Happy Birthday, Ellie

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELLIE!

Today is Ellie's 5th birthday.  

She was one of eight puppies born to "Baby D." The breeders, Jeff and Lisa Michel of Jeffco Kennels, were so good with these puppies and with the prospective owners. They frequently posted pictures of the growing puppies to keep us updated on their progress.  Mrs. Lisa not only gave us great instructions for our new dog but also gave us everything we needed for a successful transition. Then, before we left, she held her up and said the sweetest blessing over her.

We brought her home on May 1st.  Ellie potty trained so easily and rapidly became a member of the family. From the beginning, she got along well with Sally, our daughter's dog, and now they are "besties".  Everyone who knows Ellie loves her.  She is a really good dog.

I cannot begin to express the joy and blessing she has been to us.  I love how she runs to greet us when we come home and how she snuggles as close as she can at bedtime.  I love playing with her, taking her for walks, and just being with her.

When we brought that 3 pound  3 oz bundle home, cuddled up in my lap most of the drive from Louisiana, I already loved her, but I had no idea what a huge part she would play in our lives.  She just fits in so perfectly. I also didn't know she would become the main character in three children's books I would write.

She loves to walk, and so do we.  She loves to travel with us, and she is a great car dog.  She is a great hotel dog, as well.  The first time we went to use the elevator, she seemed a little perplexed, but after that, she owned the place.  She rarely barks in a hotel, even the night the power went out.

I could not have asked for a better dog to join our family.  

We love you, Ellie!

 

 

Tuesday All Things Ellie

Ellie and her mask

Ellie was born in 2020, so she is officially a "Pandemic Puppy."  I guess that might partially explain a quirk of Ellie's nature.  One of her favorite things to play with is a surgical mask.  Specifically, the blue ones, which were so ubiquitous during the pandemic isolation days.

The schoolyard where we walk Ellie in the afternoons often has at least one of these discarded on the ground.  Ellie will pick it up and carry it around in her mouth as if it were some small animal she had just flushed out of a bush.  If she drops it, she hurriedly picks it back up as if I might rush to grab it.  She will carry that mask the whole time we are at the school or until she starts tearing and chewing at it.  Then I have to take it away from her.  While we find fewer and fewer of the masks these days, she found one Saturday.

At one point, I noticed she had stopped just carrying it and was tearing at it with her teeth and claws.  I told her to stop, and she did, and then I called her to me.  She trotted over like the good girl she is.  I was surprised to see she had left her mask behind, but often she tires of playing with them.

The next morning, I noticed she seemed just a little "off."  She ate her breakfast well, we took a walk outside and she did all the things a dog needs to do.  We went to church, and when we returned, she still seemed off.  As the afternoon progressed, she just appeared uncomfortable to me.  After being a nurse for 46 years, I can pretty much tell when someone isn't comfortable, even if it is a canine. I prayed often and fervently for my little puppy. (I know she is an adult dog now, but she will always be my "puppy".)

We have a small group meeting in our house on Sunday afternoons and weekends I noticed Ellie was not there.  Ellie is a very sociable dog. She likes to be in the middle of the action, usually sitting on someone's lap if she can get away with it.

I found Ellie sitting in her bed in front of the window in the back bedroom.  I did a quick nurse's assessment of her.  Her color was good, and her heart rate was fine. Respirations were normal, tummy was not distended or tight.  Then it caught my eye.

Lying on the floor near her bed was a wad of blue...something.  As I looked closer, I realized it was a blue surgical mask.  I picked it up to spread it out, and from the odor, it was obvious it had been in contact with gastric fluid.  I watched Ellie carefully for the rest of the night, but she was "right as rain."

Yesterday and today, she shows no signs of distress from trying to digest a surgical mask.  Of course, it is obvious she will not be allowed to play with one again.

