puppies x8

so mollie FINALLY had her puppies. chris and i had gone out on our date night, thursday night, and were commenting the whole time how we wished she would have them tonight so we could do what we need to do with her before the weekend. when we arrived home she was in our bedroom where her "whelping/birthing" tub was set up and i could hear her crying. when i opened the door she was freaking out, pacing, walking in circles, and crying. then i realized there was more than one cry and upon further investigation found the first pup, placenta and umbilical cord still attatched.

after i finally calmed her down and brought the pup to her she chewed off the cord, ate the placenta (it was very chewy apparantly) and started licking the pup like crazy. this was right at 9pm and we thought for sure that it would be about 2 or 3 in the am before she was finished but she had other plans. by1145 she had successfully delivered 8 pups, one of which was outside in the front yard and chris had to pick it up still in the sack and all and bring it inside.

we were concerned that she would be hateful and try to keep us away from the puppies, but she was the opposite. she was getting ready to have the 3rd pup and i had walked out of the room and chris said she stopped pushing and sat up and wouldn't continue until i was back in the room. she even let max come in and smell the pups, lick her cooter, etc. she didn't cry hardly at all after the first one and was just a real trooper.

so the pups: we have 3 girls and 5 boys. six are black with white on their chests like hers and of those 4 are boys. then we have one the exact same blonde color as max which is a boy and the baby of the bunch came out white like the markings on max's face and that one is a girl. whether we keep her or not i think i am going to name her cuddles because all she wants to do is lay up by mollie's face and cuddle.

even though mollie is just our dog and i know dog's have no soul it was still such an amazing experience to see her body go through the changes of pregnancy, to feel the pups moving inside her, watching the birth, helping mollie during it and now of course getting to see, feel, and hold these puppies. God is so amazing in how He has created us and how everyday real, honest miracles take place.

and for ty and em: congrats on grant marshall. he is stinkin adorable and i could not be happier for you guys. i love y'all more than you know and you're both a real blessing.

i'll post pics of the pups later... right now i gotta get in the bed so i can take the whole crew to the vet in the am.

be blessed.
cass

god is great

there is a song that i heard sunday morning on the way to church that has the lyrics "we won't be satisfied with anything ordinary...we don't want blessings we want You" and it has stuck with me all week long. so as i sing this song i keep praying it and just crying out these lyrics to my most wonderful Saviour.

so today as i realized that i would only be getting around 20 hours at my full time job and began to realize that financially this was really going to be a hurter i started to feel myself beginning to do my cyclical worry. then i remembered the way God provided direction, guidance and clarity to me during my 40 day baby journey. so i left it in His hands and continued on my day.

about 230 this afternoon the head of hr at y-12 credit union (where chris works) called me and offered me a "part-time" position at the west knoxville branch. i say "part-time" because it's 32 hours. not only was i ecstatic to be receiving this news for the sheer fact of having stable hours, but then she told me my pay rate which is about $2 an hour more than i make now. GOD IS GREAT... and i just stand in awe of His love, provision and care for chris and myself right now.

on another note i know some of you are not having the same great news regarding employment and my prayers are with you friends. i have been in that boat where things seem to be going okay only to be devastated by an unexpected layoff or pay decrease. don't lose faith. not today or tomorrow or even in a few months, but eventually hindsight may show you that it was a blessing in disguise. remain faithful and steadfast in your love and praise to Him and He will provide... often in ways we do not anticipate.

love you all.
be blessed.
cassie

end of the 40 day journey

well folks, it's been 40 days and quite the remarkable journey. at the beginning of this exciting trip we begged, pleaded and prayed for a baby. as the time wore on God began to do something in our hearts and we began to pray for a child which led to praying for direction about how to obtain child in His timing. About halfway through the journey i had two separate doctors appointments back to back and the consensus of my pcp and ob/gyn was that i needed to lose weight. this was a heartbreaking and embarassing time in my life because even though i know i need to lose weight it's very hard to hear it coming from two doctors in two days.

so i cried and felt sorry for myself for about a day and then realized that i could be embarassed about being told i was fat for the rest of my life, or i could embrace it and do something about it. so............ we started weight watchers. in 3 weeks time i lost 15 pounds and chris has lost 13 and i have already started to see benefits, physically, in this small amount of weight loss. my blood pressure has gone down, i have more energy and more importantly i have motivation that yes i can lose this weight. of course i would like to have someone just twitch their nose and make all the excess go away, but as the saying goes, "rome wasn't built in a day" and i didn't get fat overnight. anyway, moving past the weight watchers infomercial...
so the fat lecture was about halfway through the 40 day journey and it was a very clear direction that God was leading us to so we committed to losing the excess. then i began to wonder if perhaps we were not to have children of our own at all and i prayed that God would hear my heart and my cries and honor and bless me with a child but He told me that i had to be content with the possibility that I might not ever have a child. Of course this was also not something i cared for but i prayed relentlessly throughout the days asking God to help me be content with whatever His plan was.
moving on to this past tuesday, day 35. i was at choir and decided to share a little bit of what was going on with us and to just ask the choir to pray for us in the homestrech of the journey. after i shared ashley was praying and she began to pray for us asking God to open up my womb (which can i just say that 'womb' is a really funny word to me) and while she was praying i was agreeing but still trying to figure out which direction we needed to take. and i got an answer. as i was thinking about all this dr. harris, the fertility doctor, popped into my head and i heard an audible voice in my head say, " I am the ultimate fertility doctor". it doesn't get much clearer than that.
i do not know if we will get pregnant in the next month, year or ever, all i know is that we faithfully prayed for 40 days asking God to reveal Himself and His plan for our family and He did exactly that. my prayer life has increased exponentially, my faith has grown and i have complete faith and peace about us having a child... or not. i know this is a rambling post, and i apologize, but take this from this post: there is power in the persistent prayer, but more importantly therer is power in our Lord and His promises to us. i look forward to the day when i can post that we will be adding a child to our family.
be blessed.
cassie