JOY

Hello Friends.

You have no idea what joy has filled my heart (my MOM’s too) over all the well wishes, prayers, good vibes, and as my last post spoke of the overwhelmingly generosity of so so many who came together to help me.  AND my MOM decided that I was well enough to go on a little adventure.  Someone said to my MOM, “You must be so happy that Goose is doing better and you two can start taking hikes again.”  Oh we are happy for sure.  BUTT, this goes so far beyond happy.  As we walked along, I even got to run, MOM and I talked about being happy, and being filled with joy.  In the photos to follow you can see the joy just bursting from me.  There is a big difference between happy and joy my friends.

There is a board game called Careers.  The goal of the Careers game is to fulfill your Success Formulae, a formula each player creates out of three categories: money, fame, and happiness.  Traveling around the board each player earns points for landing on squares like "Find Cure For Hiccups" (Score 10 ), or "Take A Florida Vacation" (score 8 ). Whichever player successfully gets enough money, fame, and happiness points to fulfill their "success equation" is the winner.

But while the money portion of the equation is basically fulfilled by sequential salary increases; and while fame is reached by doing obviously great, note-worthy activities: the happiness portion of the equation is reached by doing seemingly silly things.  It was apparently so difficult of the game's creators to think of events worthy of true happiness that they came up with a not-so-subtle cheat.  For a fee, any player can earn happiness hearts by paying to stay on the Florida Vacation square.  Every time you pay to stay you earn a few more happiness hearts.  In other words, money does buy happiness.

And this is what most of the world thinks about that tepid, shallow emotion called happiness.  If you have enough money, enough toys, enough things - you can be happy.

Perhaps that's why Scripture never concerns itself with happiness as we know it.  The Scriptures do not have any interest in happiness because happiness CAN be bought. McDonald's got it right in its kid-oriented package called a Happy Meal.  Happiness is a cheap, momentary, easily purchased and easily discarded feeling rooted in the fulfillment of selfish desires.

In 1Peter 1:1-12, Peter is concerned with spelling out the most basic building blocks of Christian faith. The passage enumerates what makes the way of Christ distinct, unique, and worth the hardships a 1st century confessing Christian was sure to endure.  All can confidently hold in their hearts the future hope of salvation.  But in the here and now, in our day-to-day existence in this fallen world, Peter identifies a different distinguishing characteristic that marks a disciple of Jesus: JOY.  Joy is as far a distant from happiness as marshmallow salmon eggs are from Beluga caviar.  You might say, “Goosie what is the difference between happiness and joy?”

Well friends joy is a command.  There are lots of scriptures that command joy.  My favorite is 1 Thessalonians 5:16, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you".   Joy holds on and holds out. Happiness blows off and on, hot and cold.  Happiness is fleeting; joy endures.

Think of this, at the moment of a great sports victory happiness is at its zenith.  For one triumphant, exhilarating, moment the winner is the victor, happiness rolls over the winning team like a Jacuzzi set on typhoon mode.  Nothing could feel better. For a few hours.  For, perhaps, a day.  But that adrenaline-soaked happiness is almost immediately infected with "what if" viruses.  "What if this is the only triumph I ever get?"  "What if we lose big next year."  "What if I can never again play as well as I played today?"  Every athlete knows that the happiness of victory is the most momentary, the most fleeting, the most unrepeatable moment in their lives.

Joy refuses to be squelched, submersed, or sublimated.  Joy isn't dependent upon personal strength, personal ability, or personal achievement. Joy is rooted in God, nourished by faith, sustained by grace.  Happiness can be a solitary emotion.  Rejoicing is a community enterprise.  You can be happy by yourself.  You rejoice with others.

With my recent illness (which is still a mystery) I am happy that I seem to be on the mend.  BUTT I rejoice with all of you who shared your concern, love, thoughts and good vibes with me.  This community we call Blogville is how the Church should be, where we are invited to rejoice together.  Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstance.  Paul said that, you might have expected Paul to put prayer first: 'the Church is the people who pray together'; but he does not.  It's joy that comes first.  And, whether or not this occurred to Paul, it's profoundly important.  Unless we're filled with joy we cannot pray.  Happiness is from the world.  Joy is from Christ.  In fact, joy is Christ.

