All Creatures.....Some Really Small.

* Update on Moose

After Larry passed away little Moose would run to his chair several times a day  looking for him.
Sometimes she'd sit by the door waiting.
It broke my heart. But it reminded me of blessings.

You see, one morning not long before he passed, Kelley was taking her dad to the doctor. She noticed him gently stroking his knee continually.
She asked, "Dad, what are you doing?"
He looked down and said in mild surprise, "Oh sorry..... just petting the dog."

That's what happened for hours each day. Dog petting.
I wonder who was comforted the most?

Now Moose rides in the front basket of my electric cart.
My cart is a huge blessing for which I'm extremely grateful, by the way.
Moose hates being cold so she's wrapped in a nest of blankets with only her little head sticking out.
We go everywhere like this. Even places where she's not allowed.  I just cover her up so that only her eyes show.
The girls bought her a little harness that says "Service Dog" but I don't feel it's honest. They say, "Sure it is, Ma. She's an official Crazy Old Lady Who's Finally Lost It, service dog. We can certify."

So, I've become the old lady on the cart with the little brown dog. Tooling around the neighborhood, Walmart and Loew's.
Believe me I never thought my life would come to this.

But, to be honest, there are advantages.
I can fetch and carry many things for people, easily saving time and steps. Too, on good days I can put in a 10 hour day and at the end of it my feet don't hurt. And I once beat the grandkids to Toontown on a Disney trip.  Life is full of  tender mercies. Just look for them.

So Moose has now become my constant companion.
A gift from Larry who was her first choice.
And when I reach inside her nest on the cart basket to be sure she's warm, she always turns to lick me.

 I wonder who's comforted most.


"And I, God, made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and everything which creepeth upon the earth after his kind; And I, God, saw that all these things were good."          Moses 2: 24-25                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
" The tender mercies of the Lord are over all,"           1 Nephi 1:20                                                                                                                                                                       


*Original Post     


All Creaures...Some Really Small
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I've never been a "dog person" really.
I've always thought cats were less trouble for the most part.
Until recently I never met a dog that didn't cause me some kind of grief.
Usually this grief involves my having more work to do and less money to spend. Come to think of it I still haven't met one that doesn't cause more work and less money.

I know a lot about that dog grief thing too.
How? Because all of my married life we've had dogs. And more than one at a time too.
Why, you say?
Because, you see, even though I'm not, Larry definitely IS a dog person.  He's had dogs since he was a boy, and they've always had him.

Well, as we all know, marriage is often about compromise.
So, to be fair to me, Larry reluctantly compromised and said we could have cats to go along with the dogs and children.
And I was elected to be responsible for the care and feeding of all of them, including Larry.

Now something's happened concerning a dog that I'm almost reluctant to tell you. It's out of character for me and I'm afraid that people will think that I've become delusional along with whatever else I've become.
But I'm not delusional yet, and I was so touched that I must tell you about it.

You see, last night, an aging, nondescript, sometimes annoying little brown dog with one white spot, went out of her way to show compassion towards a being not even of her same species.
That species being human. That human being me.
And compassion it was, there was no mistaking it for anything else. Which leads to a whole lot of other deep animal questions to think about later.

Let me tell you about the dog.
She was rescued as a teeny, tiny pup by my son-in-law who found her while he was working in an empty house. He heard pitiful cries and went to help. She fit in the palm of his hand and was not even old enough to have been weaned. He checked with neighbors with no luck.
Being a compassionate yet smart man, he didn't take it home to his wife and seven kids. He knew a great truth was found in that old saying, "There's no such thing as a free puppy."
So instead he took it to his sisters-in-law.
Just as he'd figured, they immediately rushed it to the vet, paid the bill, and then stopped off at the nearest pet market to buy hundreds of dollars of dog stuff, most of it in pink. Included were little bottles of expensive dog formula which the vet recommended feeding every three hours round the clock for some weeks. This was years ago.

Well, that little pup grew into the smallest chihuahua-mutt-mix princess the vets had ever seen every six months for regular shots and check-ups. The girls named her "Daisy."
These daughters felt that Daisy and her border collie sibling, (another rescue), would be lonely if left alone too long, so they dropped them off early each morning to spend weekdays with us while the girls were teaching.
Larry, however, refused to have a dog in the house with such a "wuusie" name as Daisy.
So he renamed her "Moose."

Well, Moose is now older. She stays with us full-time while our dog Murphy, who is still an adolescent in dog years, and therefore trouble, stays with our daughters, who can handle trouble better than we can now.

Moose has a little pillow kept right between Larry and I on our bed where she sleeps at night. She has her own favorite blankets. She hates being cold so several times a night I reach in to her little nest to make sure she's warm and covered.

