And again, I say, Cry out to Jesus...

"When you're lonely, and it feels like the whole

world is falling on you,

You just reach out, you just cry out to Jesus,

cry out to Jesus"

~Third Day

For every woman out there, there has always been "that" man in your life...you know, the one before your husband. For some it is a father, for some a grandfather or an uncle or a brother but for a lucky few of us, it is a red head with big brown eyes and a white patch on his chest...for me it was my dog, my beloved Amos.

After 12 years together, I had to put my dog to rest and I am really hurting. That sweet boy saw me through everything...through crappy times of dating to the wonderful life of marriage and even the birth of my girls.

On Saturday, I took our dogs in for their routine haircut and wanted to talk to the vet about a couple of strange things Amos had been doing lately. Much to my dismay, she thought Amos had a brain tumor as well as advanced heart disease.

I cried my eyes out yesterday...I miss my dog, my girls miss him, my other dog misses him, even "other guy" misses him (well, let's be honest here, I'm not quite sure he misses the dog that bit him on occasion, one time even drawing blood - but hey, he knew we were a package deal, get me, get my dog!) but he is hurting for how it affected our family.

So, I am going to hold fast to the movie theme, that All Dogs DO go to heaven!

Peace Out!

Cry out to Jesus...

"for every one who's lost someone they love, long before it was their time.

You feel like the days you had were not enough when you said goodbye...

there is hope for the helpless, rest for the weary

Love for the broken heart There is grace and forgiveness,

mercy and healing He'll meet you wherever you are

Cry out to Jesus, cry out to Jesus" ~Third Day

It has been a very sad week for me. On Monday night/Tuesday morning, my best friend Casi lost her brother in a car accident. Although I had only recently met Chase, I loved him like my own brother. I have listened to many stories about him, great stories of their growing up together, his antics, his love of fishing and his love of University of Tennessee football. Because of my love for Casi, I feel as though I knew him better than I actually did.

Needless to say, my friend is hurting and I feel helpless. There is so much going on right now with her family during this sadness and I hate that I am not right there with her. I wish I could do something really ridiculous right now just to make her laugh out loud, you know one of those really good cackles. I wish I could some how go back in time and wrestle the keys out of Chase's hands, I wish I could chase away the demons he faced in his life, I wish I could ease the pain that his family is feeling right now. I wish I could offer some sense of healing that will only come with time. Mainly I wish I could wrap my arms around my friend, no my sister, and tell her that everything is going to be okay. But in the mean time, say a prayer for her and for the entire Clower/Quinn family.

I saw this quote today and thought I would share it with you..."Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

Peace Out!

And on the 8th day, God created CHOCOLATE!


Well, let me just tell you that it has been one of those weeks. You know the kind where you meet yourself coming and going. In the south we have two ways of describing these times, (1) Busier than a one armed wall paper hanger (2) - my personal favorite, Busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest!

I have been stressed and indulge me by letting me tell you why. Both Curly and Moe have been sick. Curly has done amazingly well, nothing a little antibiotic and a good round of chase around the living room won't cure but Moe on the other hand is a different story. You know those tubes we had put in about 8 wks ago, well something is WRONG! I took her in on Thursday because frankly she wasn't herself and was being meaner than a rattlesnake. Low and behold, she has an ear infection. In the words of my pediatrician, "that's the worst looking ear with tubes that I have ever seen and I've been in practice for a while!" Now WHAT? We are giving her antibiotics and we'll see what happens.

Also, Other Guy is not doing so hot either. We found out that he has problems with multiple discs in his back and is facing surgery.

This on top of just an over all feeling of unimportance and a case of the "not good enoughs" can really get a girl down. But help is on the way...the in-laws are coming. They are en route as I type and words can NOT EXPRESS how EXCITED I am. Let the date night return my friend.

However, I must admit that this is not the only thing that has me giddy right now. Friendship does! Today, I have had two people reach out to me in BIG WAYS! The cool thing is that these gals are doing this with no ulterior motive. Just simply acted on God's gentle pushing. One person I don't even know, she is my Mystery MOP from MOPS and this morning she gave me a card that told me to relax and have some ME time and if that wasn't encouraging enough, she gave me chocolate, yes ladies and gents the cure all...CHOCOLATE.

The other gal simply knocked on my door. I have only recently met Bekah through a dear friend of mine, Addie. She and Addie grew up together and I must admit, I like this chick! Although, don't play SKIPBO with her because SHE CHEATS!!! Just kidding, she just beats me and so I am bitter.

All on her own, she took the time to call Addie, get directions to my house, which I might add isn't exactly around the corner from her, and drove over here with CHOCOLATE! She rang my doorbell and left it with a note saying this, "I know you seemed stressed on Thursday and you still seemed stressed yesterday at church...soooooo...I figured some medication was in order! Enjoy, Bekah!"

HELLO....is that cool or what? Am I that kind of friend? I sure hope so.

So to all of you out there in BLOG world, may somebody bring you chocolate to brighten your day...or whatever your poison may be.

Peace Out!

Marie