A Hairy Day

Everyday for a week we have had people ask us if we found Hairy. They call us, they ring our doorbell . . .I even had a mother call today that has lessons tomorrow. I thought she was going to reschedule lessons, but she just wanted to know if we found Hairy, that's all, "OK, see you tomorrow". We did find Hairy. A man caught her going "due west" last Wed. morning, about 15 minutes after she disappeared. He didn't see the posters until that evening, so Hairy spent the day with him.
If Hairy only knew how we spent our day. . . It's one I don't want to forget.
One Grandma. Two darling grand daughters. Joyously babysitting for the morning while their moms (our good daughters) went shopping. Beautiful day. Haphazard decision to take Hairy with us for a walk. . . Emmie had Hairy by the leash. We enjoyed every little footstep since it takes time to get up and down when you're so close to every pine cone. We studied everything. As we got to the end of our street, we made a turn to go slowly back home. The girls were good, Hairy was not. As we turned around, Hairy pulled in the opposite direction. With Emmie's grip, she held on as tight as her 21 months could hold. It was enough to give Hairy leverage to slip backwards, right out of her collar. She ran frantically northbound like an escaped criminal. I grabbed both of the little girls hands, knowing they were a priority and I did NOT have a third hand for any dog that was on the run - besides, I knew we could catch up to her in the car. She never got very far, what with every tree and bush filled with gross stuff to eat. I picked up Kate and Emmie ran with me. I strapped Emmie into the car seat, since I knew she probably could make more of a mess than Kate (ha). We were off. Kate had free rein of the whole back of the van. We went at a snails pace. Hardly moving at all. Hairy had to be under someones bushes. I could just see her in my imagination, sniffing and trotting on and stopping to sniff again. No Hairy. We just covered our 2 streets, since I had never known Hairy to go out of our neighborhood, besides, her feet are so small, she gets "bushed" easily. I couldn't believe she wasn't somewhere close. I knew we'd find her. After circling the streets, I headed back to the house. Our next plan would be to strap the little girls into the double stroller (thankfully loaned to us be our good neighbors). I parked the car and turned to find Kate standing next to Emmie sharing her new found treasure, an opened package of juicy fruit gum. She had half a stick in her mouth and was quickly sharing the rest of the pieces with Emmie. I had to laugh out loud while I hurried to empty Kate and Emmie's mouths, knowing they knew they would be busted. I left Kate in the car, since her favorite game is for people to chase her, and I knew she would probably want to play it. I lifted Emmie out and sat her in the stroller. (Ah, one in!) Since my distraction of putting Emmie in, Kate had a new plan. She had now made her way to the driver's seat, where I had left the gum in the door handle. As I looked up to grab her, she was sitting there, madly unwrapping sticks of gum as fast as her little 16 month old hands could manage. The look on her face said it all! She knew she had hit the jackpot. (Glee!) So I rolled Emmie around the front of the car and left her outside the driver's door while I opened it and grabbed Kate. I was completely tickled at the site of her new found mischief. I grabbed her, taking out the half piece of gum in her mouth (some still in the wrapper) and some in her little hand. As I felt relief from the gum ordeal being over, and with both girls out of the car, I turned to put Kate in the stroller. . . No stroller. It was not at my feet where I had left it. I was panicked. But my peripheral vision led my eyes to see the back of it, rolling away from me, with the back of Emmie's little red haired head helplessly heading so slowly towards the street. With a quick 2 steps, holding Kate in one arm and grabbing Emmie's handle with the other, (my heart raced at the image I had just witnessed) I tucked Kate in and said a quick prayer of thanks. I didn't feel that we had narrowly escaped a disaster, I just felt a knowledge that we were being watched by Heavenly Father. My short prayer was for thankfulness of that knowledge. There is a reason I was not born with 3 arms. Hairy was not the priority that day, even though she was the reason for the experience. I am in love with 2 little grand daughters. And because of the worry, joy, and gratitude I felt that day, I know he loves us all.

new beginnings

March has been busy. Awesome family all here. Awesome family in the temple together for Jeff and Vita's wedding and reception. Grand daughters that were born to play. Dog lost. Dog found. Julianne and Emmie back to NE. Randy released from Bishopric. (All the spaces in this post so far are packed full of memories that bring a smile across my face from ear to ear.) New beginnings?. . . A perfect season!

THANK- YOU!

Yep, today we let Julianne and Emmie go back to Brenden. He misses them, but always unselfishly shares them with us, helping us sense what heaven can be like. But as hard as it is to let her go, it is sweet to realize that he is so anxious to have her back. It was so fun to have her here, though. We played and played and ran and ran and oooed and awwwed and ran some more. Pure delight! Definitely a light goes on when our children come back home. I am grateful for each of our children and their spouses, who one by one have come into our little fold, to love and support each other.  No words can express the joy in the heart of a mother when she sees her children drop everything to be around each other. Thank- you , dear children!

Sisters

Sisters . . . I never had my own, only awesome brothers (NO complaints!) But we had 2 girls back to back. I wanted to do cartwheels after each one, but it was hard, what with C sections, etc. Today, they are grown and have each blessed us with one delightful little grand daughter a piece. Be still my heart! They are 5 months apart. Oh, the joy. Today Grandpa took the day off to watch them while the 3 of us went shopping. He only changed 5 total diapers in 3 hours. He's a trooper. It was heaven to be with the girls. I think Heavenly Father knew they would be wonderful friends. I am blessed. . . and you should see these grand daughters!

What do you know?

I just spent 45 minutes recoloring (I love coloring) and refonting (love that, too)! It's been a fun way to spend my prepiano lesson time. What do you know . . . I just entered my 2nd post.