Weekend wrap -up

Mark and I and the Blegers went to court on Friday (my birthday - so fun) to hear the verdict on our dog case. But before that I need to do a little filling in. And to hopefully make it even more interesting I've thrown in some pictures of our children's garage band concert from last night. They started off as the underwear band (a very common sight in our house - children running around in their undies) and ended up as the crazy love rock band (sporting their church crazy love shirts, except Jack the drummer who preferred his diaper). The final shot is the picture Mark took for their album cover...

Anyway! Last Tuesday we went to mediation with "D" (owner of the pit bulls). The judge had asked us to do mediation and try to work something out with D before we came back to court. So we met with D and the mediator and to make a verrrrrrrry long story short decided to go along with the plan that D had come up with. She volunteered, because she desperately wanted her dogs back, to: reinforce the existing fence, build a 6ft high dog run with reinforced fence, install deadbolt locks on all exterior doors with keyed access only by herself and her husband, purchase muzzles, an electric fence, and a 6ft leash for her dogs for whenever they are outside - even to pee, the dogs will be in kennels in the locked house whenever they are not home, only one person from the shelter can watch the dogs while they are on vacation, and she will write a letter to all of the neighbors outlining all of these things and if any neighbor - even once - sees any of these rules not being followed by either dog, they may call the shelter and the dogs - both of them - will be put down immediately. AND all of this had to be inspected by an animal control officer and a letter sent to the judge before the dogs could come home. Yes, we thought she was insane to do all of this for her dogs....
But we couldn't, after all of this plus, she was very remorseful and repentant and apologetic, say it wasn't good enough. Both Mark and I prayed for justice and mercy - even blogged about it HERE - and felt confident in our decision.
We prayed for the next two days - knowing that the judge could, on Friday - say whatever she wanted. She could put both dogs down, she could give them back with no rules, or any combination she thought right. The mediation was a tool but definitely NOT the final outcome. We still had to hear what the judge decided.
Friday we went in around 4 and both sides presented their cases - including our good friends. The Blegers were allowed to speak which was a relief to all involved. Mark and I did what we could from our part of this whole thing. BUT we said over and over, we don't have to live next to this woman and her dogs. We may be comfortable with our mediation decision but we still don't live next to her. There were two victims in this case and we knew that and we were so thankful the judge recognized that and allowed them to speak.

By the way, Jack is singing to Jesus in this picture, not screaming. I promise.

So the judge finally decided that D needed to find a pit bull rescue for the younger dog (a 2 yr old puppy believed to be the instigator in the case) within a month or the dog would be euthanized. The older pit (10 yrs old) could come home with the agreement that all of the rules be followed as outlined in our mediation. There wasn't enough evidence to say either way how much the older dog was involved.
We were surprised by the decision but realized afterwards that D was thinking about getting two more dogs (again we don't understand that...) if her dogs were put down. So we were thankful that there were rules put into place to prevent even new dogs from getting out. In the end we believe there was justice and mercy and we will continue to pray for D and we'll continue to pray for protection for all the neighbors. *sigh* Just glad that this part is over for the most part.

After court Mark and I went downtown to people watch since we already had a babysitter. Might as well get our money's worth right? Later on we met up with the Blegers at a fabulous mexican restaurant to celebrate the end of this challenging season in our lives as well as my birthday. We were able to relax and have a good time and I was so thankful to God for all of our answered prayers.

Thankful Thursday

Back again. I love having a reason to sit down and think about all I have to be thankful for. I think I need a thankful Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.....I promise not to blog it :)

This week has been emotionally exhausting, draining and challenging. We've had Dr appointments (to possibly diagnose and treat Kate - more to come on that) and a mediation appointment to try and agree on an outcome with the owner of the pit bulls. Kate had not had a melt down in a week but yesterday had 3. Yesterday we also were just dealing with the emotions of a possible end to the case with Ranger. Nothing will be absolutely decided until tomorrow at 4 when the judge gives her ruling. Until then we just wait and pray that God - Who is always in control - will work all things for His glory. Not mine. Not Mark's. Not the dogs owners. Not anyone. Just His glory.

