What finally happened to Dora

Several weeks ago, we finally did something with Dora.

On several occasions, I have lamented on my blog her persistent health problems. She wasn't so sick that she would die early on her own, but she wasn't ever healthy enough to be really happy. It all comes down to some kind of severe ear allergies that she has. It has led to blood pocket buildups in her ears (think water balloons), and a lot of general discomfort.

Carolina and I have agonized over her for the last year and 1/2 or so. We never could get in agreement on what was best. One of us would want to put her to sleep, but the other would want to keep trying. Periodically, we would reverse stances. Somehow, we ended up bringing her along to Nashville.

Here in Old Hickory, she didn't have a good life. Carolina wouldn't walk her without me going along. I've been working close to 70 hrs/week getting all the major events together this summer, and haven't had time to walk her or give her attention. In Searcy, even though we were sometimes busy, there was a big window at our back door so she could see what was going on. Here in Nashville, she was isolated in the backyard. No window in and nothing to do. We felt sorry for her, but really didn't have the time to do anything about it.

Her ears continued to be bad, and I had gotten so frustrated with trying new medications and paying huge vet bills with no results. I could no longer justify spending money on a dog we didn't even have time for. Finally, Carolina and I managed to agree on what to do, so I called up the vet to make an appointment to have her put to sleep.

We went to the vets office after snapping some last pictures (see above) and they took us to the back room. The vet's assistant came and saw her first, then went to the back where I heard some whispering.

Then the vet came out and took a look at her and got seemingly perturbed. Our conversation went something like this:

VET: No! She does not need to be put to sleep. I didn't go through ___ years of vet school so I could just put animals to sleep. There are other options we haven't tried! There is allergy testing, there are allergy shots, there is another dog food, there is........(on and on)

ME: (interrupting) I know there are other options, but will YOU pay for them? I'm tired of having to chase her around the yard to put more stuff in her ears that she hates. No to mention that nothing so far has made any difference.

VET: The allergy testing only runs about $250-$300, and the shots are not that expensive...

ME: If you want to come to my house once a week and give her the shots, you're welcome to do it, but I just simply cannot keep doing this. I've tried and tried for two years now, and where she is, she really doesn't have a good life. We cannot keep doing this.

VET: Well, instead of putting her to sleep, would you be willing to let me help try and find her a home?

ME: Could you? I've tried calling friends and relatives and I've advertised, and NO ONE will take a sick dog. But if you know of anyone, I'd love for her to live in a better home.

So what I discovered is that when you try and force an animal lover's trigger finger, it arouses all their compassion. In the end, though the vet thinks I'm a bad person, we found an option that we're happy with. We paid the $85 cost (euthanasia + pet cemetery) and this lady is going to try and find Dora a new home. If they can't, then they'll put Dora to sleep (and this lady even said "I would take her home myself before I would dream of putting her to sleep").

Dora is a wonderful dog with a great disposition. I really hope she finds a home with some rich people who have loads of free time. We were sorry to see her go, but I think we did what was best for her. Her life wasn't good as it was, and I simply could not justify spending everything in our emergency savings to try and make a sick dog more comfortable. It just wasn't best for our family.

We made that decision just before we left for church camp, and we're convinced it was the right one. I really worried that we would have depression and be miserable every time we looked in the back yard and she wasn't there. In reality, we just feel relief. She really had been a huge burden on us--emotionally, temporally, and relationally--and our life has been less stressful without her. We love her, but it wasn't what's best for either of us if we decided to keep her.

So in case you were wondering, that's what happened with Dora.

Turtle

When we first moved to Old Hickory, we were sitting outside on like the 2nd day when this large turtle came walking briskly down our sidewalk. I got some good shots of Nacho with the Turtle. When I picked it up, it kept nipping at my hand. Nacho kept sniffing its face, which concerned me, but nothing bad happened. At any rate, I just thought these were good pictures.

Nacho has adjusted really well to the neighborhood. She loves sitting on our porch, or rolling in the dirt in the front yard.

I admit it. I'm giddy.

Carolina and I just got back from watching the new Transformers movie. This is by far the best kids' cartoon-to-adult movie transition I've seen. I love that they didn't try and change it all to fit the director's artistic agenda. So many things were just like the cartoons...or slightly cooler. The voices were great. The animations looked very realistic in my opinion. The sound effects were reminiscent of the old ones. So many of my favorite characters showed up with personalities like I remembered them. If you played with these toys as a kid or watched the cartoon, I would highly recommend the movie. It is almost non-stop action. I really wish I had an awesome car with a custom paint job now.

Anyone else seen it? For me, it totally exceeded my expectations.

