by Sharon O | Sep 4, 2012 | Uncategorized
It has been two weeks now since we lost our old black dog.
My heart is still heavy and sad.
I watch Emma my old red Australian cattle dog lay outside on her bed.
She is lonely.
I can tell she is not sure of what to do without ‘her buddy’ near her.
Change is hard.
How can we move towards change
We can put our foot down and resist it or
we open our hands and welcome it.
For me
change is hard.
I rarely move my furniture.
I drive a 1995 toyota corolla.
We have lived in the same house now for nearly 16 years.
(the longest I have ever lived anywhere)
When we find a church we love we don’t like to leave it.
Change brings grief and stomach upsets and fatigue.
Especially if we have to change and we didn’t want to.
Losing a buddy was not something Emma wanted.
None of us want to lose something close to us.
When we do
our choice is to feel it
acknowledge it and then move forward
taking one step at a time
one very small step at a time.
Emma is very sad.
I do believe dogs grieve.
In time she will be less sad.
In time she will know we are here for her.
In time she will understand she gets special attention
because it is only her now.
We all need to accept life as it changes
In a moment in time.
by Sharon O | Sep 3, 2012 | Uncategorized
Soft clouds awakening the day… the dark shadows representing
the quiet of the night.
We open our lives with anticipation of what is to come
in the newness of the morning.
A new day
A new beginning
A new chance to begin again.
Joining Deidra on jumping tandem with the Sunday community
{photo by Margo from Yamhill}
by Sharon O | Aug 27, 2012 | Uncategorized
When our hearts bleed from deep pain and grief
all we can do is trust in the one who gave us the feelings and
thank Him for the ability to cry.
To sit with another and say nothing
when their hearts are grieving…is a gift we can give them.
Our pastor taught today on Job.
The story of Job is in the Old testament about a man who loved God.
Who stayed firm and strong in his testimony in the midst of losing everything dear to him including his health.
Job lost many things and still he praised God.
I challenge you to read the book of Job.
He was a wealthy man and yet he was brought down to nothing.
Loss is part of life but we are never prepared when it happens.
Like a rug pulled out from under our feet we slam to the floor
unsure if we can get back up again.
When we reach up and ask another to be with us
we begin to realize we cannot do this walk alone.
Joining Deidra on jumping tandem with the Sunday community
{unsure of who took the photograph ~ found it in my picture file}
by Sharon O | Aug 24, 2012 | Uncategorized
The last blog post I did was about our old black dog.
It was my 500th blog post.
I can’t believe it has been that many times of sitting here
pounding out
thoughts and questions.
Isn’t that interesting?
A significant mile post and also a significant loss.
This month has been a really hard one and losing our old dog
was just another reminder for me that we must stay strong
and focused.
I was reading something by John Eldredge from
www.ransomed heart.com
in the letter he said something I need to think about
on many levels.
How do you want me to be looking at this Lord?
It is a simple question.
It is also a really hard one.
My first blog year was full of grief… each writing
seemed like a pouring out of my heart and spirit.
Losing a family pet is really hard too.
We have been here before with each one of those who went before him.
None of them are easy to let go and say goodbye.
Our yard is different right now.
My dog Emma is quiet and I believe she is missing our old black dog who was her friend.
She seems a little lost.
Not too different from any of us when grief strikes our hearts.
by Sharon O | Aug 22, 2012 | Uncategorized
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Resting at night in our family room.
He liked an old blanket or sometimes a dog pillow. |
Our Old Black Dog, formerly known as Samson was put down today. 8/21/12
It is a sad day for us.
We have guessed he is 15-16 years old now.
When we rescued him from the pound he was about 3-4 years old.
My husband was looking for a dog to take fishing and camping and he wandered into a petsmart one day and saw him there. He called me and said ‘You won’t believe what I found’.
He was very excited to bring him home.
They said he had to go to the pound to actually adopt him.
We had to take in my Australian cattle dog Sadie and my dachshund Sophie so they all could be introduced to each other before they would release him to us.
(sometimes dogs don’t get along and that would have been a bad deal)
We all piled into the car and headed to the pound.
Sadie was not happy and perhaps even felt like we might be leaving her there.
Sophie was oblivious to the entire trip.
After we adopted him we put him in the car carrier and headed home.
He howled and hollered and carried on for miles as I looked at my husband with a look that meant
“what did we get ourselves into?”.
My husband stopped the car about half way and took Samson out of the dog carrier.
The rest of the ride home he sat on the seat and never whined or barked or made any noise.
He just didn’t like that dog carrier.
He became good friends with Sadie blue and after she passed on I picked up Emma Rose a red heeler.
They played and romped and just became good buddies.
He loved it on the water with Papa O he even had a life jacket just his size.
When our grandson was born the two Sam’s would often get confused
if we said “Sit” they both would sit down so we changed our Samson dog to Old black dog….or Obd.
He adjusted to the name well and our grandson learned to call grandpa’s buddy “Obd” too.
He will always be remembered as our ‘old black dog’ and my husbands fishing buddy.
by Sharon O | Aug 19, 2012 | Uncategorized
Generation after generation stands in awe of your work;
each one tells of your mighty acts.
Psalm 145:4 (the message)
Yesterday I watched a concert with Franklin Graham and his son Will and I knew they were following the faith of the father, Billy Graham. Generations will share and tell and let others know of the love of God.
It was refreshing to see the baton of faith, passed from one to another.
Joining Deidra on jumping tandem with the Sunday community.
(photograph by Cathy B from Oregon) used by permission.