A quick update on Kate. A few of you have sent some very encouraging words and I am very thankful for them. Not knowing what it is and how to deal has really been challenging but your caring, your understanding and your wisdom have blessed me a ton. And refueled me :)

3 different Drs - the allergist, her pediatrician, and a psychologist (also my mom had mentioned this same thing before any Drs were involved) - have all, independently, presented the option that she is dealing with Sensory Integration Disorder. Apparently it's difficult to diagnose properly because it is very random, there isn't usually a trigger and it isn't always the same. The only constant is that she reacts to some sort of touch issue (hot, cold, itchy, tight, crooked etc...) and will literally lose it. There is nothing that anyone can do to fix the issue or even prevent it for that matter. We've had to just wait it out and continue on with what we're doing the best we can and wait for things to be sorted out in her mind.

The psychologist is going to recommend an occupational therapist that will hopefully give Kate, and us, some tools on dealing with her surroundings and her overwhelming feelings and emotions. I'm thankful for another avenue to explore. We can't be positive that this is it but I'm pretty certain that it's a reasonable explanation and a good place to start. We will still continue to update our house in an attempt to fix any environmental triggers that may be bothering Kate's allergies. New carpet and new windows are hopefully coming in the near future.

So. There we are. A few more miles down a road that we've never traveled. An adventure really....

I am thankful for you and your encouragement and prayers

I'm thankful for my sweet daughter who is struggling with this just as much as we are. I know she doesn't want to disappoint or upset us. She just can't understand what is going on with her. I'm thankful for her wonderful beauty, inside and out. She is such a treasure and we adore her - even more so in her struggles no matter how difficult they may be.

I'm thankful for rain and sunshine. Reminders that it needs to rain in order for things to grow - including our lives and relationships.

I'm thankful for lazy mornings wrestling with our children and hearing their beautiful laughter.

I'm thankful for emotions and tears. I am learning to not be afraid of them.

I'm thankful for another day to live and to love.

Justice and Mercy

Justice: the administering of deserved punishment or reward.

Mercy: compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence

I have another blog that I have been working on. The one I promised on Monday about our vacation. Our internet was in an out all day yesterday. It was never in enough to finish the blog. So I will do it tomorrow.

Today we went to court for our dog, Ranger, so I thought I'd update you on that really quick.

Court was difficult for me. I would like to see both justice and mercy in this case. How to do that is a balance. Today was about the dog owner - I'll call her D - pleading guilty or not guilty. I guess it was never really clear whether we needed to be there or not but we went anyway and I think it was fine that we did.

We were to be there at 8:30 when they started going through cases but the ADA did not talk to us until probably 10 or so. The ADA was an old youth kid - totally a God thing. We were able to talk to him as a lawyer and a friend. It was really nice.

I shared with him that we'd like to see our vet bills paid (although at this time we aren't sure exactly what the total cost will be) and the dogs dealt with to make sure that they aren't able to harm the Blegers or anyone else for that matter. Most likely that means they will be destroyed which is sad to me but I do understand that it may be necessary. He went and met with D and then came back and said that she's plead guilty and would like to take care of our bills. She is not ready to put the dogs down - which I can understand.

We met with D and she was very emotional and remorseful (at least it seemed that way to me). I felt bad for her. We lost one dog and it was horrible. I can't imagine how it would feel to be responsible for that and then to know that it is very possible to lose both of her dogs. Yes, she was irresponsible in the owning, guarding and containing of her dogs - and I do want to see justice for that - but I do not see a need to pursue anything further with them. D deserves mercy just like anyone else. I don't like what happened but nothing else I can do will bring back our dog or reverse this whole horrible ordeal.

So as it stands now we will need to meet with a mediator and D to see if there is another solution other than destroying the dogs. At this point I'm not sure what that will be. Maybe there's something we haven't thought of but truthfully I don't know how she can guarantee that her dogs will never do this again. She didn't think they would do it this first time. But we will meet with them and see if there is another way. Then we meet with the judge on July 30th {my birthday -- happy birthday to me :) } to present our arguments then the judge will decide what will happen to the dogs.