Funny Camp Story

We just got back from church camp. There's quite a bit I could say about the experience, and I intend to start blogging some more about it now that my life will be a good deal less stressful. For now, I want to share one story.

I stayed as a counselor with the 9th-10th grade boys. Carolina stayed with another counselor in the oldest girls' cabin. One of the 5th grade girls at camp who is a visitor to our congregation was talking to the other girls in her cabin and said, "I'm mad at Mr. Mark". Portia (one of our own) asked "Why?" The girl replied, "Because I saw him holding hands with Carolina!" Portia said, "Why is that a problem?"

"Because she's a camper!"

So the big joke for most of the week was that I was holding hands with the girl campers.

SOLD!

Ever since March, we've been hoping and praying that our house would sell in Searcy. As of a few minutes ago, I faxed back my signed form to my real estate agent. Yesterday we got an offer, then we made a counter offer, and they accepted it. The couple is really excited about moving in, and I'm really excited about not having to make both a house and a rent payment every month. We'll close near the end of August, and hopefully Carolina and I can find a permanent home here in the next few months. This was a big answer to prayer.

A Beautiful Sight...

I have been in charge of our Family Bible Experience (VBS) all week, and I am exhausted. Tomorrow is the last day, and it will be a blast! But for tonight, I'm here relaxing in my office, printing off perfect attendance awards for tomorrow, enjoying a cool glass of Purity Dairy all natural Lemonade. If you are from Middle Tennessee, you should understand what a truly beautiful sight this is.

I'm officially replaced.

Well, I just found out that Rose Bud has hired a new minister: Phil Thompson. Dr. Thompson is a professor at Harding, and will be preaching at Rose Bud on a mostly part time basis, though I think he'll work with them a lot in the summer. I hope that everything goes wonderfully for everyone involved. He's a top notch preacher, and they're a congregation with a lot of potential. It makes me sad to be missing out on a lot of the good that will continue to happen at Rose Bud. At the same time, they need some stability, and I think Dr. Thompson will be around for a long time. I'm glad their search is over. I wish them all the best. Now if I could just get my house to sell...

Some thoughts on reading the Bible more

Most professing Christians will readily admit that they don't spend enough time reading the Bible. Of course, if I were to read the Bible 24/7 without sleeping or taking breaks, then I would still probably say (1) I'm not reading the Bible enough and (2) if all I do is read the Bible but I never practice what I'm studying, it doesn't profit me that much. There has to be that balance there of reading, contemplation, and action.

At any rate, I would put myself in that group of people who really does need to read the Bible more. My routine was shaken up in the move, and I haven't gotten back on a regular schedule yet. (If you've noticed, my blogging has been lacking quite a bit as well)

By default, when I want to read the Bible more, I have a tendency to look for a new Bible to purchase that catches my interest. Here are some that I've tried:

The Message. I had a post a few weeks ago about rising denominations; one of which was The Church of The Message. Long before I saw this humorous list, I had noticed this trend; particularly in my home congregation. No matter what passage we were discussing, someone would always say, "Oh, but you've got to hear how the Message puts this passage." People will sometimes quote the Message in a manner reminiscent of how other people quote the KJV as the authoritative "authorized" version.

I have a copy of the Message. I've tried to read it, and have read parts of it from time to time with some benefit. My problem is that my background in Biblical languages seems to block my ears from just opening up to the language. I'm always preoccupied with wondering what tenses the verbs are intended to be in, and how the best way is to translate certain phrases. Since the Message is a paraphrase--not a translation--I have often read along for a while, then got really upset about something I didn't think was handled well. Eugene Peterson's theology often appears to be shining through, and I think that's the disadvantage of having any version of the Bible made by only one translator. I have tried reading it, but I feel like I'm reading the Bible through a veil. I have been troubled when I see people carrying a Message around instead of an actual Bible.

Daily Bibles. I've tried a couple of different times to do daily Bibles over the course of a year. I've only succeeded once. The older daily Bibles were an incredible concept when they first came along. My problem with them has been that the reading really is a lot. Going from reading zero chapters per day to four or five a day is extremely difficult. Often, I'll find a passage I want to study more, but when you're so busy charging ahead to finish, there's just not time. The one time I did finish it, I basically skimmed the last month's worth of reading, and got very little out of the experience.

As opposed to reading a regular daily Bible, I've also tried a Chronological daily Bible. There's one by F. LaGard Smith where he adds commentary sprinkled throughout to help the reader grasp what's going on. I really have enjoyed his comments, but it just intensifies the problem of finishing in a year. If Scripture itself was already a lot, having a bunch of extra notes to sort through just adds to the load. I think it's a great approach to try and read the Bible in the order that things happened, because it seems to fit together a lot better that way.

