My friend Cornia’s ministry (El Jordan) does a couple of cool things at Christmas time. Most of you have heard about their “Christmas on the Streets” where they cook and distribute nearly 5000 meals on Christmas Eve to street people. Another great thing they do is pass out Christmas cookies to various ministries around the city. A lady comes down every year from Canada and bakes literally thousands of cookies. This year they expanded their outreach even more in a new and creative way.
They gave us a dog.
I came home and the guys handed me our plate of cookies that had been hand delivered from El Jordan. And of course, that made me happy. The guys waited until I had a smile on my face, before they told me that there was another surprise waiting in the backyard. I’m not really sure what I expected...but a dog with a note and a ribbon tied around her neck was probably low on the list. The note thanked me for my help at El Jordan this past year. And seriously, that was very nice of them...but you know...everyone else got this cool coffee mug. I really liked that coffee mug. I’m not entirely sure how I rated a dog.
But the dog seemed nice enough and the guys were pretty excited. They’ve wanted a one for awhile now. Sandro especially. He’d already built a little house for her and had food and water close at hand. He kept going back out and petting her. That night I caught him heading out into the backyard with one of his t-shirts in hand. It’s cold out, he says. Not really, I say (unless somewhere along the way +24 C has become cold). But she needs this, he tells me. I scrounged up an old sheet for her bed and told Sandro that would be good enough. He reluctantly agreed, but still wanted to put his t-shirt on her. I told him it was a nice thought, but suggested that she probably wouldn’t like that much anyhow. All I could think was, we are so not going to start dressing the dog up in people clothes.
And...for a whole day, I didn’t mind having a dog.
But here’s the thing...for that first day she was all quiet and shy. Now I realize how nice that was. She was kind of sweet. Tonight, as I write this at 11:30 PM, she’s in the front yard barking and whining and making more noise that a single dog should physically be able to make. I’m sure our neighbours are thrilled. She’s getting every dog in the neighbourhood all worked up. And seriously...there’s a lot of dogs in our neighbourhood.
The grumpy thing is, the guys all sleep so heavy that she could be slobbering on their faces and they wouldn’t even notice (Hmm...that’s a thought...I wonder if she’d let me hold her head steady enough...). So of course, it becomes my responsibility to go out and try to calm the silly mutt down...which I just tried to do...and which inevitably turned into a fun little game of bark at the white guy and try to run past him into the house.
So now I’m the proud father of eight guys and a dog. Life just gets better and better. All I need now is a minivan and my worst nightmare will have become a reality... =) Oh wait, I forgot to tell you. They named her “Mancha” which sounds nice enough, but is the Spanish version of “Spot”. ‘Cause you know...she has spots. Now we just need a cat name “Socks” and with or without the minivan I’ll wake up in the middle of the night with a scream of “NOOO!” echoing in my head...
In all seriousness, I like her well enough, and I’m sure she’ll settle down eventually and become a good and happy member of our growing family. I was going to say “productive” instead of “good”....but yea, I don’t see that happening. All we really require of her is to bark at the bad guys as they try to rob us...but I’m pretty sure it’ll just become another fun little game of try to run past the funny men in masks and get into the house when they bust open the door. And with my luck, that time it’ll be without any barking...
Tuesday I’m off on a road trip to Camiri (a city south of here) where Andres is originally from. I’m taking him, his brother and two sisters to visit their Grandma and other sister for a couple of days. It should be fun. It’ll be nice to get away for a bit and have some time to hang out with Andres. You can pray for him though. The last time we made this trip, it was good, but pretty emotional for both Andres and his siblings. Their mom died when they were young, and being back in Camiri brought up a lot of painful memories.
If you have a moment, could you also pray for my health? I think I mentioned that I have the same bacterial infection my mom had. I’m on antibiotics, and I’m getting better, but it’s been a bit of a slow process. I’m having a bit of a allergic reaction to the meds, and my hands are kind of itchy and a bit swollen. Oh and yea...my toe still hurts. =)
Thanks everyone! Here’s a picture of our new little friend. As I write this she’s started howling at...something. Or maybe nothing. Yea...probably nothing...
