Like the last page of a good book…

Annie, Anna Banana, Nana Nana, Nanners, Neeners, Anna Bella, Anna, Anne & Griz…all names for my best bud, girl dog, now residing in Paradise and leaving me broken hearted.  How did 10+ years go so fast?  They weren’t perfect years in my life, but this 85 lb. furry dog made them better, all and all.

It was like music to my ears, to hear my then 16 year old daughter tell me what she wanted for her birthday.  I prepared myself for the obvious… a car, or the trendy... tickets to a Dave Matthews concert, but no the request was a puppy.  Celebration time for me!  Now could I convince my husband that we needed another dog?  We had an old cat of 13 and an old Malamute dog turning 12.  I was delighted to hear him say OK. Time was short as Kirsten's birthday was fast approaching.  Could we find a suitable puppy for our old dog?  The Lewis & Clark Humane Society was a bust, no puppies.  I found an interesting ad in the newspaper for “free puppies”. They were Akita/Lab/Blue Heeler/Shepherd, but when I called the man said “no, sorry they are all gone”.  Dang, the last option was the pet store.  Indeed there were puppies there, they were Akita/Lab/Blue Heeler/Shepherd.  Guess my newspaper friend couldn’t give his puppies away so he took them to the pet store.  The newspaper "free" puppy, was now a 75.00 puppy.  Still a great deal, we picked the biggest, most mellow looking, fluffy one of the litter.  I have my doubts about the Shepherd and Heeler, but this puppy was definately of Akita descent.  Which as I found out later has it's pluses but a number of minuses too...very stubborn and independent!  This little gal seemed very smart, because when we took all the puppies out of the kennel to play, she was the only one to wet on the newspaper, and besides she was adorable and fuzzy and BIG.  Lucky for me in finding her, because I was out of time.  It was officially January 23, 1999, Kirsten’s 16th Birthday.  She was off snowboarding and we took our new family member home with about an hour to spare. I found an old wicker pet basket I had at home and plopped the baby fur ball in it.  Like magic she fell asleep.  We hide her in the living room and proceeded to place a small bag of puppy chow on the stairs and a little pooper scooper shovel along with it, so that Kirsten would see this first as she came in the house.  She did and she was not amused!  She thought it was a cruel joke!  The grumpy encounter soon changed to laughter and smiles, when she was led into the living room and the blanket was removed from the little basket and there was a cute, funny, cuddly puppy.  The BEST birthday present!


The rest is kind of a blur.  Although I do remember that the mellow puppy was anything but (Akita Brain), and though she loved her big sidekick Mischa, she also tormented him from the get go.  As soon as she got big enough to grab at Mischa's big curly, handsome, sled dog tail, she did!  In a matter of a few weeks this superb tail had been reduced to a stick, and Annie showed us all that she had true heeler herding abilities as she herded our old boy around the backyard.  It wasn’t a bad thing though, because Mischa developed a new zest for life, as he found himself competing with this little version of himself.  I kind of figure that Annie probably added 2 extra years to Mischa’s life and helped him to get in shape, and his tail did grow back!


So here we are 10 years later... and my day by day companion is now at the end of her wonderful, zany life on this earth.  As loved and unique as our first dog Mischa was, our Annie was too.  A people lover, but not a dog lover.  Annie allowed almost any human to become her friend, but her circle of dog friends was limited to a select few, as is the true nature of a guard dog like the Akita.  She tolerated and grew to love our 2 cats and even allowed two puppies into our household, though she asserted and remained the alpha female.  The stories and laughs she brought to us are enough to fill a book and too much for a blog.  I loved to look out my kitchen window and see her sitting high on the hill in the backyard and as soon as she would see me she would make eye contact and come running, wiggling all over.  As she got older and had to share her house with 2 young dogs, she would come inside and demand to have ”her” dog bed, by pacing back and forth and refusing to stop, until the intruder was ousted. She had the ability to Akita/dog chatter by making funny, little, short dog noises when she had something important to say to us.  How she loved to see me put on my hiking shoes!  She would do a crazy, bouncy dance all the way to the back gate and beyond as we headed for Mt. Helena.  Once there it was her position to lead everyone that came with and she kept tabs on us all too, if someone lagged behind she went back and found them (always the herder).


                A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.
                                             ~ Josh Billings

Our big, beautiful Anna Bella we will miss you!  Thank you for being our dog…until we meet again!

