Modern Religion

Notah and I were talking this morning. He was saying that the youth in their congregation were doing a spaghetti dinner to earn some money for the youth group.  They aren’t sure what they are going to do with it but they decided to do it as much for a youth activity I think as a real money making venture.

There had been some talk of using the cash for the kids to attend the youth campmeeting in the summer, but the adults weren’t too enthusiastic about that since rather than a real bible learning/teaching experience that Youth Campmeeting is more of a summer recreation camp.  Several adults from the congregation had gone a year or so ago and didn’t seem too impressed with it.

I remembered when I was a teen.  We didn’t have such a thing as a ‘youth camp.’  We went to real campmeeting for a week.  There were three main services every day and an early morning prayer service.  There was also an afternoon youth meeting for those of us between 13 and 19 or 20 years old.  We stood in a circle meeting at a designated place where there was not a lot of foot traffic.  There was a short bible reading or lesson, time for testimonies and a prayer time where the youth were able to request prayer for the sorts of things that burden young people.  The prayer time lasted until everyone who had a burden of prayer had voiced their petition.  Sometimes three or four prayed; sometimes only one, but it was a ‘real’ prayer time.

My friends and I were in all three main services and generally in the prayer service at 8:00 AM and the youth meeting.  The local youth from the congregation there were not so diligent, but they did show up for most of the services and youth service—kind of like their parents who had jobs and family responsibilities that couldn’t be put on hold for the week of campmeeting. 

We heard the testimonies of the old saints (and the younger ones, too.) We learned that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man could accomplish.  We learned to pray with a simplicity and burden that is seldom found in modern congregations.  We learned to remain in prayer until prayers were answered.  We saw men and women coming for healing trusting the Lord for His Promises.  And we saw bodies healed of crippling afflictions, tumors and twisted bodies. 

The old brothers used to talk of stakes being driven in out lives.  It was a strange reference for me for many years. Now I understand it.   Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken Isa 33:20  Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes   Isa. 54:2    That is what they meant about having a stake driven in our heart.

Those testimonies and prayers and eyewitness experiences drove stakes in my heart.  They were direct evidence of the Holy Spirit’s power in the lives of men and women who were sold out and devoted to following the Lord.  They left an indelible imprint on my heart.  Those ‘stakes’ were the thing that anchored me solid and secure during high school and college. They fastened my focus on God and the things of God.  They held me when other youth were leaving the Church for the World.  They blessed me when everything around was pulling away from God. 

I wish our youth today could experience those old campmeetings.  

Shortly before my father died, he wanted to go to a campmeeting site that we had gone to when I was a child 7, 8, 9 years old.  I can remember it from those days.  The campmeeting was filled with godly men and women.  They spent their days in prayer, praise and preaching services.  They dressed in modest apparel and made their kids behave themselves.  The children were right beside them, leaving only for a short trip to the bathroom.  There was an afternoon service for the kids while the adult service was going on.  Some of them returned to their parents when the kids’ service was over; others played under the leaders’ supervision in a selected area.  We had friends that we played with between services and for a while after the night service, but by and large, we spent the time with our parents in services. 

I believe my dad wanted to meet an old friend there so we went down.  It was only about an hour from where we lived in Sugarcreek. 

We were shocked at the change!  The only thing I recognized was the layout of the grounds!  We arrived about the latter half of the morning service.  The tabernacle was only about half filled.  There were as many people wandering the grounds as there were in service.  There were kids running everywhere, but very few in service. 

We had lunch in the dining hall.  (At least that was the same.  Everybody ate.)  It was about an hour and a half until afternoon service.  I didn’t see anyone I knew, but dad met a few people his age who were there.  He enjoyed talking with them about old times.  The camp grounds had many large trees scattered over it and there were benches or chair under them where folks could sit and visit.  But when the bell rang for service not very many bothered to leave their shady seats to go to the tabernacle.  A shelter that could have held a couple hundred or three people had a scattering of around a hundred.  There were more people outside.

