Today is Monday and Molly is almost a different dog!  She is calmer and more centered and more playful and more relaxed.  She seems more loving as well.  I'm really glad what was ailing her - isn't!  She has begun to be more communicative to me as well.  Rather than seeimg me as just a big squeeky toy with arms to reach the dog treats, (thanks Odette for the visual) she is aware of my presence and that I am able to help her and protect her.  She's almost three . . . I guess it's time to grow up into a real dog instead of perpetual puppy. 

Sometimes I think we view Spirit in the same way.  We don't connect or interact, but we're willing to take the tasty treats of life's pleasures as they are offered to us.  I bet God would love it for us to grow up enough to wake up and notice the connection and the love that is also offered along with the blessings along the way. 

My osn once had a dog named Beau.  Beautiful black lab.  Sweet dog.  One day I was reading my Bible and couldn't understand what I was reading.  I didn't get it at all.  What I thougth I was reading didn't fit with what I had been taught in church.  I had to walk away and think, so I took that sweet Beau for a walk.  This particular walk that dog had to stop and sniff everything and pulled ahead or dragged back or tried to walk under my feet.  He was all over the place. 

Finally, about a half a block from home, I looked at him and said, "Beau, I just want you to walk with me!"  He instantly looked at me with a deep knowing and in my heart I knew that God was saying the same thing to me.  "Janice, I just want you to walk with me!"  From that moment on, my relationship with God shifted.  I began my sacred walk with Spirit.

Well, Molly spent the afternoon in the vet's office.  The sedated her and drained the abscess.  This morning she is flinging herself around the house and acting like a 6 month old puppy!  Obviously, she feels much better.  We still have to give her pain pills so she can do her business and antibiotics to get rid of the infection.  She looks really swollen back there.  Poor critter!  Thank goodness for vets. 

We all need help sometimes with something.  Hard to ask for help, but really great to get it!

May your day be filled with people willing to help while staying out of your business!  That's a cute trick!

Molly, one of my dogs is currently at the vet.  We had noticed this morning on our walk that her rear looked red and swollen.  Sure enough she has an impacted and abscessed anal gland.  I'm glad it wasn't more serious.  Unfortunately, she had to be sedated so it could be drained and cleaned.  Poor baby!

Molly is the poster child for fearfulness.  Reminds me of myself in some ways.  I'm always afraid of something until I take the time and effort to check it out.  We've had to train Molly to "check it out" and have her come to something that she finds suspicious at first.  We reward and praise her for overcoming that fear and walking over to see what frightened her in the first place.  Anything from a plastic bag falling off the counter to a stuffed up nose whistle can totally freak her out.  Some days she's worse than others.  We take her to the pet store and rattle bags and clang shelves to get her conditioned to noise and change.  Once she gets over herself, then she is unshaken by any sudden sounds.  That process will last quite a while and if we keep challenging her to think instead of react, then she does quite well for quite some time. 

Today, the swinging door from the vet's exam rooms to the waiting room totally got her spun up.  We'll probably have to work with her some more once she gets over this to get her back to her confident, relaxed state. 

Sometimes I think Spirit challenges us so that we can move past fear into a relaxed, confident state of being.  When Phil and I both left good paying jobs to pursue what our hearts wanted to do, we had a lot of fearful times when we didn't know whether or not we could pay the bills.  One day we both just let go of it.  It didn't matter if we were afraid or not, we just had to keep doing what we were doing and have hope and faith.  Sure enough, we could always meet our obligations.  It wasn't easy, but once we let go of fear, it was much less stressful.  We were able to work harder, smarter, and more efficiently without the burden of fear to slow us down or hinder our efforts.

Fear is an unatural state of being.  When we allow ourselves to move beyond fear, we return to our natural state of "oneness" and restore our divine nature.  For me, I find that fear is addictive.  Once activated, it takes a lot to overcome and to move into a more balanced state of being.  Once restored to "oneness." fear is a luxury I can no longer afford.  The price to pay is too great.  It costs a lot of energy, time, thought, and prayer to restore myself to that place of peace and"oneness."  (Not that I can maintain it perfectly at all times, but I can get there faster and stay there longer if I don't indulge in fearful thinking.)

So, my Molly will probably be exceptionally fearful now that her fear has been reactivated.  Through loving patience, Phil and I can help her turn around into a more calm and confident dog.  Spirit can help us when we need to make those changes as well.  We just ask for the help and it will be there for us.  Not to torment us with more things that makes us fearful, but opportunities to release fear and step into faith.  If we percieve that God enjoys tormenting us, then our perception of God is screwed up.  Just like I don't want to see Molly startled and fearful yet Phil and I guide her to move through her fear, so, too, God helps us find our own strength while leaning upon Divine Strength.

Fear doesn't have to be terminal.  We can move into confident self worth if we just look for it.

As you may know, my BFF's are animals.  They teach us so much with just being who they are.

