Saying Goodbye...

I can remember 8 years ago when I begged Billy for another dog. We had already gotten Rufus, our "mini" dachsund and he had just turned 2. I thought it would be better for him to have another friend to play with, so Billy allowed me to choose what kind of dog I would like. It just so happened that a friend had several shitzhu puppies and Billy went to pick me one out.
I remember the day they brought him to our house and how scared he was of everything...just a little furball and only 6 weeks old - we named him Corky. From that day he was by my side. He was extremely playful and loved running around with Rufus. They became close and pretty much inseparable. When I would take Corky to the vet or groomer, Rufus would pace the house nervously until Corky came back home. Then all was well with the world again.

Several years ago Corky developed an eye condition and had to be constantly medicated and even had surgery to correct the issue. Unfortunately it did not work and condition slowly returned. Over the past few months new medications were given with hope that he would show some signs of improvement...but they did not work either. I was given a choice of a very painful existence for Corky for the remainder of his life or to let him go in peace.

I had for so long selfishly thought that I could manage with Corky and he would be okay with medications....I was never told what pain was actually involved and how that would worsen. After fighting myself over this decision for a week and losing sleep as well as crying frequently I had decided that I had to do what was best for him and let him go.

Normally when Corky has to go anywhere in the car he gets extremely nervous and whines...today he didn't do that. He simply laid beside me in the car and was calm. I sang to him all the way to our destination and when we got there he jumped up in my arms. When we got inside he laid his head on my shoulder (I always carried him like a child) and I said goodbye.

Corky was Brice's favorite of all our dogs and he hugged, kissed and told Corky "I love you so much" this morning before we left the house. Brice didn't know what was coming.

Tonight I had to explain to Brice why Corky wasn't here and being so young he doesn't understand. He thinks Corky will be home tomorrow. However, I put a framed photo of Corky on one of our tables in the living room and Brice has kept it with him all evening. Something has clicked...

I used to have little furry white feet following me everywhere and not resting until I did...I'm gonna miss that :*(

Choices

Yesterday my back tooth began to hurt once again (after one round of antibiotics and pain killers....and waiting to find out about our new insurance coverage) and my dentist was kind enough to prescribe another round of meds in hopes that I would be able to get this much needed root canal next week.

So, Billy and Brice were going to pick up my prescriptions on their way home. Billy had told Brice that Mommy was sick (which is true....not just the tooth pain, but a cold is taking over my body). Billy also told Brice that if he was a good boy at the store, he would get a surprise. That always puts Brice into "let's see what we can find" mode. After picking up the prescription, Billy and Brice go to find a "surprise" when they pass the flower stand. Brice asks if they can get flowers for Mommy and Billy tells Brice that they can either get a surprise or flowers for Mommy, but not both. Billy said that Brice smiled up at him and said, "Daddy, I would like to give flowers to Mommy so she will feel better." So they picked out some flowers and a lady standing nearby was crying and said "That's just the sweetest thing I've ever heard!"

I thought so too.

Those are the some of the most precious flowers I have ever received...second only to this one (on my first Mother's Day):

A song from my past.....

The other night, we were all sitting around and started flipping through the channels. Billy stopped on this channel that had an old re-run of "Hee Haw" - and Brice lit up - he liked the song they were singing. Ofcourse, Billy and I knew it well, because we grew up watching this show with our parents - so we started singing it. Brice picked it up and fortunately I caught him on video at a moment where he was cooperative. Below is one of the original videos with the song from Hee Haw and then there's the best version of all - my very own son :)






How cute is that, Grandpa?!

Medicine Man

This weekend I have been dealing with some major mouth pain. Not sure what the issue is yet....could be an exposed nerve....could be the need for a root canal....could be previous jaw surgery issues....could be an alien trying to get out of my back molar....who knows. All I DO KNOW is that the pain involved will not calm down with any over the counter medication. And yes, Billy has made a trip to the local liquor store and that has helped a little....not so much with the pain....just forgetting about it...HAHA!

So we were on our way to church this morning and in the midst of this shooting pain up the side of my head, Brice announces that he wants to tell a story. This ought to be good, I thought. What I didn't know was that he would make me laugh so hard I would forget how much pain I was in....best medicine ever. So I wanted to document this little story and hope that it will give you a laugh too. I tried to keep it as close to his exact wording as possible, but I had to add my commentary in italics:

"Once there was a mountain and Jesus was going to the mountain. There was a BIG river and Jesus was looking at the river. Then Jesus kicked a big rock. He burned his foot when he kicked the big rock (now that's power!). Then a BIG snowball hit Jesus in the neck. Who hit Jesus? It was Goliva (this is Brice's pronunciation of Goliath). Then Jesus threw a snowball at Goliva (who needs a slingshot?!) and they made a snowman. But the snowman fell in the river and Jesus had to go get him and fix him again. Then they lived ever-ever after. The end."

I was laughing so hard I was crying...so was Billy. I forgot all about my pain and just wanted to hug Brice for making me laugh so hard and telling such a great story. Laughter truly is the best medicine. I'll try to remember that when the dentist is drilling tomorrow :O

Happy New Year

Today is the first day of 2009.....my mom's birthday (Happy Birthday, Grandma!)...and the first day we have completely spent outside in quite some time (minus the much needed nap, ofcourse.) It was beautiful here in FL today and Brice helped me to relocate some plants, sweep the back patio and redecorate our little outdoor area. I think Brice would live outside if I would let him, and today was one of those that the humidity was low and there was a nice breeze.....I wish it was like this in JULY!!!

We had several close calls with our time outside today.....Brice decided to climb the outside of his playset, which is quite high and unfortunately got stuck. Daddy was there to rescue him, thank goodness. Mommy didn't think she could get up there and really didn't want a youtube video from the neighbors of her trying!

Something else to document for this new year is that Brice has slept on the sofa in the living room since he came out of the crib. That has been A LONG TIME. He has been too scared to stay in his room....that is until last week. Grandma somehow worked her magic and now Brice is sleeping in his bed every night---ALL NIGHT. Ahhhhhh....it has been wonderful. Thanks, Grandma.

There's no telling what 2009 will bring, but with the Lord as our focus, we step forward and grow in Him each day. Happy New Year!

Lost in Translation

Our worship team is constantly learning new songs and so is Brice, by proxy. He gets to hear the new song lots of times on the way to daycare in the mornings, and other times in the car. So it doesn't take long for him to catch onto the songs and start singing along. He loves music and he loves our worship band. I think he already wants to be like our 2 fantastic drummers, and it won't be long before they start teaching him.

So in the past 2 weeks our team has been learning "Prepare Ye the Way" off the new Michael W. Smith album. We added a second drum set and both drummers were playing away at rehearsal this past Sunday. Brice just watched in amazement and I saw him start to sing with us. At once I smiled because I knew the words he was singing were not the actual lyrics of the song, but he was praisin' God through every one of them.

Here's some of the original lyrics to "Prepare Ye the Way":
Prepare ye the way, prepare ye the way of the Lord!

Yeshua, You reign on high, Almighty God, Your love is like no other!

Now here's Brice's version:
Prepare ye the way, prepare ye the way of the Lord!

Yes you are, you rain on my, a mighty God your love is in the oven!

Kind of catchy, isn't it?! Now let's hope I don't sing those lyrics this Sunday and completely freak the worship team out!



Here's a little bit of someone's video from the live recording of the song.

Singing the Sermon

I found this interesting :)