I Am So In Love & Grateful

Hello Friends!

Yesterday was one official week that our new dog Charlie, that I rescued from the APL, has been here with us. I am so (as the title suggests!) in love with this dog.

As a rule, I hate dogs. I've never met a dog that I liked for more than 10 minutes. I'm an animal lover in general, so I'm very kind and gentle with ALL animals, but dogs just rub me the wrong way. You can't stand in front of one without having your private areas totally explored.... most dogs you can't pet without being licked to death (I can't STAND being licked by a dog!).... they jump all over you, no matter what's on their feet.... they bark at EVERYTHING and always start when you want them to be quiet most... they get excited and pee.... you can't pet a MALE dog too much without finding out just how much he likes it.... I'm just not a dog person and I never have been. I love cats. I have 2.

If I don't like dogs... why on EARTH did I go looking for one?!?!

The truth is, lately, I've found myself feeling unbearably lonely. The kids go off to school.... Hubby goes off to work.... and here I am.. alone. There are multiple reasons that I'm not going to go into for me being unable to get a job. I've wanted to find a job for a couple years now, but the main reason I don't is because my family demands so much from me, that I WILLINGLY give, that I can't see me splitting my time like that. But still, I'm lonely.

I don't have any friends that are home during the day that I can spend time with and the loneliness I've been feeling has been getting heavier and heavier on my heart. I decided, out of desperation really, that I wanted a dog. A specific dog. A beagle. An adult beagle that doesn't lick or invade my personal privacy every time I'm within reach. One that doesn't lick excessively or chew things or bark. One that will get along with my 2 cats, and one that my 2 cats can tolerate. My cats are very "Queen of the House!" type cats. As a rule, they don't like other animals. We've fostered other dogs and we've had other cats and both of my girls are very hissy and unfriendly towards them.

Then (as I wrote about previously) about 1 week after I decided I wanted this specific dog... on 1/11, on the full moon.... the signs seemed pretty big to me... and I went to the A.P.L and there, in cage #11 was a 4 year old beagle named Copper (the name of one of our previous dogs). The only thing that I wanted that he didn't fulfill is that I'd wanted a female, simply because girls don't do that THING that boy dogs do when ya scratch their bellies, wink wink. But this dog was neutered and they told me he shouldn't do that thing.

So here we are, one full week later. Well, one week not counting the 4 days he spent on the run (See the "Everything Happens For a Reason" post). One full week from the day we got him back. I can't believe how PERFECT he is. If you'd told me a month ago that I would get a dog and love him so completely, I wouldn't have believed it.

We walk 1 mile, 2 times a day together. He hangs out on the couch with me and watches TV. He only barks when he has to go out. He's gentle and loving, yet playful and funny. He loves riding in the van and I take him everywhere with me. The kids love him, my Husband loves him, and believe it or not (I still don't quite believe it and I definitely don't understand it) my cats take no issue with him. He sniffs them and plays with them a little. They'll hiss if he starts to get rough and they feel threatened, but honest to GOD.... they don't even seem to care that he's here. I'd have never believed it if I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes.

It's things like this that happen to me that continue to reinforce my belief in the law of attraction... or really, intention/manifestation. I didn't focus on anything... I didn't obsess or visualize or go to any great lengths to find this unbearably perfect dog. I just decided that I wanted a dog and what I wanted him to be and HOW I wanted him to be. I prayed and asked for him, intended to have him and then I told my Hubby, in these exact words... "I've decided to allow a dog to come into my life so I can love him." One week later, he was here. And one week after that, I couldn't love him more.

So, that's my latest success story. I see minor things happen so constantly I don't even notice them anymore at times, but this was HUGE for me. I'm still in awe.

Happy manifesting :)

Everything Happens For a Reason

I was telling my Grandma about my week this morning and was AMAZED at the easy flow everything took on and thought I'd share :)

Sunday, I went to my local APL (Animal Protective League/Humane Society) and adopted a dog. I've been wanting a small beagle and decided to "allow" one to come into my life. I woke up Sunday morning and realized the date was 1-11 and it was a full moon and I felt drawn to the APL so I went. There... in cage #11 was the cutest 4 yr old male beagle named Copper (This was the name of a dog we USED to have). He was exactly what I wanted. Older, so no puppy issues like peeing and chewing... fixed.. not jumpy or licky.. calm, pleasant and affectionate. I took these facts ALL as signs and adopted him and brought him home.

After he was here about an hour, I took him outside to do his business and he slipped his leash and ran due west at break neck speed. I ended up trudging through knee deep snow in sigle digit temps for over an hour looking for him. Then I drove around my "Country" neighborhood for an hour looking for him. He was nowhere to be found. I was SOOOO bummed, but I said a prayer for him to be healthy and happy and safe and went home.

Monday, my 6 year old son was sick. He went to school but came home that night with a low fever and looking mighty pale. My boy has a history of hallucinating when he's sick. This is somewhat common among young children and the doctor assures me it will pass with age. But, in the meantime, it can be quite un-nerving for me to console a frightened, hallucinating child.
He was fevered and ill and home from school Tuesday, Wednesday AND Thursday. Wednesday night he spiked a fever of 103 degrees and I gave him a dose of ibuprophen to bring it down. One hour later, it had not only NOT gone down, but had climbed to 104.3. In a bit of a panic, at 10:30pm, we got in the van and went to the emergency room.

