She Went From This....

To This!!!!!

Poor baby was panting so much in our very high heat. Dear husband said it was time to get her shaved so she could have some relief. I agreed but never expected her to look like this! Not sure what I was expecting, though. We laughed and laughed when we picked her up from the groomer. She even seemed embarrassed by her looks (I know that's applying human emotions to an animal, but that's the way she was acting.)!

But she's not panting hardly at all anymore. In fact, I found her shivering the other day. So I covered her up with a blanket and she went right to sleep. Go figure!

Life's Education

I can remember when I graduated from high school thinking that finally my education was done and over with. Ha!!! Little did I know that I was just embarking on a life full of learning! But life's education is and has been very healthy for me. I have learned so much just from life. That said...

Ruby has been home a week now and we are so thankful.

She has put quite a bit of weight back on but she is not herself yet. She does have a couple of spots on her front feet that we are concerned about because she is limping but other than that she looks great. We will take her to the vet if those spots don't heal soon. We are anxious for her to get back to her old silly self again, but we wait patiently for that.

Last Tuesday night, we gathered as a family and went around to each one of us to find out what we learned from Ruby running away.

Tyler: He learned patience
Phyllip: He learned how to wait on God
Lyndsey: She learned not to take Ruby for granted - that we will always have her
Rhonda: I learned patience; my faith was strengthened at the EXACT moment I needed it! This taught me how BIG my God is!
Walter: He learned compassion. He said he didn't realize just how much of a friend Ruby had become to all of us until she ran away.

There are several miracles we see in this whole situation.

-The temperature outside had climbed to 110 and above for several days before Ruby came home. When she finally showed up on our doorstep, she was severely dehydrated, skin and bones, exhausted and very smelly/dirty. She would not have lasted much longer out in the heat.

-We put countless hours into finding her. We passed out hundreds of flyers, walked many miles, drove many miles, called for many hours for her, put ads on craigslist for her, looked several times a day at the animal shelters for her. None of it brought her back home. We finally decided that God would have to bring her home. Oh, how we prayed daily for her that she would be safe and that God would direct her back here. We just trusted...and prayed. It got harder and harder each day to believe she could still be alive knowing the area of the US we live in. I had prayed and begged God on Monday to strengthen my faith because I was feeling weak. I told Him I needed to see Him do something just for me. And do something He DID!!!

-From this situation I was able to get a glimpse of God's love for each and every person in this world. Just like we were looking for our lost dog and calling her, Jesus is calling each and every one of us and He wants to show us just how much He loves us and wants to care for us. He wants each one of us to live with Him in heaven for all eternity.

This small situation in our lives has given me a greater compassion for people and their eternal destination. I want to show the love of Jesus to each and every person I can. Lord Jesus, please help me to show others your love!

Home!

RUBY IS HOME!!!!! And she was not at a shelter, either!

We were getting ready to take my nephew to the airport this morning and all of a sudden, she was on the doorstep!

She is very thin, tired, and dirty but we are so thankful to have her back. Praise the Lord!!!

Quirks!

Does anyone have a dog that has quirks? I do and she is very funny!

This is one of my absolute favorite pictures!

Recently, a small couch was put into Lyndsey's room. It's the only couch Ruby (the dog) is allowed to be on. Earlier this week, Tyler and I were sitting on said couch doing some schoolwork when Ruby walked in the room. Tyler and I were sitting on one side of the couch leaving the other side completely open. Ruby walked over and stood right in front of Tyler. She wanted up on the couch. We tried to get her to get up on the couch. Nope, she wouldn't do it. She'd just stand and stare at Tyler. I told Tyler to get up and see what she would do. Guess what? She immediately hopped up on the couch and moved over to the empty side of the couch! Weird, huh. She did that about 4 or 5 times. Quirky!

Ruby has to smell everyone's breath first thing in the morning. Gross, I know!

After she gets done smelling you she sneezes and gives you a shower!

She likes piggyback rides - I'm totally serious! She started that one on her own. We didn't teach her.

If you have food, she sits in front of you and stares incessantly. If she thinks you don't know she's there, she moves to the other side of you. If you still don't acknowledge her, she starts drooling buckets of slobber! Eeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww! Gross!!!!

She nudges our legs when we are walking to take her outside just to make sure we don't forget she has needs, too!

She loves to play "floss the teeth" with rubber bands!

She has to squeeze into tight places! Don't know why but she does it over and over and over.

Not Your Average Flossing!

The kids love to play with Ruby! She happily indulges them about 99% of the time.

I don't know how all of this got started but one day Lyndsey was playing with a rubber band and Ruby at the same time. Ruby decided to bite the rubber band and hence the "flossing" of Ruby's teeth began!

Every time Lyndsey has a rubber band now Ruby loves to have her teeth "flossed." These pictures were taken the other day.



I know it's totally goofy but very funny to watch in person!

Would Somebody Please Tell the Dog Which Ball Is Hers?

Tonight the boys were rolling a tennis ball back and forth across the living room for Phyllip's exercises. Everything was fine and dandy until Ruby got woke up.

You see, Ruby has a tennis ball all her own and it is her favorite (and pretty much only) toy (by her own choosing). Hers just so happens to look not-so-new, uh, kinda like it has had lots of doggie slobber on it. Hers is the one on the right.

She came over and sat by me for a while just watching the boys rolling the ball back and forth. Then all of a sudden, pounce, and she had stolen their ball! This, of course, made us all erupt in laughter.

We found her ball and would throw it so that Phyllip's exercise could continue. But Ruby kept coming back. She thought the ball was hers for the taking! An exercise that should have only taken about 5 minutes ended up taking about 15!

Here's Tyler trying to distract Ruby with her ball.

Here he is again and she is trying to steal their ball.