A New Addition

This is Mac  a grey and white Newfoundland that I am training as a therapy and service dog. It is my hope to use him to bring more joy to the participants of the friendship club that is run by my church. This is a group of special needs adults that meets for fun and fellowship through the church I attend.  He is also being trained as a service dog . His journey with us began when we picked him out at the age of 5 weeks and he returned home with us at the age of ten weeks old. He is very lively and intelligent and I have high  hopes for him. My husband and I are so grateful that the Lord let us have this bundle of joy to bless others. Here are some pictures of our new addition.

 

I Want To Be Different

Lord  you said to me I will restore you through my Church and I snapped back not a chance. I was so hurt I thought there would be no way back , everything was so broken. My health, my heart , my soul all shattered . Nothing left but apathy and neglect I was past luke warm heading  quickly towards cold.  In an attempt to go through the motions of obedience I church hopped never intending to put down roots. I had done that once pledging to do life  with the brethren of God and it was a disaster.  I never stopped believing in Christ but I was done with His church.

But as usual You showed yourself faithful. Despite my  terrible attitude You led me to a spirit filled church and slowly You began to warm up my cynical heart. Now  for the first time in a very long time I am hungry for change. I want to be different set apart by Your love. I no longer want a spirit of timidity. I want a heart full of courage where perfect love casts out fear and regret. Lord I no longer want to look back but move forward. I am asking You to give me a new filling of the holy spirit, one full of  love joy  and excitement.  Lord I am inviting You in and accepting your invitation of  restoration and I will always be grateful for Your unconditional love. Please let my life be a tapestry of  rich and royal hue. A master piece that reflects Your love and mercy because Lord there is no other artist as magnificent as You.

 

 

My God Forever Faithful

It has been quite awhile since I have posted and a lot has happened since my last post. Just in case you were wondering the Lord was faithful and we did sell the house in time to buy the new house we had put an offer on.  We moved into the new house on Nov 1st  and had just enough time to put up fencing and refurbish an old outbuilding into a small barn large enough to hold the horse, donkey and three goats . Now what happened to the barn cats you ask?  Well the wild ones were trapped and sent to a neighbouring  farm who agreed to feed and take care of  them . The others are living in a small bunkie on our property  affectionately called the Cat House lol. We were able to run hydro and heat out to  the bunkie  for   the cats and although we restored power to the barn we had to run water out to another out building near by in order to water all the livestock.  Now, not having the water right in the barn is a little inconvenient but the outbuilding holding the water is quite close to the barn so it  all works. The Lord was with us throughout the move and all that work was accomplished in about three weeks. The day after we installed everything the snow came down like crazy  and the ground began to freeze while all the animals were safe and snug inside the new barn. Once again the Lord’s timing was perfect as usual . The new house sits on ten acres and we have lots of groomed trails in the surrounding forest that make dog walking a dream.  But the Lord still had one more surprise in store for  us that made its appearance  after the first heavy snow in Dec and that was the deer. The person  who owned the house before us said he always had deer come to the house but we had lived there for a month and we were starting to doubt his story. Than one morning they just walked in and paid us a visit and  up till now they have been showing up regularly . This is the first time I had ever seen a deer up close and they truley are beautiful to behold.   We have been so blessed by the Lord who has given us so much more than we deserve and we are so thankful!

 

Waiting

Proverbs 3:5New King James Version (NKJV) 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding

 

I have never been one that has been very good at waiting and patience has never been my strong suit. I know the Lord has been trying to grow me in this area and I find it a very painful place and some days are better than others. I have been battling with poor health for the last five years and for the most part I just roll with it but lately I have been feeling like I have had enough. After enduring a year’s worth of operations and being kidney stone free for a year my body is now making them again I just passed one and I am bleeding again and trying to pass another. My Chron’s disease is very active and the pain, cramps and lack of bowel control has made me take a leave of absence from work. My much-anticipated appointment with an internalist turned out to be a waste of time as he offered no help, no new medication just a see you in 3 months. I have an MRI this Thurs but I doubt this will shed much light on all the pain that has been ripping through my body and I guess the internalist thinks the same thing or he would not have said see you in three months. Now we are trying to sell the farm and we are having lots of showings but no offers and it just adds to the stress because we have a conditional offer on a house that ends Sept 15th. I know we are to wait on the Lord and His timing is often not when we think it should occur. But once again I find myself frustrated with the turn of events because I am trying to do the right thing. If we can sell the farm we can pay off the mortgage and all our debts and have just one small mortgage fee. We want to live a Godly life free of debt and I guess because we are trying to do the right thing I thought it would be a fast sell because God would bless it. I guess you more seasoned Christians are laughing at me now . I know God can’t be rushed so I am trying to look at the situation in a different light instead of seeing the situation as one that I am waiting on I could also look at in the light that the Lord is giving me the opportunity to trust Him and when I look at it in that light it feels much better than simply waiting on Him. The listing on the house runs out in sixty days which would be Sept 30th and if it hasn’t sold by then we will take it off the market and wait for spring.  Than I will just have to trust that the Lord doesn’t want us to make a move until next spring  so we will have to wait and see.

