snow covered sidewalk because he was so scared. The only thing we can do is pick him us, hold him really close and whisper to him that everything is okay as we walk very quickly past the lot and empty house. After the house is out of sight we are on our merry way as if nothing happened.
What is going on? I've thought about many different options but I have only come to one conclusion. I think dogs can sense and see things that are going on that we just can't see. Is there a spiritual battle happening in that empty lot? Are the people that live in that creepy home filled with Satan? Is Satan trying to fill these people?
Yesterday on our walk when he again looked terrified I mustered up all of my faith, spoke in a deep forceful voice (I guess this is how I think you should talk when you're talking to spirits I guess...) "Leave him alone!" Instantly Mo got up and started walking. This morning on our walk, he wasn't even phased by this house. Did what I say really make a difference???
Regardless of what is actually happening this is making me realize how desperately I need to begin praying for my neighbors, the neighbors down from them and my entire neighborhood. It's also made me realize that our pets probably need to be given more credit than we realize.
One of my favorite quotes in "Prince Caspian" is below. It's during the scene when the bear is running after Lucy to eat her and then the dwarf Trumpkin spears the bear and responds to Lucy.

Susan Pevensie: Why wouldn't he stop?
Trumpkin: I suspect he was hungry.
Lucy Pevensie: Thanks.
Edmund Pevensie: He was wild.
Peter Pevensie: I don't think he could talk at all.
Trumpkin: You get treated like a dumb animal long enough, that's what you become. You may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember.

The Eyes Of Her People

Well she is finally complete! At Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church, (where we attend), there is an exhibit for artists to display their work called the HeART for Sudan. When each piece sells, the money is then given to the Sudan Project. For more details about the Project check out the Sudan link: www.ginghamsburg.org/sudan

The exhibit started the weekend of the 29th and 30th of November. Between the fourth and fifth service, to my surprise she sold!!! Praise God!!!

"On February 15, 2008, I started this piece. I began looking through the many Sudan pictures, trying to find the perfect subject for my cross stitch. It just had to be perfect. After searching many hours, I found her. Her eyes are what caught my attention. Her eyes were calling to be heard. The pain of her people, the hidden cries of those ignored. Those people forgotten. She stole my heart.
This piece has followed me through a lot of good times and not so good times. I focused almost everyday for at least one hour to completing her frame, her covering, her facial features. She was with me during my quiet prayer times with the LORD, praying for her, my family and my friends. She was there during the joy of purchasing our first home, the loss of a job, a family vacation to Coldwater, Michigan and through the loss of my best friend, my dog of 15 years, CoCo. Through it all she has helped me to stay focused. To sit down and stitch, sipping my creamy coffee and presenting my requests to the LORD. She has been with me.

For 276 days.

Now it is your turn.

Whether you hang this on a wall in your home, or on a shelf, or store it in a box from sight, don't forget about her. It's now your turn to pray for her, her family, her people, her country. Remember her for me. Allow her along with the Holy Spirit, to change your life.
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6

...Missing HER...

How do you tell when you are ready to own another dog? Does that special feeling just happen in your heart? How do you "know"?
Matthew and I, well if I'm going to be completely honest, I have been the only one looking online at the local animal shelters hoping to adopt another dog. I found one in particular that stole my heart. His name was Mo, he was 8 years old and had been in a shelter for 2 years. In his previous years he was abused and the foster parent is unsure as to why he was actually alive. She said that he had a rough past. I came home that night from the library beggin Matthew to allow us to go up to Sidney and get him. He said to call the next day. I called. Reported back to Matthew what I heard and he said no way. That there was no logically way that we could adopt him, which he was right. It just couldn't happen.
I began praying about the big decision of owning our own pet. I repeatedly asked God if this was something that we should be doing. Are my motives right Lord? Am I just trying to filling the void?
The Lord is slowly but surely revealing to me that I just miss HER. My CoCo, my babes, my Colimolie. When looking back over my repeated scrolling through the many dogs, I began to realize that I was skipping over many dogs that needed a home. I was skipping over them because they didn't look like HER. My CoComokers.
I miss HER.

I'm nervous about facing this Christmas. It's the first time in 15 years where she hasn't been present. It's the first Christmas where I won't be scouring the shelves trying to find the perfect gift for her. It's the first time where we won't be filling up her stocking and loosly wrapping her gifts. This will be the first time that I don't hear her chomping on her new toy trying to break the squeeker while we are finishing up our own gifts. The first time I don't see her trying to hide her bones in the couch only to lift her head and see that everyone is looking at her as she picks the bone up again to run off to find another place. It's the first time in 15 years where we won't have the joy of spending Christmas with HER.
The last week of looking for new dogs to adopt is my way of avoiding Christmas this year without HER. Oh! how I miss her! If only I could have one more hug, one more smell, one more kiss from her! Miss you CoCo!!!

Ladybug

Have you ever had just one of those weeks were you felt invisible? Invisible to everyone around you, no one even hears you when you speak, and that no one would even notice if you fell off the face of the planet? I've had one of those weeks.

This morning, I ran upstairs, turned on the wall heater in "my" bathroom, shut the door, and let the hot air blow around and around the small bathroom. A couple minutes later, I went back upstairs and hopped in the warm shower. As I was scratching and wadding up this mound of hair on top of my head I was stopped dead in my tracks. Something was moving on the small window sill. It took me a moment to realize that it was a little vibrant red ladybug. But it wasn't crawling. It was upside down, stranded on it's back with his little legs flying around in circles trying to flip itself back over. In a moment I related to that ladybug. I shook off my hand of the excess water and tried ever so gently to flip him back over. After many times, I succeeded but he remained frozen. I really don't know if he ever started crawling again. I went on with the rest of my shower.

In many ways I feel like that ladybug. I feel lately that my apendages have been flying rapidly in all directions trying to get back on track in life. I feel like no matter how hard I try, I just can't flip myself back over. There have been little blips here lately, where I feel that I have been helped, and that I have been flipped over back on my own legs, but instead of moving, I'm frozen in place. My legs are just too tired to try anymore.

"Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." Hosea 6:3