Well, sad to say, I now have geezer issues which cause pain whenever I move.
Last night I was trying to get more comfortable in bed and was attempting a turn which caused some moans of distress. After much tribulation I finally got settled.

As soon as I did, a sleepy little brown dog with one white spot emerged from her warm nest.
She came over to me, licked my arm exactly twice, turned around and went back inside the blankets to her bed.
There was no mistaking the message.
I knew instantly what those licks meant.
She was saying, "There, there. You're okay now. Go back to sleep."

Tender mercies.

I guess Father sends them in lots of ways.

Today I'm thankful for all his creatures great and small.
Once in the middle of a dark night a very small one brought comfort to me.

Watch Out For Angels

We are surrounded by angels, seen and unseen.
I'm helped at their hands on a daily basis.
Heavenly Father sends them.
Beautiful scriptures describe angelic beings. Here's just one;

"...For I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."            D&C 84:88

The apostles have spoken to us about angels many times.
I especially love Jeffrey Holland's thoughts.
Read his beautiful conference talk, "The Ministry of Angels," to hear his counsel.

I personally live with two of the "seen" type of angels.
This is not just my opinion either.
My dear daughter-in-law once told me that she believed that both of the ones in my house will go straight to the celestial kingdom when they finish up here. Just a gold, non-stop pass straight to the top. No waiting around.

Other people think this about them too. Mainly because they have devoted their lives to the service of others.

They've spent years caring for the old, broken members of their family, bringing them into their home to do so.
Only someone who's taken care of old people 24/7 really knows what this means. They do this in their free time.

Beth says, 'Don't worry about us Ma," because she says she has a witness that they picked this assignment before coming here.

Some assignment. First they teach Seminary at 5:30 in the morning, after getting up at 4:00 to pray and prepare. Then off they go in the dark to hold up a light so the most valiant can see.

Then off they go to work.
This is so they can give every last bit of energy they possess to loving and guiding HUNDREDS of other teenagers, sometimes the most troubled ones.

When the workday is done they come home to care for some loved but ancient family member. Currently this is a broken, still bandaged mother, unable to stand or walk, who won't be still and insists that she be helped in and out of bed in order to do her mischief.

On weekends they often think it's a good idea to cook for the "Westside" family. They're concerned that we're a bit isolated out here in the wild west.
They want all the young people to feel "connected " to family and the Church.

Our "Eastside" loved ones are busily blessed with two of the cutest great-grandbabies ever, and are already surrounded by other church members and extended family.
Plus Lisa is there to care for them. They are well connected.

So Beth and Kelley think that spur of the moment barbeques and Disney movie nights will help kids "make connections." Kids includes Isaac, one of the cutest little two-year-olds ever, a grand-nephew. The angels say he needs the little ties that bind too.

As an added benefit, it's hoped that this frenzy of activity might give their tired sister and brother-in-law a break.
You see, Kim and Scott are the parents of seven kids, five of them currently teenagers.
This can make you really tired.

So on a Saturday afternoon Kelley heads out to fetch and then drag home carloads of groceries. Beth then begins to chop and grill them.
Soon the house fills up with 15 loud and hungry people looking to connect.

However, this angelic connection-promoting behavior, while praiseworthy, can sometimes lead to further, unplanned opportunities.

For instance, a few Sundays ago all the family were sitting together at Stake Conference.
A note came down the row to Beth.

She read,

"Our mother says we made her tired and she's going to take a nap after church. She won't cook for us. She says we are old enough to feed ourselves. Can we come home with you? Will you feed us?"
Signed by some teenager.

So angels then make dinner in less than 30 minutes, for a dozen hungry people, mostly teenagers, who walk in the door at the same time as the angels do, and want food RIGHT NOW, without any prior notice, warning, shopping or preparing. On a day of rest.

Nevertheless, all this being said, you need to know that these particular angels are not always exactly angelic.
There's another side.

I've found that angels can also be bossy, patronizing, devious, stubborn and annoying.
And highly opinionated.
For instance.
They will unjustly confiscate your paintbrushes, and spray paint, and eventually ban you from any painting at all.

Angels lie.
They tell falsehoods about where sharp implements are kept. This is so old people can't grate carrots.
And though they deny any knowlege of the whereabouts of the breadmaking machine, they've actually hidden it so you won't make a mess.

In fact, they hide all "dangerous or messy" items like potting soil.
Potting soil and paint are evil and are hidden in secret places somewhere deep in the garage.

Angels have bad taste at times too.
They don't like the best colors, underappreciate fine art, and think innocent flowers, like geraniums are "old fashioned."
You will not be allowed to plant geraniums.

Angels don't want you to go into their clean kitchen to make dinner.

Angels will tell you to be still, they will do it later.
Angels don't want you to do it now.

Angels will tell you that you are driving them crazy. Yet, there they sit, behind the steering wheel.

Remember, I warned you.
Watch out for angels.