Christmas Gift - The Best Part of Rescuing German Shorthairs

Wednesday night was eventful, to say the least.

I picked up a female GSP from a local rescue/vet.  Since it was Christmas, the vets closed on Wednesday, so she had to stay the night with us. Thursday, we ferried her to Fredericksburg  to meet her new foster family.  They’re going to call her Zuzu, because, you know, it's Christmas - and "It's a Wonderful Life".  I love it!

We brought Zuzu home, bathed her, and let her get accustomed to Zanna and Dex the Wonderdogs.  Dex was in her face, wanting to play, wouldn’t give her one second to breathe.  Zanna was a little more standoff-ish, but somewhat welcoming.

 

Snoozing with Dex after a hard day!

Trying to get Zanna to play!

In the end, they all got along just fine, and soon wore themselves out.  Zuzu crated like a dream.  She didn’t wake up until 4 a.m., at which time all three dogs decided they had to go outside.

It took me a while to figure out Zuzu was hungry again.  So I fed her.  Then she got that just-fed burst of energy.  It’s 4:30 in the morning, peeps.  But there’s no telling what schedule she’s been on at the veterinarian for the last 30 days, so…grace.

Zuzu and I escaped the rest of the dogs and repaired to the guest bedroom, where she snoozed up against me for a couple of hours.  It’s a good thing.

She had another big day with travel.  She did so well!  Before she got to call it a night, she had more adoptive siblings to meet, and even a horse!  I believe she’ll settle in well.

Traveling day.  She did so well!

Zuzu’s not even been here and gone 24 hours, and I’m already missing her.

Zuzu in her new foster home.  Isn't she beautiful?

Godspeed, sweet girl.  I’m praying your life is all roses and pig ears from this point forward.

It’s never boring around here.

If you’re interested in adopting this sweet girl, please contact Texas GSP Rescue for a consultation/house visit.  They are the greatest people, and we love working with them!

New Kid On the Block or What Were We Thinking?

As some of you may know, we lost our precious Zack the Wonder Dog to a quick growing cancer in July of this year.

Zanna the Wonder Dog misses him.  And we miss him. 

So much that we made a quick decision (i.e., we weren’t thinking, didn’t do the research, we weren’t thinking, (oh yeah, I already said that, didn’t I?) didn’t look at the big picture) to adopt a dog that we had decided to foster.

Before we even got him into foster status.

His name is Dexter.

He is wrecking our house.  He regularly believes table tops, no matter the height, should be his perch from which to gain purview of everything.  So that he might find something else to chew up. Tear up. Throw up in the air and catch with his mouth.

So, if I’ve been a little distracted, I believe it's because I have a toddler in my house.

And Janie the Dog Whisperer has officially hung up her hat in an admission of failure.

We have had to call in a dog trainer.  One who thought he could turn Dexter around in 45 minutes. (Even he quickly changed his mind, haha!)

We laugh, now.  And ThatManILove says that, with every act,  Dex is just trying to fill up his love bucket.

It’s been four weeks and Dexter is making huge progress but he is still stretching us to the max.

Insofar as we can tell, Dexter was a chained up yard dog, with virtually no human interaction.  It took us almost 2 weeks to establish eye connection with him.   

I hate it when my carpet has stuff on it, like pieces of pig ears, fabric,  and plastic.  It drives me bonkers.

And he loves to tip over the grands’ storage toy buckets.  LOVES their stuff.

Right now, I’m just walking over, under, or by the mess, and putting on Young Living Stress Away Essential Oil.

If I get out the vacuum cleaner, it will be certain death to that machine…because Dex will want to play with it.  He LOVES to help me dry my hair.

If you can imagine a dog with interest in E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G., you might have a wee idea of what animal we have.  Add the German Shorthair hunting instinct?  And just a tad of young pup?

Voila.

Dexter.

And he has absolutely stolen our hearts.  He makes us laugh, ‘til we cry.

Playing the "Don't Cross The Barrier" Game.

 And Zanna?  Is back to her wild ways, getting Dex to chase her, play fighting, and (gulp) even flirting.

She LOVES him.

All is well in her world.

Dexter is officially part of our house.  He's been neutered, chipped, and sleeps on our bed about half the night.  He's in like Flynn.

If you’d like to foster or adopt a German Shorthair Pointer, let me suggest www.texasgsprescue.com.  They’re great people – and you will fall in love with a German Shorthair. 

Purple Sage, How I Love Thee.

I'm pretty sure it's Young Living's fault that I have fallen further in love with plants of all kinds.  Nowadays, I'm always looking at plants to see if I can recognize and identify them.

Yesterday morning, I was heading to work and I saw some purple sage, in full bloom.

I'm a desert girl.  I live in the land of high heat, sweltering cars, and the horrible feeling of walking out of a perfectly comfortable air conditioned house into the breathtaking heat of the dog days of August.

But purple sage?  A beautiful thing to see when in it's glory! And it makes the heat bearable...because it bears a promise of cooling to come.

Abloom as in this picture, the purple sage is telling us West Texans, "Hey, y'all.  Rain...it is a'coming this way...and soon."

Better than the farmer's almanac, I tell you.

And what a blessing the rain is, when does it fall.  It's rained the last two days.

I love it.  And I love purple sage bushes.

Long may they bloom.

#youngliving #purplesage #rain #westtexas #lovemyessentialoils #random

Venice...Mind? Blown.