The other thing I noticed immediately was that there were NO youth around any place.  When I mentioned it to someone, they said, “Oh they took the youth to the ------ Water park in Columbus!”  I couldn’t believe it but everybody there treated it as common place and completely acceptable.  No wonder the Church of God denomination has such a shallow stand today.  They don’t guide their youth into even the superficial experience the adults hold!

I’m burdened for my grandkids and for the kids of this generation.  They are never having the experience of honest-to-goodness spirit led preaching and spirit filled singing and testimony.   Consequently they accept any noisy, enthusiastic ‘concert’ for real praise and worship. They swallow any little lesson with several scriptures incorporated into a social dialogue as ‘good messages’  And when they are exposed to spirit filled worship and preaching, they don’t like it.  It makes them uncomfortable.  They are brought under conviction and it isn’t something they know how to deal with.

God help us!

“The things of earth will dim and lose their value, when we recall they’re borrowed for a while.”  

It’s coming on Christmas and I suppose it is natural to remember all the Christmases that have gone before.  Rachael and Michael have been putting up Christmas decorations. (If they’re lucky, they’ll have the tree decorated by Christmas eve.)  I’ve been remembering all of the keepsakes that have been packed away with the decorations- little things the kids made in school, ornaments left from my childhood and those from Rachael’s growing up years, gifts from my children in preschool and day care. They all bring back memories.  

   

Sitting here in the quiet of early, early morning, I went from thinking of those things to remembering the pieces of glassware and dinnerware and furniture and other things that I’ve treasured for so many years because they belonged to my mother and grandmothers.  Some of them are packed away still in the basement; some have been taken out and displayed in our house. And I enjoy looking at all of them.  They make me remember my grandma and my mom and the stories Dad told of his mother and step mother.  They bring back thoughts of Rachael and Notah when they were growing up. 

   

But they aren’t as precious to me as they once were.  It isn’t that I don’t treasure the memories, but the objects aren’t as valuable as they once were.  I’ve been thinking of the song “Until Then,” especially the messages in some of the lyrics.  “The things of earth will dim and lose their value…and things of earth that caused the heart to tremble remembered then will only bring a smile.   This weary world with all its toil and trouble will take its toll of misery and strife.’  The soul of man is like a waiting falcon, when it’s released it’s destined for the skies!”

   

I’ve always liked the song, but the last few years I’ve grasped the deeper reality of the words.  The things that I used to hold dear have dropped away.  I haven’t thrown them out; they’ve passed into other hands to treasure, but for me I don’t hold them so close.  My treasures and the loved ones they helped me to remember have moved from the earthly scene to heaven.  I only need to quietly to remember the days of work and heartache, happy times and joy, blessings and burdens.  And they are stored now in eternal storerooms.  I sit here in Rachael’s house with very few sit possessions of my own.  I don’t own a house.  I don’t own a car.  Most of the things accumulated over the years have been given to other family and friends. I have my cozy room and my favorite pictures on the wall. And my dogs.  I have clothes to wear and a warm place to sleep. Rachael makes sure I have the right diet available when she does the grocery shopping.  What more can I ask for in life.

    The things of earth have lost their value.  The trials and heartaches and hard places have all strengthened my faith and drawn me closer to God.  I can look back on them and smile because in hind sight I can see the hand of the Lord working in my life. 

    

    Now more than ever my focus is on things eternal.  And until then my heart does sing.

We Are Come!

 I had a big day yesterday for a knee just 3 weeks out from total replacement.  I went in after dinner to lie down for a while.  I napped a little bit—until Maggie decided it was play time and began romping all over the bed.  Then I asked Rachael and Michael to entertain her a little so I could rest easier.  But my knee kept aching.

I started thinking of Hebrews 12:16 -30.  Actually I focused on verse 22:  ²²But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,   Then I had to get up and read the entire portion of scripture accompanying it.  What a fantastic place to be in the Lord!  To be taken into the fellowship of the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.  What a fantastic privilege! 

