Are You There Blog?? It's Me, Mary.

Long time no blogging. That has been due to a computer problem which I am glad to say is now fixed (obviously). Now I have lots of back logged blogs, (can I just call them "back blogs"), that are ready for pictures and publishing. So when you see a number of them being posted all in one day... don't worry I still have a life, but my obsessive nature will not allow me to patiently post them one at a time. I want to get life moving FORWARD.

UPDATES... UPDATES... UPDATES!

Are you wondering how my summer "list" is going? Well... my backhand springing is on hold indefinitely. My hair is still growing (hoping to cut and donate soon), my nephews did in fact come for a week long visit, and my SIL finally had the newest nephew (Carter) aka "Carter Cat." All of these things will be discussed in further detail in the back blogs, I promise.

So I am in "today" mode and want to talk about my dog "Nala." She's an almost 7 month old yellow Labrador retriever with an unabashed ambition for living. "Nala-girl" (as she is often called), has been an awesome dog and an awesome responsibility. Most people hear me say I have a lab an immediately say "Oh, you have a Marley."  My answer is simply... yes and no.

She doesn't eat dry wall, she doesn't have an attraction to poodles, and she is fairly well mannered (she is afterall, still a puppy).  Nala does likes to chase birds, and she thinks every dog is ready to play. Like most pets, she has officially made her place as part of the family.  So much so that I think at times she believes she's human...

What most people don't know about Nala is that her name could have easily been "Therapy" instead. I have always wanted a dog to join our family (specifically a Labrador).  In retrospect, I believe only God knows why.

It took a little more than a year to get The Engineer on board. After reading every imaginable Lab book, checking out breeders, and finally begging he caved.  We were set to bring our puppy home somewhere in the January/February range. Then October came and a stick surprisingly turned blue, and I knew the puppy pipe dream had ended.

We coasted through November and sailed to December 22. Ultrasound day.  That's the day my world stopped turning and I was scheduled for surgery just after the Christmas holiday passed. Coincidentally 12/22 was the same day Nala was born.  In an attempt to cheer me up my husband said "If you still want to, we can get the puppy."  To which I did not respond. To be honest, I really didn't care.

By mid-January I was physically better, and started to entertain the idea of the little yellow fuzz ball moving in.  Just two days before the "1 month later" mark my sister called to let me know that my grandmother had died in her home.

We committed to getting the only female yellow puppy shortly after. 

So now it should be no surprise as to why my dog named "Nala" is jokingly referred to as "Therapy."  She provided me with distraction from the disaster. 

To say the least she is everything I had hoped for (and LOTS more).  She is now a stealth 47 lbs of canine craziness.  And just like everything else that happens in life she is a lesson.

Here's a story to help me explain myself:

Once, Micayla fell off her bike and gashed her knee wide open. Blood, tears, panic, and crying sang in perfect 4 part harmony in seconds. However, I had a means to end it all. Not a band aid, not a kiss, but a dum-dum lollipop.  Opening that strawberry sucker did not end the bleeding or the hurt but it calmed the calamity.  Distraction.

I think God challenges us in the hurt and broken places that life takes us. One of the wonderful things about the way we are created is our ability to feel pain but have the capacity to see outside of it. Sometimes that seems impossible. I know for me in that moment it was completely impossible. That's when God distracts us.

Most of the time the word "distraction" carries a negative connotation. I'm happy to report there is an exception.  Sometimes we are busted open, bleeding, crying out to God to "fix it" and He pulls out a "lollipop" to take our minds off of the situation.  LESSON: While God CAN supernaturally fix anything... He knows it's sometimes better for us to refocus elsewhere and begin healing on our own.

James 1:2-4

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing." (NLT)

Sometimes distractions are a good thing. And they may just be the hand of God presenting an opportunity.
 
Thankful for lollipops, my puppy, and divine distraction. And a fixed computer.