A bit confused...

A very present truth in my life is I have three hairy, active, and loveable dogs. Aside from the doggy normalties today I noticed that they have characteristics that are rather...un-dog-like, for lack of a better description. Mercy is a few ounces over 5 lbs. She enjoys laying in the sun in the window, in the kitchen, in the garden and in the dog kennel. Other than her two meals a day, she requires very little maintenance. So essentially, she's a house plant and makes noise. Logan has shown me that she is capable of playing the 'older sister' roll quite efficiently. Today Lillian was in her packnplay and began to fuss at me and Logan ran into Lillian's room, grabbed a toy, and brought it to the packnplay. Whenever Lillian cries out Logan runs over and tries to kiss her face (sometimes I'm too late to stop this) and sniff her all over. Titus is hands down the most doggy-ish of all. He rolls in the dry grass after a bath, lays in the middle of my garden where my gladiolus bulbs are just beginning to peek out, eats anything and everything that touches (sometimes doesn't touch) the floor, hangs his fluffy head out of the car door, and maintains constant vigilance of our backyard (when he isn't napping on my flowers of course). Even if they are a bit confused about their role in the household, I think they're wonderful! And I think that's enough.

Efficiency

Today I vacuumed my child to sleep. Bad parenting? I don't think so! My baby took her nap, and my carpet is clean. Shabooyah!

Serpentine Says What?

Tuesday night was a success! Sometimes I wonder how my dog turned out so great with all my training blunders. Two years ago, before pregnancy and life with baby, Titus and I took a class that worked on a set of jumps called a serpentine. A serpentine is a row of jumps that the dog has to jump away on the first, jump back towards you on the second, and jump away again on the third. It's incredibly complicated when you count in the handlers movements, placement, and don't forget the dogs will, attention span, and experience. What did my little four year old pup do? He sailed through it like he'd been doing it every day since we first learned it. He made me look great!

Another great development in my agility career is that my weave poles have finally arrived! Weave poles are the constant battle of any agility enthusiast. The great thing about novice class (beginners) is that you can attempt the weave pole set as many times as you desire and as long as you go through them one time you can qualify (assuming you hit all your contacts, don't take a wrong jump, come in under time, etc.). Will we be trial ready by April? If we find a way to work them at least 5 times a week, we stand a chance. Titus is fast enough to make up for my mistakes, smart enough to figure out I mean 'teeter' when I say something else (probably has more to do with my body language than an actually mastery of English), and nice enough to smother me with kisses after a run I completely messed up. We'll do alright.

Romance is in the Garden Center

Maybe I'm a cheap date but I LOVE garden centers! One of the most wonderful things to do with my family is walk through the garden center, look at all the flower selections, read their requirement charts, etc. It gets my mind spinning with innovative gardening ideas, color combinations, and dream garden fantacies. Is anyone else like this? The smell of fresh earth and (less is more) manure mixed with spicy and musky flower scents causes my heart to begin to melt and walking hand in hand with Paul, with dappled early spring sun blinking through the lattice work, and an eyeful of bright colors are my idea of a perfect date. So spring is in the air, and I'm off to Lowes to pick through selections of hydrangeas, tulips, varied viburnum, and the like.

What a Week!

It has been just that and more. Two Saturdays ago my PawPaw Joe passed away after battling several forms of illness. While it wasn't entirely unexpected it still hit me with a raw sense of disbelieving grief that often comes with a death in the family. Paul and I quickly made plans to join my mom in East Texas for the funeral. With the exception of my sister (who was 10 months pregnant at the time) and her husband, my whole family was able to make it. The funeral was held on a beautifully crisp, early spring day that teased with the idea of donning a pair of shorts and running barefoot through the already green grass. Reality dictated that the shorts be delayed for at least a month. The trees held soft pink and white blossoms, and a light breeze played through the tops of the pines. ...isn't it interesting how much life we notice when we are grieving a death? I'm not one to succumb to open shows of grief but as we sat in the pews during the funeral I lost my composure when my young cousin crawled into her mom's arms and began to weep openly. Again I struggled to hold it together when my PawPaw's coffee shop friends (they met every morning and evening to pass around the same jokes, tease the pretty little waitress', and share their every day lives) passed by the casket. Their sadness was obvious. My mom asked us before the funeral what we remembered about my PawPaw but I drew a complete blank. As I law in bed that night my mind was flooded with so many memories I was awake for hours. I remember my PawPaw sitting on the back porch with Puffles in his lap, singing 'A hole in the bottom of the Sea' and old Baptist Church Hymns that you rarely hear today. I remember him teaching me how to cook bacon in a frying pan. I remember going to the Dukes games and he would buy himself a bag of peanuts and I would usually get cotton candy (a rare and wonderful treat). My greatest memory is this, I was able to take my Lillian to meet him just after this past Christmas. He took us on a tour of his old fishing spots and his Mail Route, introduced us to all his coffee shop buddies at "Jim's" and drove around and showed us the best Christmas lights in the area. It was wonderful. He showed off Lillian every chance he could and never missed an opportunity to say 'Boy, She sure has eyes for me'! At one point he told my mom that he didn't think he was ever gonna get to see her. But he did, and he loved her, and I will always be able to tell Lillian that her JoeJoe thought that she was an absolute treat.

Paul and I decided to fly back last Thursday to spare our 8mo. old another 18 hour drive. I was also motivated by the fact that my sister was being induced that day. After spending several hours with the pitocin drip and labor proceeding enough that her water broke, the doctor decided they needed to do a c-section because my nephew's head was cocked backward instead of tucked under. We waited in the appropriately named 'waiting room' for several hours before a nurse stepped out and said everything went well and Kate and the baby were in recovery. My brother-in-law Peter brought my precious nephew out so we could all ooooh and aaah over him and we didn't dissapoint! He is wonderfully precious at 8lbs 14oz. and 20 1/2 in.! I've been able to go to the hospital and see him every day so far and my heart just melts every time he makes a noise, or moves, or just lies there sleeping. So, my heart is just a puddle of mush most of the time! They're going home today and that will begin a whole new set of challenges and wonderful rewards for my sister's new family.

So this morning is the first day back to work for Paul and I am alone enough to reflect deeply over the past week. It is a strange sensation to escort a beloved family member from this world and turn around and welcome another precious heart into it. And while my own heart stills struggles with a raw sense of grief for my PawPaw Joe I know that I will see him again. He knew and loved the Lord and is with Him today. Now my attention and prayer will be on my precious babies. My own little Lillian and my new precious Allister John will be in my prayers that they will have a heart for the Lord that far exceeds anything I've seen, and that they will be a powerful woman, and godly man that seek out the Glory of God. My prayers are also with my sister who is recovering from her surgery.

What have I learned this week? Life is uncertain, but God is not. He is to be glorified in death and in life. Amen.