Tuesday, September 25, 2012

National Dog Week

It's national dog week this week, so I thought that I would provide you a list of 10 famous, real-life dogs.
1.) The dog in the Taco Bell commercials is actually a female chihuahua named Gidget. She also played Bruise's mom in Legally Blonde 2.
2.) The first dog in space was Laika. She was sent into space on Sputnik 2. She is credited as the first animal to enter or bit. Unfortunately, as there was no provision made to return her to earth, she was also the first animal to die in space.
3.) The first canine movie star was named Blair. She appeared in the movie "Rescued by Rover" in 1905. The movie was about an infant kidnapped by an old beggar woman who was returned home by the faithful dog Rover. Prior to this film, Rover was an uncommon name for a dog.
4.) The first cloned dog was an Afghan hound named Snuppy.
5.) The golden retriever in Bush's Baked Beans commercial is played by Paddington.
6.) Balto and Togo where the lead dogs in the 1925 serum run to Nome. Balto, ran the last leg and is there for the most famous. Togo ran the first and most treacherous leg which also was twice the distance. The Iditarod Dog sled race is run as a commemoration of the 1925 serum run.
7.) The Jack Russell Terrier who played wishbone on television wqs named Soccer.
8.) In 1940,Robot, a dog owned by a boy named Simon, discovered cave paintings in Lascaux.
9.) Toto from The Wizard of Oz was played by Terry the Cairn Terrier.
10.) This last dog may or may not be real. I found 2 versions of the story, one occurring in Wales and the other in France. In Wales the dogs name wasthe Gelert and he belonged to a king. In France, he was namedBlair Guinefort, and belonged to a knight. In each story an infant child was left alone with the dog. At the end of the day the cradle was overturned the infant was nowhere to be found there was blood on the mouth of the dog. The dogs owner killed the dog, thinking he had eaten baby, only to hear the baby cry turn over the cradle and find a child alive. In Wales, the king found a dead wolf, in France the night found a dead snake. In both cases, the animal had been killed by the dog in protection of the infant. The story in France, ends with the dog being given sainthood.

Monday, September 17, 2012

I LOVE Fall

Now that we have attended the county fair to watch a demolition derby, and spent the following weekend praying Larch shoots an elk, I have time to blog again. That's just one perk of cooler weather. In honor of the first day off Autumn (it's on Saturday), here are my ten favorite things about Fall. (In no particular order)

1.) It's cooler out, but it's not cold yet. I love summer, but after a month or so of so-hot-that-I-can't-breathe weather, it's nice to need long-sleeves in the morning.

2.) With colder weather comes the ability to turn on my oven. Not that I couldn't turn it on in the summer, it was just so darn hot. So far, I've made 2 batches of pumpkin cookies. Up next : pumpkin bread and apple cinnamon bread.

3.) The many colored leaves of autumn are so beautiful. And when they fall on the ground they're super fun to play in.

4.) HALLOWEEN. I'll be honest, I like candy. But I LOVE dressing up. This year, I am thinking of making my own Red Riding Hood costume. Wish me luck.

5.) Pumpkin spiced lattes!

6.) All my favorite shows come back to television. I watched the season premier of Bones on FOX last night, and next week Castle returns to ABC.

7.) My favorite kind of apples, honeycrisps, will be affordable again.

8.) Sweaters and jeans help hide the extra pounds way better than swimsuits and shorts.
9.) Hunting season begins. Okay, I don't really enjoy being a hunting widow, but it will (hopefully) put meat in the freezer. Also, it makes Larch Happy and a happy man means a happy wife ;)

10.) It is actually dark outside when I put my kids to bed! No more, "I can't sleep, it's still sunshiney."

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Having BPD and Professing Faith is HARD!

I decided to Google "Christian BPD" in a search for resources and fellowship with other people who are living with BPD while professing to be Christians. All but two of the hits on the first page of results were wacked out, condemning bullshit.

One site claimed that my whole diagnoses was just an excuse for sin and that if I truly repented I would be cured. HA! The author wrote that my mood swings are "an obvious result of never applying discipline." Like I choose to be so angry I want to (and sometimes do) scream at my kids in a way they cannot understand or really cope with at 2 and 5. The author believes my inability is control the intensity of my emotions is a choice. If it were a choice, I would not be living like this. The author of this site called BPDs "self-indulgent and selfish," and I am sure we appear that way to outsiders and possibly even our family.

Website like this are dangerous. If I did not respect our right to free speech in America I would want these sites taken down. Ok, I do want them taken down, but I know we have the right to say and believe what we want in this county. However, there was nothing helpful, only hurtful. If I didn't know that the Bible proclaims grace and love I would either want to hurt myself or hate God.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds." "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." These are things I have been taught my whole life. These are things I say I believe when I claim to believe the whole Bible. These are things that are hard to reconcile with my BPD, without someone telling me I'm not really sick, I'm just sinful. I AM sinful, but I am also broken.

I guess, for now, I will continue to wrestle with the idea that God made me they way I am intentionally, on my own. I will continue to cry out in the midst of my suffering, knowing that the testing of my faith produces perseverance (the Lord does know that a BPD need perseverance to learn to live with a disorder that so disrupts our lives), even if I can't find a reason to be joyfully when I am so overwhelmed that I lash out at my loved ones, or hide in a corner at a party because I just can't get beyond the walls of my own emptiness. I do know and believe there is a purpose to what God does and what he asks us to endure. And He does not ask me to endure this alone. Not only has he blessed me with a family who supports and cares for me, he has given me possibly the only man other than my father, who loves me enough, and has enough patience to bear with me through this. And more importantly, God, himself, has promised to be with me and to never leave me. So I will cling to the knowledge that I am not alone, and I work through my doubts and my sorrows.