We Miss Jake--He was a good dog!

Well, it's been a little over a week since we lost Jake. It was truly one of the hardest things we've ever done! Jake was almost 13 years old. We knew he was getting older, but I think he really went down hill since we moved…he had arthritis and limped sometimes because he hurt his legs,but that seemed to be the least of his problems. He developed this horrible odor that got so bad about 6 weeks ago that Eric took him to the vet and he said Jake has horrible periodontal disease. He wanted Eric to allow him to do surgery that would cost $1400+ but Eric said that was too much, so he gave him these antibiotics to give Jake once a month to help. Well, it helped for the 1st month but then he got worse again…the smell was SO bad right after Easter Sunday. Last Tuesday night Eric noticed that Jake had something on the bottom of his mouth. He looked and his entire bottom gum was abscessed…it stuck out like a huge lip all across the bottom of his mouth. No wonder it smelled so badly! So Eric said we couldn’t afford to fix that and it might not even help a whole lot because he’s really old and just needs to be put to sleep.

We’ve had him since the year after we got married, so it’s really hard & depressing! It is also so hard because I just wish he would have died on his own. We decided not to put it off another night and had it done on Wednesday afternoon. I picked up Evan and we took him to a little park to tell him and have him say goodbye to Jake. He cried off and on that entire night. It’s been a tough week but I know it’s best…just SO HARD!!!

Here are some pictures of our sweet hairy dog!

On Easter Sunday, we had an Easter Egg Hunt in our front yard for the grandkids. Jake was so obedient and stood right inside the front door and watched! This was the last picture of him.

This is proof that Eric did give Jake a bath occasionally! Jake loved it!

Jake LOVED Evan and Ethan! He was very protective!

Jake enjoyed the Christmas celebration too!

Top 5 Things we miss most about Jake:

1. His barks when Eric sneezes!

2. How he used to greet us when we came home each day.

3. His love for us.

4. How he helped keep our floors a little cleaner by hanging out under the table where Evan and Ethan eat!

5. His hair everywhere...well, not really! :)

Easter 2009

We had a wonderful Easter weekend with our family and with our church family! Our church choir performed the musical "Bow the Knee" on Fri, Sat, and Sun at our church. It was an awesome experience! We haven't ever been a part of such a huge production, but Eric did an excellent job of leading us (if I do say so myself). I'll post some pictures as soon as Eric gives them to me. I know Eric has posted some on his facebook page if you'd like to look at them there (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=2010361&id=1090530851). I don't know if that works or not but you can always go to Facebook and look at Eric's page.

The week was extremely tiring with practice every single night from Mon-Thur and then performances on Fri-Sun nights. Ethan spent more time in daycare last week than anything else but we all survived! He loves playing anyway. Evan thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the muscial with the children's choir. He got to sing in about half of the play.

We were so excited that our entire family (except Ami because she's still recovering from back surgery) came down for the weekend since we couldn't go to Texarkana. It was so nice to have then all here with us! They haven't all been here at the same time yet, but it felt like being at home (Texarkana) again! Mom and Dad were so great to help me with housework and cooking! Evan and Ethan loved having Mauri, Caleb, and Duke (Kevin & Ami's foster child) to play with them! We met them in Tyler to shop on Friday afternoon and then we all headed back to Malakoff. On Saturday night they all came to the musical. On Easter Sunday, we all went to church and then enjoyed a big Easter dinner. Then we had the Easter egg hunt that the grandkids look forward to all year! Grammy saves her change all year for their egg hunt! Although it rained a lot, it stopped in the afternoon for us to able to hide the eggs in the front yard. They had a blast!

It was pretty quiet and sad when everyone had to leave at 3:30 to head back home. And we were exhausted but we had to head back to the church for one last performance on Sun night!

Memory Verses #7 and #8

Well, my sister told me that I never posted verse #7, so here it is before I post #8...
#7
"This is what the Lord says--your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go." Isaiah 48:17

I chose this verse because it reassures me that God knows what He is doing with my life even when I don't understand.

#8
"For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him." 2 Chronicles 16:9

I chose this verse because I need strength right now in many areas of my life...especially with my school job. The spring is is difficult with the lovely TAKS test coming in just 2 weeks and the AP Calculus test in just 3 weeks. Life seems to always be so busy and I just want to get some rest!

I also like this verse because it says that the Lord strengthens those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. This means that I need to work on being totally committed to Jesus in order to get this strength.