 

Rainy Days and Mondays

I sit in the room where I write, exercise, and sometimes just look out the window at the trees and the sky. Ellie's bed is in front of the window (I say bed, but at night, she mostly sleeps between us in our bed.) I enjoy sharing this time with her.

Today, the view is a dreary, rainy day. A rainy Monday, in fact. Since I was a teenager in the 70s, I can't help but think of the song "Rainy Days and Mondays" or "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head."

As long as I can remember, I have always liked rainy days. In fact, it was a rainy day when we went to the hospital in labor with our first baby. I remember telling Glen I was glad it was rainy because I liked rainy days.

As I sit here, watching the raindrops falling from the oak trees, making concentric circles in the puddle our sidewalk has become, I find an inexplicable sense of pleasure. For one thing, I won't have to water the flowers today. 

But there is a price to pay for enjoying the rain. For one thing, we didn't get to take a long walk this morning. And the schoolyard will be too wet and soggy for Ellie to sniff around there today. In a couple hours, her internal clock will tell her it is time to go for her favorite activity of the day. I'm afraid she won't understand why we aren't going. She will give me a mournful look with those beautiful caramel-colored eyes, and I will not be able to make her happy. This disappoints her, and it hurts me.

That's the way it seems to be sometimes, isn't it? For one person to have something they want, someone else will be disappointed. Looking back at my life, I am amazed at how many things that seemed disappointments at first turned out to be something totally different.

As a high school senior, I decided to go away to college and study journalism. A family member discouraged me from this choice, and I decided not only to stay in our hometown but to change my course of study. I never thought of becoming a nurse, but the thought popped into my head and seemed like a good idea. That brief blip of thought led to an excellent 46-year-long career. One might ask, from "whence cometh" that thought? I  know the Lord was leading my thoughts that day. God knew he needed me to be in Mobile to meet a particular, handsome young man. He knew He intended us to marry, have children, and minister to others together. It was a quick decision, without much thought involved, and I have thanked the Lord for it more times than I can count. What seemed like a big disappointment at first turned into the greatest blessing of my life.

I am sure, just like I will feel toward Ellie this afternoon when I have to disappoint her, that the Lord hurts when He has to disappoint us in our hopes and dreams. But He knows He has something better, something greater for us. It is up to us to believe the Scriptures, "But as for God, His way is perfect" (2 Samuel 22:31.) 

This Christian life we lead is a walk of faith, not sight. We can't see the path ahead of us, but we can trust our way to the one who IS "the Way, the Truth and the Life," (John 14:6.)

These thoughts bring to mind the lyrics from one of my favorite hymns, "Day By Day."

Day By Day

By Linda Sandell

Day by day, and with each passing moment,

Strength I find to meet my trials here;

Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,

I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.

He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure,

Gives unto each day what He deems best,

Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,

Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day the Lord Himself is near me,

With a special mercy for each hour;

All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,

He whose name is Counsellor and Pow’r.

The protection of His child and treasure,

Is a charge that on Himself He laid;

“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,”

This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then, in every tribulation,

So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,

That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation,

Offered me within Thy holy Word.

Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,

E’er to take, as from a father’s hand,

One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,

Till with Christ the Lord I stand.

ADDENDUM: Yesterday, after I had written this, the rain stopped, and the sun came out.  By late afternoon, it had dried up sufficiently for Ellie to go to the schoolyard.  While there were some places too wet for her to go, she still had a great time sniffing and tracking.

Friday Photos

 

I was thinking about this photo yesterday. We were driving home from walking Ellie in the schoolyard, facing the almost full moon in the eastern sky. It was about the same time of day and in the exact same location as when I took this photo.

This photo really surprised me.  I thought I was taking a picture of the moon, and I was, but when I got home and looked at the photo on my computer, I noticed for the first time the dragonfly I had also captured.  It made this photo even more special to me.

It just goes to show that often, when the Lord gives us something, He often gives us something so much more.  This is always true, because He is always giving us Himself.