Happy Father's Day From Kirby...

 Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words and I believe it's true.  The smile on Russ's face to finally be taking Kirby home says it all.

When we arrived, Kirby wagged his tail for the first time since he's been sick!  He walked around the waiting room and even ventured over to other people who were waiting on their pets and allowed them to pet him.

He explored the large room in a very methodical and interesting way.  He began at the wall an kind of bounced his head gently into it.  Then he criss-crossed to the other side where there was soft furniture and did the same thing.  Then a diagonal pattern back to the wall and so on.  When he got to the glass door, he obviously recognized it as different than the other walls.  We don't know if it's a light perception or what but there is obviously a difference.

We learned to do subcutaneous IV in the skin between his shoulders.  He wasn't the least bit bothered by it.  It takes a few minutes to complete the procedure because we are forcing the fluid in and not using a drip (which would take forever).  I told him he was like a camel now.  He still drinks from the bowl but this procedure helps keep him hydrated better since his kidneys are not doing their job very well.  We will do this once a day.  Probably at bed time.  Kirby was so happy to get into the car and go further than around the parking lot and downtown Starkville.

 He would sit with me in the back for a while and then let us know he was ready to go find Dad.  By the time we got to Booneville, he was hanging his head out the open window and loving it.  We couldn't wait to see how Kasidy and Kada-Joy would respond when he came home.  We videoed it and it was sweet.  They were so happy.  Kada-Joy kissed on him.  Kasidy tried to get him to play with her.  It was then that we saw even more evidence of just how sick Kirby is...even after so much improvement.  Seeing him by himself at the vet hospital was different than seeing him with the other two healthy dogs.  It hit me like a ton of bricks.  Yes, we know he has a long way to just recuperate from being in the hospital and we know he won't ever be the same as he was before the SARDS and his blindness.  I guess it was just such a defining moment when they were all three together.  It has been less than three weeks since all three were running and playing together.  Kirby was alpha and in control of his kingdom.  It wasn't a gradual, growing old pattern like we had prepared ourselves for since they were puppies.  It was an overnight change that our hearts weren't asked permission for and our brains obviously didn't get the complete message.

I can't figure it all out.  Thank goodness I don't have to and that I can still my heart by remembering that God is going to work it out.  I don't know how he will do it and it certainly is likely to be a plan different that Russ and I would have chosen but that's why we put our trust in Jesus.  His ways are always the best.

We are oh so tired.  Kirby has been sick 22 days...just about every day since we've been out of school for summer "break".  We go back to school at the end of July and we are exhausted.  I'm doing "doggie day care duty" while Russ drives to do dyslexia therapy about an hour's drive from home.  Today he has Morgan, our five year old granddaughter with him as an assistant while her mom and big sister are in Alaska with our church.  Life is busy.  Life is good.

Satan has won a scuffle with me because he managed to get me to take my eyes off Jesus for a second when we arrived home with Kirby and in that second...he flooded my heart with doubts and fears.  Kill, steal and destroy.  That's his plan.  That's okay, though.  God reached down and hugged me close and said as he always does...I've got this child.  Just give it to me.  I've got this.  And, I did.  And he does.  Give your burdens to Jesus.  Even the ones you think are to insignificant for the God of the universe to care about because he cares about every single care we have and promises to hear us when we pray.

My three doggies are sleeping on the bed.  They went out a few minutes ago  and Kirby lay in the grass and sunned for a few minutes.  I could see the peace come over his little body as he was laying in his backyard with his people.  Welcome home, Kirby!