There was a cup on eBay that people were bidding on.  Here was the item description that inspired the intense bidding: A FINE EARLY LUSTER CHILD'S CUP WITH RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT; PRINTED IN BLACK WITH A PINK LUSTER TRIM, probably Staffordshire or N. East England (Sunderland), circa 1820.  It was probably given originally to a child, perhaps as a Sunday School prize or as a reward for scriptural achievement.

Here's the message printed on the Sunday School cup.  “Let others worship glittering dust.  And boast of earthly toys.  Christ is my rock, my hope my trust and spring of all my joys!" Could the hunger for this go-for-the-true-gold message be why the bidding on this gold trimmed cup went to $252.50?

I’ll say it again: Happiness is by chance.  Joy is by command.  Happiness is a choice.  Joy is a commitment. Happiness evaporates.  Joy endures.  Happiness is rooted in human emotions.  Joy is rooted in God's grace.  Happiness is a happenstance.  Joy is a commission. 

 

 

Thank you again my friends for being a part of the joy that fills me and MOM’s heart, during happy times and hard times.

Blessings,

Goose

THANK YOU

HELLO FRIENDS!!!

I am back!  It sure was a ruff go of it.  Butt I am feeling much better.

 

I am home now.  And I could not be happier.  My MOM is beyond happy.  She just keeps looking at me, and petting me, and hugging me and kissing me.

 

While I am home now there are still questions.  They are not sure what the cause of my internal bleeding.  They did rule out toxins like rat poisons, pills, chemicals.  And I did not eat anything I was not suppose to like a sock, or stuffie, or turtle shell, or a bumper. 

 

I apparently have lost a drastic amount of weight; 4 pounds in 3 days and a total of 12 pounds in 2 months.  That apparently is cause for concern for my wonderful doctor, Dr. Eddie.  Did I mention he is the best?  He is.  I am so grateful to the peeps at Brookside Animal Hospital, they were great.  Butt it is good to have my paws in the hands of my very own wonderful vet, Dr. Eddie.  I have a ways to go to full recovery and more test have been done, and I may have to go to some specialist in Salt Lake City to do an abdomen super sonic sonar star trek like scan.

 

I can not thank you enough friends for all your prayers, thoughts, good vibes for me and for my MOM.  I am going to tell you something that brought my MOM to her knees.  I mean literally to her knees. When she picked me up at the hospital and those peeps there finished going over stuff and explaining things and giving her the meds I now have to take (for awhile), MOM handed them her green paper card to finish paying for my treatment and stay in the hospital.  MOM had to leave a BIG deposit when she left me there.  I guess they wanted to insure that she would return for me (as if she would ever leave me there).  The lady person just looked at my MOM and said "The remainder of your bill has been taken care of."  "WHAT?" my MOM said.  Then MOM asked "Who".  But the lady said that those responsible wanted to remain anonymous.  It was at that point that my MOM walked over to the bench and she just broke down crying.  Friends there is something you need to know about my MOM.  She is NOT a crier.  Nope she is not.  This is for many reasons.  Butt my point is this, you my beautifully wonderful friends, and your generosity, selflessness, love and concern for me, and your desire to help my MOM and me brought this woman, my MOM, to tears and to her knees.  (Through some detective work we figured out that many of you are responsible.)  No words will EVER express how grateful and overwhelmed with joy we are at the many many ways you have loved us through this.  And while there is an unknown and maybe bumping road still ahead of us, your kindness, prayers, thoughts will get us through whatever lies ahead.  Blessings upon blessings to you my beautiful friends.

 

 

With Love,
Goose and my MOM

 

Goose Update

Hello Gooses Friends.

I know that some of you know that Goose is very sick.  I thought I would give you an update on him.

On Friday when I picked him up from Bert's place Bert's Vicki told me that in the afternoon he had thrown up his breakfast and it had grass in it and then later on when he went to poop there was blood.  Of course when I picked him up he was happy to see me, but not quiet himself.  I called his doctor but Dr. Eddie had went out of town for the holiday.  The vet tech talked to me and recommended some things for me to do.  When we got home Goose tried to be himself but just could not get it together. 

For the most part he was in and out of the house, eventually mostly staying outside.  Most of you know that Goose does not like to be in the rain.  Friday evening and Saturday morning it rained off and on and Goose would just lay outside in the grass even while it rained.

