Eight Is More Than Enough

I've been having a hard time blogging lately. It may have something to do with dogs and puppies. Last time Taffy had puppies, I only had her and Pepper. She had a litter of three, that made five altogether last summer and it was , I seem to remember, manageable. This time around, however, I have four dogs, Taffy, Pepper, Riff and Roy to begin with. They can be a handful on their own. Then five weeks ago, Taffy gave birth to four male puppies. It was the first time she had four. So, let's see, four dogs, four puppies, guess that makes eight. Yep, I've had my hands full. Taffy's a good mommy, but that doesn't mean that I'm sitting around twiddling my thumbs while she does all the work. We're even splitting the feedings now as they're adapting to moistened puppy food. She and they are having problems with weaning, but I know it will all work out.

Yesterday was an especially challenging day for all of us. As I let the dogs out to do their business, while I tended to the puppies area and their overnight business offerings, I had no idea what those four were up to outdoors. When I let them back in, I started noticing clumps on the floor. Upon closer examination, I realized that Taffy and Pepper had brought in clumps of clay mud encrusted in their paws from the area where we are having our garage built. I then started to notice a strange smell and took a closer look at Riff and Roy. They both had dark greenish black streaks around their necks. That means they had discovered some delightfully fresh deer poo out in the yard and had rolled in it. They were a mess!! That was around 6:45, I think in the morning. By 11:00 I had bathed and groomed four dogs. When a neighbor stopped by for a visit later, he even commented how wonderful they smelled. This morning I took the dogs out on leashes for their business as the puppies cried in the background. Eight is certainly more than enough for me. Three more weeks before the four little ones go to their new homes. I pray God will help me with those decisions that aren't obviously apparent right now.

In the news is another story of eight. Jon and Kate Gosling, the parents of twins and sextuplets have had an entertaining and educating reality show of how they raise their large brood. I've enjoyed it and learned from the Southland Hour on tv that Jon Weece, senior pastor there, is addicted to the show. How sad to see that the Gosling marriage is in jeopardy and the media is having a shark type feeding frenzy over their problems. I was troubled to read that the Gosling's church has abandoned them because of all the bad publicity. This may be untrue, after all, I read it in one of the magazines. But, I hope and pray this couple gets the Christian counseling that can save their marriage and family. Apparently, Jon is the more faithful parent, again, I read it in one of the magazines, but I just hope we, the Christian community keeps this young father, mother and family in our prayers.

I also noticed in the news that Forbes has out it's new list of successful, wealthy, most influential people. Angelina, Oprah and Tiger are wordly individuals who the world measures by money and fame. I would love to see a list in the news of those individuals whose success is measured by their positive influence on people's lives, most importantly, their spiritual lives, their eternal lives. Maybe that list would include Rick Warren, Billy Graham, Chuck Swindoll, Beth Moore, Joyce Meyer and a whole list of others.

I continue to gain daily wisdom and encouragement from my UpperRoom devotional. The reading yesterday was so relevant to something in my life right now. It's funny how God can speak to us, especially when we open ourselves up to spiritual and Godly instruments. I hope you give God a chance to speak to you just the thing that you need to hear today. I thank God for speaking to me daily and all the blessings in my life, including eight little furballs. You have a great day, luv, Susan