Yesterday, I went to my friend Linda's for a foot bath.  She's got one of those extra special machines that are supposed to pull toxins out of the body.  Phil had one done at a fair years ago and his water didn't have hardly any stuff in it - not surprising because he is very careful about his food and exercise and has really great health to boot.  Me, not so much in any count.  I don't take as good of care of myself as he does (though he is a positive influence and I do a lot better than most people).  I have always been easily tired and have some health issues.  Anyway, the footbath was pretty disgustingly brown last week, so we arranged for me to return for another footbath and I would "chat" with her horses in exchange.  She calls her place Spot O' Faith Farm.

We visited with the horses first.  As we were walking out there, all of the horses picked up their heads and came towards us.  I've been there plenty of times before and they have never done that.  This was the first that I was focused on communicating with them.  One even nickered at us. 

One by one we tuned in to each animal and got their story, health issues and what they were feeling.  I had tuned in to the mother mare last week as I was leaving and she had mentioned something about one of the other horse's feet.  Apparently, that horse kicks the fence and anything else that gets close and we were ready to find out what was up with that.

We began talking to the horse and the feet and legs issue came up again.  Linda showed me scars on her legs and I got a huge flash of getting tangled in fencing.  I don't know for sure if it was barbed wire, I just know that there was a lot of pain associated with that.  I began to clear as much of the old painful energy as I could and the horse began to stomp it's hind legs like flies were biting it or something.  Then the horse pulled her leg way up close to her body and stomped again.  Then the other foot.  Back and forth, again and again.  I felt some tingling or prickling on the interior of the hoof and began to pull that energy off. 

I don't know anything about horse's feet - rather hoofs.  So, I don't really know what I was feeling.  I could tell that the tissue within the hoof was either burning or stinging on the inside.  As I continued to pull the energy off, the horse slowed down the stomping and lessened the intensity of the stomp.  Soon, she was just standing there and seemed to be relieved.

We moved on to nother horses and she didn't stomp again.  I showed Linda how to release that energy again if she needs it.

The last two horses were brother and sister.  Among other things, the horses wanted to breathe our breath.  Linda said she didn't know why they did that, so I asked them.  They indicated that they can smell when someone isn't telling the truth, so they breathe in the truth when they hear it.  As soon as I said that, the sister horse came over and stuck her face in mine so I could breathe into her nostrils.  She breathed into mine, so we shared breath for a few moments.  It was quite an interesting experience to have a powerful horse standing with it's muzzle touching the nose and lips.  Kinda like a horse kiss!  I liked it!

The last horse was one that just had a stillborn baby a few months ago.  She felt agitated to me.  Linda indicated that she doesn't like to be touched and the horse turned so that I could touch her neck and side.  (Kinda like kids - brag on 'em and they'll do the opposite.)  Anyway, that horse is ready to try again with having a baby.  There was nothing she did wrong and the baby had every appearance of being well.  It just didn't live.  I got that there was something wrong with how the baby would have thought making it unstable which isn't good for an animal that lives in a stable.  So, mom could have another without any problem and she is really ready - not just to carry a baby, but to mother it for awhile!  Linda told me that she is a very good mother and cares for you babies very well confirming that detail.

We finished up our visit with our equine friends and went into the house for a detox footbath.  We were joined by Linda's dog Jinxy, who had been kicked a couple of weeks ago by the horse with the burning feet.   Jinxy was still limping around.  As I finished up my foot bath, he came over to me and I scooped him up and felt my hands heat up, so gave him a Quantum Touch healing session while my feet were doing their thing.  Linda and I continued to visit and she all of a sudden had me look at Jinxy.  He had the goofiest look on his face!  He was all dopey eyed and leaning on me.  It was so cute!  He was all relaxed into the healing process.  He looked up at me with this gooey sweet look that said "thank you!"  That was the first time I had ever seen this little guy sit still for more than 30 seconds.  Linda and I laughed about it and he stayed soaking up the energy for awhile longer.

He was still limping when I set him down, so he could probably use some more of that.  I sent him some additional healing energy as I went to bed last night.  I also checked in on the horse with the burning feet and she still seemed to be okay.  I'll check with Linda and see how they are doing and keep you posted.

Well, I've got a full day ahead and just wanted to share my experience at Spot O' Faith farm before I got going.

When my mother passed away last March, her two cats went to two separate families.  Wilson, the oldest wasn't thriving in his new home.   The woman of the house was going to put him down because he wasn't going outside to take care of business.  I got a call to see if I could find another home for him.  The family that took his "brother" Murphy was willing to take Wilson as well. 

Wilson got a clean bill of health from the vet, so yesterday, my friend Mary and I drove two hours to deliver Mr. Wilson to his new forever home.  He meowed nearly the whole way. though he was resting and meowing with his head on his paw.  Like he was telling us all about it.

Once we arrived, we brought him into a large room and closed the door so the other inhabitants of the household wouldn't disrupt Wilson's getting settled.  Wilson came out of his carrier purring!  He walked right up to his new mommy and rubbed on her leg and purred.  He let Mary and I pet him and tell him how handsome he was.  He didn't really want to be held, but visited his food dish right away.  After much praise and loving, we decided to go get some lunch and let Wilson explore his new home.  Wilson seemed very happy to be on solid ground again.  His tail was held high, his eyes were bright, and he was purring up a storm.

