Life Lately

Well time has been flying by. I don't even know what exactly I have done with my time these past few months, but it sure has gone by quickly.

So to catch y'all up on life happenings I wanted to share some snippets. We are going to be 32 weeks Friday and I can't even wrap my mind around how fast this pregnancy is flying by.

As of February 27th Cam and I have been in this house a full year!

Cam surprised me for Valentines with two one week old Pygmy/Nigerian Dwarf goats

Proud goat grandparents

We named them Willie and Merle and they have been so much fun.

Sometimes we let our 5 year old nephew drive us home from church. 

Uncle Cam is the coolest.

I was set this picture the first weekend we had the goats... yes they are bottle fed babies and Cam's method of choice was to feed them in our kitchen sink. 

I attended the If Gathering with my mother in law and it was awesome!

We had family over for Super bowl Sunday and the goats were a huge hit with the kids. 

I don't think Braelynn let them get out of her sight. Love her tender heart!

These babies are growing so fast. This is Tatum's kiss face.

Love that sassy thing!

I can't even imagine how special it is going to be to have one of my own! 

We have our first spring blooms in the yard. 

Griffey Mav

We got a puppy! We flew in Sunday at 1 am arrived at 5 am and picked up Griffey at 11 am. We probably should have napped before then, but we were excited puppy parents. Griffey was 8 weeks as of March 14th and he was the only red out of his litter of blue heelers.

We were told by an older guy that comes to the shop and runs his dogs in the back field that his brother in law's dog was having unexpected puppies and that we would be welcome to have one. I always say you shop adopt and not shop, but who knows where these puppies would end up since they were just letting random people take them so I felt good snagging the pup up. We have been home with him for almost a week and he's a mess! He has been super fun though and Deuce is actually a fan of him, for the most part. They play and wrestle all over the place.

We weighed him on Sunday and he weighed 10 pounds! He also got his first bath and wasn't too fond of that. He has sweet puppy breath and can be a snuggle buddy when sleepy. He is a fiesty little thing when awake and can run circles around Deuce.

Likes:

• he loves leaves and being outside
• running in circles
• biting his nub tail
• shoelaces
• chasing Deuce every where 
• food
• naps
• bushes or trees

Dislikes:

• having to wait to eat
• his crate
• loud noises
• the windshield wipers
• having to get out of the bushes

#mavpartyoffour

Welcome to our crazy world Griffey! You fit in just perfectly.

If you need me...

    If you need me this next week I will be here.

Camping.

I am most excited about the quality time I will be having with my books and the sun. Oh yeah... and the countless hours of entertainment that will be provided by the Mav and O family! :) Could not be more blessed to be marrying into this family! They even invite me on their family trips when Cam is not going to be able to make it. 

I will hopefully be back in a week with a tan, some books checked off my list, and some pictures.

My dad surprised me with the new Nikon Cool Pix AW110 for graduation. It is waterproof, shockproof, freeze proof (basically Bailee proof). This camera also has built in WiFi and GPS so I can know exactly where I took the pictures! I have used in my back yard and look how clear these pictures are! I can not wait to use the camera while we are camping at what is supposed to be "one of the prettiest state parks in Texas"!

Here is my demo of the pics... My mom and I gave the dogs a bath in the back yard. Roxi, the bulldog, loves the camera but my bullmastiff is a bit camera shy... or just a fan of the shade! :) 

Roxi... she has a gem of a personality. 

I Am Alex

    Last week I had shared the photo below on my Facebook. Little did I know that it would lead me to a heart breaking story and one amazing lady in the great state of Texas.

The Lazy Pit Bull had originally posted this photo and story. Earlier this week I sat down to read the whole story of Alex and his owner Mali. It was absolutely heart breaking. I encourage you all to visit I Am Alex on facebook and give some love to Mali. She deserves it and she needs it. 