The Story. This is my most recent attempt at reading the Bible more, and so far it's been about my favorite. This is not a paraphrase and it's also not a complete Bible. It is a compilation of passages in a somewhat Chronological, somewhat normal order. The readings all come from the TNIV translation (which is not my favorite...I think they take way too many liberties with inserting words that may or may not be implied). Even though the translation isn't my favorite, I like it better than the Message and it reads really well. I found it on a clearance sale at a Christian book store, and have been very pleasantly surprised!

It is set up more like a book. Mine has fancy uneven edges on the pages to make it appear older. The pages are nice and thick instead of the usual dinky bleed-through Bible pages. It doesn't contain normal verse or chapter divisions. There are individual chapters designed to present the whole of Scripture as a story. It is a very abbreviated version of Scripture, and is only a little over 400 pages long, and that is in large font, 1-column format. For someone trying to keep the flow of Scripture in mind, I have really loved this book. There are several notes from the editor here and there to help connect passages from one to the next if large portions are skipped.

My one complaint is that this book does not state who compiled it. I'm one of those types who is very selective about which authors I read. I know which scholars I like and which schools I'm more fond of. This is done completely anonymously, which bothers me. I haven't ran into anything that I've found problems with in terms of the comments, but I feel like as a reader, when I know these words were not originally there, I deserve to know who added them.

Even so, if you're trying to be a better Bible reader and reading the regular Bible seems like too much to start with, I really would recommend The Story. My favorite section so far is Job. Job's story is abbreviated masterfully, with about a paragraph from each of the speeches. It makes it so much easier to visualize what is happening.

After I finish it, I'm thinking about challenging my youth group to read it through next year. It is a much more manageable amount to read, and it might make a good stepping stone for them to eventually read the entire Bible.

So what has worked for you? Is there a version you like best? Have you found a way to help you read, contemplate, and apply what you're studying?

Personal Milestone Accomplished

I've had an insanely busy year in 2007, but it's been a good one. The biggest thing that's happened for me was getting to teach my OT Survey class at Harding. Teaching Bible at the University level was a lifelong goal of mine that I expected it would take me a couple more decades to achieve. I was very flattered at the opportunity to do this at the age of 26. It kept me totally stressed out, but it was worth it. Several of my students said some really nice things to me (yes, I'm aware they could have been kissing up for a better grade), that made me feel good. I know that I genuinely helped some of them through some struggles and taught them a lot. Eventually, I may be back in the classroom, but I'm not as driven in that direction as I used to be, since I've already done it.

Yesterday, I finished and submitted a lesson for some adult curriculum from 21st Century Christian which represents another personal goal I've been working towards. If you've never used the Power Points For New Life series, it's a good one. There are lesson books that the teachers and students utilize, then there are free Power Point presentations available for download on the website that you can use while teaching the class. My lesson should be in the Spring 2008 quarter on Romans 8. I don't know how good it is, but I'm proud that I got to do it. This is the first actual lesson I've got published that wasn't just a newspaper article or something.

Frankly, I am even more glad to not have that hanging over me right now. I've got VBS coming up in a couple of weeks, and camp in about four weeks. It's all stressful, but it will also be rewarding, I'm sure.

At any rate, I just wanted to make a post to recognize this point in my life. I've been blessed.

Planning for the summer...

Well, so far I have been playing catch up here at OH. I've got VBS in a couple of weeks, and church camp in about 4. It's pretty crazy.

I had been a little concerned about getting stuff together, but all at once today, several things seem to be falling into place. Keaton and Lisa Bell took us out to lunch yesterday, then to Gospel Advocate where Keaton works. (He's an accountant, but his kids enjoy telling people that their father is a "book salesman".) I found some books with some great games and helps for what I'm planning, and it makes me feel like I'm much farther ahead than I was yesterday.

I discovered a website that has lots of items with great potential!

http://www.recfx.com/

I feel like buying at least one of everything they've got. It looks like there's lots of fun potential. At OH's church camp, they have "messy day" on Tuesday, where they spread out a giant plastic cover, and do all sorts of disgusting relays and games on it, using ketchup, crisco, syrup, eggs, and whatever else they feel like.

I ordered a book today with 50 recipes for making slime. I also may end up buying some "Yuck" from the above website.

I've had a hard time staying on top of everything, but the people here at church have been great to work with. I think this will be an all around good summer for everyone. I'm sorry that I haven't had an extra month to work on planning. Then again, I hate I didn't have another several months to spend at Rose Bud.

Oh well. Such is life.

If any of you have any good suggestions for messy games, I'm all ears!