A Much Needed Day of Beauty and a Skeptic No More. . .

A couple of months ago I booked a day of beauty at my friend Susan's salon. I knew when I booked it, once the day of my appointment arrived, I would be only ten days away from delivering the baby. It's so hard to believe that today was that much needed appointment!! I got my fingers and toes painted and a much needed cut and color. I was starting to feel frumpy and needed my funky red hair back (see picture from two posts ago). I always feel so wonderful when I leave Susan's and today was no exception!!

After my time to myself, my husband picked me up and we both paid a visit to my favorite chiropractor/friend, Cheryl. Due to my severe sciatica, I've been spending lots of time with her as of late. She has been helping me immensely but, unfortunately, I will have to grin and bear a lot of the pain until the baby is born. I've experienced this before with my first pregnancy and remember the pain going away as soon as I gave birth. The first time I had sciatica was a walk in the park compared to this time. There are times when I can honestly cry because the pain gets so bad.

A good friend of mine has MS and I told her that there are no words to describe the respect I have for her living with that every day of her life. Her attitude has always been so positive and upbeat. God bless you, Elena. You're my hero!! I truly mean that.

This chiropractic visit was a little different in that my husband (aka King of the Chiropractic Skeptics) was adjusted by Cheryl as well. Several weeks ago he was diagnosed with severe bronchitis and developed one of the worst coughs I've ever heard. He had it for about a week and a half. His ribs hadn't been the same since and he was complaining of rib pain whenever he moved a certain way or coughed or was working on any of our Works in Progress (see earlier post).

Last nite, after tossing and turning and trying to fall asleep with a very pregnant wife snoring rather loudly next to him, he moved to the couch where he proceded to turn the wrong way and then felt a pop in his rib cage. He was in so much pain this morning but was still able to make breakfast for everyone. Until the sneeze . . . I swear he was going to cry!! He was in absolute agony. I told him that I was going to call Cheryl and, whether he liked it or not, he was going to see her. When he didn't argue with me I knew he was in pretty bad shape.

We met Cheryl at 2:00 and I was mad at myself for forgetting my camera. You know I would've posted a big ol' pic of my Honey on the table getting adjusted!! She took the time to show Jim some skeletal picures of what she thought was going on with him and then worked on him for about ten minutes and, can I tell you, he felt immediate relief. He's still a little sore but can now take a deep breath and actually function and start working again on the bedroom.

My friend Cheryl is now another one of my heroes!! And, by the way, Cheryl works on Elena, too!! : ) How lucky am I to have such wonderful friends in my life?!!?

I hope you like the pictures of the vintage wrapping paper that I've added to this post. I've been cleaning out my studio and packing it up for the renovations that are going to be starting when our bedroom is done. I came across a bunch of super girly papers and thought I'd share them with you.

We have a very busy weekend coming up with a Communion on Saturday and Mother's Day on Sunday. I hope everyone has an extra special Mother's Day!!

Many blessings ~ Wendy

A Happy Ending . . .

The last eighteen hours were horrible. I noticed yesterday afternoon, when someone knocked on my door, that the dogs had somehow gotten out of the yard. They usually run in from outside when they hear someone at the door but yesterday they didn't. It's just like when your kids get too quiet and you think they're up to something they shouldn't be up to. Dog owners will back me on this one. : ) When I looked in the backyard they were no where to be seen. I noticed that part of the chicken wire fence in the yard was bent up at the bottom. The hole was just big enough for a chocolate lab and his sidekick cockapoo. I drove around the neighborhood expecting to see them. Our lab, Brady, has this terrible habit of chasing car wheels when he gets loose. Thankfully, we live on a pretty quiet street. The last time Sparky, the cockapoo, got out he went right to the front porch. There was no sign of either of them. I asked people that were out in their yard and nobody had seen either of them. I drove around for more than two hours with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. When it got dark and there still was no sign of them I was beside myself. I tried to be strong for my three sons but I couldn't. The strongest one was actually my seven year old. He's so incredible.

I called the police, the local all-nite veterinary hospital and animal control in case anyone had seen them. Closing and locking the front door without them being here broke my heart. I tried to sleep but, needless to say, if I got two hours that was a lot.

I have always been a very intuitive person. We all have that gift but some people are more aware of it than others. I have become more aware of it as I've gotten older. I woke up feeling very drawn to the woods this morning. There is a huge stretch of woods that run behind our house for a couple of miles. Where we live, it's just a very thin bit of trees that separate us and the school behind our house. As you go further down, they become much deeper and there is marsh land and very deep muck in the middle of the woods, as well as a fence right square in the middle of all that muck. The fence is because there is a highway along the woods further down. As I said, I was very drawn to those woods this morning.

The best way for me to describe how I found my dogs this morning is to say that I followed an intuitive voice in my head and, after I got the boys off to school this morning, I got into my car and let it take me where it wanted to drive. I ended up at the end of a cul-de-sac about a mile from my house. Without thinking or questioning where the thoughts were coming from I got out of the car and walked into the backyard of a house that was backed up to those woods. I stood at the edge of the yard and called out for my dogs. Immediately, in the distance, I heard my little dog, Sparky, bark. After a few minutes, I heard Brady. I was drawn to that location, pure and simple. Amazing Grace. When I realized that I wasn't going to be able to get to them easily, I called my friend, Colleen, to help me. There was so much muck that I couldn't reach them AND they were on the other side of that fence I described to you. The lab was able to find a part of the fence that was broken so he climbed over it and waded thru all of that horrible mud and came to me. The cockapoo was way too small and couldn't get past the fence. Colleen tried to come in from the highway side of the woods but encountered the same problem of not being able to reach Sparky due to the muck. She then decided to call Animal Control for back up and drive around to meet me. That is when everything sort of just fell into place.

As she was walking into the woods to find me, three surveyors that worked for the sewer department just happened to be coming into the woods at the same time. Suddenly she called out, "I have back up!! It's Superman, Batman and Robin. Our Super Heroes to the rescue!!" I had no idea what she was talking about until they came into view. Those men were so wonderful!!

After much coaxing, we finally got Sparky to come to the fence where there was an opening above muck level. When he saw me he literally dragged his body thru that disgusting mess to get to me. None of us could believe he was able to do it.

I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am to my friend, Colleen, the three "Super Heroes," St. Anthony (the Saint of lost things that I prayed to like crazy) and all of the other Divine Intervention that helped to get my dogs back. I'm so happy to be able to say that, because of everyone I've mentioned above, this (very long) story had a happy ending!!

Amazing Grace.

Many blessings ~ Wendy