Anyways... to start Mali has begun the "I AM ALEX" movement as way to be an ambassador for the "bully breeds". She explains that the label "bully breed" includes all breeds that have a bad reputation and have been "black balled" from society. If you know anything about the dog world or have watched the news ever you know that Pit Bulls and Pit-mixes have a bad reputation and are misunderstood. 

Back to the story of Alex... He was not a Pit Bull at all. He was a Molosser which is a Cane Corso and Italian Mastiff mix. Absolutely beautiful is what I like to call him. Mali, Alex, and family live in a town outside of Houston, Texas. On March 2, 2013 Alex was murdered. Alex had gotten out of the back yard because a fence had blown down and Mali searched tirelessly for hours upon hours to find Alex. The Tomball Police were also trying their best to help find Alex. On March 4th, two days later, they had received an anonymous tip from an eye witness saying he had spotted a "giant black pitbull and he had been killed and drug into the woods". 

Yes... you can pick your jaw up from the ground and grab those Kleenex. Someone killed Alex and left him in the woods. 

I can not imagine. I do not want to imagine. I do not have words for the person who completed that horrible act. I am not even going to waste my time and energy worrying about him or her. 

I am writing this post for Mali. I want her to know that we hear her and her message is being spread throughout the country. I want Mali to know she did everything she humanly could to bring back Alex. Just like a mother, she loved Alex unconditionally. There will never be another Alex. But... There are so many other dogs that need our love and our help. 

Now more than ever. We need to stand up for the voiceless. We need to open our minds and our hearts.

I hope you go "like" I AM ALEX on facebook and send up a pray or two for Mali and everyone involved in this. More than that... I hope you go love on your own dogs. 

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.

You are his life, his love, his leader. 

He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.

You owe it to him to be worth of such devotion."

-Unknown

I fully support the I Am Alex movement and am posting this picture for him. I personally have two big dogs who happen to be the sweetest pups I know. If you would like to join me in support of Mali and Alex just send me your pictures or post them on to his facebook page.

Love Makes The World Go Round

    The other day I was reading my daily 1-minute devotional that I get from You Version on my i phone... The topic was "divorce prevention" and it provided a startling statistic. It stated that 1 in 2 marriages will fail... I knew the divorce rate was high and I have actually seen the new textbooks say the divorce rate is 50%, but seeing the numbers 1 in 2 really blew me away.

The devotional passage went on to state that there are 12 words that should be spoken and lived out daily.
     These words were:
       " I love you"
       " I admire you"
       " I was wrong"
       " Please forgive me"

The passage also stated that expressing love and admiration are the ingredients for divorce prevention. I could not agree more... If only we humans could love as God loved. If only we could look past all of the issues and the ugly stuff. This also got me thinking about the love dogs show us.

I have written about a dog's love before, but I do not think I expressed the need for this type of love. I just wish that we could all love as our dogs love us. A dog's love is always unconditional. A dog's love never comes with "ifs, ands, or buts". A dog's love is never untrusting. I was reminded of this excerpt from the movie and book "Marley and Me" and I think it explains the love we need to have quite perfectly.

"A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbol means nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do just fine. 

A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. 

It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not. 

As I wrote that farewell column to Marley, I realized it was all right there in front of us, if only we opened our eyes. Sometimes it took a dog with bad breath, worse manners, and pure intentions to help us see."  ― John Grogan

I just wish that everyone in the whole world could have a love so pure, but I know that is near impossible. I also know that type of love is waiting for me in heaven and I could not be more grateful. I wish I could see more of it on a daily basis down here on Earth... Until then I will continue to cling to the people who do love me and hold tight to the many dogs that hold a huge place in my heart. 

One More Reason

   I have found one more reason why dogs are the greatest creatures on Earth. I actually can tell you about a thousand reasons why I think this, but I will stick with just this one. My mom was telling me about this story of a seeing eye dog from Tulsa, Oklahoma the other night. I decided too look it up myself since I have been slacking on my news watching. So, here is a summary of this amazing story and a video for you to watch. It is an inspiring and hopeful story.