When we got back, he had found his brother kitty, Murphy, under the bed and had made a safe place for himself there.  (pretty normal cat stuff.)  I'm sure he was really tired and glad to be comfortable and quiet.  His brother Murphy was brought out and we loved on him as well.  He seemed more traumatized than Wilson!  We kept sending him "all okay" messages and left the family to get acquainted as we wanted to get over the pass before dark.

All evening, I was disturbed by Murphy's feelings of trauma.  I couldn't really understand why he was so upset because he and Wilson were dearest of friends when they lived together.  They would sleep together and give each other face washings - very cute.

My own can Bruiser woke me up at midnight.  Actually it was the stroke of midnight as I could hear the clock in the front room chiming 12 times!  I was caught with a rush of trauma from Murphy again.  I just sent him comforting energy and blessings until I fell asleep (much later!)

When I awoke this morning, it was dark in the room, but there was a light over my head.  We have a sliding glass door that is covered, so no light was getting in, so even though I thought it might have been a reflection of something.  There was no light to reflect.  I was instantly "taken" to my mother's house she lived in before she died.  I came in through the back door where the exercise bicycle was and the cat dishes and where the cat box was located.  I started to go through the rest of the house but was drawn back to that back room.  I heard my mother say, "The boys are home."  I could feel a deep sense of relief and contentment.  I shot back into my body and realized that Murphy felt that if Wilson was brought that I was going to take him away!  I immediately sent the experience I just had in my mother's home and the feelings of relief and contentment and relayed her words, "The boys are home."  I could feel Murphy "get" the message and begin to relax.  As soon as the message was sent, the light over my head faded.  I believe that was my mother wanting to make sure both "boys" were happy and content. 

I haven't yet checked in with the new family to see how "the boys" are doing, but it feels as if they are both going to be fine.  I feel Murphy relaxing and Wilson getting settled.  I hope to get pictures of Wilson and Murphy to attach to this so you can see them - they really do look like brothers!  Murphy has gotten to love the family dog Shirley and Wilson just left his family dog Lilly, so I'm sure they will all make a happy family soon.  Even though Wilson is a senior kitty, he is strong and healthy and very vital.  I'm glad he has a home where he can thrive and really live life where he's loved.

God bless his other family as they did the best that they could for as long as they could.  God bless his new family Deb, Shirley, and Murphy for their open, loving hearts.  I am so grateful that Wilson has more years of love to share.

Merlyn Napping in Display Case

We sleep with both dogs and the cat.  (allergies?  you bet!)  Last night, as Bruiser the cat snuggled into my pillow and onto the top of my head, I was beginning to drift asleep when I heard a meow.  Actually, it was more of a "meaowr".  I sat up and asked Phil if he heard that.  He said he did but was nearly asleep, so he was undisturbed by it.  I wondered if a cat had crawled in through the pet door to get warm or something. 

By this time I realized that if there was a cat in the house the two dogs would have been going nuts and Bruiser would have been throwing a hissy fit.  So I laid back down and heard another meowr - softer.  I got up and searched the house and found nothing - animals still not concerned in the least.  As I went back to bed, I thougth of the church-cat named Merlyn that had passed several years ago in the spring. 

He was quite the cat.  When we did healings, he would jump up on the healing table and lay right on whatever was ailing before we could even get our hands ready to send healing energy.  We'd have to slip them under him to provide the healing.  He would just purr and stay there until he thought the person was done and then he'd jump down. 

I remember when Merlyn was in his last few days.  He was pretty skinny and we were just giving him the best quality of life we could until it became obvious that he was too weak to go on and he was ready to go.  On his last Sunday, Phil told everyone to give Merlyn a goodbye as his time was drawing near.  As Phil was talking, Merlyn gave out about three really loud meowr's as his way of saying good bye to all of us.  It was really amazing. 

I didn't get that Merlyn was here to help Bruiser over - though I know when the time is right, he will be there to help as he's needed.  I do think he was trying to let me know that Bruiser is now about 12 to 15 years old and getting up there.  He is playful still, but doesn't get around as much as he used to.  I think Merlyn wanted me to know that it's time for us to pay special attention to Bruiser and give him some extra help as needed.  Maybe move is cat box to an easier place - though he's not had any trouble getting to it, we may just want to avoid any mishaps.  I think he was thanking us for all the extra special treatment he received and to let us know that Bruiser is ready to receive some of that same attention. 

Both Merlyn and Bruiser are black cats.  We didn't select them because they were black, but because they were special and just happened to be black.  Very different personalities, yet both kinda goofy.  It's probably pretty goofy to let a cat sleep on your head, but on these cold winter nights, it sure keeps me warm!  No electric blanket needed!  Just two dogs and a cat on my head!

As he flashes through my mind today, I am remembering lots of wonderful things about him and how bonded we were.  Too funny.  I'll see if I can find a picture of Merlyn and put it with this article.  It was so interesting to have that visit that seemed so real on this physical plane.  It's nice to get those lovely little visits.  (My mom stopped by later in a dream - how cool is that!)

If you want to visit with a pet that's crossed over, let me know - we can do that!