Politics without Principles

The 7 modern sins: politics without principles, pleasures without conscience, wealth without work, knowledge without character, industry without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice.
~ Canon Frederic Donaldson


Ever hear of Canon Frederic Donaldson?  I never had until a few days ago when I stumbled upon this quite relevant quote for today’s society.  The surprising part is that Mr. Donaldson wrote this back in the late 1800’s in Victorian England.  Now, I am not a scholar, nor even a minor history buff of the Victorian Era.  Though I do like some of the jewelry and the gilded, grand homes. with the fine craftmanship!  The little I know about this time period is that some of the United States greatest wealth was beginning to be produced.  Montana’s own Copper Kings in Butte, MT were emerging as ‘rags to riches’ stories of turn of the century society.   Historians now deem William Clark as one of the wealthiest men in the U.S. for that era.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, the Czar Nicholas of Russia was oblivious to the frustration of the poor, hungry multitudes and their growing unrest.  The Russian Revolution was drawing near.  The European nations were still being ruled by monarchies, that were for the most part all related to one another and to the Queen of England.  In Great Britain, it's children were often left starving on the streets or in horrible conditions in orphanages.  Frederic Donaldson was astounding his Christian, Anglican, white collared world of friends with the message of social conscience.  He thought his fellow Christians, not the government should awaken to this message.  He called for ‘spiritual and economic emancipation of the people’.  The Church of England during this time was mainly a church of the rich and well to-do classes.

That brings us to his ‘7 Modern sins’ which seem to a human being of the 2010 world, as having been penned specifically for us.  Today we are bombarded with ‘politics without principles’.  We are encouraged to shut up and sit down and let our elected make decisions for us, without listening to the will of the people they govern.  Our secular world preaches "pleasure withour conscience" as a matter of course…the me, me, me society. 'Knowledge without  character', many of our young people approach their college years having been inflenced more by a TV or a daycare provider, than a parent or mentor.  They have an unprecedented entitlement mentality, 'wealth without work', and have been given much, without giving much back in return.  They come eyes downcast with a backpack of gadgets: ipods, blackberries, and laptops, all giving them communication skills at the speed of light, but few social skills.  'Industry without morality', has been spawned with a common example being that of a modern girl’s best friend, Planned Parenthood.  Ripping unborn babies from wombs, all so that we can get on with our lives and be productive, but not burdened, leaving Planned Parenthood as the great money making "abortion machine" of the 21st Century.  Oh, how our creator must weep.  'Science without Humanity', sees Intelligent Design being scoffed at.  We are instead taught, to believe we are just stardust of the cosmos in a Godless world.  Our worship has been turned into 'worship without sacrifice'.  We can now have our cake and eat it to.  Marriage is wrong, celibacy is wrong, commitment is wrong…why…because it makes someone else feel uncomfortable, feel bad about their poor decisions.  We now change our morals to match theirs.

The 7 modern sins were a wake up call for 1896, as they need to be for 2010!


If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
~George Washington

Three Spring Breaks Later...

What do you do when you have three Spring Breaks in a row? OK, I had one, Erik had one and Carlyn is now enjoying hers, but lucky for me, the Mom, I get to enjoy bits & pieces of them all.


Three, must be a somewhat of a magical number. I recently learned that if you receive a message 3 times in a row, it is a message that needs your attention, and God is behind that epiphany, that divine manifestation. I think we all have this happen to us more than we realize, we just don't recognize it. Since receiving this information of being aware of the third message, I have noted this happening to me at least twice in the last three weeks. I say at least two, because I'm sure I have had a third, but unfortunately for me I can't recall what it was. The first two I do remember are:


Taste and see that the Lord is good. ~ Psalm 34:8

and

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ~ Philippians 4:8


Psalm 34:8 has been posted on my fridge for at least 6 years. It has always intrigued me and amused me but until it was reinforced again in my life over these past 3 weeks, I didn't understand its special message for me. In a nutshell it was this: As I desire a closer, more personal relationship with God, all I really have to do is taste and see that the Lord is good. The more that I taste what God has to offer me, the more I crave it. The more I crave it, the more I want to be spiritually fed and henceforth I come to a closer relationship. It is like a delectable dessert, made by a fine pastry chef. She is so confident in her abilities to make something so delicious that all she has to do is get you to taste it and you want more. God's love is like that. He puts it out there to us just to taste, not to throw the whole, darn pie in our face...NO...just taste.


