A Hard Decision....

After much prayer and deliberation, Patrick and I have decided that we are going to find Miles a better home. He is such a sweetheart and has a wonderful personality. He is even learning to be house-trained (although the process is definitely not complete).

Miles is very affectionate and probably has a little bit of separation anxiety, but he has captured my heart. He has gotten along great with Sebastian.

I think that we are a "one dog" house. So, I am going to try to post some fliers at local vet offices or find an adoption shelter. If we put him in the pound, he'll probably be put down.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in adopting Miles, please let me know.

Congrats to the Newly-Weds!

Patrick and I are home from a very full week of wedding events and preparation. You see, my sister and best friend, Melody, got married yesterday to a wonderful guy named Daniel. After months of preparing, the wedding was a wonderful ceremony. It was an amazing display of God's love for us and Melody and Danny's love for each other.

As the Matron of Honor, I did not do a good job of keeping Melody calm on her big day. In fact, I was the most nervous person there. Not only was I dressed more "girlie" than I ever have been, but I had to sing in front of a lot of people, most of whom I'm related to, but lots I didn't know. I was so stressed out.

The ceremony was beautiful and the minister did a great job. Then, we had a wonderful reception with a swing band providing the entertainment along with my crazy dancing on the dance floor! I just really felt like dancing, and so I just let go! I started to feel like everyone was watching me and not the bride and groom (I had the fear that I was show-boating and taking all the spotlight off of Melody). My mom assured me that was not the case!

Needless to say, we are all extremely exhausted from late nights of talking and early mornings of preparation. Hopefully, my mom will get a much deserved rest!

Melody is my best friend and I am so happy for her. She is the most deserving person I know. Daniel is very lucky to have her. Of course, my brother and I (and our spouses) will continue to make sure that he knows that!

Here's to you guys! We love you!

A Day Late and A Blog-Post Short!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PATRICK!!!!!

I know...I've posted about our niece's b-day, my sister's b-day, and my friend's b-day. How shameful am I that I didn't get a chance to wish my husband a happy birthday on my blog!!!

Patrick's birthday is Veteran's Day, so he always gets a lot of parades, etc. He also gets a federal holiday... How unfair!! I'm kidding...He deserves all of the pomp and circumstance I can give.

For his birthday, we bought the PS2 game Guitar Hero 3. It is awesome!!!!! We stayed up late last night playing it, and it was tons of fun!

What a Difference a Hair Cut Makes!

It's official. We've changed our adopted/rescued dog's name from Smokey to Miles. He has taken to the new name pretty well. Today, he got a hair cut. The groomer said that he was a great dog. She was really impressed with his personality and good looks. She also thought that he may have some Shih-Tzu, terrier, or cocker spaniel in him. Who knows? I guess it doesn't matter. You can judge the transformation for yourself.

"Baby" Steps

As I mentioned earlier, this week has been about taking steps. I am ready to tell you about another area in my life in which I have taken specific steps this week. Most of my readers are family or close friends, so I don't mind sharing this.

Although Patrick and I have been married for almost eleven years, we decided early on to wait before having children. About three years ago, we felt like it was time. Little did we know that the next three years of our lives would be so full of steps. The hardest part early on was hearing all of our family members ask us why we weren't having kids, or why it was taking us so long... Fortunately, all of that died down when the actual diagnosis of infertility came out. Of course, I won't bore you with all of the specifics because most of you know at least some of what we've been through.

God has been our refuge through all of this. Patrick has been extremely supportive and strong throughout the journey. Along with a very supportive family, God had the overwhelming grace and mercy to give me a friend that was also dealing with the struggles of not having children. I could not have made it through the last three years without her hugs, tears, and listening.

So where do the steps come in? Well, after being on-again, off-again with my specialist, Patrick and I decided to go back to set a plan in motion. We started with Clomid (it's the most basic and simple fertility treatment with the lowest percentage of success). It was a baby step, all puns intended...

After two months of Clomid therapy, the doctor decided that it was not being effective enough for me. So, this month, I officially became one of those women who use injectable medications. Okay, sorry if this is too much info for you, I just wanted share it with you. We are adding the injections in combination with the Clomid to see if that helps. I never in a million years would have imagined that I'd be one of "those" women. Patrick and I are pretty sure that this is the furthest we will delve into the fertility treatment options. Fortunately, our insurance covers the meds, so we are just out my copay. The other options aren't covered. Last night was my first injection and it was actually easier than I was worried about.

