For His Service

Olivie', my deaf two year old Papillion-poodle on the left, is watching Dirk, my 10 year old Schnauzer-poodle on the right.  She watches his body language to try to figure out what is going on..and how she should respond.  You can see her looking at me and then... watching his body to see what HER next move should be.     She has done this for some time.   As I AGAIN observed her doing this, I thought this is such a good lesson for women.  We have to know that other women are watching us to see how we respond when our children are hard to parent....when our husbands hurt our feelings.... when we get in a fuss with a neighbor...etc.    We also need to know that we can reinforce bad thoughts in our friends.... even on accident.   If Dirk decided to act inappropriately and jump up, Olivie' would as well.  If Dirk started barking, even though Olivie is deaf... she would do the same.   If Dirk ran to the front door, so would Olivie. ...

Russell, my husband, loves me...but tolerates our dogs.  His main pet peeve..isn't shedding..since we have two poodle mixes.  It is the barking... Even our deaf dog, Olivie' , barks.   So... the above video is SWEET to me... but I don't think my husband would like it. We drove around a bit to look at Christmas lights... making memories...

Olivie' sleeps easily.  The noise of having three kids running around, shouting, stomping, launching toys,..etc.. doesn't both her one bit.  That is one of the good things of her deafness.  Here she is laid out ..over the couch while the kids are playing and Russell and are are lifting weights.   I think she is totally relaxed in our chaotic house.  Would you say so? If you haven't seen this video, watch it.  The story of Christian the lion is true.  The fact that a year after they released him... the lion didn't eat the people...True...  This video makes me cry  every time.   I will always fight for those who can not stand up for themselves:  Children and animals...  If you haven't read about Christian, you can here... http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/christian.asp If you haven't watched this video before...you can here.  Grab a tissue and your favorite pet.. :)

We have had Olivie' for almost a year.  When we figured out she was deaf, we tried to quickly figure out how to train her/ love her/ befriend her.   So, we took her to a local dog trainer..who told us many things ...such as how to teach her to ring a bell to alert us to when she needs to go outside to potty.  Well, after 9 or more times of her ringing that stupid bell at 4 am...... 2 am...  3 am...etc..., I am just not sure that was oh, so wise....          I think this guy has a more  suitable idea.... Perhaps, I should teach Dirk  (our schnoodle)  how to "tell" Olivie..."Go back to bed...the sun isn't up!"                               LOL... you can ready about Olivie' here.     http://inhonoroftheking.blogspot.com/2011...

http://inhonoroftheking.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-heart-is-stolen.html In the above link, I introduced you to our sweet Olivie'.  We drove for 6 hours to go pick her up..what a sweet heart.   I had Lupe', a papillion- Chihuahua for 15 years.  She died from a collapsed trachea in August.  I knew I wanted another Papillion but  I knew "mixes" were the healthiest, so we got Olivie'.  We found out about her added surprise, her deafness, after we had her for about a week.   We were concerned about what we read about deaf dogs:  aggressive, untrainable, mean.   Nothing can be further from the truth. We took her to puppy training through PetsMart and she was in the top of her class. http://inhonoroftheking.blogspot.com/2011/01/bragging-rights.html At the above post, you can watch a video of her doing some of what she knows. But, there is one weird thing about her. She has a thing for socks.  She wants to carry one around....

Madeline and I got up a little bit earlier to watch parts of the Royal Wedding.  Kate's dress was beautiful...what an amazing ceremony! Sunshine John-Michael Later I took a few photos of my two youngest playing outside with our deaf puppy, Olivie'.  Sweet memories.. I am so thankful for my family. sweet, sweet Olivie' Ephesians 3:14-20 For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 1may have power, together with all the believers, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all w...