Squig went back to the doctor and got hydrated.  He is better.  He is the most expensive "free" dog I've ever known.  I think part of the problem is that it's been raining every day; he is afraid of rain, so he shakes for hours and it dehydrates him.    I give him anti-anxiety pills all the time when it's raining, but he still shivers and shakes and pants forever.  Terrified.  Enough rain.  The vet said that Squig is his first "Rain" dog.  Usually it's thunder or lightening.
_______________________________________________________________

There are at least three kinds of faith.

1.  Blind faith:  Someone tells you Jesus died for your sins, rose again, and if you believe in him and give him your life--all will be well.  He accepts your faith in him.  You don't have to know much about the Bible to believe in Christ.  The good thing is that your blind faith is in Him instead of Allah, Buddha, etc.  A lot of people have blind faith in the wrong thing.  Your faith must be in Christ.

2.  Emotional response:  You have knowledge about salvation, and at some point you feel as if God is speaking to you.  People need to be sure that they aren't just responding because their friends are, or that they are having a fear of hell, or they are getting caught up in crowd emotion.  Feelings aren't always reliable.  But sometimes, feelings and emotions lead us to God.

3.  Logical systematic response:  Some people have to be absolutely positive that the Bible is truth.  That what is written was recorded accurately.  That the written words are based on facts.  Sometimes it takes them awhile to reach that conclusion.  They have to have step one, step two...truth...then belief.

All three methods of accepting Christ as God, and as the penalty for your own sin, will work.  He does the saving--not you. You do the believing.  

If you know me, you know which one I am.  Which one are you?

Brady is now hooked on the same stupid show that I watch.  "My 600 pound life."   It is a study in stupidity.  People say they don't know what to do about weighing 700 or more pounds, and keep stuffing Twinkies, potato chips, Cheetos and Little Debbies in their mouths--all day long.

Brady told the TV screen, "Stop eating junk!!"  But it is fascinating to watch people do stupid stuff.  You just sit there and watch them, and shake your head in amazement.  Then you ask yourself, "Why in the world am I watching this idiotic show?"  How do you get through 12 years of public education and not get a basic understanding of calories and what they do to your body???  I don't get it.  But maybe they were absent that day.  

You know how it is going to turn out--because these people have a disconnect between what they are doing--and what the result is.  They say the weirdest things--giving their excuses for eating things they shouldn't--and why they can't stop doing it.  When they go back to the doctor after two months, they say that they are retaining water--since they have gained weight instead of losing it.  Doing the same things, expecting different results!! Little Debbie logic??

  
We need to take care of our bodies.  God lives inside!!  I think one problem is that we give our children quick stuff to eat, because we live life on the run and it is an easy solution.  Children learn to eat what you give them. You train their taste buds.  If you were born in the Orient, you would eat rice and fish every day.  And crave rice and fish.  In America we have chips and dip at every school event and at every church event.  We are hooked.  Kids learn (early) to eat things that aren't great for them.  Bad stuff tastes so good--fat and sugar.  If you leave broccoli, carrot sticks or other veggies by the hummus instead of the chips and sour cream dip, they will get used to it.

Just saying......"Know ye not that your body is the temple of God?"

Storms are coming in again.  Edmond is going to get it.  Rain, rain, rain.  And I am not "Singing' in the Rain" for sure.  We are drowning.

My garden looks pitiful.  The dirt was already there, I assumed it would be okay.  Wrong assumption.  Lousy dirt.  Pitiful results.  Okra will be okay because you can't kill okra.  It's like crab grass.  The peppers are wilting.  The tomatoes are just pitiful.  Next year.  "Hope rises eternal in the human breast."  Note to myself:  Get better dirt.

Squig has not recovered.  He is so listless that he sleeps through the storms. 
The vet said his gall bladder could be involved.  I am going to chase this down for a solution.  I'll take him back to the vet this afternoon.  He wouldn't get up this morning.  This is scary. 

Brady went home yesterday afternoon for the night.  He'll be back this morning for two more days of Bible School.  This gives him a break, but he was anxious to be sure he got to come back. Next year, I think he will be big enough to go without me to Bible School.  I can take him and pick him up and we can play in the afternoons.  I am a Bible school failure.  He is a success.

I think I've done my duty with Bible School.  This is my third year to take him and work in his room.  This year he remembers some of the kids--jumped right in and forgot that I was there.  He's ready to do it on his own.

He likes to put puzzles together and that is something I can do with him.  I hadn't put a puzzle together in years until he started to come stay with me.

I am rambling.  Next week, after I recover from Bible School, I'll do better.

Posting this week is disjointed.  Bible School is a killer.  Thank God that he gives the gift of working with children to some people--not me.  Give me teenagers anytime of the day.  I've been hanging in there.  Hanging is the operative word.