They chased the ibuprophen with some Tylenol and his temp came down quickly and he perked up. They ran some tests and did a chest x-ray and concluded that he just has a flu virus and it will pass in a few days. We got back home at 2am.

I put him in bed and layed awake for hours visualizing a cool healing blue energy surrounding him. He woke up Thursday morning bright eyed and bushy tailed. No sign of fever at all. He still has a little cough, but for the most part, he's made an amazingly fast recovery.

He wanted to go to school Thursday, but I told him he needed to stay home and rest and get a little more healthy before going back. He accepted this, but asked if we could go see about getting another dog. I've called the APL everyday since Copper left and no one has brought him back. I alerted all my neighbors so if he was spotted, someone would grab him and know where he belongs, but it'd been 4 days and I'd given up hope. So... we went back to the APL to see about getting a different dog.

We found a very nice dog and decided to adopt. He wasn't a beagle like I'd wanted, but he was very sweet and calm and my son liked him. The woman there had me fill out the adoption paper, then told me that due to what had just happened with Copper, they weren't going to ALLOW me to bring this dog home. She said she'd hold him for 24 hours and I should go home and make sure this is what I really wanted. They treated me as though I was a bad person because of what had happened and as though it were my fault.

I felt humiliated and angry. All I wanted was to rescue and love a dog and they were gunna point fingers at me because the dog I got ran away?! They were the one's that named him when he came in so he didn't even respond to his name when I called to him! What was I supposed to have done!? So I left.

I came home mad. I stewed for a while and bitched about it. Then I let it go. I decided.... well, they don't know me... and I'm not going to let their stupid judgement of me keep me from having a dog. We went about our normal evening business of dinner and homework and tv. My Hubby got called out to tow a car and left. He came home about 2 hours later.. walked through the door and said, "Look who I found!" and set Copper on the floor!

As he was pulling in the driveway, the son of one of our neightbors pulled up in a car and said, "Are you the guy missing a beagle?" He had him there in his car and gave him back.

I was recounting these events to my Gram and I really started thinking about it all. It would've been REALLY difficult for me to take care of a new dog while tending my sick child all week.
New dogs need extra attention and walks etc.. and I just wouldn't have been able to do it. THEN I realized.... if the APL hadn't made me wait 24 hours, I'd have ended up with 2 dogs here last night. THEN I'd have had to take one of them back to the APL today which would've just broke my heart.

I think it's even made a difference for Copper, who's name has been changed to Charlie, because he was out and cold and hungry for FOUR whole days. Now he's here and we're loving on him and feeding him and he's warm again. He seems to already be attached to us now when before, he didn't seem to care much. And finally, I'm right up against lake Erie in NE Ohio. We're having a MAJOR cold spell as of last night. It got all the way down to - 10 last night with windchills down to -40. He couldn't have come home out of the cold at a better time.

It all worked out in the most perfect way even though I couldn't see the perfection of it from the beginning. I managed to have faith through it all that everything was exactly as it should be and would work out fine and I'm happy to report that it did.

I know some people around here have a hard time believing that "bad" things happen and end up being a good thing in the end... and although this might not be a HUGE life altering thing, it was important to me and my family... and now, I'm finding myself not only grateful that my son is better and my dog is home... but grateful that everything happened exacly as it did. It was perfectly orchistrated to turn out in a way that was best for everyone involved.

Deepak Chopra: The Happiness Prescription

See at Amazon!
I ordered this movie (seminar, talk..) from Netflix like, a week or so ago. I've been meaning to watch it, but life just gets away with me sometimes. I've had a sick boy home from school all week this week and that brings life to a screeching halt. Yesterday, while he was napping peacefully (FINALLY!), I remembered I had that DVD to watch, so I hunkered down on the couch and let 'er rip.

What a wonderful DVD! It's a 2 disc set, and I only have disc 1, so I'm sending away for the other half today, but I'm so glad I finally sat down to watch it.

It can be frustrating for me at times, to find LOA and Spirituality related things to watch and read that aren't the same old stuff I've already watched and read. Although, I would have to admit, some of the biggest and most profound shifts in consciousness I've experienced came from hearing things I've heard a billion times already. Sometimes I'm aware of things on an intellectual basis but then I hear it again one day and it just resonates deeper for me. I've had some pretty spectacular "Ah-Ha!" moments from things that are painfully obvious. It just hits me different. But, it's like that old saying.... When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. When you are primed and ready for the shift, it'll happen.

I really enjoyed this DVD. I love listening to Deepak talk. I enjoy the audio books that he narrarates too. In this DVD, he's giving a seminar type talk to a smallish audience. Then at the end, there's a question and answer portion. Some of it was the same ol' info, but some of it was very deep. I had a couple "Ah-Ha!" moments while I was watching. He talks about what happiness really means and how to acheive it. It was truly fantastic.

It seemed to conclude at the end, so I'm very curious what's on the second disc. I'll post and let you all know when it gets here. I won't put off watching the second disc as long as I did this one! LOL I'm REALLY looking forward to watching it.