In the Garden

I use the term 'garden' loosely. This dirt pit is the site of what was to be the garden last year, but I failed miserably at getting that going. So now the kids have a great place to dig and get messy (as though they needed help with that...). The weather has been glorious for the last few days, perfectly warm in the sun, so we've been out a lot. Halle, of course, is wearing her ruby red sparkly shoes, because who doesn't wear all her finery in the dirt?!

     

And I won't forget about these boys... Rueger is all pup and wants to wrestle poor Starbucks all the time. But we've started calling Starbucks 'The Godfather' because he's definitely put Rueger in his place a time or two. We know who the boss is here, and being a quarter of the size doesn't keep him down one bit. So what have you been up to now that it's warming up?

Rescued

I WAS RESCUED Pet ID tag by Poochy Couture

We survived night one of puppy-training. Perhaps barely, but survived nonetheless. Much coffee will do a world of good today, but overall we are finding Starbucks to be a good little guy.

My hands-down favorite part of yesterday was hearing Remy tell Starbucks that he didn't need to be sad because he 'wasn't homeless anymore'. My eyes tear up just typing it. I can't help but look at the situation through 'Christ-colored lenses' and see the direct correlation to my life. Rescued. It has such huge implications, that word. Ephesians 5:8 says 'For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God...' I saw our new puppy cuddled up on the couch, looking so content, and I caught myself just wondering what was running through his mind. We aren't sure how long he was in the shelter system, but he's only 14 months old. He'd been at the shelter where we found him since November and was nearly euthanized in the shelter previous to that, so we're assuming that it's been most of his life. Can you imagine what this first day of snuggling on the couch and being loved on by 4 people, petted by 8 eager hands, has been like?!

I can only hope that at the end of the day I am so thankful towards my Master, grateful for the gift of this life in Him. I found this in my Bible and thought it fit perfectly with today:

"While I was a sinner, lost and hopeless, without purpose or value, You saved me. I did nothing to earn this salvation. It was only by Your power and for Your pleasure that You saved me. You crafted my into a new creation full of divine purpose and value, I have been transformed from death to life, from hopelessness to purposefulness, from ashes to beauty, and all by the power and prerogative of Your grace. What can I do in response but to thank You for living in me and to seek with all my heart to live in You?"

Happy Thursday!

What were we thinking!?

We'd like for you to meet Starbucks, the newest member of our family. No, we didn't give him that name~ it is practically against our religion as lovers of real coffee and a lover of 'the little guy' and small businesses, but that's the name the shelter gave him, and Remy refuses to let us change it. So Starbucks it is. (And apparently I was going for the longest run-on sentence in blog history?)

We picked him up today, and he's quickly making himself at home. I had forgotten how trying it can be to house-train a dog, but we're doing our best. But I don't have much time, so I should go... a few more pics and then it's off to pick up some messes, I'm sure.