Spent another nine hours in the emergency room yesterday.  This is the seventh doctor in five days that couldn't figure out what was wrong.  But this time, I went straight to the top, to a vascular surgeon.  Ta-da!!  He brought film in, talked to me like I had a brain (When you are 81, they think you are senile and stupid and overreactive)  And the vascular surgeon figured everything out.  Showed me the CT scan, explained it to me step by step, and said to make an appointment for follow up so he could explore this anomaly further.  Yea!!!

Seems like I have a right carotid artery that is shaped like a double S snake, and when I lean my head to the right side, it kinks and blows up like a balloon.

Solution:  Don't tip my head to the right.  Hallelujah, Praise the Lord.  It isn't an aneurysm.  I don't need surgery, drugs, or therapy!  Just hold my phone to my left ear and bend left.  I can do that.  

The whole thing started when I was trying to type while talking to Carolyn.  I was holding my phone in place--between my right shoulder and my right ear so that both hands were free.  So the carotid artery kinked, my blood pressure went higher than a kite (I have low BP.)  And I got a huge bulge in my neck that was pounding like crazy.  And no one could figure out what was wrong with me.

Always start at the top of the doctor chain.  Always go to God first with your other problems.  He alone has all of the answers.  The entire drama pushed me to do some things that needed to be done.  Nothing like a good drama.

Woke up this morning at 3:30 to rain--and couldn't go back to sleep.  What we need is more rain???  I feel so sorry for the people along the Arkansas and other overflowing rivers.  This state is a disaster area right now. 

People who are flooded don't know what to do.  People who want to help them don't know what to do.  The authorities don't know what to do at this point either.  The water just keeps rising.  And most of the people don't have flood insurance because they aren't in the floodplain and didn't think they would ever need it.  It's really sad.

People are waiting for the water to go down.  It probably isn't going down for a while.  There is too much of it, and it keeps raining.

Brady and I planted potatoes the last time he was here at my house.  We dug them up yesterday, and decided to do it differently next year.  We had a dozen potatoes. None with a diameter greater than a quarter.  But we are proud of those little gems and going to slice and fry them today.

We used the wrong kind of soil.  I should have gotten Miracle Grow.

Which is Biblical.  Put the right stuff in your head, and when you need it, the right stuff will come out of your mouth.

"Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee." Psalms 119:11

"Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks."  Matthew 12:34  Dirty words in, dirty words out.  Don't fill your heart with dirty words.

Well, I survived the first day at Bible School.  It is definitely not my age group of choice.  But I managed.  Brady--my grandson--had a blast. That was the point. 

Got a new set of doctor's opinions.  The emergency room radiologist said it wasn't an aneurism.  Another radiologist that came in the next morning and checked everything again, said that it was.  My brother Bill says it's an aneurism--So I am supposedly going to see a vascular surgeon tomorrow or the next day hopefully.  It is what it is.  Even if nobody agrees.

I appreciate those of you who are praying for me.  It is a comfort.

I feel like my body is out to get me.

But when I was 32, I saw a much worse medical crisis.  I had a tumor in my heart and they gave me less than 1% chance of survival.  I went into that surgery knowing that I probably wouldn't survive.  As they were wheeling me to surgery, the person who was rolling me in said he was surprised that I was so calm.  But I had turned it all over to God.  And here I am 81 years old. That's almost fifty extra years.  

Maybe God isn't done with me yet?  God does what He wants for his big plan, and it works better for our emotional state if we are tuned into that.  The secrete to being calm is to know that you know that you know Him.

One thing it forced me to think about is that I better finish this second book I'm working on.  Not being pessimistic--just precautionary.  So I spent most of yesterday afternoon working on it.  I'm almost there.  

I'll know more after I see the vascular surgeon.  

Squig had to go back to the vet.  I couldn't take it--not knowing if he was better or not.  I told the vet that we were there to treat the mother.   He got a kick out of that.   He reassured me that this treatment for pancreatitis might take time, but was a lot more encouraging about Squig's diet than the other vet I saw.  So I will make my appointments in the future with this guy.  I really liked him. 

This is Squig's first sickness ever.  Ever. 

I was afraid Squig had lost weight, and when you weigh 12 pounds, any weight loss is significant.  But all was well.  Squig finally gave up and this morning ate some of the dry food he had been turning his nose up at.  Yea.

Maybe he will give up and eat it from now on?

At least I feel better about the whole thing.

I can't help but wonder how many vet appointments are to treat the mother.  It is hard when you can't figure out what is going on with your dog.  It would be better if they could talk.

I called my choir director and told him I couldn't come and why, and he told me to bring my dog with me.  Greatest choir director in the world.  I wouldn't do that, but thought it was lovely that he offered.

Squig didn't lose weight, but I lost two pounds in the last ten days.  Worry does that to you.  I surely have prayed for Squig.  I added him to my list of sick people I pray for.  

I think God understands.