Having Babies, Part 2

Back in August I blogged about why we have babies. I may have discovered the answer...at least for us. This past Friday we took Steven to Chad's co-worker's "farm."

Steven having a conversation with the dog about getting on the horse before he would get on the horse.

Chad riding a horse for the first time

Talking to the donkey

And I am getting somewhere with this...

Steven running down the hill from the donkeys to tell Joe.  He ran saying "Joe! Joe!"

And then it was somewhere along here that Chad was expressing to Joe how grateful we were that he allowed Steven to come and see the animals. And Joe's response answered my question to why we have babies. He said that he enjoyed Steven coming more than Steven enjoyed it.  That's it!  Steven brings joy to the world.  I think he is a testimony to God's love and sharing Jesus to others even in his own way.  He makes me realize more and more how much we should strive to be like Jesus.  He doesn't think twice about asking to sing Jesus Loves Me in the middle of the store or ask to pray before we eat wherever we are.  He shows a level of living life to the fullest that sometimes I forget and I know the story of our Saviour.  So in a nutshell, I believe we should having children because they share Christ with others like we cannot.  Now I'm not saying Joe doesn't know Jesus because I think he does. I'm not saying Steven could share the gospel in its entirety, but who can?  He does share Jesus' love with anyone and everyone whether they choose to listen or not in his own unique way.  He brings joy like no other can and hopefully one day we will have more children that can share Jesus' love like he does. 

And to share a little more of his joy, here's so more pictures and a few videos from our visit to the farm....

Towards the end he got a little brave

And rode the horse by himself

But not for too long

And to this movie Steven said "Steven's a mess".....

Goodbye Lil' Stout

Yesterday I saw that a friend was going to have to put their dog down because of kidney failure.  I emailed her that I could not imagine what she was going through and little did I know about 12 hours later we would be doing the same thing.  We have had two wonderful dogs; first came Gustav, our beloved German Shepherd in 2004 and in 2006 we decided that he needed a playmate and a playmate is what he got.  We "rescued" a spaniel/lab mixed puppy.  We name him Guinness Stout, called him Stout, because he looked so dark brown that at times it appeared black and had a nice white "foamy" patch on his neck. 

He's been the happiest dog I think I've ever encountered and he brought so much joy to our lives. Some of our greatest memories I think will be recent as Steven had grown so fond of Stout.  One of Steven's favorite things to do was to chase Stout around the house with a duck puppet saying "quack, quack." 

This morning around 3:30 we heard him distressed, so I got up to see what was the matter.  After a few minutes I realized he couldn't get up and was paralyzed in his hind quarters.  Chad and I spent the next several hours comforting our sweet Stout knowing what was probably to come.  He was so loving and just wanted us there with him.  When Steven woke up and we told him Stout was hurt he said, "oh no, Stout hurt, give him some chocolate milk!"  He was so sweet in petting him and knew it wasn't the time to try and chase Stout.  He even brought pieces of food over to Stout and said "here you go, thank you, you're welcome" as if he was carrying on a full conversation with Stout.  After many tears, Chad took him to the vet and they confirmed that even if we spent thousands of dollars there was no guarantee of any improvement. 

The house is very somber without our precious Stout and it'll be a while before Steven quits calling him to come and "get yours Stout" when its feeding time; or telling him to get out of the living room; and every time he does it breaks my heart because Stout isn't in there to be told to get out.