I thought of the respect accorded to the old Mt Sinai when Moses went up to receive the 10 commandments.  Remember how God called on Moses to issue a warning to the people in Exodus 19:9-19.  God declared the mountain holy to His Own purpose for that time and the consequence of ‘dis-respecting’ it was death.  If even one of the animals belonging to the children of Israel touched the mountain it was to be killed.  If you read the account you will see what great fear the warning provoked in the people when Moses went up on the mountain.

In Hebrews, the writer compares the Holy Mountain of the Church to that Old Testament mountain.  He begins by speaking of Esau and how he despised his birthright for a moment of fleshly fulfillment and later even though he regretted it, there was no restoring it. ¹⁶Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. ¹⁷For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

We are reminded how much greater a promise we have been given today by Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary!  ¹⁸For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, ¹⁹And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:  We don’t see a physical mountain that is surrounded with fire and blackness and storm.  We don’t hear a literal trumpet or voice.  We might be more careful of obeying our God if that were true.

No, here is the part that thrilled me.  We aren’t come to some literal mountain. But we are come  unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, ²³To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,   And more beautiful than that We come there through  Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Just think!  We are blessed to have obtained the fullness of the covenant initiated on Mount Sinai!  We have immediate access to all the blessing that those early Israelites struggled so hard to attain.  How fantastic!   We can dwell in the midst of that spiritual mountain, in the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God!  Accepting Christ’s atonement for our sins poured out blessings on us today that are breath taking! 

Think about it!  Christ has given us access to all the righteousness to which the Israelites aspired  by following the Old Law!  His blood has provided us forgiveness for sins and the power to live above sin, free from its bondage!  It thrills me to the very depth of my being!  The Israelites feared to set foot on the mountain but WE, WE, are blessed to dwell in the midst of it!  Mount Sion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the general assembly and church of the first born! 

It makes me think of Psalms 87 where the psalmist says: The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there.

We were born into that holy city and assembly!  How glorious it is to know that I was born in her!  Not as a literal Jew, but as a spiritual one,  born of the Spirit through water and the blood of Jesus!  When we accepted Christ’s invitation to be born again we were born into that holy city, the Church of the living God!  Don’t those words ring in your soul!  Over and over, pealing out the joy of that new birth!  It takes my breath away! 

And while I was thinking on all of that, I considered how lightly so many Christians today consider the edicts of the Lord.  They play church.  They sit under ministers who present lectures in human values and social enrichment.  They make social contacts.  They give lip service to serving God and use the Love of God to cover all manner of sin! They disregard the tremendous and majestic heritage which God offers His People because they prefer to follow their own sinful and fleshly ways.  In many cases it is even done ignorantly because the ministry they are depending on for Biblical teaching is failing in their calling.

Masses of Christians treat the things of God so casually.  Oh yes, they ‘pay proper respect’ to the church buildings and they call one another brother or sister and refer to their spiritual leader as ‘pastor’ or ‘reverend’ and they go to church services on Sunday morning.  They even pay a ‘tithe’ of some sort or a ‘pledge’ to the local congregation.  Most of them profess themselves to be  ‘Christians’ and are proud of their affiliation with a ‘local body of believers.’ They consider themselves to be freed from following the ‘old law’ but have no commitment to the deeper dedication that comes with complete salvation in Christ. They do all the outward things that proclaim them to be good Christians.  And yet as Christ said they neglect the weighter things of following the Lord.  ( . . . ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Luke 11: 38-42) 

In the religious world today men and women have no qualms about professing themselves ‘born again Christians’ and still living in sin.  Many times their lifestyle is such that even sinners recognize their hypocrisy.  We can see regularly professing Christians committing adultery and living in open sin but still ‘witnessing’ to the saving power of Jesus. 