 

Ironically waiting is not a strong suit of my Service Dog and it has been developed over time with repeated opportunities to wait and rewards for waiting . I guess the Lord has not finished training me yet lol.

 

 

On Vacation

Hi Riley here my mom told me we are on something called vacation. I don’t really know what it is all about but after today I think I am going to like it. She got up a 6:15 am to let us out and she let me run with my best friend chase than she brought us in for breakfast boy it was good. I guess my mom was still tired because she fell asleep on the couch. I wasn’t worried because my belly was filled so I had a nap too. Than Dad came down and woke mom up and she went back to bed for a while but after a few hours I heard her walking around upstairs and I was calling to her in my loudest bark to let her know I was ready to go out with her. After a while my mom came back down I told her very loudly that I was ready to go anywhere. She always tell me to be quiet but I know she loves my ROO ROO bark I do it just for her because we are like Peas and Carrots we just go together. Finally mom was ready and we went for a drive in the country. I had my nose out the window and I could smell the lake, grass trees,cows and the swamp. I love the swamp. Than we stopped for lunch at something call a chip wagon I had no idea what it was but it smell so good I put my head out the roof of the car to get a better smell of the food coming out of that truck with wheels. My mom said I could have some treat cause I we were on vacation. I had some fries and she gave a taste of her back bacon on a bun and I loved that and she let me lick on the ice cream bowl as a treat. I was so happy. Well I have to catch up on my sleep so I will be able to do more vacationing with my mom! Oh I almost forgot there were some other people there at the picnic tables and they got out there cameras when I had my head out the sunroof while waiting for lunch to come. They took my picture and said they were going to put my picture on instagram does that make me famous? Anyway I have to go rest tomorrow because my mom says tommorow is vacation day as well and I want to be well rested so I can love every minute of it lol.

I Will Follow You

Evening Devotion

Psalm 37:vs 4-6

Delight yourself in the Lord

And He shall give you the desires of your heart

Commit your way  to the Lord

Trust also in Him

And he shall bring it to pass

He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light

And justice as the noonday

I Will Follow You

Lord You have convinced me, that I need to start again

Taking all the lessons learned, I will follow You my friend

You never have abandoned  me, You caught my every tear

And when I thought the end was near, you whispered child please don’t fear

For you are still my daughter no matter what you do and say

I’ve written my name upon your heart and there it will always stay

Regardless of your performance I didn’t come to judge

I want just to love you, I never hold a grudge

So let go of your anger, let not bitterness take hold

And I will restore you to my church, I’ll return you to the fold

There will still be trials but the holy spirit will be there

For you felt my holy breath ,in the rushing of the wind I brought to bear

Now that you trust me I can help you build a better life

Full of  my goodness I will lead you to the light

I will fight your battles I will be your sight

And all that you’ve been through, I will use it all

To help you minister to others  no matter what their  port of call

Keep your heart wide open, full of compassion for the broken

And I will bring to pass a life full of joy, for you’re the one I ‘ve chosen

Riley’s Continues to Find New Ways to Help Me

Riley continues to improve in her task training she will now carry any bags I need in and out of stores if I need a helping hand.  She will also carry in wood for the wood stove if I asked. I get frustrated because I keep having health setbacks which makes her training go more slowly but she continues to improve and we are starting to make a more solid team. I have just gotten over pneumonia and now I am have a bad flair of Chron’s disease this week and had to go on more steroids. So far I am three days in on the steroids and my bowel has not responded to it yet and I am frustrated. I keep reminding myself that there is no time line that I have to complete her training so I just keep at it. She is such a wonderful help and so affectionate thank you Lord for being with me and giving me the right  discernment to pick the right dog! My ever faithful cat tink is lying in her cat bed right beside my computer. She always loves to keep me company.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When my heart is overwhelmed

When my heart is overwhelmed the Lord has been gracious to me. Even though my health has not been good and my looks have gone I have not been abandon. The Lord has stayed by my side to comfort me.

Currently I am just getting over pneumonia and hoping my breathing will come back in time. Despite the let downs I have had over the last five years  health wise the Lord has blessed me more than I deserve . He has given me a husband who loves me like the Lord loves the Church and I am so grateful for that gift. No matter how bad I look my wonderful husband tell me everyday that he thinks I am beautiful and how much he loves me.