They gave us a dog.
I came home and the guys handed me our plate of cookies that had been hand delivered from El Jordan. And of course, that made me happy. The guys waited until I had a smile on my face, before they told me that there was another surprise waiting in the backyard. I’m not really sure what I expected...but a dog with a note and a ribbon tied around her neck was probably low on the list. The note thanked me for my help at El Jordan this past year. And seriously, that was very nice of them...but you know...everyone else got this cool coffee mug. I really liked that coffee mug. I’m not entirely sure how I rated a dog.
But the dog seemed nice enough and the guys were pretty excited. They’ve wanted a one for awhile now. Sandro especially. He’d already built a little house for her and had food and water close at hand. He kept going back out and petting her. That night I caught him heading out into the backyard with one of his t-shirts in hand. It’s cold out, he says. Not really, I say (unless somewhere along the way +24 C has become cold). But she needs this, he tells me. I scrounged up an old sheet for her bed and told Sandro that would be good enough. He reluctantly agreed, but still wanted to put his t-shirt on her. I told him it was a nice thought, but suggested that she probably wouldn’t like that much anyhow. All I could think was, we are so not going to start dressing the dog up in people clothes.
And...for a whole day, I didn’t mind having a dog.
But here’s the thing...for that first day she was all quiet and shy. Now I realize how nice that was. She was kind of sweet. Tonight, as I write this at 11:30 PM, she’s in the front yard barking and whining and making more noise that a single dog should physically be able to make. I’m sure our neighbours are thrilled. She’s getting every dog in the neighbourhood all worked up. And seriously...there’s a lot of dogs in our neighbourhood.
The grumpy thing is, the guys all sleep so heavy that she could be slobbering on their faces and they wouldn’t even notice (Hmm...that’s a thought...I wonder if she’d let me hold her head steady enough...). So of course, it becomes my responsibility to go out and try to calm the silly mutt down...which I just tried to do...and which inevitably turned into a fun little game of bark at the white guy and try to run past him into the house.
So now I’m the proud father of eight guys and a dog. Life just gets better and better. All I need now is a minivan and my worst nightmare will have become a reality... =) Oh wait, I forgot to tell you. They named her “Mancha” which sounds nice enough, but is the Spanish version of “Spot”. ‘Cause you know...she has spots. Now we just need a cat name “Socks” and with or without the minivan I’ll wake up in the middle of the night with a scream of “NOOO!” echoing in my head...
In all seriousness, I like her well enough, and I’m sure she’ll settle down eventually and become a good and happy member of our growing family. I was going to say “productive” instead of “good”....but yea, I don’t see that happening. All we really require of her is to bark at the bad guys as they try to rob us...but I’m pretty sure it’ll just become another fun little game of try to run past the funny men in masks and get into the house when they bust open the door. And with my luck, that time it’ll be without any barking...
Tuesday I’m off on a road trip to Camiri (a city south of here) where Andres is originally from. I’m taking him, his brother and two sisters to visit their Grandma and other sister for a couple of days. It should be fun. It’ll be nice to get away for a bit and have some time to hang out with Andres. You can pray for him though. The last time we made this trip, it was good, but pretty emotional for both Andres and his siblings. Their mom died when they were young, and being back in Camiri brought up a lot of painful memories.
If you have a moment, could you also pray for my health? I think I mentioned that I have the same bacterial infection my mom had. I’m on antibiotics, and I’m getting better, but it’s been a bit of a slow process. I’m having a bit of a allergic reaction to the meds, and my hands are kind of itchy and a bit swollen. Oh and yea...my toe still hurts. =)
Thanks everyone! Here’s a picture of our new little friend. As I write this she’s started howling at...something. Or maybe nothing. Yea...probably nothing...