I told D that since both sides were so emotionally involved in this that I would trust the judge to make a fair decision. We can both present our sides and then respect the judges decision. Although I sure hope that if the dogs aren't destroyed that they are moved far away from the Blegers. I can't imagine living in fear of going outside your home or letting your kids play outside. Those 2 dogs caused enough injuries to kill our 80# dog. I can't even begin to think what they could do to a child. And that is what concerns me the most and what I want justice for.

So that's where we stand. I'd rather just be done with it. The animal shelter called me today to say that Ranger's ashes and his collar were ready to be picked up. I asked Mark to go. I do not like going there for any reason really. My sisters joke with me that I'm an animal hater and I joke with them that I'm not an animal hater but a child lover - meaning I don't have the time or the emotional energy with 3 littles to give a pet tons of attention. Ranger and Obi (our cat) are definitely family members and I love them but my kids have to be my top priority so it may sound that I don't really dig animals. But truthfully I love animals and don't like to see any hurt or die. Going to the shelter has always been hard for me - even before kids - because I hated to see animals abandoned and desperate for a home. I knew I couldn't help them so it just made me cry. Now to go and have to pick up my dogs ashes was more than I could handle. Poor Mark has to do it.

Well that's the story here as it stands. I will update more when we have our mediation and then our next court appearance. And I will hopefully have more happy and funny stories from our vacation for you tomorrow!

Where do I start?

I guess I start by saying that we've been on vacation. I hate writing that we're going on vacation before we actually leave. It seems so weird to me to announce that my house will be vacant...

Anyway, we just got back from one of the most interesting and crazy vacations we've ever had I think. Think National Lampoons vacation...We had some highs - some wonderful times - and we had some lows - some real lows. I have lots of them to share but I have to start with the worst news we got while in Denver.

I haven't blogged much about our 2 1/2 year old little brown hoover we call Ranger. Truth be told he and I are not best of friends. I love the crazy little/giant dog but with 3 small children he's one more thing. But he's grown on me. Literally he went from a tiny little pound puppy to a giant 80# energetic, excitable, lovable, goofy dog.

How can you not love this face?

See?! Here he is with his little brown pound puppy. So while we were gone he was staying at our friend's house - The Blegers. These people love our dog like he was theirs. When they dog-sit for us I always ask if they're sure. He's a handful. But a lovable handful :) They always reply yes absolutely! It's nice to know he's very well taken care of while we're gone.

We got a call Wednesday night from them telling us that Ranger had been attacked by 2 pit bulls and was at the animal shelter getting worked on. From what we've been told about the whole situation, Ranger was in their fenced in yard minding his own business. The pit bulls broke down a weaker part of the fence and attacked him. Two neighbors heard the attack and came to try and rescue him. They beat off the pit bulls and called animal control.

Animal control came and took Ranger in and they treated him. I talked to the vet that night and he said Ranger was doing alright. He was torn up on his front and hind legs but didn't appear to have any internal injuries and his face was just scratched. We were relieved.

Thursday morning we talked to the vet and he said again that everything seemed to be good. He expected that Ranger could go home with the Blegers that night.

Then Thursday afternoon the vet called back and told me that Ranger had been doing better, was up walking around even, and then collapsed and had a seizure. They weren't able to save him. We were shocked to say the least. We had been thinking he was going to be fine.

The animal control officer in charge of our case called me and talked to me about pressing charges against the owners of the pit bulls. We will have to go to court sometime in the future.

This has all been so weird. As much as I would joke about Ranger, he made me feel safer. He was a great protector, a great food cleaner-upper, a very sweet and lovable dog. When we got home tonight from our trip it was strange to not be greeted by him. Tiffany wrote a very sweet blog about this today. If you have a minute you need to head over there and read it. Made me cry.

I really am going to miss him.