Insert Witty Title Here

Health:

Another great cloth diaper giveaway!

I am grieving. I don't know how else to share my feelings except to write here. Our friends & family have been so sympathetic and understanding at our pain--but it's hard to put into words how we're feeling.

Jack was our first baby. He came home with us at 6 weeks old--only about a month after we moved into our house, before we even thought about having children. We picked him out of the litter when he was around 3-4 weeks and named him then. When he was a puppy, he had the saddest eyes you have ever seen. As he grew, he trained easily and was just an all-around great dog! Great with Ethan after he was born, and great with Ellie too. These days, Ethan liked to lay on Jack, give him big hugs by hanging on his neck, and in the mornings Ethan had recently taken to crawling into our bedroom and laying down with Jack where he slept at the foot of our bed.

Yes, Jack did have his flaws. He once cut the end of his ear somehow and it took forever to heal, so every time he shook his head he would spray little drops of blood all over the walls of our house. (THAT took hours to scrub clean!) He went through two major sheds a year, meaning we would find clumps of fur all over the house. He had horrible gas, especially when we gave him rawhide bones & pig's ears. He felt the need to dominate every other dog, which meant if the dog was willing to submit they got along fine, but if not...watch out! And, since Ellie was born, he had a tendency to get into the diaper pail and eat what he found there--YUCK! (We had to start barricading the upstairs so that wouldn't happen when we were gone!)

He really was part of our family. This loss has made us realize that we can't take anything for granted, and life is precious. We are thankful that the human members of our family are alive and well. The house is lonely. Some of the hardest times for me are coming home to an empty house (rather than an excited, tail-wagging furry little guy) and waking up in the morning to an empty dog bed and not needing to let him out, feed him, or give him water. Jack was my buddy on nighttime walks while Daniel stayed home after the kids were in bed. He was Daniel's buddy hanging out at the rafting base in the summer. We are lonely and we are heartbroken.

Sometime soon we'll probably look for another dog. We really can't imagine our lives or our home for any period of time without one. For now, though, and probably for the rest of our lives, we will look forward to seeing Jack when we get to heaven. Because, all "serious theology" aside, now having loved & lost our own family dog, I can't imagine that our dogs won't be waiting for us when we get there.

Here we go with another cloth diaper promo. If you're reading this, have (or will have in the future) diaper-age children, and want to save some dough, I strongly urge you to consider cloth diapering!!

I love rainy fall days. They remind me that winter is just around the corner, and although it's not bitterly cold, there's just enough of a chill in the air that it makes me feel warm and cozy with my coffee & my candle burning as I work in my office.

I've said before that I think fall is my favorite season. I like the school year (perhaps because I am not currently IN school). Ethan started preschool this year, and he LOVES it, and we can see how much he is benefitting from being there 2 mornings a week. Youth group is humming along pretty smoothly. I am learning the rhythm and the work of ministry better than I used to. I think I'm in a really good spot.

As I think about the future, I am hopeful. I think about possibilities, ways that God is working in my life and still changing me, and I am content as I anticipate what might be coming down the road. It's amazing how little steps that God leads us to take, lead to bigger steps and bigger changes and bigger obedience. It's a good place to be--content where you are, content to move forward slowly and at God's pace. I am not always in this place, for sure, and I know I will be impatient, frustrated, and restless again (it's part of life), but for now I am happy. I'm growing and changing, and I'm happy.

Well, as part of our NEW youth group website, I have a new blog too!

Although I often find myself blogging about ministry-related things, I also didn't really want to link all my random musings about cloth diapers, my weight-loss issues, and silly videos to our youth group website. (Not that I'm trying to HIDE anything, but I figure most people who find me via my professional role may not actually care much about that stuff. LOL)

So I will still be blogging here about my personal thoughts, struggles, and triumphs as a woman of God, pastor, wife, and mom. But I will save my "professional" thoughts, struggles, and triumphs, plus any youth group previews or announcements, for the youth group blog. Check it out, leave some comments, and let me know what you think!

By the way, like the new design of this blog? This, plus our youth group website, among other things, was designed by my wonderful, talented husband. Through his new business, Next Mountain, he does all types of graphic design--most notably websites and print design. Check it out! (I think he's finally found his calling in life, besides being an all-around great guy.)