The Lord has also blessed me with my Service Dog in training Riley who is such a big help to me. She is such a cuddle bug and she loves to hug. She will wrap her big hairy paws around my waist lay her head on my shoulder and just hold on to me. Everytime she does this I think to myself this is a little slice of heaven that the Lord left on Earth.

Thank You Lord for your Gifts!

I Think We’ve Found A Home

We finally found a dog friendly church that makes me feel relaxed about working with Riley. I used to be so uptight that she would make a mistake she would start alerting the second we walked in to church . We have been going to this church for a while and Riley is now so relaxed she will lay down on her side and flake out during the sermon. When we went to church this morning I was not feeling good and several times last night Riley kept getting on the bed to snuggle with me because I was in so much pain. Every time I drifted off she would get down and when the pain woke me up she would get back into bed with me.When we walked into church this morning I was standing up and singing Riley alerted and I ignored her but then she sat back on her haunches wrapped her to big furry paws around my arm and pulled me to a sit. This is an urgent alert by her that I might get dizzy and fall. I sat down for a few minutes than stood up for a song and this time she let me but when the sermon started she alerted again and that’s when those weird pains in my head started again she climbed into my lap and hugged me for a while and they start to go away. When she got down  she insisted in laying in front of me where she could see my face. Later in the sermon I felt comfortable enough to answered an alter call. Which means they invite anyone to come  up to the front of the church to be prayed over and anointed with oil (me not the dog) I was feeling comfortable enough to go to the front with Riley and while they were praying over me Riley decide to go behind me and climb up on the pew and sit with her back against mine looking out over the congregation while I was facing forward. I could not move because we were praying in a circle and holding hands. To be fair to Riley we have been working on block and cover. And cover is when Riley walks behind me and sits behind my legs so no one can get near my body. Normally when we do this there is space behind my legs to come behind me but this time the back of my legs were against the pew so Riley thought in her own mind that she should just get up and walk along the pew until she could sit right behind me. Now she is supposed to wait until I give her the command but there was a lot of people up at the front with me and I guess Riley felt compelled to protect my back because she knew I was sore But I would have prefered her not to use the front pew as a seat. When the pastor finished praising God everyone said Amen and Riley gave her best happy bark and the whole congregation cracked up. Later they all praised her for saying Amen at the end of the service. It’s so nice to be at a church that just laughs and take it in stride when your service dog makes a  big mistake lol. Thank goodness there was no one sitting in the front pew lol.

 

 

 

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RILEY’S BIG DAY

I have been working hard trying to teach my service dog patience and just like me it’s something we have to keep working on. While going about my daily life Riley learns to be patient while she is standing in a line waiting for me to cash out.  Or when I am in grocery aisle trying to make that all important decision of what colour am I  going to dye my hair this month. Even such mundane things as walking involves Riley having to wait with me while I find the nearest bench and catch my breath .The one she hates the most is when I go clothes shopping trying to find something that doesn’t make me look a NFL linebacker. But little by little she did learn to be patient and we moved on to harder tasks like going to Tim Horton’s, to  dinners than restaurants.

But one of the toughest places to take a service dog is to a show.  The first hurdle I have to overcome is the walk into the theatre  which is easy for Riley not so easy for me. I have exercise induced asthma and nerve pain so usually by the time I walk into a theatre and climb the stairs to my seat I am having difficulty breathing.

Once we enter the facilities Riley’s sensitive nose is tasting a smorgusborg of hotdogs and warm buttered popcorn and it is my job to keep her focused on me. The second temptation Riley has to overcome is not diving for every dropped piece of popcorn and candy that litters the floor. When I give the command leave it Riley is expected to ignore the food on the ground and concentrate on getting me to my seat and once the movie starts she is supposed to wait quietly untill I am ready to leave .

Now that might seem easy pretty easy to do but it takes a lot of training with a very calm dog to master a worry free day for me the dog and the rest of the audience. Now I am so grateful to other owner trained service dogs handlers who posted video’s that help with Riley’s training. Not to mention all the good advice they passed on to make her day at the movies a big success

When I went to sit down the first thing I did was put down a rubber mat that Riley could lay on which would keep any unwanted butter popcorn or candy that was on the floor out of her coat. Once she was down on the mat I gave her two big bones to give her something to do while we enjoyed the movies.

Now the next scary thing that could upset a dog once the movie is started is the sound and the flashing of light that comes off the movie itself. But I am very happy to report that Riley took it all in stride. The only time she got up was to stretch and change positions which is reasonable compared to the length of time she is expected to wait.

As we headed home after the movie I was filled with mixed emotions. I was proud that she did so well but I was also very grateful for all the good advice that I had received from other service dog handles that helped the day go so well.

Once we get home Riley’s vest and collar come off and she is officially off duty and she is free to go off and play with her favorite toy

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