All Things Ellie

Ellie loves people and they usually seem to love her, too.  

This was evident when we took her with us to a local home supply store.  This store welcomes dogs and we were visiting the garden area.  Ellie had a great time smelling all the plants, planters and especially the bags of compost and manure. (She is, after all, a dog!)

Several of the employees  stopped to talk about Ellie as we passed by.  They all politely asked if they could pet her and Ellie seemed to really enjoy the attention.  Except for one lady.  She was polite and kind like the others, but when she reached out to pet Ellie, Ellie became frightened.  I think it was because the lady had very long fingernails, and the sight of those nails coming straight at her was probably more than she could handle at the moment.

The lady backed off and we joked that today just wasn't the day for her to pet Ellie.  I told her we would come back another day (which I am certain we will) and we will try again later.

I think we all have moments like that with people sometimes.  We may not know what it is specifically that puts us on guard about a person, we just know we feel that way.  Then, on another occasion, we may feel comfortable and at ease with the very same person.  Perhaps, if we choose believe our purpose on this earth is to bless others and be ministers of the love of Christ to everyone, we will find it easier to keep trying to connect with most people.  Sometimes that may mean we need to try again another day, but if we remember it is not about us, but about the Lord, we may yet succeed.

Friday Photos

 

I don't remember where this was taken, but I do recall what this flag represents.  It stands for countless men and women who gave their time, their health, and their lives so that our country may remain free.

When I see these stars and stripes, I think of all the families throughout our nation who have said goodbye to loved ones being deployed to war-torn places. They had no reassurance that their loved one would ever return.  So many didn't.  We owe all these families, and especially those who serve, the utmost respect and appreciation.

Knowing that my son and my daughter-in-law have pledged their lives to defend our Constitution, I cannot help but take pride in the flag that represents that most precious document of our nation.

So, to everyone who calls America their home and loves this country, I say "Happy Independence Day," and to those who fought for and maintain that independence, I say "Thank you," and "God bless you!"

All Things Ellie

Today is Tuesday, so this post should be about Ellie.  But it isn't.

That's because today is Sparrow's birthday, and Ellie would want me to talk about Sparrow.

Sparrow Jean

Sparrow was our first female beagle.  We have had five beagles now.  The first, Grunt, was a gift to our youngest daughter in 2001. He was her best friend until he died in an accident at three years old.

 In 2004, we purchased two beagles, a tri-color and a chocolate, as brothers. They were taken out of our backyard during the next hunting season.

Baby Sparrow

After those losses, we weren't ready for another dog for a while.  Then, for my birthday in 2006, Glen surprised me with Sparrow.  She was eight weeks old and weighed only three and a half pounds.

Sparrow was a sweet, loving dog.  Whenever we returned to the house, she had a distinctive greeting for us.  It was a combination of a howl, a bark and a whine, and it was very loud.  She would make this sound until everyone who was returning would stop and pet her.  You couldn't just speak to her, you had to actually touch her.  

Unlike our first beagle, Grunt, Sparrow was not a very athletic dog.  Probably because of her heart issues, she preferred to sit and watch the world go by outside through her window than to actually be outside.  An example of this happened one day when we went to run errands.  While we were out, our neighbor called and asked if Sparrow was supposed to be outside.  We didn't even know how she got outside.  We told Ralph that no she wasn't and he said, "Oh, she's okay.  She's just sitting on the front porch looking at everything."  Graciously, he took her to his house until we returned home.  No other beagle we have owned would skip the opportunity to explore the neighborhood!

One thing she did not like was to ride in the car.  If the window was down and she could stick her head out, she was good.  But if not, you had to be prepared to listen to a howling beagle until the car stopped. On one trip to the beach, we tried to let her hang her head out of the window, but wind from our 65 mph was drying her eyes out.  We had to endure the howling for the entire hour.   

Sparrow and Emmie

Like Ellie, Sparrow loved to be cuddled. She would jump up in your lap, and if that wasn't possible, she would just scoot up as close to you as she could.

