My nieces, their parents and their dog all got here safely and, although our little dogs are going crazy having another dog in the house, I'm fairly confident we can keep everyone either separated or sufficiently tired out so that they won't drive Amy insane. Our little dogs are crazy every day actually...and Amy's sanity has been subject to debate ever since she said, "I do" to me.
Amy is still in pain and still having mysterious fevers that come and go. Little things loom large and tears come too easy. She worries too much. I can't blame her, but I often can't reason with her either. We can pray and hold each other though, so I'm finding that's my best approach.
I took all the dogs for short walks this morning since no humans were awake. I was tempted to take Klondike on my usual 3 mile trek but I got over that idea as soon as he began dragging me down the road. I took him a block or two and then we turned around. He seemed to understand...at least enough to do his business (he's a 90 pound dog) in the middle of our front yard. I'm sure that deposit will come back to haunt my shoe leather. It wasn't a long walk...but it was a walk and to him that's a special time.
Our visiting dog, Bailey (I may be misspelling his name), is a large dog too...though not as big as Klondike. He went outside with me ignoring the confusion over who I was and satisfied to have a collar and lead. Bailey doesn't like to get his feet wet, so his was a short walk. He did what he had to do and then made it pretty clear he was used to sleeping in.
The little dogs, which are the most challenging in all aspects including the mud potential, were of course the noisiest and most difficult to handle. I have to take them out together or the remaining one will howl and wake everyone in the house. Their walk was brief, but once they saw that the other dogs were in the house and not getting preferential treatment, they seemed ready and willing to settle back into their crates and catch some more sleep.
Now I have time for my walk. It's a little drizzly and I'll have to pick up the pace but I'm giving myself permission to skip Sunday school. I think I need the time of exertion to help me maintain my perspective too.
This is going to a joyous week. We are surrounded by family and I don't have to work.
Amy isn't getting better as fast as she wants, but we're not convinced she's getting worse. I am praying she simply needs time.
So I'll try to keep the dogs from challenging her patience, and when it comes to that, they've got the advantage of my vast experience going for them.
And if we all turn into mud people
(picture by Anne Geddes)
We'll still have each other....and that's certainly something for which to be thankful.