The Woodland West Animal Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma is one of the top animal hospitals in the nation. Just like all of the other hospitals and shelters they work hard to take in any animal that is suffering and needs help. This hospital unknowingly took in two very special and unique dogs. The first dog they took is was a Golden Retriever named Tanner. Tanner was born blind and had been placed in foster homes after his owner died in 2010. Tanner was placed in this hospital after he had began having seizures. These seizures caused him to "go into a biting frenzy". Blair was the second special dog to be placed in this hospital. Blair was a black Labrador Retriever and had been placed at this hospital because of abuse.

Because of Blair's horrific past she was very timid and did not like the company of any other dogs or people. Blair is a remarkable dog. She has become a seeing eye dog for Tanner. Dogs are simply amazing. I encourage you to watch this video, it is only about 2 minutes. I also encourage you to watch it because how could you not love seeing a beautiful Golden Retriever prancing around with a beautiful Black Lab!

Source

Dog Talk Tuesday

   Today is Tuesday and I want to talk about dogs. As you know, or soon will find out if you don't, I absolutely love dogs! I honestly do not understand how people can live in a house with out one (or a couple) :) . Growing up I have always had dogs in my life. Most of my memories of childhood are about my dogs. I love all sizes, shapes, and types of dogs. I have three dogs at my parent's house in Texas, Marley, Roxi, and Jinx. Here in Oklahoma we have Cam's dog Deuce. I love how each of the animals have completely different personalities. They are like little people with fur, I hold them all close to my heart. Marley is a Bullmastiff and I think is best explained as a goofball, she is 100lbs of funny. Roxi is an English bulldog and if you have ever had a bulldog you know they have huge personalities and that Roxi does. She is a complete sweet heart, but also has a wild side. Jinx is a miniature schnauzer and she is my baby. She is 12 years old, but will always be my sweet baby. Jinx is a firecracker, kind of like my mom. She is very protective and thinks she's the boss even though she weighs 15 lbs. I like to describe Deuce as being Cameron in a dog body. They are literally like twins. Deuce always can make me smile and he is great company up here in Oklahoma. He sure does love his Cam though! (which is perfectly fine with me because I do too!) So, I think I have bored yall enough with words... here are some pictures of the dogs in my life.

Inspire

If you know me at all you know that I have a huge passion for animals, specifically dogs. For as long as I can remember my house has had dogs in it and I have always had a huge love for them. I have always had a dream to help animals, but until recently I have kept this dream in the back burners of my mind. I think that this pull that I am feeling on my heart is there to remind me about my dreams. However, I have no idea what I am supposed to do about this pull. So I have been researching and just looking around at stuff and I came across an amazing blog and rescue group that was founded by a young girl. I felt like this was screaming "HELLO! you can do this"! Now, I do not want to get too ahead of myself. I have no way of starting my own rescue now, so I am determined to do other things that will be helpful to the rescues that are already out there!

Her name is Ashley and she is basically the definition of inspire, her picture should be next to that word in the dictionary. The rescue group can be found here. I encourage yall to sit down and read her story. She is courage and strength and she has brought her dreams to life. She is hope, love, determination, and life. She has inspired me to do everything and anything that I can. I have recently filled out volunteer forms at a couple rescue organizations here in Edmond. :) I am excited to see what will play out in my future. I want to help in all the ways I can. I know I do not have much, but what I do have is heart and passion. I know this post is not super organized and it is basically a big mess of jumble, but that is how my mind is working right now. :)

Here are some pictures of the dogs she has rescued. She has given them hope and love that none of them ever imagined having.

I hope you enjoyed these pictures of only some of the dogs she has rescued. So, go read her blog!! I will keep you updated on my volunteering adventures! :) I also encourage you to do any little thing that you can to help. There are tons of rescue groups out there and each one of them need all the help they can get. I have found a few in the Fort Worth area (thank you Google), including the Humane Society of North Texas and the Guardian Angels Animal Rescue. Love yall :)