GoD And DoG

Snow Day!

The kids finally got out with the dogs and had a great time building a snow fort and snow man together. They also sledded with the neighbor kids and had a huge snowball fight!

Bow to your Sensei!

I'm not sure, but I think I might have dog snobs. I am very concerned about this. :) They are friendly, gentle, kind dogs, but I've noticed of late when folks come to visit they exude a sense of entitlement. For creatures who have no bills to pay, no responsibilities, and are expected to do nothing but "be cute," I guess this makes some sense. However, because of this I determined to bring them back to earth this weekend, so we went to the dog park both Saturday and Sunday. I am pleased to report my dogs received an 'A' in cooperation and friendly play. Whew! Now, onto breaking it to Chino the only dogs who consider him the "Mob Boss' are Chloe and Elli (Elli is his cousin). Chino thinks he is running exclusive meetings (see, back to the sense of entitlement - maybe I do need to continue to work on this :). In reality, Chloe and Elli are the only dogs willing to listen to him insist they need to, "Bow to your Sensei!" Oh well, whatever keeps them happy! Y

Reframing Your Picture

So, I woke up today (at 4:00 AM thanks to my dog, Luke) and I felt so frustrated. I woke up to his barking and went downstairs to let him out of his room (yes, our dogs have their own room) and he didn't want out, he just wanted me to be with him. Well, that was the last thing I wanted at that moment. I went back up to bed and tried (to no avail) to go back to sleep. When I came back down, I found wet, shredded paper all over the downstairs. I was furious! When that crazy dog didn't get what he wanted, he showed me. Needless to say, I started shouting at him, and shouted to whoever would listen, that I was DONE with him. "I want him gone!" is what actually came out of my mouth, to the horror of my daughter (animal lover extraordinaire). Then, I was really on a roll and yelled at everyone else and got to school and started down the same path with the students in my third grade class.

Funny how God works, each child in my class has been sharing a special item and we've been writing about them each day. Today, the little girl who shared brought in a little sunshine angel. The saying that went with it was something along the lines of: when you're feeling frustrated or sad, to wear the little angel pin and she would help you feel better. That led into a discussion about whether or not a little angel pin could do that or was it more that it makes you stop and think about what's really going on. So, we had a great time talking about times we've felt frustrated (yes, I got to share my story from my morning) and we all decided that we can CHOOSE to reframe our picture, start over and have a different experience than the one we were headed towards having. Shortly after this discussion, my husband sent me this picture...

The shredder is the one in the front. Who couldn't love that face????????

I love those moments when my third graders get to show how wise they really are. I had the opportunity to reframe my picture for the day and was reminded that people and yes, even pets, come into our lives for a reason. I love my dogs, they're part of our family and I can choose to get frustrated or I can choose to problem-solve. Today, I will choose to have a different attitude.

I know God wants us to do the same, when we wake up and aren't feeling up to doing His work, we can make a choice. What's your choice today?