Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged
in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
Exodus 20:12

My son, observe the commandment of your father,
and do not forsake the teaching of your mother;
Proverbs 6:20

Happy Mother’s Day Mom!

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My wife has a lot of hair. I guess most women do, but her hair is really thick and their aren’t many products she likes to use, for one reason or another. Most of the time, the products she tries contain so many different chemicals and sulfates that her hair feels dirty again before it’s even dry.

She decided to try a sample of naked naturals to see if it made her hair feel more clean, and she was quite surprised. The first thing she noticed was the lack of harsh chemicals and sulfates, which was her biggest concern. The second thing she noticed was the fact that her hair actually felt clean and after using it for a couple of washes, her hair even feels stronger. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard her complaining about the hair that remains in her brush after doing her hair. She has not been complaining as much lately.

Using Naked Naturals has been a wonderful experience for my wife. Most of the time when you find a natural shampoo at the store, it ends up not working quite as well as you would expect, but this is not the case with Naked Naturals. She is quite happy with the results and she thinks you will be too.

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We spent the day today nursing all three kids back to good health. They have had upper respiratory infections since last Monday, and they are just now starting to sound better. We did have a nice dinner though.

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Since they were sick, we let them pick what they wanted for dinner. They chose crab legs (I wonder why they like those…), chili dogs, and potato chips. It sounded good to us, so that’s what we had. They all seem to be doing much better this evening.

I hope you had a great Easter!

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It’s almsot been three years since we had to rush our oldest son to the emergency room with a ruptured appendix. He has recovered fully since then, but I can’t help but remember the days when the living room was stacked with Medical Products that we had to use to give him his medication four times a day for two weeks.

If it wasn’t for the kind people at the Medical Equipment company, we would have had no idea what the hell we were doing, and we would not have been confident in what we had to do. They took the time to sit down with us and make sure we were comfortable with all of the equipment and medications. I will be forever grateful for everyone involved in my son’s treatment and recovery.

While we sat in the emergency room that afternoon, we had no idea that he was within hours of dying. As I followed the ambulance that carried him and his mother to Scottish Rite, all I could feel was anger. Anger at the doctor who allowed a receptionist to give medical advice. Anger at everything for what my son was going through.

As he recovered in the hospital, he had tubes coming out everywhere and there were Surgical Products all over the room. Gauze to clean incisions, tape to hold the oxygen tube to his nose, and tons of other stuff that I still have no idea what to call them. It was a traumatic period, and we’re eternally thankful he has had a full recovery.

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Even Stitches is getting in on the act. I tell ya!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, again!

Okay, so the kids get a little bit crazy on holidays!

Have a great day!

This has been a real heavy week around our house.

We did have good news when we found out that my mother-in-law does not have cancer, which was awesome news, but everything else has really sucked.

As you know from my previous post, our beloved friend Flash died two days ago. I miss him horribly, and for some reason I cannot get out of this funk that I am in.

I spent a few hours checking term life insurance policies last night. Why? I am not quite sure, but it just felt like something I should have been doing at the time.

I am not really concerned with obtaining term life insurance quotes for myself as much as I am for my wife and kids. My employer provides life insurance coverage for me, but right now I have nothing on the wife or the kids, so if anything happened to any of them, we would be screwed.

When I started looking last night, I was confused by the differences in policies and had to look up the meaning of each of them, including term life insurance. How silly is that? Sitting here tonight I know the difference, and I realized I knew before I looked last night.

Maybe this funk is lifting after all.

Just over a month ago we were saddened to learn that our devoted friend and family member, Flash, had bone cancer.

There is no more sobering word in the English language than the word cancer.

I still remember the day he picked our son out of the bunch of us. We had been looking for the “perfect” family dog for months and had decided to spare no expense in finding the perfect companion to grow up with our children. We contacted a local breeder and went to meet with her and the puppies.

When we arrived we were introduced to Flash’s mother, Pele, and his father, Banner. We got to see their temperaments in action, and we were amazed at them both.

Pele

Banner

We also learned that Banner was the son of Faera’s Future Classic, call name “Thunder”. Thunder is a champion Golden Retriever whose bloodline is well known and whose offspring have produced numerous “assistance” dogs around the country.

