One-Eyed Willie

Okay, so it has been a while since I posted but I needed to take a study break and I've been having that "are we crazy" question running through my head and thought this would be a great thing to add to my memories. We're getting a new dog this week. For those of you that don't know we have two already-Warner and Bonnie but we're adding a third. We couldn't resist him and that is all there is to it. Okay there is more :-) Sorry about the sun. There will be cuter pics I promise but this one is the moment that made up our minds. Ruthie is holding a dog first of all which is crazy in and of itself and second, she begged us for him. Ruthie is not known to be our animal lover and interacts as limitedly as possible with the animals we already possess. Yet, she bonded with this puppy immediately. He's a year old and he was rescued from the Love's Truck stop just outside of Katy west of I-10. Jane Hoskins, is a friend of ours and has always been super kind and special to us and especially the kids. She found him and had his eye repaired and was taking care of him when we feel in love. We went to her place to go fishing and and came back obsessed with that one-eyed dog. She had been calling him Max but that didn't seem to fit. Ruthie sat right in the chair holding him and said, "I'm putting him on my birthday list". I asked her why and she told me, "because I'm the only one in our family who really understands what it is like for him to be different, because I'm the only one who can't see like the others and can't do things the same all the time". (Mother's heart breaking at these words that reveal my child's true emotions about how she sees herself) I told her we'd have to pray about it. We went home and for two days ALL of us could not get this puppy out of our heads. EVEN JASON! Sooooo...we called Jane and asked if he could come for a "weekend visitation". We of course wanted to make sure he fit in at our house as well as he did at hers and also to make sure Warner and Bonnie wouldn't be displaced by adding another canine to the mix. It was a fun weekend and while we tossed Sammy around as a name choice after Sammy Davis Jr. of course, Jason suggested Willie after Goonies one of his and my favorites and we were all sold at once ( We have brilliant children who decided that if Daddy liked the name maybe he'd like the dog enough to let them keep it) So, he left on Sunday to go finish up his treatments with promises to return in two weeks. During these two weeks (which has stretched into three but by God's perfect design) I have often found myself thinking, "we must be crazy!"

Yet, on April 5th, God again revealed His perfect design for His provision in His way. As I mentioned earlier Ruthie is all about this dog. She counts down the days till he is suppossed to come and she talks about why she loves him and how cute he is and all that she wants to do to take care of him when he gets here. On April 5th, Ruthie had to have her appendix removed and while it is a minor surgery in my nursing brain, it is catastrophic in my mommy heart. Another surgery for her? Really, God? If only I can see the big picture that He sees for my precious unique little girl. The second she woke up, I praised God again for this one-eyed special little dog. She opened her eyes and we asked her how she did and she said, "It's over? I don't remember having surgery yet. I need to do everything they say to get better though because I need to be well enough to take care of Willie when he gets home." That just brought such joy to my heart not because it is realistic or necessary, like we won't all help take care of whatever she needs, but that Our God loves us enough to give us that one bright spot to see us through our trials. For Ruthie, it is that silly pup and for me it is my silly little Ruthie. All my kids really, but for her in that special Ruthie section of my heart, I know she wants me to be a nurse-at UT nurse. She is so proud of me and so I keep on for her and the sacrifices that they all make for me to do this. Yes, they'll benefit from it in the end but really, really, their now is a sacrfice. They do extra housework, they live in a house where mom can't keep it June Clever quality and they make no apologies, they go to 2 churches and don't complain and they entertain the littles while I can't. The night before they did surgery we had been in two ER's for 8 hours and after we signed off on the surgery consents Ruthie tells Jason and I-"It's okay if I die, because my life here is just a short part and I'll go to sleep here and wake up with Jesus". While that blesses my socks off to hear as a Christian, as a Mom I want to run and scream over my dead body!!! Yet, all I could do is let God do His will and know that Ruthie has her own testimony and her own walk, in life or in death. My greatest fear is losing one of my kiddos and this was all to close for comfort. It wasn't like we're all sitting around doing bible study and she says something like that. This was crunch time. I had just signed papers that said I understood that one of the potential complications of this surgery was DEATH!!! Yet, God is Peace and He gave the Holy Spirit that intercedes on the behalf of the Saints and we had people praying and we knew it. God was good and merciful to me and my selfish desire to keep her here with me was allowed and we REJOICED!!!!

So once again, I've been presented with that ever present question in my life, "Are ya'll crazy?" and once again I'm reminded of the verse in 2nd Corinthians that says, "If I be out of my mind, let it be for the Lord". Amen to that and thank you God for One Eyed- Willie.