Puppy Prison Blues

Dear Diary,
I guess we jumped over the wall one too many times.
Today, the People put us in a new prison.
 So far, it seems inescapable. We are taking note of this different area of the House and are enjoying the sights, for the most part.
We are spending a large part of the morning crying and whining at the bars, hoping someone will listen and set us free. No luck so far.
Buster is very frustrated as he is the most experienced at wall jumping. Winston is in a rambuctious mood, growling and starting most of the fights. But nothing serious, and he always seems apologetic afterwards.

April  and Bruce are stoic, taking everything in stride as always, while Henry and Big Earl are looking for more food.
As always.








Mama came to visit, but couldn't spring us. Bail must be set too high.

 Today we'll try to keep level heads (which is difficult for puppies) and keep the fighting to a minimum.
We'll work on plans tonight.
More later.

Puppy Diary

Dear Diary,
Today, we escaped.
After much discussion, two of us jumped the wall and began exploring. We found Mama right outside our compound, but she was sound asleep and we easily slipped by.
Unfortunately, we were only out for a short foray before we were discovered and returned to the compound.
That's fine. We were a little sleepy anyway.
More tomorrow.
Regards,
Buster and Earl for The Puppies

Puppy Picking Weekend

It was "All Puppies, All the Time" kind of weekend meeting all the puppy owners. I took lots of pictures, starting with George, who came out on Friday to meet his puppy, Earl.

Then, John and his daughter Jessie came out and picked their puppy. Or, I should say, their puppy picked them. They actually picked another one, but the puppy they ended up picking threw a fit, letting them know beyond a shadow of a doubt that HE was supposed to be their puppy.

I would show you photographs I took  so skillfully, but my camera battery was dead. So I will show you pictures of their puppy, who has no name quite yet. Actually, he probably has three or four. His family needs to narrow down the list. :-) Maybe we should take a poll for his name. What a perfect idea! I'm sure his new family will be thrilled when they have a  new puppy named "Kevin" or  worse yet, "Kitty."  Here he is:

These kind are looking like mugshots.

And one from the side, please. All we're missing is him holding his number a prison tat. I'll work on that.

Next, we used technology(Skype)  for it's highest purpose,  introducing Buster to his family,Tim and Patrice. Again, no pictures from Skype, but here are some Buster pictures. He is going to be a very happy Bullmastiff puppy, as he will be going to the warm weather of California and going to work with Tim every day when he gets bigger.
Here is Buster:

More mugshots, clearly. I'll work on making them smile, or something.

Buster with his partner in crime "Fawn Male."

Buster being mugged by his brother.

It looks like he has a small white spot on his chin, but this only seems to show up in pictures.
Then we had Matt and Holly and their daughter show up to meet their new puppy. We had to wake all the sleepy puppies up as they were in the middle of a food coma. :-)
One puppy lurched over to Holly and began kissing her and sucking on her fingers. When I turned and looked because of all the loud slurpy noises he was making, I told them that it was, in fact, their puppy. Yep. Winston had found his family.
Here are the first family photos:

Did Holly continue rocking Winston even when she wasn't holding him? Yes. Yes, she did. :-)

Such a sad and miserable girl, meeting her puppy for the first time. NOT.

So sad. I really doesn't look like anyone in this family is going to love poor little Winston. I'm sure he'll grow on you. (get it? Bahahaha! I crack myself up!)

Here are a couple picture of April for owner, John G.. Hopefully, you'll get a chance to meet her soon!

Darling profile!

Still sleepy.

And a couple of the fawn male puppy for Brittany. He really stands out!

Yes, I know I already have this one up above. But, honestly...are two of these too many? I think not.

George....meet Earl.

Here is the dealio.
People never pick the puppy I imagine they will.
NEVER.
George showed up this morning  bright dark and early to meet the pups and pick out his new best friend. He is a wonderful guy who has had bullmastiffs before and can hardly wait to bring his puppy home in July.
I had in mind the puppy I thought George would pick, and I was so certain of this that I began calling this puppy Earl  which is the name George had picked out.
Well.
Geoge came in, looked all the roly-polys over and picked up Earl.
But not the one I had been calling Earl.
Unfortunate.
He picked the REAL Earl, apparently.
The faux Earl will need another puppy name until his new owners pick him out.
Here are George and the REAL Earl.

Friends, schriends.

(Go ahead. Try to pronounce "schriends." I'll wait.)

To say that I was underwhelmed with last week's bible study lesson on friendship is understating the situation. I was underhappy, underpeaceful and feeling underblessed.
I mean, seriously.
Here is the description of the bible study that our group of women chose:

Do you ever feel like you're going through the motions of faith? Sometimes we do and say the right things, but our hearts are far from God. We lose our sense of holy awe. In Wonderstruck, Margaret Feinberg invites you to toss back the covers, climb out of bed, and drink in the fullness of life God intended.
In this 7-session Bible study, you will be reminded what it means to awaken to wonder every day by learning to:

• Develop a renewed passion for God
• Identify what's holding you back in prayer
• Find extraordinary moments on ordinary days
• Discover peace in knowing you're wildly loved
• Recognize the presence of God in the midst of your routine

Does that sound like it has a section or two on friendship?
No, it does not. I would have run for the hills like my hair was on fire if I had been aware that we would be  putting our friendships under the microscope in view of what God has to say about them.

I have been deeply hurt by some relationships in my life. I have chosen to leave before I can be left to avoid that pain. Many times, I chose friends because of their likelihood to stay. And they left anyway.

