How do you get a 90 lb dog in the house without her paws touching the floor?

The plus side to our house is that we have a lot of tile and the downside is we have a lot of tile! It's quite a bit of work to clean the floors, in fact it usually takes me about 2 hours of sweeping, mopping and then "touch-ups" on my hands and knees scrubbing the tile. I only do it once a week but it needs to be done at least 3 times a week with a toddler and big huge dog! But eh...once a week is more than enough for me. I would like to enforce paper booties in the house, but I'm not that crazy yet!

Yesterday we had some rain and our backyard can get really muddy since we don't have sod yet. Just patches of grass here and there. One of two things usually happens with regard to Lucy when it rains: she gets taken out the front door on the leash to potty or I stand by the backdoor and wipe her paws clean. Well, Lucy decided to do laps around the backyard this evening since Eric was out there working on Joss' swingset. Then Lucy found a mud pile to stick her face in AND then proceeded sit down. She was a huge MESS! And she was not going to go through any door to get into the house (as mentioned above today was floor cleaning day!) So, how did 90-pound Lucy get in the house to get cleaned up?


Look at those dirty paws and that mud-riddled face!



Haha! This cracks me up! I almost peed my pants taking the picture!!

Fireproof

Normally movies do not impact me in a way that completely knocks me off my feet. But this movie was absolutely amazing! I cried during, after and even a little the next day because of this movie. My heart was broken because of the lack of care in the covenants we make to one another and God (although I believe in some cases: unintentional). I wish I had seen it sooner, we meant to but with Joss it just didn't happen. It's been on my heart for a while to see it so we just bought it (which we never buy movies because we really don't watch too many, well not anymore).

Anyway, I was intrigued by all the buzz surrounding an uplifting movie about marriage. Really? An encouraging movie on the hardships of marriage and fighting for your partner...sounds so unhollywood.

It challenged Eric and I to think about our marriage and how easily we can lose it all if we don't guard our hearts. We are reminded to stay mindful of investing daily into each other. But as hard as we try we know that it is fruitless unless God has the center stage in our life. Through Him we are able to care for one another and love each other unconditionally (which is not so easy some days). Especially on those days when the water has been shut off because the bill was overlooked!!

I am so thankful that I have a husband like Eric who humbly takes care of me and Joss. He has taught me so much about loving someone no matter what it takes. And let's face it, anyone willing to take a mess like me deserves mad props!! He has taught me about sacrifice. That is one of the most difficult points of marriage: self-less sacrifice. I am so thankful that Jesus belongs to us and we to Him so that He can teach us to lose our lives to truly live (a concept I work on all the time, but have NOT quite mastered). But He who started a good work in US will bring it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus!

So I want to encourage anyone who hasn't seen this movie to take a moment and invest some time, it's truly inspirational! And, as mentioned above, we bought it so any of ya'll can certainly borrow it! I would love to hear your thoughts on this movie.