Dog Days of March

Yesterday, to my annoyance, I remembered early in the day that I hadn't washed the kids' bedding in awhile. This made me think that I didn't want to wash Jordan's without washing the dog too. God must have placed that thought there to prepare me so I wouldn't me so annoyed later.After putting Emily down for a nap, a little later than usual because we had alot of errands yesterday morning, I felt the urgency to get settled down to rest before I pick up the kids from school. I then realized Sasha had been really agitated for awhile but I hadn't really paid attention while Emily was up. She'd been coming in and out of the back yard over and over and I realized finally that she was covered in mud. She'd been digging under the shed. The last time she did that, she came out with a rabbit for a late evening snack. So I was thankful that I'd already thought about needing to wash her since I was sacrificing my downtime to do it. It made it less annoying anyway. I block the doggie door to keep her from getting back out unsuperfised, but she is determined and manages to get out again so I lock her up. I let her out when the kids came home because they were going to play in the back yard and could supervise her. So they played (mostly because I was trying to get them to leave me alone for a minute because the whole 'It is finished" thing came to me while waiting at parent pickup and I was feeling and urgency to get it written down) And suddenly they come in with excited voices saying there's a dog in our house and it's not our dog. I come out to find a frightened little pomeranian with branches from my rose bush (which I throw over the fence when I prune) tangled in her fur. She must have gotten in through the missing picket in our fence facing the greenbelt area and come to hide under our shed, probably during the hail dounpour we had yesterday morning. Abby was the only one of the kids not afraid of a strange dog being in our house and she held her while I cut all the stuff out of her fur. Smelling her, I realized she must have felt trapped under there and been living near where she went to the bathroom, so I gave her a bath. I then called Bethany for tips on how to handle drying and brushing the impossible coat of a pomeranian (she used to have one)Very soon after I got her dry, Nick comes home from an incredibly bad day at work, so I felt it necessary to make sure the dog calmed down so Sasha would stop barking at her so I ordered Jordan to stop playing his xbox and walk the little fluffball. So he goes out and happens to pass a fellow putting up signs for the very same dog. She had been missing since Saturday and they were about to leave on vacation and were so worried about leaving while she was still lost. I talked to him and he showed us that he lived on our street about 10 houses down and that we could come and see her anytime (we'd all become attached). I've been praying for connections with our neighbors. Many came through Audrey's death, but now I have one more name to pray for on my block.