This is the part where I want to say, "Okay, you big whiny-baby.You know there is a tornado tragedy in Oklahoma, right?  Get over yourself, already."
Because I am very loving like that.
"But, God...."
God chose this time in my life (that is His) to walk with me through the valley of the shadow of lost friendships.
 I did not ,would not choose this. I should not, could not choose this.(says Sam I Am)
 He did. (No, not Dr. Seuss...God)
 Yesterday Google+ video calling was working. So, bible study could take place. Unfortunately.

I want to assure you that I only did the ugly cry for about an hour and ten minutes of bible study.(Yep. on video chat.)
The rest of the time, it was just your general, every day wheezing, leaking eyes and drippy nose. Which anyone could reasonably blame of seasonal allergies.

My friends listened patiently as I told them of my wrestling with this issue. My hurt and pain over it. They read me scripture and prayed with me.They gave me answers that I could not see because I am in a muddy pit. I think I even saw them wipe a sympathetic tear or two. But that was probably those pesky seasonal allergies.
One point from the study that has haunted stuck with me is whether I have been a good friend, (sister, daughter, mama, neighbor, wife) regardless of how I feel I have been treated. Regardless of what is fair or what is "right."

   "Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.  But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.Romans 5:7-8

This is not a new thought, for those of us in the church. But, maybe I've listened to it more that I have acted on it. (ouch, that) Maybe I've run away to avoid the potential pain and inadvertently run away from the probable  blessing.
I am a long way from really getting this down, but my prayer is that I can someday, somehow be a better friend (sister, daughter,mama, neighbor, wife) that would best emulate Christ. 
On to next week.
Let's see...it's on Forgiveness.
Oh, boy.

Good morning, puppies

Just a short video for you puppy people this morning....Enjoy!
Oh forget it. I have trying to uplaod this video for way too long. I will just post a link to You Tube and hopefully you can view that okay.
Let me know!
Lucy and Luca puppies, 2 weeks old already

Make new friends...

but keep the old.
One is silver and the other gold.

I've know that little ditty since I was itty-bitty little.
I still don't like it, but I appreciate the sentiment, I suppose.

Friendships have been hard for me. There have been times in my life when people, both family members and/or friends drew away from me, not wanting to be friends anymore.(Ah, grade school and high school, you still have some power over me)
Just recently, this has happened again.
Not wanting to be seen as a pathetic, friendless victim, I have learned to act like I didn't care.
 To be carefree and funny.
I learned if I gave people things, they would be my friend. And I learned not to love too much. Because it hurts when people leave you.
So, I learned to leave them first.

This week, in the midst of my bible study, which I do with some friends on Skype, I open the book.
The book I might add, that none of us three  have been especially thrilled with, and discover we are studying friendships.

Not funny, God.
I felt like someone had dropped a bale of hay on me from the loft. (no it hasn't happened yet, but I am certain it will eventually.)

I felt flattened.

Really, God? Can't I just stuff this down and wrap it up tight and just not feel it?
 This scar doesn't even hurt anymore, honest. Please, can't we just look the other way? I will, if you will. :-)

Frankly, I'm not at a place where I can say, "...and then God and I wrestled through this issue and I'm so happy I went through this  and everything is fixed and now I have a grip on this whole friendship thing. Thank you Jesus."

Nope. I am still at the point where I don't even know the zip code, but I am crying angry tears and feeling my heart break, and wondering what I did wrong.
Can't I just buy someone something and tell a joke?
Because this just hurts too much. I want to avoid pain, not run towards it like a freak.

And I'm hurt because my best friend, Jesus, is telling me we need to work on this issue of friendship.
But I'm too scared to. It has been a long time since I've been actually afraid to open the bible and read what God has to say to me about anything. But I am afraid now.

 I'm afraid  I've been doing it wrong all along.
I'm ashamed that I haven't been a good friend.
I'm wondering if this is a waste of time, and that the truth is that every friend I love will desert me if I don't desert them first.
 I'm scared of being hurt more.
I'm terrified of being abandoned again.
I'm afraid that the voice in my ear telling me that I'm worthless and unlovable will be louder than God's quiet  voice reassuring me that He loves me, He will be with me and He is enough.

"For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” Zephaniah 3:17 NLT

He is enough.
Pray for me.
I'm going in.

Shhh...the babies are sleeping.

For your viewing pleasure:

***Edited to add: After contacting all the potential puppy owners, two different people have decided against a puppy at this time. That means we still have 3 babies available. If you are one of the people that contacted me before and were told we were fresh out of puppies, please give me a call or shoot me an email....Puppies are available!! :-)

Sleepy pups

Lucy's puppies are doing so great, and Lucy is an attentive, sweet Mama. My bedroom, where Lucy and the babies are lodged for the time being, feels like an incubator. A stinky incubator.
I have slept in there with them a few nights, simply because bullmastiffs have been known to lay down on their pups and hurt them. I have pulled a puppy out from underneath her 3 times so far. I think she just wants to be really, super close to them, and as we all know from the song, Love Hurts.
Here are a couple pictures from this morning.

(Puppy owners: feel free to call me whenever, I am available to talk about your pups now. If you have said you wanted a puppy, but have not sent in a deposit, you can do that now. I believe there is a male pup still unspoken for, so let me know aso soon as you can if you are interested. )

And Baby makes....6

I am too tired to write much, so I'll post pictures instead.
You're welcome.
Lucy had six pups delivered via c-section yesterday and returned home with six amazingly gorgeous puppies. 5 boys and 1 lone girl.
They are huge and freakishly strong. I saw a large male walking around the edge of the wading pool that is their bed last night.
Yes, I said walking. He may have been 5 or 6  hours old.
Another one was standing up with his back legs as he was nursing.
I'm not gonna lie...I'm a little scared.
Here are pictures.