Father's day thoughts

My thoughts as I was reflecting on father's day and life in the present: 

Whether it is the TV, newspaper, or online, everywhere we look or listen we hear of one natural disaster after the next. When I say "natural disaster" I mean both weather and man-made. Not only have there been hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and flooding that have taken lives, but there have been men and women who have committed horrendous acts, ones that have taken so many lives, leaving pain and confusion. These men and women are not monsters or people who have gone crazy and killed innocent people. They are human beings who are controlled by the same human nature that lies within all of us. It is in our, meaning ALL humans, nature to desire more than we need, to envy to a fault, to judge, and to hate. 

It is our nature to sin. All of us. 

In other words, on our own, none of us are any better than those men and women who have committed such heinous acts. 

But that is where my God comes in, my heavenly father. Without Him, I am worthless, nothing but a sinful human who gets lost in this world. With Him, I am an instrument, His instrument, used to bring healing, peace, and happiness. To bring Him glory. I am a small piece in His beautiful story.

It is only with God that I am saved from an eternal Hell. He saves me from a meaningless life, one where I wander around looking for acceptance, love, and success in areas that will never keep me content long enough. 

Don't get me wrong, my faith and relationship with God does not make my life perfect by any means, but boy does it make it worth it. I can't imagine dealing with the trials, pain, and disappointment that this world offers without having the peace and joy of Christ that transcends everything else and knowing what is in store for me for eternity! 

I LOVE my dad SOOO much and I can't express how thankful I am for him and how he has always been there for me. I LOVE my husband more than words can express and I have no doubt that one day he will make a spectacular father, but both my father's love and Chris' love cannot compare to the love of God, who sees me as holy and blameless. 

Today, I am thankful for my dad and all of the amazing fathers out there, but more than anything I am thankful for God, my Father. I pray that others experience His love as I do. It changes everything.

 

Becoming a family of 3.

Yea, so I'm going to work on making more frequent updates...

This past week was a big week for Chris and I, adding quite a bit of responsibility and a tad bit of crazy to our lives. First, we went to the Farmer's Market and purchased items for an herb garden container and a veggie container. We now have basil, thyme, parsley, and cilantro growing on our patio.

After we got those edible beauties planted, we continued to pursue our search for a sweet pup that we could call our own. We've wanted a dog from day one in our marriage, but we have been walking the financially responsible road and applying logic which meant no dog for us. However, we've graduated from grad school, refinanced our place, and changed a few other little things here and there, which means our money and our time is a bit more available than in the past few years. Plus, I truly believe the many pros to dog-owning completely outweigh any possible cons. We had been talking about getting a dog for a while, but were trying to make the wisest choice, taking our time to research things.

We discovered that when you find the right one, things just fall into place.

This past Tuesday, I rushed home from work to pick up Chris and head to the Randolph County Animal Shelter to check out some sweet furry faces we saw on their website. The hubs, prepared as always, had the adoption application filled out and ready to submit when we got there. We headed there knowing that it was likely that we would instantly pick out one of the pups we read about, submit the application and then wait a day or two to hear whether we were approved to go back and pick up the dog wanted to adopt.

However, when we got there our nice little plan went out the window...and I couldn't be happier about that! When we got there we found out that the sweet furry faces we saw on the computer were not actually there, but in foster homes and were likely already being adopted.

As soon as we had decided to make a trip to the shelter, I had started praying that if getting a dog was the right thing to do, then we would find one right away and it would happen quickly, but if it wasn't the right move for us then I asked God to close that door and keep us waiting. When we were told the dogs we came for were not an option and we didn't see another good breed/size for us, I thought that was it...story over.

However, we were then invited to the Employees Only area in the back where we saw her. Chris pointed her out and she was brought out for us to visit with her. She was so sweet and gentle. As people came in and out of the lobby, she stood by us, no barking, no growling, no jumping. She simply looked up at Chris with those precious puppy-dog eyes as if she was saying, "I can love you so well, please take me home." She was the size we wanted, a good breed mix, good age, great personality. She was perfect.

THEN the lady said that she would go ahead and review our application, right there on the spot! And just like that my prayer was answered. Within 20 minutes, we were walking out the door with our brand new pup, Sadie. This sweet thing was now ours.
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Yes, I had moments of "oh my, what are we doing?" and "are we crazy!?" but she has been such a blessing that I don't doubt this was the right decision.

In the past week we've seen how Sadie makes us stick to more of a schedule, which we actually love. She keeps me more on top of cleaning (darn shedding), but that is a good thing. She keeps us active with all the long walks. She has brought Chris and I closer as we talk on our long walks and we work as team in training and disciplining. And one of my favorite things about her is that this kid just flat out loves people, which is not only sweet to witness, but in a matter of days simply walking her has opened up the door for conversation with more neighbors than we have had in the almost 4 years that we've lived here! It is amazing how people open up and share life when your dog daily loves on them.

Maybe it is too early to say this, but I'm going to say it anyways: Sadie has changed our lives for the better and we already love her like she has always been one of us.