Thunder

Magic happened when we got to meet the puppies. Let me just say now, that if we had a bit more money at the time we would have come home with two, or maybe even three, of them. We sat on the front lawn watching the puppies play and one of them walked up to our oldest son and laid down in his lap.

The puppy was making it clear that he picked our son. We played with him a bit and moved him over to the side so we could all play with one of the other puppies, but within moments he was pushing his way back through the crowd and into our son’s lap.

The choice had been made. We paid a deposit and we waited three more weeks to bring him home. That was the day our lives changed forever.

When we arrived to pick him up, the breeder brought him out to us and he immediately ran up to our son. He remembered him, that was very clear. Because he had picked our son we decided to let him name the new addition to our family.

His name was Flash. There were two reasons for this name. One, was the lightning bolt shaped mark on his forehead, and the other was for the superhero. Hey, when you are four years old, it’s important to pay homage to your superheros.

From the moment we walked in the door, I knew this dog was hard headed. Once he got something in his mind, he wasn’t going to change it, and you knew it. He made it clear early on that he wanted to be in charge, so I spent the next few years letting him believe he was.

For nearly six years he has been a devoted friend, an energetic playmate, a trusting guard, and most of all a loving family member. He was always cheerful, he was always happy.

Flash Dance

Our vet recommended seeing a specialist who could confirm the cancer diagnosis, and let us know what the options were. As we walked out of that specialist’s office, my wife and I knew what was coming, but neither one of us wanted to face it. We drove home and reviewed our options. No matter what we decided we knew we had to do the right thing for Flash.

It turns out, he made the choice for us. Three nights ago, when I went downstairs to let the dogs in, he was nowhere to be found. It was getting dark and I had to grab my shoes and a flashlight. It took me 15 minutes to find him in the backyard. He was laying in the wooded area behind our home. It took most of his energy to get up, and he slowly limped into the house.

For the next two days he did nothing but lay in his bed by the front door. He could barely walk to go outside to do his business, and once he did he came right back in and laid on his bed.

Two weeks ago, I told Flash that he needed to let me know when it was time. I begged him to tell me when he had had enough. Yesterday, he told me. There was something in his eyes and the way he cuddled into me. There was a message there. He was telling me that he wanted to go. He made it clear that he was done.

I didn’t want him to be done. I still don’t want him to be done. I want to play ball with him. I want to take him for walks through the neighborhood. I want to feel his warmth at my feet. I promised him I would do the right thing when the time came, and I did. But right now, all I want is my friend back.

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Today was a very emotional day.

It all started at 6:30 when the alarm went off and I quickly woke up the entire family. There was never any doubt that we would all go together to take Flash to this very important appointment today.

We arrived about 20 minutes early, which was amazing seeing how the Atlanta traffic was. After completing the new patient registration form, they took us all into a small 10×15 room. I have to admire the kids for sitting there, listening to things they could not understand, keeping quiet so we could comprehend what the veterinarian was telling us.

Flash’s prognosis is not good. The deterioration in the bone is so bad that he is now at the point that just walking could cause hairline fractures and more pain. The veterinarian explained everything to us, he covered all the options. I am so glad he did.

The first thing Flash needs is an immediate amputation of his right front leg. They will have to take the shoulder and the shoulder blade too. His recovery from the amputation will be rather quick, but he will never recover from the cancer.

The veterinarian explained that there is no doubt the cancer has spread and Flash has at best 6 months to 1 year left with us. He discussed the options for chemotherapy, but even with the treatment that shows the best results, the most Flash gains is an additional 6 months to 1 year.

We will never know what Flash is thinking, or what he wants. I do know that if it were me, I would choose the quality of life over the quantity. It just seems more logical to me to allow him to live as a happy 3 legged dog for 6 months to a year, rather than have him laying around listless, drooling, in a heap of fur on the floor, too sick to notice whether or not we were even in the room.

So for now, we are planning on the amputation. He has pain pills to get him through til we can get that done in the next week or so, and after that is done, we will take it from there.