Tuesday, September 11, 2007

My grandma is 92 today!

I know she doesn't even really know what the internet is and surely will not see this birthday greeting, but I just wanted to wish my grandma a Happy 92nd Birthday anyway. She is the sweetest woman and I just love her to pieces. So much so that any daughter I have will be named after her...luckily she has a nice name! :)

Here is a picture of her 2 years ago at her 90th birthday party. She looks sooo pretty!

Saturday, September 8, 2007

An answer to a prayer...


I hadn't talked to my mom in a while, like over a week, and I finally talked to her last night and she told me that she had been avoiding talking to me because she didn't want to have to tell me that one of her dogs, Toby, had gone missing. Mom and John have a very large fenced yard, but they often leave the front gate open and had never had any probelms with Toby leaving before, but he must have seen a cat or other small snimal and chased it out of the yard and gotten himself lost. She was hoping that he would just show back up before she had to tell me, but it had been a few days (he went missing Tues. night) and she wasn't so sure that was going to happen anymore.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE dogs...so I did not take the news of him being gone very well at all! I literally cried all of last night, so much that I had a headache for about 8 hours straight until I finally fell asleep. I just kept imagining all the terrible things that might have happened to him and I just felt sick thinking of him out there all scared and alone. You see, Toby is kind of a wimp...one of the sweetest dogs you'll ever meet, but a wimp...and I did not have high hopes for him surviving well on his own. When we first got him a couple of Christmases ago from the Humane Society he was terrified of concrete, being put in a car, and even being taken out of the house. He had been at the pound for a long time before mom adopted him, and he had been adopted out twice before and then taken back both times, which is why I think the poor thing had all these issues. But he has made so much progress living with my mom and is such a well-behaved boy now. I just prayed and prayed that he would find his way home...for Toby's sake and because I knew my mom felt incredibly sad and kind of guilty about him running away. But in my heart, I truly didn't believe that he would ever be home again. I'm ashamed to say it, but I had so little faith!

But early this morning a mini-miracle happened! My uncle Joe was on the way to take some stuff out to the city dump (a way he doesn't even normally take mind you) and he saw a dog wandering around by DeSale's (the Catholic high-school in town) and the baseball field complex right next to it and thought it looked vaguely like Toby. The area is about 2 1/2 miles from my mom's house! My uncle saw a guy out in his yard and asked if the dog was his and he said "nope" so my uncle raced up the couple of blocks back to his house and grabbed my aunt Susie (we're not really sure why, but we think my uncle thought Toby might run and wanted a reinforcement) and then went back down to where Toby was and luckily he was still roaming around there. My aunt called his name out and he shot his head up and came running over to them! They put Toby in the truck and brought him home.

Mom said she saw uncle Joe at the door and then saw Toby sitting right beside him and just started bawling! Soo many people had driven around looking for him and had been praying that he would come back and he finally did! Mom said he was so tired from walking around for the last 3 1/2 days that he didn't even have the strength to act happy to see her (and this dog looooves my mom). She said that he is so stiff and sore that all he managed to do before going to sleep was drink a bunch of water, but he seems like he will be fine. I am just sooo thankful that Toby is home. My heart just ached thinking of him being gone. Especially now that I have my own little doggy, I just can't even imagine how I would feel. I mean I know in theory they're just dogs, but in my family they are very much important members of household, and I am just so happy that Toby is back where he belongs!

Monday, September 3, 2007

One year ago today...






It's been a hard 1st year in many ways, but never because of our marriage. That has always been the rock that made everything else okay. I am just so thankful to have David in my life! And I know it's kind of a cliche, but I truly do love him more each day.