I know there are differing opinions about using medical intervention for fertility, but I believe medicine is good, when used for the right reasons. After all, where would we be without chemotherapy for cancer patients or without shots for allergies? Anyway, back to my point... Whether Patrick and I have children or not is totally up to God who created us. He is in control. When He wants us to have children, naturally or through adoption, He will bless us. In the meantime, we'll continue to treat our dog, Sebastian, as if he's our child (within limits, of course!). And if we keep Miles (formerly called Smokey), we'll treat him the same way.

Thanks for listening!!!! I apologize for the length!

Taking the Next Step...

This week has been about taking steps. I am not sure what God is trying to teach me on this treadmill of life, but sometimes I feel like I'm only taking baby steps. Other times, I feel like I am jazz-running in huge strides across this life.

On Monday, we took steps to rescue a dog named Smokey and get him on the road to better health. Yesterday, we took the next step in the process and visited the vet. Smokey seems to be in pretty good health in spite of the mess he was living in. Sadly though, he did test positive for heart worms (not a severe case), so there's no telling what his future will hold. In the next few days, we'll be getting his hair cut and making the decision about whether or not to keep him. The biggest obstacles to keeping him will be the house-training and the traveling.

We'll be getting him groomed on Saturday. And, I think we are changing his name. We don't like the name Smokey so we are trying the name Miles (like the trumpet player). It seems to fit him!

Now just for the house-training and deciding where he's going to sleep...

There are steps we are taking in other areas of life also. I'll discuss those in my next blog.

I know, I know...I'm a sucker for good causes...

You might disagree that this is a story about a good cause, but I have gotten sucked in. Yesterday as I was leaving for the gym, a cute, very dirty, very sweet dog showed up near my garbage can on the street. He had a great personality and seemed to be unloved and mistreated. He had a collar, but no tags. The collar was so tight, it choked him. So, I took the collar off and put the dog in my back yard until I could get home from the gym. I didn't want him to get hit by a car. I stopped at a neighbors house to let them know that if anyone came around looking for the dog, he was in my back yard.

When I returned from the gym, the dog was gone. I assumed that he'd dug his way out or that the owner had seen me put him back there and decided to retrieve him. As I walked around the yard looking for a hole under the fence, my next-door neighbor came out to let me know that she thought the dog was there by accident, so she let him out. Okay, I thought. Not my problem anymore...But, I still wanted to make sure he was safe. I left for school and hoped that he had returned to his home.

I told my husband about the dog, and he of course was not too keen on the story. You see, we already have a dog that takes a lot of our money and all of our love. So, to throw a sad, dirty, untrained mut into the mix did not seem that great to him.

However, when my husband came home, he said that he had seen the dog I described down the street a few houses. So, he and I walked down the street and found the dog at a very run-down house and the dog came running to us. There was another dog at the same house, but it was tethered to the garage wall. It too looked as if no one loved it. Next thing you know, I knock on the front door and a disheveled woman answered. I asked her if the dog was hers and she said that it was, but that it kept getting out of the broken gate. I asked her a few questions about the dog, and she started to explain that she had been trying to give the dog away to her relatives, but no one wanted it. By all appearances (of the house and the woman) she had no business owning a dog, much less two. She offered to let us have the dog if we could take care of it. At this point, I thought that even if we can't keep the dog, we could find a better home for it than its present address.

The dog, who we found out is called "Smokey," followed us home and we put him in the back yard. After some obligations that evening, we were able to give the dog a flea bath (a desperate need), and feed him some dinner. We also brought him into a room in our house to let our dog Sebastian get to know him. Sebastian is very territorial and does not like to share much. However, the two seemed to get along. We don't want to spend money on a vet trip, but the dog clearly needs it. We cannot agree on whether we should keep him, but he is so sweet. He loves to cuddle and I honestly can't believe I let the strange dog into my house and my heart.

I guess we'll discuss his staying some more. He seems to really like it here and I like him. Not quite sure how it would work to keep him, but I'll try to make the right decision. His curly hair and sad little eyes have sucked me in!

