Who is that teeny tiny little furball?

It's hard to believe she was ever that small, my goodness! She's turning into a great little dog, but man was she cute back then!

Stepping out of the boat

A few weeks ago there was a guest speaker at church who challenged people to step out of our comfort zones in faith that God can use us in our most vulnerable times. At the end of her sermon she asked people to stand up if they wanted to take a step of faith. I debated about standing up. I like being comfortable, I don't like being vulnerable around people I don't necessarily know or trust. I know that God can use me in ways I could never imagine, but I have always been one to keep things on the safe side. In the end I stood up and told God that I would be willing, but please in small steps. I was thinking of a baby step of faith, not a leap of faith.

A day or two after this particular Sunday Jason and I got an email from Leyton asking us if we would be willing to share in a couple of weeks on serving love in the marriage sermon series that they were going to start. My first reaction was, I can't do that. I can't get up in front of 6-800 people and tell them about my marriage. I am no public speaker...

When Leyton initially started telling us about the marriage series they would be starting, I thought that would be a great thing. Six secrets to a lasting love, based on a book by Dr Gary and Barb Rosberg. When he mentioned that he would be having a couple come up each Sunday for the six weeks to share their experiences with each of the loves described, I was quite intrigued. I always enjoy when he has people come up and share their stories of how God has impacted their lives in different ways. But when he asked if we would be willing to share I sort of froze. But very quickly God changed my heart and I thought, hmmm, maybe we do have a story to tell. And maybe I am not a public speaker, but what better place to open your heart than to a group of people who are supportive, caring and nonjudgmental. Maybe this isn't such a terrible thing. So I started to consider what I might like to say.

Over the last couple of days Jason and I wrote down our thoughts. We decided to share a bit about how we met, how we serve each other, and how we continue to serve when serving isn't easy. I think we had some good things to say, but as this morning loomed I wondered if what we were saying would impact anyone. I wondered if what we were going to share sounded genuine. We didn't make any of it up, it's all true, but those were the thoughts going through my head. As we got up to speak at the first service this morning I was a little nervous, but not as bad as I thought it might be. I did alright with my presentation. I stumbled over a few words, but we got a few laughs, and I felt even more prepared in the second service. After each service we had a number of people come up to us and tell us how much our story blessed and touched them. A few said it was a very powerful story. Just makes you realize that even when you don't feel like you are the right person for the job, if God tells you to do it, He'll make it work out.

Puppy school graduate

Here are two of my fave pics that Jay got at puppy class on Wednesday. There were a few from the graduation but the angles weren't quite as good. Check out Jay's blog to see a few more pics of our little star. I am definitely looking forward to taking more obedience classes in the near future.

Last night at the graduation there were all sizes of dogs and all levels of classes there. We stopped and watched the super advanced class when we were done our graduation. It was amazing to watch this one dog obey with words and hand signals, to pick out a dumbell with his owner's scent on it out of a pile of other dumbells, jump over hurdles with hand signals and to run away and stop and stand perfectly still for examination when someone else came in and poked and prodded him. I would like that to be Kiwi in a few years. We'll see how far we want to take this, but it is a lot of fun for me and for her. She had quite the fun time playing with Chaos (Jack Russell terrier in her class) last night and it almost made me think we should get another dog for Kiwi to play with. We'll see how we handle the first year or so with one dog before we decide to get another. For now, obedience classes and off leash park will have to suffice.

I got a new credit card in the mail today. I always sort of dread getting a new one because you have to make the dreaded activation call. Then they connect you to a sales person who has a strong accent that is hard to understand who tries to sell you balance protection insurance or other things that aren't necessary if you pay your credit card bill each month. I bit the bullet and called right away to activate it, and to my delight and surprise after I selected English as my language of preference by pressing one, then entering my sixteen digit credit card number, the recording said "Your card is now activated, good bye." That was it! No sales pitch, no getting put on hold for five minutes while the sales person tried to activate your card. I so appreciated that :)

I can't believe we have already done six puppy classes! We have one more review class on Wednesday night then Thursday is graduation. If anyone is interested in coming to watch our very smart little puppy graduate, you are more than welcome. There will be food involved....and I don't just mean wieners for the puppies!

Kiwi has really come a long way with her social skills with other dogs. She was playing quite freely with dogs who were 3 or 4 times her size and even with the one puppy who is sort of cranky and doesn't know how to play so she just growls and barks at all the other dogs. I had her out to the off-leash park by us earlier this week and she just LOVED it. She wasn't too sure at first, and was a little overwhelmed by the big dogs who like to sniff and lick her, but she loves to run out there. I think we might be spending some good time there until we get our yard fenced in. One of the other puppy owners in our class commented today that Kiwi looks like a jackrabbit when she runs, and I think they are right. She is a VERY fast runner and has long back legs. Our little bunny :) We'll add that to her lengthening list of nicknames!

Kiwi's first haircut

I can't believe how different she looks. She is so skinny and small looking. And they cut her facial hair to have the schnauzer look, and I like it a lot! She looks so cute. She has been sort of tired and logey since she got home but I am sure tomorrow she will be back to her old self again.

Spring time with a dog

This was taken last week after I took Kiwi for a walk. It was the morning that it was really foggy outside and it was super wet and muddy in our area. Needless to say, she went straight into the tub.

