"What Is It?"

In the summer of 2000 while still very weak and fatigued from all the chemo treatments, I took Amber to work. We turned down a street and there sat a little dog in the middle of the road. We slowed, and then came to a stop. It was small, brown with nasty matted hair. It had the appearance of just rolling into town on a tumbleweed. We went around the dog and continued down the street.

That afternoon I picked Amber up from work and there sat that same nappy little dog on a different street. We came to a stop and I said “Amber, open your door and see what it does. Amber opened the door and the little dog jumped into the car and sat down between Amber and me. She was panting, drooling and smelled like something dead. We rolled down the windows to help with the smell and rode the rest of the way home giggling and gagging. When we arrived home Rebekah announced, “Oh, that stinks” and that brought more peals of laughter.

The girls kept saying, “Come on, and let’s bathe it.” I finally said, “How would you like to be picked up by strangers, manhandled and then given a bath? Just be patient!” The dog was badly matted, you couldn’t tell where its legs began and the matt ended. You couldn’t possibly work a brush through its hair, so I proceeded with the scissors to carefully snip away at the matts. The process was going very slowly. There were also bits of grass, twig and assorted weeds tangled in with the matting. I figured if you planted the dog, something was sure to grow.

Rachel walked in from work and said, “What is that?” which proceeded to bring forth more laughter.

It was time to bathe this smelly little ‘mass of mess’. I placed it in the tub half expecting it to make a mad dash to the door, but it just sat patiently waiting. I soaked the little dog with water and then shampoo; as I rinsed its hair, the tips were white. “What had my girls put in their shampoo?” I shampooed it a second time and as I began to rinse I was surprised to see the little brown dog was really white. My little ‘mass of mess’ turned out to be a beautiful white female poodle.






In January 2002 after completing all of my treatments , her little heart gave out. She had had to be so strong for me for so long. As I held her in my arms, the vet administered the IV and she quietly and peacefully went to sleep.

She was there with me through it all, never complaining. I always knew that she needed me, but I came to see that I had really needed her! She was my quiet in our storms!

Isaiah 65:24 “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.”