Hello blog stranger

After a long hiatus, I'm coming back to the blog world. There have been several things keeping me from bloging; one being a lack of time. But, to be honest, I haven't felt like blogging either. Not that there is anything wrong with this, but facebook, blogger, and other social media tend to be a pride thing for most people. "Look at me, I just took this great trip to Hawaii" or "my child just recited the alphabet backwards at 1 year". And I say that tounge in cheek because I'm guilty of it as well. Towards the end of last year, Tim and I were really beginning to think we had a black cloud hanging over us. So instead of having a whole lot of "look at me" moments, we were pretty down and out. Maybe I should have used blogger to vent my sorrow and frustration, but I really just wanted to deal with things privately with my family. Now, several months later, I think I can finally talk about it.
To recap, our beloved 6 year old golden retriever, Dansby, who we considered our first born child died very unexpectedly at the end of August. Years ago, he swallowed a pork chop bone on Christmas Eve and we had to take him to an emergency vet hospital in Birmingham where they performed surgery and removed his spleen. Because he died so unexpectedly, the vet wanted to perform an autosopy...yes, they perform autopsy on pet's. Isn't that crazy?! They ultimately ruled that Dansby had an enlarged heart and without his spleen he couldn't remove toxins from his blood and he died from heart failure. Tim and I were devasted. I know some people don't get attached to pets, but he was definitely a member of our family and we loved him dearly. We were wondering how we would tell Luke about things (Mallory is so young, she won't even remember him). Amazingly, Luke didn't ask about Dansby for 2 or 3 days. He then asked, "where did Dansby go". We kept it simple and just said he went bye bye. How do you explain death to a 2 1/2 year old that doesn't understand? Just as a side note, since Luke is almost a year older now, he will randomly state that he misses Dansby. I think he is beginning to understand the concept of loss and death. Here are some of my favorite pictures of sweet Dansby.
Dansby was probably only about 8 weeks old in this picture. He loved going to the lake to swim and retrieve.
He was so protective of Luke and was our shadow wherever we went in the house!

Sweet Dansby would let Luke ride him. He was so good with kids. We miss you buddy!


About a month after we lost Dansby, our great friend and Luke's Godmother, Debbie passed away. We were devasted! Debbie was one of the few people I talked to on the phone several times a week. We met her and Mike in a bible study group through St. Michael's. They love Auburn as much as we do and we hit it off immediately. We traveled to several road football games with them and attended many basketball games together. Debbie was one of the most giving, loving, caring, funny, compasionate people I have ever known. She even sent us flowers after Dansby died. She loved Luke (and Mallory) to pieces and spoiled them rotten. I joked that just about every Auburn shirt or outfit of Luke's came from Mike and Debbie. It's still hard for me to talk about because I still miss her terribly. My only comfort in all of this is that I know we have a special guardian angel looking over us. We love you sweet Debbie!

At Luke's baptism in the chapel at St. Michael's

This is one of the last pictures of Debbie, taken at the Auburn /Arkansas State tailgate.

So if that wasn't enough bad stuff to happen to us, our house got broken into. I won't go into the details, but I've never felt so violated. Your home should be your safe haven, a place where you feel secure. After we were robbed, I was scared to walk into my home alone. Awful!

The good news is that I think for now we've weathered the storm. I know we will face other devastions and losses, but through all of this God has been faithful. Tim and I have grown closer and one major life lesson we've learned is to cherish every moment. You never when it might be your last. Hope to have more blog updates regularly.