The other reoccurring message for me this last month has been, Philippians 4:8. I have been convicted to think about what is true, right and pure. The latest book I have been reading made light of this, as well as my Pastor, and also a dear old friend. Cherie and I exchanged stories recently about our journeys and our spiritual walks and we both realized that the Holy Spirit really works in our life’s, when we tune out the noise, weed through the distractions, such as TV, newspapers, talk radio...being careful what goes in our brains. Right thoughts bring energy and life; the wrong thoughts bring fatigue and death. Commotion blocks the flow of the spirit.


Which actually brings me to the third forgotten message, and thank you Lord, I remember now, and that is LISTENING. God has a great sense of humor, doesn't he...funny how I tried to forget that one! My Pastor and friend Matt gave a great analogy on listening recently. He talked about well know sports announcer, Bob Costas. Bob is famous for his smooth voice and great commentary on sports, especially baseball. Many of us probably think this was a natural gift that Bob was born with, and maybe it was, but Bob Costas attributes it to his childhood in Commack, NY and having to go out to the family car and listen to ballgames on the radio so he could come back in and repeat what he heard to his dad.  He had to listen to get the message.  I too have to listen to get the message and be aware of what barriers are getting in the way, keeping me from the message.  Which maybe in this case were three Spring Breaks?


Thank you Lord for giving me two ears and one mouth, help me to listen more. By the way, those two ears and one mouth, they add up to 3!

i hope your day is a piece of cake

Received this in an email today and it was so relevant to my week....don't get mad at God when bad things happen.  He is in control and it is a piece of cake!

 Sometimes we wonder, 'What did I do to deserve this?' or 'Why did God have to do this to me?' Here is a wonderful explanation! A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she's failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.

Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, 'Absolutely Mom, I love your cake.'

'Here, have some cooking oil,' her Mother offers.

'Yuck' says her daughter.

'How about a couple raw eggs?' 'Gross, Mom!'

'Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?'

'Mom, those are all yucky!'

To which the mother replies: 'Yes , all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! '

God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

~Romans 8:28

Gray Eagles

Gray Eagles film by Chris Woods and a P-51 Mustang named February.  For all the dads and grandpas that served our country in WWII.  No wonder they are called the Greatest Generation!

LOVE YOU DAD!

The Greatest Picture Ever

The Resurrection by Piero della Francesca (circa. 1463) is an amazing fresco in Sansepolcro, Tuscany.  Not only is  the painting amazing, but the painter and the 500 year old story is equally inspiring.  The fresco depicts a newly, resurected Jesus Christ emerging from the grave, fresh and renewed, while the Roman soldiers sleep on.  Jesus is alive, the miracle has happened, the chains of death have been broken!  Has there ever been a painting of a more powerful, alive, Kingly Christ?  His face is handsome and rugged, his body is that of a soldier, toned, sculpted ready to lead an army of believers.

Let me turn this over to the video to tell the more recent, also amazing history of "The Resurrection" by Piero della Francesca.  A very, unusual, unsuspecting hero emerges, that of the controversial writer Aldous Huxley, A Brave New World.  Who could ever imagine that Mr. Huxley would save "The Greatest Picture Ever"?

The way home....

My husband and I just enjoyed a surpise, overnight visit from our son Erik.  He was on his way back to MSU in Bozeman from the infamous Cat/Grizzly game in Missoula (yes the Cats won again) and decided at the last minute to route through Helena.  Jay & I were on our way out to dinner when he called that he was here, so after a small detour he joined us for a light dinner of appetizers and to watch the closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics.  Erik, having more discipline than his parents passed on the gooey chocolate dessert!

It is heart warming to see him growing up and making good decisions.  He is wearing his "Norse" name well, that of Erik Christian, meaning "peaceful ruler and follower of Christ".  Like all of us, his journey with the Lord has a ways to go, but his heart is good and I know the Lord will always be there like a GPS ready to show him the way home.  This is an easy choice for any of us, to take a U-turn and come back to the Lord whenever we are lost.  It is exactly like making a bad decision (on your own without asking directions) driving and getting lost on a road.  The friendly GPS lady tells you to take a safe U-turn and head back and gets you back on course.  God is like that, ready and willing, not judging our bad decisions, but there to get us back on the right road, back to Him.

I'm happy to report that Erik is enjoying his journey as a full time college student, with a part-time job and a continued love for basketball.  He is not lost out on a dark, gravel road in the middle of no where.  He may be kind of on the frontage road, but he has his eye on the interstate looking for an exit to get back on.  Proud to be your Momma, Erik!  You always know the way home!