What a travesty!   What insincerity!  What a trampling underfoot of the Son of God, and [counting] the blood of the covenant, wherewith [we are] sanctified, an unholy thing!  (Heb 10:29)
I thought of the consequence to the people and animals who disregarded God’s warning back at Sinai.   God has similar warning for men and women today who disregard His standards and ignore His Word.  ²⁵See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:  ²⁶Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

 God’s ministers still have a responsibility to speak as the Spirit gives them utterance, to warn men and women of the Judgment of God to come.  As the prophets of old (Ezekiel 33: 1-7)  had a responsibility to their people so do God’s men today have the same responsibility.
God is still sending His Message of deliverance from sin and freedom to worship Him in righteousness.  He is shaking the foundations of Satan’s prison house and freeing those men and women who turn to him. And mankind still has the choice of refusing His Word or accepting it.   Yet, men still deny and refuse it!  They would have been among those who were very careful for fear of physical death not to touch the mountain while Moses was there.  They would observe all the outward demands and be very careful how their obsequious attitude toward the ‘things of God’ is noticed, but like the Pharisees in Luke they ignore the deeper spiritual things that are more easily hidden from casual onlookers.   They are stomping on the spiritual mountain and considering that their sin is overlooked because the hand of God no longer reaches out to strike them dead for their disobedience. 

But today we worship as spiritual Jews, not literal.  Our death today is not literal but spiritual.
In Moses time all of the worship was focused on outwardly keeping of laws and ordinances; the consequences were literal.  If God said ‘death’ it was a literal physical death.   Today, the Word tells us that we are not literal Jews, but spiritual; our spirituality lies “inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter[of the law]  That life requires a much deeper commitment to the things of God and a more careful walk before Him.  And when God speaks of death now it is a spiritual condition and if we continue in our ways we find ourselves dead in trespasses and sin.  (Eph 2:1)

But, oh! the glory of accepting and following the Way of the Lord!   We are brought into His Church, His holy mountain, His Kingdom which stands sure.  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:  And we are given grace to serve God in holiness, consistently and faithfully!  Amen!

²⁹For our God is a consuming fire.  That fire consumes all the sin and dross in our life and makes us holy acceptable before God. 

Isn’t that the most wonderful thing!  It woke me up and kept me up!  Our Lord is breathtaking, overwhelming!  Take time to just read Hebrews 12:16-29.  And read it again and again, until the glory of it fills your soul! 

What a Mighty God We Serve!

I realized something today.   It has been exactly two weeks since  my knee replacement.  Last week about this time (the 8^th or 9^th)  I was in a  lot of pain; my leg was severely swollen and had a fever.  Movement was limited and I needed help getting out of bed.  I could walk a short way, but not too easily.

That evening or the next, I sent an email to Notah and Rachael and my sister in law, Helen, and my nieces asking them to pray for me.  What a fantastic God we serve!  And how surely He answers prayer!  On Saturday and Sunday I was able to get out of bed alone.  I was able to use the bathroom and come back to straighten out my bed and get back in.  All without any help! 

On Saturday I tried to do the exercises I’d been doing in physical therapy.  I was able to do most of them without any difficulty.  The whole straight leg lifts were difficult.  The heel slides which are designed to bend the knee were do-able but I could only bend my knee enough to raise it about two inches off the bed.  I did the toe kicks sitting on the side of the bed since I didn’t have the roll to prop my leg on.  Those happened without any difficulty!  

Sunday I did all the exercises again.  This time I could raise my knee in the heel slide a little higher each time so when I reached the 20 times the therapist wanted I kept on going.  My knee was loose and bent a little further each time.   I stopped when I got to 50!  I did 15 whole leg lifts.  And the other exercises I was able to whip out in short order! 

Last night I was so blessed to remember that prayer I asked for on Tuesday or Wednesday last week.  All this progress has been because of those prayers!  Wow!  My leg is now just about the same size as the other one.  The bruising is nearly gone.  There is no fever!  This morning I walked from my room to the physical therapy room! The therapist said it was about 250 feet!  And I wasn’t even hurting when I got there. 

All that may not seem like much to you, but believe me, it is amazing.  And everybody here says so, too.  Last week this time this all looked impossible, but the Lord has made it possible.

And now I'm going home on Friday morning!

Thank you, Lord!

