Thursday, February 14, 2008

My Valentine Blessing

Last night, myself, the women's pastor and several other ladies from my church hosted a valentines dinner for the Women & Children First Home. This home takes in women and children that are fleeing from domestic abuse. Some of them come from half way across the country b/c their situation is so bad that they never want him to find them.
We prepared a dinner for ladies while thier children played upstairs with other volunteers. Because these women have not been shown love in a long time, it was our honor to cook them a nice meal and focus our love on them, if only for a couple of hours.

I was blessed beyond measure. God surprised me more than I could imagine.

I sat next to a lady who was very soft spoken and probably didn't what to think about all the attention. I had noticed upstairs that she had brought her son with her (I can't disclose names for the protection of the women). He was such an outgoing little boy and full of energy. As I sat next to the lady, I knew one way I could get her to talk was to ask her a/b her children. She has been in toe program for a while and is now starting to live on her own for the first time. We talked about her apartment, where she works, what she does for fun.
I felt very odd asking the question, but I followed my gut - I asked her (as far as a career) what she would eventually like to do.

Are you ready????...


She looks at me and says "Well, I have a degree in art with an emphasis in graphic design & illustration and love to get back in to that one day."


HELLO!!!!??????? OKAY GOD, WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO TAKE THIS?!

Some of you might be wondering what I am suprised about.? Well, being a graphic designer, I knew instantly that I was supposed to talk to her about that. When I told her what I did for a living, her eyes to lit up! "Really!?" she asked.
So, for the rest of the night, I tried to coach her on what avenues she should take to try to get back in the business. It has been a few years since she has worked and things change rapidly in this business. She was very curious and asked me a ton of questions. I pray that I left her with tremendous encouragement and that I empowered her to take her next step in life.

I have never walked out of a situation/event with that much belief that I was RIGHT were God wanted me to be that evening - ever!
I will never forget it.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

I wish she would live forever...


Most of you know, I have a very special quiet angel in my life -
my 12 yr. old golden retriever, Belle.
I have had her since I was 15. I am just know able to post this b/c I have run out of tears and have started the process of acceptance, but it is going to take me while to get through this post.
We found out last September that she had skin cancer after two tumors were removed off of her right leg. Everything seemed great, nothing seemed to "loom" over us.
Right after New Years, what I thought was two more tumors had popped up on her right leg again. I took her in to get them removed and there were SEVEN, not two. The type of skin cancer she has is very aggressive. We had just been dealing with Grade 2, well, one the size of a BB came back a Grade 3, which puts us in a whole other playing field. Chemo is not very effective towards this cancer, so we have decided not to pursue that option.
To me, her quality of life is much more important at this stage than the quantity!
She still greets us at the door everyday when we come home - tail wagging and ready to play frisbee to the best of her ability. If she wants a whole piece of bread instead of a half piece, yes, i admit it, she gets it.
The vet said we have 6-9 months.
I know the time will come, but I will NEVER be ready.
  • Every time I have been sick, Belle would not leave the front yard, even if she did want to go on a walk so bad she couldn't stand it. She had a job a to do.
  • One of her nicknames is "Thumper" b/c when you come up to her and she is lying on her side she thumps her tail on the ground so loudly and has the biggest grin on her face that says "Rub my belly, Rub my belly"
  • Another nickname is "Boo Boo" b/c my brother used to call her that to make fun of her b/c she is such a chicken when it storms
  • She is my protector and my gentle giant. All she wants to do is know your not going to hurt me, then she licks you to death.

I soak up every minute I can with her right now b/c I know I will never have a dog just like her. It is heart wrenching to think that what seems like a little thing in your life will leave an impact the size of a crater on your heart.

So this post is dedicated to my quiet angel.