In the morning he was not better and since our vet was out of town Bert's Vicki suggest a place to go, Brookside Animal Hospital.  I took him there right away and they were very kind and took him right in.  After hours and hours of test and prodding, test results and all that it was decided that Goose would stay at the Animal Hospital until Tuesday when we will see how he is doing and where to go from there.  He is bleeding internally and the blood is coming out his pooper shooter.  Vickie said I should spare you the photo of the exam room, but trust me it was terrible. 

I have every confidence that he will get better, at least that is what I hope for and he will return to his quality of life that we both enjoy together.  It's just hard to see him this way and it's hard to not have him with me.  But like Gooses tag says in the last photo I took of him (above) at the hospital, we have seen beautiful.  Beautiful in the care of the staff at the Animal Hospital, beautiful in a great friend (Vickie) who came to the hospital to offer comfort for both of us, beautiful in all of you who have emailed, Facebooked and called us, and beautiful in my boy who through all this has done nothing but shown concern for me.  And I know that we will see beautiful again when this is all over.

Thank you all so very very much.  Your thoughts, prayers and good vibes mean more than we can say.
Blessings,
Michelle

Goose vs. The Rattlesnakes

Hello Friends.

You read the title right.  It was me against 3 rattlesnakes. 

Don't get to alarmed I can explain.  If you have read my blog for any amount of time you know that me and my MOM do a lot of hiking, camping, and backpacking.  That means there is the danger of coming across a rattlesnake.  My MOM has already taken the step of getting me a snake shot each year.  Butt that only means that if I do get bit by a rattlesnake she only has extra time to get me medical attention, and while that is good, let's face it, we are often very far away for that medical attention.  Then MOM heard about this guy who teaches dogs to avoid snakes.  So she signed us up for the class months ago.

 

This is Wes, he is the snake teacher guy.  He was super nice and he had a real cool dog that you will see later.  If you would like to learn more about him and his work you can click HERE.

 

My buddy Bert was there too.  I know sometimes Bert gets teased about being a "Dumb Blond" (I don't like that very much).  Butt I am here to tell you my friend Bert is very smart!  In that photo above it is like he knows what is coming and he is closing his eyes to wish it away.

 

MOM and I listened to Wes talk to us about how important it is for us doggies to avoid those sneaky snakes.  He talked about what to expect from the snakes and how we would react.  Dogs react in different ways and with five us dogs in the class we saw each dog react differently and Wes nailed it. 

 

After Wes talked to us it was time to get to work.  Do you see my buddy Bert up there?  See friends Bert knows that this is something he wants no part of.  Sure he was a bit curious but he stayed behind Wes, like he KNOWS this is a creature you DO NOT want to be friends with. 

 

This is how I responded.  While Bert was cautious, I LUNGED forward to get the sneaky snake.

 

Oh I just had to have the rattlesnake.  Wes had a firm grip on the rope attached to my collar.  Also you may notice that I seem to have two collars on.  One is mine and the other has a shocker thing on it that in the training will be used later to simulate what it feels like to be bit by a snake.  In the video you will see this.  You will also notice that Wes started me on the lowest setting and it had no affect on me, neither did the next level or the next.  Butt finally I did feel it.

 

Here's Bert and his Vickie.  They are taking a walk (with a rattlesnake placed in the grass, Miss Vickie knows where it is).  Bert sees, butt most importantly he smells the snake up ahead.  Know what he did next?

My smart friend bolted away like a FLASH!  So fast that MOM's camera could not get a clear shot of Bert.

 

This is me still trying to figure out how to get that thing.

 

So now it is video time (Thank you Miss Vickie for taking the video).  Before you watch the video I would like to point a few things out to you.  This video is a culmination of several spliced together.  Miss Vickie says that my MOM is more entertaining to watch.  MOM was worried about me and it shows.  She loves me what can I say.  You may notice that I stepped on the snakes head and dislocated it's jaw.  We took a break while Wes got some tools and fixed his snake.  Yep he fixed him, that's just nutty.  Yes the sound you hear is the rattle on the snake not a sprinkler.  Also notice how strong I am, Wes has to wrap the rope around his waist because I was pulling so hard.  I maybe over 14 years old but I could pull a horse out of a sink hole.  That Golden Lab in the background is Wes' dog.  She is barking at me to warn me not to get near the snake.  Notice my buddy Bert wants to jump into my MOM's arms.  ahhahha  Let's get to the video.