We had Sparrow for 13 years until she died of congestive heart failure, precipitated by her mitral valve prolapse.  When we knew Sparrow was close to the end, we had a wonderful hospice vet (who knew these kind, tender people existed?) who came to our house and made Sparrow's passing the gentlest thing possible.  

It was due to our love for Sparrow and our profound loss of her that we began looking for another beagle and found Ellie.  Interestingly, Ellie was born eight weeks after Sparrow died.  We have always believed that, in some way we can't understand, Sparrow and the Lord send Ellie to us.  We love Ellie doubly because half is for Sparrow.

I firmly believe one of the sweetest scenes we will see in heaven will be all our beagles running up to us.  And one will be especially loud until we pet her.

Katie Sparrow Jean Louise Davis

The Visited Shoes

(This post first appeared in October 2013. I came across it today and wanted to share it with you because I remember these shoes so vividly.)

They were absolutely gorgeous, these shoes sitting on the counter in the store. Their shiny, burgundy leather caught my eye from the very start. They were peep-toe high heels, and once I had tried them on, it was love. There was only one thing I didn't like about them... the price tag. They were more expensive than I was used to paying for shoes, and I couldn't bring myself to buy them. I left them on the shelf and walked out of the store.

For several weeks, I "visited" those shoes.  At least every couple of weeks, usually after payday, I would return to the store.  I might have said I was looking for something else, but I always knew I was looking for those shoes.  I never went to the shoe department first, though. I have always liked to save the best for last.  After I had finished the rest of my shopping, I would go to the shoe department and “visit” the shoes I loved.  Often, I would try them on yet again.  They still looked just as good as they had before, but unfortunately, the price tag remained prohibitive.

My husband urged me to buy them, but I just couldn't justify spending that much money on a pair of shoes, especially when I already have plenty of shoes.  Again, I left them on the shelf and walked out empty-handed.

Then one day, after receiving a bonus at work, I decided I was definitely going to buy those shoes.  This time, I went straight to the shoe department and headed to the shelf where "my" shoes lived.  Only they didn't have my size anymore.  I tried on the size above mine, but it was too big.  I tried on a size below mine, but it was too small. They had my size in the black version, and I tried them on, but they weren't nearly as beautiful as the burgundy ones.  Yet again, I left the store empty-handed, but this time, I was much more disappointed.

After that, I didn’t think about those shoes for months.  In fact, I hadn't visited that store much since the day they didn’t have my size in “my shoes”.  One day, however, we went there again.  I shopped around without finding anything that interested me, and then, as usual, I headed to the shoe department.  I looked around and then passed by the clearance table. 

 I was shocked to see four boxes of the gorgeous burgundy shoes piled up on the clearance table!  None of them were my size.  The largest size in the stack, the one sitting on top, would still be too small for me. I tried them on anyway, not expecting them to come close to fitting.  I was shocked when they fit perfectly!  There is no way that shoe box had the correct size on it, because I knew my foot had not shrunk in a few months.

Then I looked at the sign on the table. Initially, the items on the table were 50% off, but on this day, they were also an additional 25% off.  I walked out of the store carrying my gorgeous shoes after only paying a fraction of what I had expected to pay months before.

Many might argue that all of this is a coincidence, but their arguments would be in vain.  I don't believe that our Lord deals in coincidences.  I do believe that He knows and cares about the desires and hopes of His children, and He seeks to satisfy those desires as much as He can.  If we know how to "give good gifts" to our children, "how much more shall your Father which is heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" (Matthew 7:11.)

No, it wasn’t a coincidence that the shoes, which were obviously not the size on the box but the perfect size for me, were sitting on top of the stack on the sale table.  It was also no coincidence that they were sitting there on the very day we decided to return to that store for the first time in weeks.

Every time I looked down at my beautiful burgundy shoes, I was reminded of just how much my Heavenly Father loves me.   Retelling the story today, I am still reminded that no detail in our lives escapes His notice, His care, or His concern.

 

Psalms 145:16

"Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing."

*Updated because I realized the first paragraph had been left out. fvd