Wow.  What a fantastic, busy, crazy, painful few weeks since I wrote about the end of my days in New Mexico.  On November 1^st I had my second knee re-placement.   

The surgery went smoothly-as far as I could tell since I was ‘out’ for the whole time.   However as soon as I was able to see what was happening, I realized that this one had been much more invasive than the first.  I had used the knee much harder since the other leg worked better and was much more dependable.  Over the summer, I walked and went more places than before since I could do so with a cane or staff.  Of course that contributed to more damage to the old knee.  

By the time I got back to Ohio, I had to resort to crutches for the few days before the surgery.  The knee was swollen and I could feel new ‘bumps’ in the deposits around the bone. So, although I didn’t ask the surgeon, I think it must have taken a lot more to prepare the ends of the bone for the new knee implants. 

At any rate, the results of the surgery were widespread bruising and swelling.  My first knee was swollen around the knee and a little downwards to my ankle and foot, but this was seriously swollen and feverish from day one.  It was much stiffer than the first.  

The good news is that now, 13 days after the surgery the swelling has gone down and I can walk on the leg.  I think the progress has been faster than the first time.  The goal, my goal, has always been to be finished in rehab within two weeks.  In April I was here something more than three weeks.     Even though I started out with a stiffer leg with less mobility this time, I knew more of what I should be able to do, so I pushed harder.    Saturday I was able to get out of bed by myself and back into bed alone after having straightened the slide pad and the sheets!  I can also go and open my window and the blind.   I walked from my end of the hall to nearly the door of the Physical Therapy room.

Tomorrow I will go the whole way!  

I miss being home with my old dog and my Maggie.  I wish I could be there to help with potty training Maggie.  Rachael says she will go out with the Big Dogs to potty.  That must be a cute thing to see.  Maxim goes tearing out, Sebastian and Gabriel rush along behind him and then comes Maggie bringing up the rear.  I wish I could see it! 

I’ve been stuck here in rehab while Rachael’s new store reopened with all kinds of good reports.   I saw Michael’s work on re-finishing the cupboards, but I haven’t seen the new face-lift on the dishwasher and trash compactor (we never use it as a compactor, only a glorified trash can!)  It must be beautiful. 

I intend to be home before Thanksgiving! 

summer is over

I’ve watched the sun come up from behind the Manzanos for the last time this year.  I’ve been startled by Bella’s back passing in front of the window like a small pony for the last time this year.  I’ve ridden with the family across the fantastic desert and up into the mountains, wishing all the time I could get out and hike with them when they stopped to look around for the last time.  I’ve listened to my grandkids say, “Look Grandma, what we found” for the last time this year and sorted through this year’s last array of pretty stones, flint shards, pot shards and broken arrowheads for the last time this year. For the last time this year I’ve been awakened from being almost-asleep by a whispery voice saying, “Grammy, you asleep?” when Seth came sneaking in for one last hug that night.  And I’ve –groan—eaten Kerra’s fantastic spicy hot ribs for the last time until next summer! 

We took some fantastic trips this summer:  a wild route up and along and down the San Mateo Mountains, up through the Jemez Mountains to the Caldera down through Los Alamo and Santa Fe, up a canyon into the Manzanos; and around the foothills of the Magdalenas.   My favorite was probably the Jemez, or maybe the San Mateos.  Both were wild and beautiful.  The road through the Jemez was better since it was all or nearly all paved.  The road through the San Mateos was dirt all of the way, very narrow and rough in places. 

Notah’s Big Red Truck is one of the best vehicles I’ve ever ridden in.  Grandpa Bear would love it.  Notah took that truck through some spots where I simply closed my eyes and other places where I was sure we were gonna leave grandma in the truck while Notah and Pat hiked 15 miles to a highway so someone could come and pull us out!  If anybody is shopping for a truck I can’t say enough good things about a Dodge Ram!!

When we went through the Jemez Mountains we saw the devastation of the las Conchas fire that raged for eight days over the Jemez Mountains.  By the time it was controlled the wild fire had consumed 103,000 acres or 161 square miles.  Hudreds of families were evacuated and it was feared that the fire would engulf portions of Los Alamos National Laboratory.   