Dinner Rush

My sister invited me to her Dinner Rush party that was last night a few weeks ago. I had never heard of Dinner Rush before this. It is a meal assembly centre. You go to their website and pick which meals you would like to make (they have a menu of about 12 meals that changes each month), then you go there and assemble them and take them home and put them in the freezer and you have premade, easily cooked dinners available to you for a fairly reasonable price. We got 10 meals for $140. Technically for $140 you get five meals, but they are in portions for 4-6 people. So for two of us we were able to split most of the meals into two meals, therefore getting 10 meals for $140. You go there and all the prep work is done. You just go to the various stations and read the easy to follow instructions to assemble the meal. Some were as simple as mixing the ingredients of a marinade/sauce for a slow cooker roast then pouring it into a Ziploc bag with the roast and sealing it up. Others were quite a bit more involved, like spinach and cheese stuffed manicotti and sausage stuffed green peppers. It took me about an hour and a half to assemble my five meals. I haven't tasted the food yet, but it all looked really good. The way that they are assembled, it allows you to add extra spices, or leave out ingredients if you don't like them. If the food is half as good as it looks, I don't think that'll be my last trip to that place. We will be trying the stuffed manicotti for supper Monday and I am looking forward to it!

Dilemma

What do you do with a dog who won't pee or poo anywhere but on snow? The snow in our front yard is 99.8% gone. What is left is full of pine needles (from our Christmas tree) and dirt/mud. Hmmm...

Someday

It will dry up outside and my floor will stay clean for more than 2 days. And we will get grass, so I won't have to give the dog a bath every time she comes in from outside. *sigh*

The star of the show

I feel like a proud parent. Last night at puppy class for the last few minutes we took out another piece of agility equipment, the A-frame and practiced taking the dogs over that. Most dogs had to be dragged up to the top point then sort of slid down the other side. After the first round Kiwi was pulling on the leash wanting to run up and over. I had to hold her back because the puppy in front of her was pretty scared of this big obstacle. When it was her turn she ran up to the top and stopped waiting for her treat, then down the other side without being prompted. I was so proud of her :)

Then she finally figured out how to play with other dogs. Up until this point it was just about sniffing other dogs then coming back to us for reassurance. She actually was romping around with a little chocolate lab last night. At one point this boy who was there with his dog and his mom ran down to the other end of the room where we have our puppy class and about five of the other dogs, Kiwi included, ran after him. It was quite adorable :) I am thoroughly enjoying puppy class, and I think it might be sad for Kiwi once it is over. I would like to continue with some more obedience and possibly some agility training for her, just so she gets a chance to be around other dogs and lots of people.

She has also lost two more teeth, and the top two that fell out have been replaced already with the start of some grown up teeth. She is up to a whopping EIGHT pounds too! She is such a great little dog. I just can't wait for it to dry up outside so she isn't wet and muddy EVERY time she comes in.

Santa FM

On the way home from work this afternoon there were two guys standing in Santa suits at the corner of 22nd and Idylwyld. If that wasn't weird enough they were both holding signs that said Ho Ho Ho Santa 93.6 FM. Of course I was curious so when the light was still red I flipped the station to 93.6FM. Do you know what I found? Christmas music....it is a station that plays Christmas music all year round. I just can't imagine who would pay for that, and who wants to listen to it all year round?? I admit it might be nice to have around CHRISTMAS time, but not now! Weird!

The power of suggestion?

I went to Staples today to buy some receipt books for work. When I was at the checkout paying, the cashier who was helping me (her name tag said she was a manager) asked me if I found everything I needed. I said that I did. Then she asked me if I needed any pens to fill out my receipts. Uh....I think if I needed pens I would have picked some up. It is Staples after all. They have a WHOLE aisle of pens. Not like I wouldn't have found them if I had needed some.....

This made me think of a couple of times that I went to the new Tim Horton's over by our place. I bought SIX donuts and they asked me if they were to have in or to go. I don't normally sit down and eat six donuts on my own, but maybe next time I will :P

Neeeeeeeerd

It is Saturday night and Jay and I decided to stay home and do our income taxes. We have been putting it off for a while already. I think that most people who get a refund tend to do theirs early, and those of us who owe, tend to put it off as long as we possibly can. I am pleasantly surprised at the small amount that I owe this year. Last year we decided to start keeping our medical receipts, which I wasn't sure would be necessary, but we entered them and it made the amount I owe drop by about $800. I learned a valuable lesson. I suppose we could have made a mistake (or Quicktax made a mistake....) and I will be getting a letter in the mail asking for me to send them their extra $800...but for now I will be happy that I only owe a fraction of that :)

My little baby is growing up

I noticed today when playing with Kiwi that she has lost two of her puppy teeth. Her front two top teeth to be precise. I thought I noticed the other day that one of her 'fangs' was loose, but it was just my imagination.

In other Kiwi news, we started puppy classes this week. I have really enjoyed them so far and I think Kiwi has too. She was very shy and scared at first (I have never seen her boogie up onto Jay's lap so quickly before), but today (second class) she was just shy for a couple of minutes then was quite into butt sniffing and other fun puppy activities.

I have heard it said before that a large percentage of puppy training and dog obedience training involves training the owners. It can be hard to be consistent, but I am glad that Jay and I are learning to be and we have really noticed a difference in Kiwi's behavior because of it.

I found myself getting a little frustrated today because we were working on 'heeling' and there seemed like there was a lot to remember (walk fast, keep the food up by your face, keep the leash loose and down by your waist, praise quickly, don't stop to treat, keep walking, etc) The first round I felt like I didn't have a clue what I was doing and Kiwi didn't really respond to anything I did. However the second round she did really well, and so did I. I remembered most of what I was supposed to be doing and it went well. Another thing we did today was getting the puppies to come to us through a tunnel. Kiwi was a little unsure at first, but she really seemed to like it after a while. I think that dog agility might be a fun activity to get into.