Owning a pet = Parenthood Training

After my last post I am overwhelmed by the love and kindness from so many of my readers. Some of you shared your personal stories of miracles and provided me with encouragement, others dropped a note just to say “I’m praying for you”, and others still may have not said anything but I certainly just feel an overwhelming sense of God in my day-to-day. So thank you for those of you who have been praying for us!

Matthew 18:19-20 

¹⁹ “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

This was the first scripture I had ever memorized, because my Grandma would constantly say this whenever we would come together to pray. We would petition to God using this scripture. So again thank you to those of you who are praying for us for God is surely amidst them all.

In my last post, I shared how I was feeling like God was calling me to grow in love during this time of waiting. Not just loving when it was easy, but loving through being patient, kind, slow to anger, etc. Well I don’t know about you, but when God calls me to grow…it’s not always the easiest thing to do, because He usually does so through trying experiences that test you in many ways. This brings me to my post title: Tiger, my 15 year old miniature poodle. Tiger is the best dog ever; you would never know  he’s 15, considering how playful, smart, well-behaved and active he is. Everyone that meets little Tiger is amazed that he is 15 because minus the gray hair and the loss of hearing, he acts like a puppy. 

Isn't he cute?!

He’s not the dog who has regular accidents in the house unless there’s something wrong, so you can imagine Bryan’s surprise when he woke up on Tuesday morning to splatters of diarrhea in 3 spots in our living room. He spent allllll morning scrubbing the carpet clean. Then Tiger seemed fine! Fast forward to Wednesday evening when we got home from work, POOP! Diarrhea EVERYWHERE! Beware: pictures below. Every dark spot is poop. The white powdery stuff is baking soda that I put down from the first round, only for him to poop on top of it.

Each dark spot is...you guessed it...poop.

 Oh man God, you are surely giving me some practice in parenting. God is SURELY trying to grow my patience, kindness, being slow to anger, and putting myself last because I can confidently say in that moment each of those was truly being tested! I knew he was sick so of course I felt extremely bad, but the last thing I wanted to do that day after a long day of work was scrub every inch of my carpet…literally. I'm sure parents find themselves in these predicaments all the time. That night we put in a call to Stanley Steamer, because my carpet certainly was a victim to my dog’s sickness. A special thanks to my mom for helping us through this week's dilemma. A mom never stops being a mom! Before going to bed I laid down plastic, blankets, towels…anything just in case the blowout would happen again before the cleaners came. Sure enough, it did. More poop in multiple locations; at least this time it was on plastic and washable towels and blankets. Stanley Steamers came, cleaned the carpets and deodorized them, THANK GOD! Upon their departure, I promptly took Tiger to the vet. Turns out he has colitis (inflammation of the colon), which they think is from something he ate. Somehow, I have no idea how, he must’ve got into (or was given by some knucklehead) something fried, greasy, or spicy. We hosted a birthday party last weekend and served chicken parmesan, pasta, and meatballs. The vet said any one of those things would be enough to tear him up for a little bit. We were given some Imodium, an antibiotic, and instructed to feed him boiled chicken and rice until the diarrhea goes away. So now we’re in the waiting game and PRAYING for it to be over soon. Sick doggies are no fun! In the meantime, after I paid to have clean carpets, I went to the Dollar Store and got tons of plastic tablecloths. I spread them out all over the room so that if there are more accidents, I can just roll up the tablecloth and throw it away!

No more scrubbing carpet…I hope. Anyways, talk about God trying to grow me in these areas! If this isn’t a trying and growing experience for preparation of parenthood, then I don’t know what is! Haha. I’m thankful for God’s presence in my life and even though I’ve been stressed beyond belief, I know that His gracious hand is in it and He will support me through it! Owning a pet feels like having a child in so many ways, doesn't it? I wouldn't change it for the world, because I sure do love my Tiger and dread the day he passes. Until we have our babies, Tiger is our baby. One day I will be glad for the parenthood training, because I'm sure being a parent will bring about all kinds of messiness and more poop stories!