For quite a while it was thought that the fire had been started by a camper, but ultimately, several weeks after the fire, it was determined that it had been started by a freak tree falling on a power line.  It was the largest fire in New Mexico history and the leading news item in every broadcast for the entire week.

Of course by the time we drove through the mountains the fire was long out and the road re-opened to traffic.  The acres and mountain tops of blackened trees were as awe-inspiring as the towering cliffs and green vistas.

The greatest thing about the Jemez Mountains was that I was able to climb a little bit of a hill from the trail up to the road surface.  I was so thrilled.  I haven’t ‘climbed’ a mountain in probably 35 years!  Notah had gotten me a wheel chair so I could go with them on some of the easier trips. He thought he could take me a ways down the Hot Springs Trail, and he did; but we finally reached a corner where the trail became very narrow and rocky.  There he had to stop.

Since the trail took a switch-back course down the hill when we came to the sharp corner the trail was actually not far at all from the top of the slope.  Notah took a walk up the hill and came back to say that it wasn’t steep at all and he thought I could walk up it if he helped me.  Sure enough, I did!  Of course, by the time I got to the top my walking steps were used up!  Pat brought the wheelchair up and Notah went to get the truck for me! 

Kerra and the kids hiked all the way to the hot spring.  I wish I could have seen it.  When they started off I went to grab my camera so they could bring me pictures.  But my camera was on the floor of Kerra’s car.  I had forgotten to grab it when we transferred from her car to Notah’s truck!  Rats!  

The whole trip was beautiful!—just like all the other trips we took through the countryside.  

My heart will always be in the desert.

puppies living and puppies dying

On Thursday night Chloe had six puppies.  They were four days early, but she is little and I think they had to be born because there was no more room inside for them.  They were all born active and squeaking!  :o)  Three gray ones and three in various shades of tan.   I was immediately concerned about the smallest gray one.  I’ve had a lot of little puppies in my years and when they are born with pointy noses and bulgy heads, they are premature and don’t live long.  Kerra was hoping it was because they were ¾ Chihuahua, so I let it go, but the next evening that puppy died.  Then a larger gray one died too.  When I saw it, the puppy had the same head shape as the tiny one.  Their feet were also smaller and the toes were undeveloped.  We all were sad, but it is simply the way of life. 

I only have concern for the last gray one. It seems a little immature yet to be out of mama’s tummy, but when I saw him this morning the face and head had developed a little more and the ears were coming forward  so I think maybe it will make it. 

I get a little girl and I’m praying that the breeders won’t choose my favorite since they get the pick of the litter.  They are all sweeties, but I especially like this little dark brown baby.

Chloe was very determined and efficient when they were born.  She wanted them in Notah and Kerra’s bed and refused to have them in her box.   When Notah came home I told him that I was a little worried because I hadn’t heard a peep out of her all day.  He went in and opened the kennel.  She immediately wanted on their bed, when he put her there she had the first puppy within just a few minutes.  The next five came like pop, pop, pop!   I don’t remember a litter of puppies ever coming quite that fast.  She had them all in about an hour.  I think she had refused to have them until she got under the covers in Notah and Kerra’s bed!    You can tell they are my kids—they just put a towel under her and let her stay.

Kerra had to change the whole bed and scrub the mattress before they could go to bed!  Fortunately the stains came out and they only had a wet spot on the mattress.  Once the puppies were all there she was content to get in the box with them and go in her kennel.

We have two girls and two boys left.  And she polishes them every ten minutes.  No big dogs are allowed near them.  They come and twitch their noses from six inches away when Chloe goes out to potty.  Thain and Bella sniffed and were satisfied.  Sadie would really like to have a baby of her own to love, but Chloe is NOT sharing.  Probably when they are older she will let Sadie love them.  Sadie was her surrogate mama when she came to live with us.

                                                                 Three days old.

I love having puppies!