New Puppy Home-Great Dane-Merle Blindness

INTRODUCING: HENRY NOBLE

Wow! Motherhood at age 49! Incredible how a puppy can take up so much time. The image to the right is how he looked the first day home. He is less scrawny only 4 days later. Good food at our house.

We bought a puppy on Father's Day because my husband had been wanting a Great Dane. He is a merle and 3 days later at his vet appointment, we find out he is blind. We love him even more! Henry is a 10 week old (today) GD full of life and yet we don't know if he can't do things because of his blindness or that it is just puppyhood. I know he can see things in shadows and he uses sounds to help him interpret his world.

I have gone to several websites in these last few days to help me understand the needs of a blind dog and also in raising an incredibly LARGE dog. Wow. So much to learn and I am loosing sleep just like when I had my two human babies.

He sleeps, I work. He gets his feedings, I clean up after him. All in all, Henry is the best thing in a long time. I hope that our whole family gets on board with his needs. Being home all the time because of summer break allows me the time but if husband and son want this to be their dog too, Henry needs to learn more than just my voice.

Today we started learning to walk with our harness on (instead of a choke collar) and he ventured into new grassy areas of the lawn. I have made a call to a U of I eye doc and we will be taking a trip up north to find out the prospects of the sight and/or a plan of action.

On June 24, Henry weighed 18 pounds. I think he is taller and heavier only 2 days later.

Forgiveness: Opportunities and Challenges

How Can I Forgive Others--and WHY Should I?

This is a sore spot in my life. Seems like a lot of people have hurt me but I wonder how much of that I have caused to happen?   

I attended a wedding yesterday in St. Charles, Missouri and even though I was "working" there, I had an opportunity to hear the words of the minister when he spoke of the most important thing in a marriage is not love or being friends, it is forgiveness. Yes, believe it or not, forgiving he says will allow that love to flourish and grow naturally.

Embarrassing as it was, I shed tears over my viola as I could relate to so much of this process. When I forgive my husband for his unkind, sometimes hateful words, I feel washed from chains of hate and learn how this frees me as well. Allowing someone the right to be forgiven helps me understand how great I am at keeping a grudge. It's hard to let it go!

What was also touching was the request of the people to the wedding to help the couple  in this process. I remember that this is  asked in traditional church weddings but I recall it was so automatic it never struck me as really meaning anything. In an outdoor, small wedding, I could hear the answers yes, the clicking of saliva in the smiling lips during the audible "yes" from older people and see the hands being held.

We are all part of keeping forgiveness alive. We all have a way to make someone's life together through our own adoption of forgiveness to them and others. We model that behaviour in everyday activities and challenges. 

Reminder of the day: Forgiving others in little things helps me to practice forgiveness in the really big things. 

My sister Valerie sent me a link for a blog I have been searching for and in that process, I found this WONDERFUL site full of excellent articles for almost anything that may interest a person. Thank you, Valerie.

Click here if you want to view a small page on forgiveness but do explore the other pages it has to offer!

hey! i am going to talk about the new Nintendo DSi. Nintendo DSi is the newest version of the Nintendo DS systems. It has many cool new features such as a camera, a microphone, a wifi connection, and an SD card slot. With the wifi connection, u can surf the web, download games, and play world wide with other people. you can also edit the sounds and pictures u take.
It comes in blue and black. Here are some pics of it:

To learn more go to http://www.nintendo.com/ds

Twilight: Which Character Do You Relate To Best?

I bought ALL the Twilight Books in hard copy. My intention is to re-read them all this summer. I have the movie too.

What I want to know is (assuming you too have a passion for this series)....what character do you most relate to?

Click here to take the character test? Then comment below:

I mean, are you the Jacob Black who is in the background waiting for his love to see him?
Are you Edward? Why?
Bella...are you the star of the show...the changling from human to vampire because of the love of man she cannot have unless she changes to meet his existence in time?
What about Victoria, she is something. The beautiful yet catty primadonna of the vampires. Strongly attached to the warrior vampire who is hottest in temper?

What about the dad?
What about the human friends? How do you relate in your human life what has come alive in this wonderful series? Click here for the movie teaser!