 

  

What did you think?  Let me say even though it was scary (mostly for my MOM) and it was a four hour class it was TOTALLY worth it.  Some have asked if I will need to repeat the class next year.  The answer to that is NO.  See we doggies are very smart.  The sent of the snake is in my head FOREVER and when I smell that smell I will know to not go near it.  Sight and sound are good warnings butt scent is the best.  I may not see a snake or even hear it, butt I WILL smell it.  That little shock Wes gave me let me know what it would be like to be bit by a snake.  Plus those sneaky snakes struck at me as well.  To put your minds at ease these rattlesnakes had their venom tubs removed.  They still had fangs put the venom was not there.  So did I pass the class?

 

 

YES I DID!  In fact I made the most dramatic improvement.  From "I want to get the snake" to what you see in the photo above.  MOM was suppose to take me for a walk.  There is a rattlesnake about another 20 or 25 feet behind my MOM.  We started walking towards the snake (it was in the grass could not see it).  I took ONE step with my MOM and then I stopped and would not go any further.  No matter what my MOM did, call me, pull the rope.  Nope, not going to go in that direction!!  My MOM would also like to point out that this makes hiking for her safer.  When she sees me react in my "snake alert" way she knows to be cautious because a snake is in the area.  I highly recommend a class like this if you live in an area that rattlesnakes are around, you would benefit from this training.

 

Blessings,

Goose

 

PeeSSSS-  Just so you know I am NOT afraid of my green Sneaky Snake at home.

Up Close

Hello Friends.

Just one more day and I will be able to tell you the whole story of "Goose vs. The Rattlesnakes".  Until then here is another sneak peak.

Blessings,
Goose

A Preview

Hello Friends.

I did something Monday you are not going to believe.

 

I'll tell you more about this in a day or two.

Blessings,
Goose

 

For a Good Cause

Hello Friends.

You might be wondering why I look so sad.  Well..... See my MOM had to leave me this weekend.  And when that happens I grab my blankie, put it in my mouth and hold it with my paws.  I just like to be with her all the time, and I know she is going to have a super time with her kids at our church.  I do realize this is for a very good cause.  See they go without food for 40 hours to raise money and awareness about hunger.  The kids also go without their electronic thingys for those 40 hours as well.  (MOM gets to use hers, something about incase of emergency.  Like posting this blog for Sunday.)

This year they also made shelters of cardboard boxes to sleep in at night.  It may be May but it still gets in the 30's at night.  So the kids are hungry, cold, and without a phone.  And you know what?  They love every minute of it.  They are making the world a more beautiful place my making sacrifices to help others.

And I think that is wonderful.  Butt I would still like to be in that box with my MOM keeping her warm and safe.

Blessings,
Goose

Bubble Goose

Hello Friends.

I know we have been MIA the last several days.  It's been crazy busy around here.  And it still is.  MOM has been working and working.  Did I mention she has been working?  And she has been preparing for a BIG weekend with her kids.  You see every year MOM and her kids go without food for 40 hour to raise money and awareness about hunger.  It's crazy I tell you, no food for 40 hours,!  Plus she has her kids go without electronics for those 40 hours as well.  I think they feel the pain of that more than the hunger pains.  I will be staying with my buddy Bert while they go hungry. 

OH by the way, yesterday my buddy Bert turned 6 years old.  Happy Birthday Bert.  I sure am blessed that we are friends.

 

Anyway, even though MOM is busy she always has time for me and last night she broke out the bubble gun and oh did I have some fun fun fun.  Here take a look.

I'm singing the bubble song.

This is rarely seen on film.  3 bubble in one swoop.

I got my eye on you bubble.

Oh my goodness I am about to get rained on by bubbles.

Notice my focus.  You must keep your eye on the bubble.

I am getting a bit dizzy spinning around to get all the bubbles.

Hey Easy my brother this one is for you.  When you gobble up so many bubbles you have to fart them out.  hahahhaha

Did I mention I love bubbles?

Waiting......

Waiting.......

Got em'!

Look I'm flying.  How cool would it be if I had my cape on?

Focus.... Focus.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  Got em'!

Now wasn't that fun friends? 

Blessings,
Goose