Stretched to the MAX!

Elastic Man...Rubber-bands...Stretch Armstrong...Me...I know I don't really fit in with this group of over-pulled, flexible objects, but I feel like it this week.

I started working-out a couple of weeks ago. Let's face it...I am way out of shape and way overweight, so I decided I better do something about it. For the last few weeks, I've been doing the elliptical machine and the doing some strength training. Crazy me decided that I should do a session with our gym's personal trainer. WHAT WAS I THINKING?????

So, Wednesday evening, I met with the trainer for our first consult. We started with several simple stretches which lulled me into a false sense of security. Here I was thinking, "I got this...Bring it on!" You know, your normal stretches to warm-up before exercising. Before I knew it, he was stretching me in ways that I'm sure God never intended for my body to stretch. And just when I thought my legs and arms couldn't be pulled any further, you guessed it...miraculously he'd push me a few more inches. OUCH!!!!

After the stretching, we began the assessments. WHAT??? I didn't sign up for a fitness test... I just wanted some help knowing how to lose weight. For a moment I felt like I was in 6th grade all over again doing the President's Fitness Test. How many push-ups in a minute? How many sit-ups in a minute? How many squats in a minute? When I did the sit-ups, I knew it would be bad. I have not done a true sit-up since maybe 8th grade...you know, crunches are much easier. I told the trainer not to expect much and that I would probably not get into the double digits. Well, after I did those tests, he said, "Okay, now for the mile run."

WHAT? RUN? Does he know who he's talking to? I started looking around for the hidden camera hoping this was all someone's cruel idea of a Halloween prank. Much to my disappointment it was no joke. He did assure me that I was only doing this to set a starting point for my road to physical fitness and that I was only competing against myself. He also told me that as long as I began the mile running, I could walk when I needed to and it would still count as a run. So, off I went. Because the indoor track at our gym is really short, it was going to take 18.5 laps to equal a mile. I actually ran the first two laps and then about every other lap I walked. He was nice enough to keep count of the laps for me. He updated me every five laps. And, he was very encouraging...as every trainer should be.

After it was all said and done, we put the results in his fancy computer program and got the instant grade. I did "excellent" on my push-ups, "poor" on my sit-ups, and "fair" on my run. Then the really bad part came. You know, the Body Fat Test, where you hold the little machine in front of you and it reads your body fat percentage...NO SURPRISE there! Let's just say, I knew I needed to start working out way before that test.

The next day, I was in so much pain, I really wanted to stay in bed for the next three days. Instead, I fought my pain and went to work out for another hour. Then, that night, I aired up my bike tires and went for a ride. Then, at last, thinking I would define all odds, I got up Friday and went to a Cardio Fusion class. I met a girl at the gym that had encouraged me to try it. It is a class that uses jump-rope, step aerobics, weight-training, an exercise ball, and stretching. I'll admit, I couldn't keep up, but I tried everything. For a moment, I felt like I was on Candid Camera when we got on the exercise ball. Let's just say...it takes some practice.I will probably go back to the class. It was a great work-out.

Fitness is something I didn't have problems with when I was young, but in the last ten years, I have become extremely out-of-shape. God desires for us to take care of the bodies he's given us. I am only sorry that I have failed so miserably at that command.

God, please give me strength to take care of my body, especially when I don't feel like it. You created me for your work, and I can't do that work well if I am not well. Thank you for loving me enough to protect me from my laziness.

Worthy of Worship?

I need to apologize for my previous post. What a completely negative rant about something that should not have occupied my time or mind that much! God doesn't want me to dwell on the negative about Halloween, so let me say a few words about the positive things that He used yesterday to get the focus on Him!

I applaud the churches in our area and around the country who have decided to offer Harvest Festival alternatives for the children and families in the community. Granted, some of the kids still wear costumes that I believe are not appropriate, but at least they are being exposed to the Gospel! Instead of grumbling about trick-or-treating traffic, I should be thankful that fellow Christians were spending the evening being the hands and feet that God calls us to be. Thank you Calvary Worship Center, Cornerstone Baptist, FBC Frankston, and others for giving your evening to the communities that you serve!!! There was definitely no Trick to it! Just a Treat I am sure!