She Doesn't Believe Me...and Happy Mutt's Day

(Did you know that today is Mutt's Day?  Yeah.  So...Happy Mutt's Day!  Go buy your four legged barky friend(s) a treat! Tell them ThatJanieGirl made you do it.)

My husband and my brother and a lot of my friends call me the dog whisperer (Move over, Cesar Milan).  My dog-walker often calls or texts for advice.  I don’t think I know that much, but I do try to “think like the dog”.  My sister-in-love is a dog rescuer and rehabilitator.  She’s the dog whisperer, I would say.

We’ve trained our dogs to go to the bathroom on command.  They’re hunting dogs, so we might be in Timbuctoo for a field trial, limited time on our hands, and they need to have voided prior to going in for their competition.  So we taught them to perform their “duties”, as it were, via the command, “Hurry.”  On leash or off, they’re pretty automatic.  (Hey.  Don't be hating.  It's better than being the only girl in a cadre of camo-upped guys at a competition, taking your dog to do his/her business, and saying, "Go pee-pee now, Zack*, honey.  Then go out there, be the man, and retrieve that bird."  Right?  Right?)

So, in conversation, I was talking to my sister-in-love about how going to the dog park is such a trip for dogs, and why they tend to ignore you, ignore commands, etc., off leash and at the park.  In speaking, I alluded to the dog park being like an overcrowded shopping mall for the serious shopper.  There is just too much going on at a super busy mall, crowded with kiosks, cookie booths, people selling, selling, selling - too many scents - there have been way too many people there and too much to see.  It's overwhelming.

Back to the dog park - take a dog to a dog park, he’s NOT going to pee or poop on command.  There have been too many “dogs” in what he now views as "His Park".  He’s going to go check their calling cards, right?  It's a dog rule.  It's the dog version of LinkedIn.  We could name it "SniffedIn."

Thus, the conversation, on Facebook, no less, last night.  She cracks me up.  

But I'm still right.  "Think like the dog.  Be the dog." And Lisa - I love you.

*Zack - our Wonderdog

ChChChChanges....

Lately, different things have been resounding in my spirit.

Senses of things to come, by way of Jesus.
A shifting in hearing.  Sensing. Seeing.  Knowing.
Changes in provision.
Changes in relationships.
Changes in perspective.
Restoration, in areas that have been experiencing such a void.

I don’t know if I’m getting older and wiser, or that I'm settling down and finally tuning in more to the things of the Lord.

But my main sense is a sense of well-being, even in the storm.

And mostly, Love.

The knowing that He loves me.  And His plan for me, and mine, is good.

I am thankful that His Love never fails.

Sooooo thankful.

This One Cracked Me Up

I've recently changed jobs.  And in doing so, received several emails of congratulations and good wishes from within my industry.  

I thought this one deserved publishing.  Nick is one of my former co-workers, congratulating me on my new job.  I laughed so hard!  Thanks, Nick-man.

(Yes, my new boss has a jet.  And several sweet race cars.  And the US standing mile record.)

Homecoming

ThatManILove sang this song to me last night.  He stole my heart away, again.

"Something in the Way She Moves"  

James Taylor

Something in the way she moves, or looks my way, or calls my name
that seems to leave this troubled world behind.
And if I'm feeling down and blue or troubled by some foolish game,
she always seems to make me change my mind..

And I feel fine anytime she's around me now, 
She's around me now almost about all the time.
And if I'm well you can tell she's been with me now.
She's been with me now quite a long, long time and I feel fine.

Every now and then the things I lean on lose their meaning
and I find myself careening in places where I should not let me go.
She has the power to go where no one else can find me and to silently remind me
of the happiness and the good times that I know, and then I just got to go then.

It isn't what she's got to say but how she thinks and where she's been.
To me, the words are nice, the way they sound.
I like to hear them best that way, it doesn't much matter what they mean.
she says them mostly just to calm me down

And I feel fine anytime she's around me now, 
She's around me now almost about all the time.
And if I'm well you can tell she's been with me now.
She's been with me now quite a long, long time and I feel fine.