When God gives a special gift!

July 11, 2015
Saturday

Dear Readers,

Terry & Justin take
a ride on the ranch

What an amazing day I've had. My friend, Susie, invited me out to the "Misfit" Ranch this morning to pick grapes on her next door neighbor's ranch. Believe me, I never turn down an invitation to spend time with this spunky young lady. We picked grapes from the "Grape Tree" and tooled around in the Mule. What fun to explore, visit Mr King's garden and check out the different areas of the ranches.

Not only did I come away with a couple gallons of grapes, I also got some cucumbers, a tomato, and squash. Talk about ripe for the picking! I can't wait to make some Muscadine Grape Jelly!

Fun on the Misfit Ranch!
Susie you've grown horns!

Ready to do the
Muscadine Grape Dance! Ole'

The hood ornament!
Great find today.

Wild Mustang
Can you see the government brand on her neck?

I really could have spent the entire day out there but had miles to go before I tuck myself into bed tonight. Besides, I was curious about something.

This is the photo that was posted of Puppy#1

A few days ago, I clicked on Craigslist to look at the dogs. I clicked on an ad because it said "two Malshi boys left." I did a double take. The puppies looked so much like Finn. I saved the photo of puppy #1 and sent it to Michael. I sent a text to Sandra asking about the puppy. I didn't hear back and 10 minutes after I saw the ad, it was gone. I was puzzled but just figured they changed their mind.

Lo and behold, I finally received a text. I asked if they had taken their ad down and she said, "Yes, we had too many texts for only two puppies. The ad had only been up for 18 minutes total. I asked her to send more photos of puppy #1 and asked if we could see the puppy. She said, "of course." To make a long story short, I had several things on my calendar and couldn't see the pup before this afternoon. I also told her that I would understand if they wanted to sell the puppy. She said, "No, you seem like such a nice lady ~ I want you to have him." I thought that was odd and then began to worry about getting robbed at gunpoint if we went to look at the pup.

Sandra gave me her address so I did a Map Quest search and thought that the address sounded vaguely familiar. About noonish, Michael and I got in the car and headed north. As we neared Fort Worth, both of us looked at each other and said, "These are the same directions we followed when we got Finn."

When we got to the address Sandra gave us, we were totally in shock. It was the same house that we got Finn early last December. Finn was $35 and this dog was $35. I texted Sandra that we had arrived and she brought this little sweet fella out for us to look at. It was the same lady who brought out Finn. We had Toby with us to check him out and Toby gave us the "paw's up."

Now, what are the chances of me looking at an ad on Craigslist that was up for less than a half hour. What were the chances of a puppy looking identical to Finn? What were the chances that we would go to the same house and lay our eyes on this little guy?

Finnegan Ezekiel
Christmas 2014

Michael and I mourned the loss of Zeke last November when he got hit by a speeding truck AND we were devastated when Finn got his tags caught in his crate and hung himself. We've been so sad and talked about him so much and what we "should have" done to protect him (no collar with tags attached when putting a dog in a crate). In fact, the crate went out and I haven't looked at it since that Sunday when I found Finn.

There are times in life when God gives a gift and it's made so blatantly obvious that He was in control of a situation that I couldn't put together in a million years. The funny thing is that I had texted them after Finn died asking if they had any more Malshi puppies. Never ever heard from them so I put that idea out of my mind. Book closed.

Michael and I have talked about 5 furry kids being "enough" to care for and handle. I love to look at dogs and scroll through the Poms for adoption on Recycled Poms and also in Petfinder. Craigslist scares the heck out of me so that wasn't a place I normally went to look for cute dogs. In 2013 we had 2 dogs and adopted 4 rescues so we had 6. After our Scottie, Sadie, died we thought about getting another Scottie but knew they typically wouldn't be good around our tiny furry kids.

Michael and I shook our heads all the way home from Fort Worth. We were thanking the Lord for another chance to enjoy Finn's bloodline (yep ~ our new puppy and Finn had the same dad and mom). We patted Sophie (mom) on the head and told her she had done a great job with her pups. She was healthy, half-Maltese half-Shihtzu ~ a beautiful dog. The dad was a full blooded Maltese. We didn't see him. I think when we pulled up to that little house, we were half in shock ... kinda still am.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for one of the most fun days ever. It felt so good this morning to blaze paths in the Mule and enjoy the company of some really cool folks. I need your help in leading me to a wonderful recipe for Muscadine Grape Jelly. Father thank you for the opportunity to raise Finn's little brother from this year's litter. How you managed that is a beautiful mystery to me. I lift up my brothers and sisters who are ill, broken, and discouraged. Let them rise up giving testimony to your miracles and goodness. Help us all to remember that we are just passing through on this earth and that the circle of life will bring us to You. You just keep me in "AWE" ~ every day is sooo special. Amen, it is so!

Miss Dottie

PS What a wonder to see my Lord in action. I've witnessed so many miracles that He has orchestrated ~ no wonder I am in awe of God who came to earth to save us all. I believe!!! How about you?