I forgot to share with you the incident from Wednesday that scared me half to death. I periodically look out the window to check on the dogs each day. They have this bad habit of getting into mischief. Knowing that our puppies are inseperable, I was concerned when I looked out and only saw Grace sitting at the back door. I opened the door to hear her wimpering and then a very loud cry from Cooper somewhere in the distance. A crying bark that I hadn't heard before. I ran in the house to check and make sure the kids were doing alright and to let them know I would be right back. Running outside again, I followed the sound of the cries to the deserted pig farm behind our house and found him treading water in the bottom of a pig poop pit. Not knowing how deep it was and how I would get back out, I decided against jumping in after him. Laying on my stomach over the side of the pit and reaching down as far as I could, he swam over to me. I could only reach one paw and started pulling him up until it looked like his shoulder would pop out of socket. I put my hands under each of his shoulders and attempted to pull him out, but being a 40 pound pup, it was more difficult than I expected. Thankfully, he was desperate to get out and helped me as much as he could by pushing against the concrete walls with his back paws. Eventually, I pulled him all the way out even though Grace was panicing and jumping all over my back and head during the rescue.

Since it was cold and windy that day, I immediately wrapped him in a blanket (even though he was black instead of his normal white/yellow color). His paws were bleeding since he had struggled to climb the pit walls for how ever long he was in there and scraped off his toenails. When the blanket was soaked, I pulled some freshly laundered warm towels from the dryer and continued to try to warm him. After an hour, he was still bleeding, weezing and shivering, so I called the vet, who of course wanted to see him. After laying under a heating lamp and being pumped full of antibiotics, he came home, safe and happy. (And by the way, I did change my clothes and get cleaned up so I wouldn't smell like pig poop all day)

Oh, the joys of being pet owners! May I ask again, who wanted these dogs, anyway??!!!

I read this yesterday, and wanted to share:

Give me a few minutes, I'm working on getting something clearer but I'm not having much luck - if you are unable to read this small print, email me at christie_todd@yahoo.com and I will be happy to send you a larger copy. It is just too good not to read!

We will start the study of the book of James on Monday. Talk to you then!

Have a great day and a great weekend

Living fearlessly in Christ

Christie