We have trekked miles, and ridden water taxis all over Venice in three days.  And all because we won a trip in a Young Living contest!

I’m sure we missed quite a bit, but my feet are saying…”Girl, believe me, you hit it all.”

We went to Saint Marco, and saw the big cathedral.

We traveled down the Grand Canal, right after sunset.

We went to the Guggenheim Museum, where some of Jackson and Charles Pollack's works were shown.  It was a very powerful collection, spanning several years.  They even had some of their familial letters on display. For example, several of the paintings in this room were painted in West Texas.

We went to the island of Murano where the glass blowing factories reside…and amazingly made it out of there with no major purchases.  (Though we almost caved and bought a beautiful piece….maybe someday.)

We stayed at the Hilton Molino Stucky – a beautiful property, built into an ancient building.  Good job, Hilton!!

Did I tell y’all anything about eating?  The food, amazing.  The gelato, consumed while walking along the waterfront? Divine.

Watching all the people, from all the nations, tourists and Venice dwellers, was one of my favorite things. Speaking of humans, we met some amazing people on this trip to Venice, Croatia, Turkey, and Greece, and formed some great, godly relationships with some of them.  We know, in our hearts, these friends will be friends for life.  Thank you, Jesus, for your love that knits us all together.

We want to go back to these beautiful countries, and soon.  Thank you, Young Living, for sending us on this amazingly, wonderful journey!

#youngliving #YLcruise #venice #greece #croatia #turkey #guggenheim #oilnatural #essentialoils

Only One Hour

Note to self:

Always check your flight arrangements when you entrust them to someone else.

We checked in for our final flight home Saturday night and afterwards, did the math.

We arrive at 8:30 p.m. in DFW Terminal E, have to grab our checked luggage.  Then, run to the train.  Then, go back through security for American Terminal B.

And hopefully, catch a 9:45 p.m. flight home to Midland.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Once again, welcome to Mi Vida Loca.

It’s never boring around here.

UPDATE:

We landed at 8:20 pm.  Got to baggage claim at 8:30 pm.  Baggage arrived about 8:40 pm.  We grabbed a taxi who tentatively knew where to take us.

Point being:  we needed B40 Terminal.  He took us to B40.  It was closed.  Then…

We hurried to B18 to check in …the final American Airlines Terminal open…until 9 pm.  We made it there at 8:59 and they gracefully took our bags and sent us on our way.

We make it through security checkpoint when I realize ThatManILove is missing his backpack.  He runs back 2 gates to get it…and it has been sequestered.  (He forgot to take his water bottle out.)  They finally relinquish the bag.

Meanwhile, resourceful woman that I am, his chariot awaits.  I have begged a golf cart driver to take us to B40.  We tipped him $20 and it was worth every cent.

We get to the gate with 2 minutes leeway to board!  AND they upgraded us to first class!  (short flight, but we’ll take it!)

MIRACLES do happen!  Thank you, Lord, for your absolute favor!  

Also, because we kept a full supply of Young Living Ningxia Red going, I really think we'll experience minimal jet lag at best. Young Living rocks!  YAY!

UPDATE:  Out of a full flight, only 12 bags made it to Midland.  Ours…did not.  Hopefully tomorrow!

PS - I love Southwest Airlines. 

Passports...What Is The Real Expiration Date?

Mi Vida Loca!

 It's been crazy...y'all check your passports! If you think you have three months to go before it expires, guess again! I had to expedite mine...it expires Sept 8, 2015. We get back from this trip on June 13. For my passport to work, it would have to expire Sept 14, 2015. Late Friday afternoon found me contacting RushMyPassport, and fedex-ing my passport to San Francisco, for delivery Tuesday morning at 8:30 am in Midland. Which would have been fine - - - but the US State Department had a computer glitch so no passport for Janie on Tuesday. Instead, Steve and I picked that bad boy up this morning at UPS at DFW. (it's never boring around here.) 

Trip ON! Thank you, Jesus!

Here's the real scoop on passports and expiration dates:

Passport Expiration - Don't Get Stuck!

Inspiration - Who Inspires You?

Will you talk to me about inspiration?

Who, currently in your life, inspires you, and how?

Have you told them?

My favorite story teller will win a bottle of this amazing

Young Living Essential Oil - Inspiration!!

Inspiration Essential Oil is a spiritual oil blend that has Cedarwood, Royal Sandalwood and Frankincense.  All of these oils have been used for hundreds of years by the Native Americans to open and enhance spiritual communication with the Creator.

The blend opens the third eye and throat chakra and releases negative thoughts that can block our connection with the divine. It also harmonizes the body systems; and opens the pituitary and pineal glands of the body which operates our emotional control center.*

*Notes courtesy of http://www.experience-essential-oils.com/inspiration-essential-oil.html.

If this oil or any Young Living Essential product interests you, contact me at www.youngliving.org/janiesnelson

Thankful for Birthdays, Boys, Toys, and Wonderdogs

We celebrated Whotwo's 3^rd birthday this weekend.

It’s crazy that a year has quickly passed – and this little man is growing up.  We had a great time with family and friends.

And then, we played the rest of the weekend with our grandsons.

I'm pretty sure I might be getting older (our chiropractor calls Monday Grandparents Day)…but I sure had fun playing with a bubble machine, balloons, and MONSTER TWUCKS!

I love kiddos…especially those kin to me!

The Wonderdogs took it all in stride.  They love these kiddos.

What are you thankful for today?