God answers prayers

Hope you all had a good weekend! I thought I would give an update on Chris' thumb. Below is a photo taken today, of the current status. The break is healed, and the new nail is growing in. Chris continues to sand down the skin where the nail used to be, because it is very bumpy and will prevent the nail from growing in correctly. This nail may stay, or it may fall off too. Time will tell.

We've had a good weekend here...Saturday and Sunday were wonderful. Relaxing with good food, good church, etc. Our Friday evening started off well, with dinner for me and Chris at Brick Oven Pizza. Then we got a call from Mimi, around 8:00.

She said that Poppy was gone.

She had been getting ready for bed, and took the dogs outside for a potty break before bedding down. They were heading back up to the porch to go inside, when the neighbor's big yellow dog got loose and came into our yard. When it went onto the back porch, Poppy became terrified and took off running. Unfortunately, Poppy is already a pretty skittish dog, and this seems to have sent her over the edge. She took off running and didn't stop. Mimi and the neighbor could not find her. Chris and I left the restaurant in a panic and raced home.

For three hours, in the dark with flashlights, me, Chris, Mimi and the neighbor searched for her. We called for her. We shook the treat bag. We looked in the woods behind our house. We looked in the neighboring yards. We walked up and down the streets. Three hours of thinking horrible thoughts and hearing the coyotes howl and feeling like we were looking for a needle in a haystack. When Aspen got home from the football game, she helped looked too. There was no sign of her.

We were heartbroken. We were crying. We were feeling hopeless. She had been gone for so long, and she was such a sheltered dog. She would not know what to do out there by herself, to survive. There were coyotes and snakes. Even if someone found her, she was so skittish she would run from them. And a cold front was coming in, with a chance of rain. Chris and I took a moment out of our search, and prayed together. Prayed and cried. Chris prayed that God would bring her home safely to us...that it was such a small thing for God to do, just put her on the porch God. Bring her home to us.

Around midnight, I went to bed. We were going to get up early and continue searching for her in the light. With a heavy heart, I gave up for the night. Chris stayed up for a long while. He finally came to bed.

Around 3:45, Chris jumped out of bed. He heard Mimi talking in the living room. I jumped up and followed him. He opened our bedroom door, and Mimi was standing in the living room with Poppy in her arms. It was such an incredible feeling to see her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris had been up at 2:45, looking out everywhere. Back yard, front yard, etc. Within that hour, Poppy had found her way onto the front porch. We know she had not been there the whole time, because each of us, individually, had looked there at least twice each. She had to squeeze her way through the metal gate, and she was sitting by the front door when Mimi got up to check in the backyard. Mimi turned around to head back to her room, and there she was by the front door. I just can not believe it.

God put her on the porch. Our God answers prayers, and we are humbled by the amazingness of it all. It was such a minor request for him -- in the grand scheme of things. But we showed him our faith and he showed us his power. I have never seen a prayer answered so soundly, personally. And certainly not so quickly. I am humbled. And so so thankful. I don't know what we would do without our Poppy.

She brings our family so much JOY. She is love personified in the form of a long, sweet, spastic chihuahua. She shows us how to love. My heart was filled with joy when I saw her again.

We have no idea where she went. I would love to see into her mind and understand her journey. Did she find somewhere to hide? Did she run far away? How on earth did she find her way home? Why did she go to the front porch instead of the back porch? She was not a bit dirty or muddy. She was perfectly clean. She was quite wigged out for awhile, her eyes were as big as saucers. But she was so happy to see us all.

Saturday, she slept a lot...she was so tired! Below is a photo of her once she returned, resting. But she was happy and we were happy. And she will forevermore be going outside on a leash. We know this was all God's doing...and we are thankful!!!

With all that being said, below is week three of my project life -- and yes, Poppy's story made it to the list! We had a full week, I am really loving the process of pulling it all together on Sunday.

Time to make dinner -- Mexican lasagna and queso, yum yum!! Have a great week everyone!!!