The First... or Last???

Of 4 new posts, that is. If you're interested (or really, really bored), I put all of my news into four long, drawn-out posts instead of one painfully long, drawn-out post. :-)

We bought a 7.5 lb. brisket for $8 today and I decided to cook it tonight. It's in the oven for 20 minutes right now to heat through, then I'll turn the temp way down and go to bed. Until then I thought I'd slap one more little post up here (since I probably won't have a chance for the next few days--it's Regional paper time) while I'm waiting.

I told my Mom I'd post a picture of Hershey's grave. I know it seems weird, but she asked to see it, so...

Have I mentioned how much I've learned about my kids since losing Hershey??? Well, I'm still learning! Katie has been FINE since the day after it happened. Like I said, she feels things very deeply, but she also recovers quickly. In cases like this, I take it as the blessing that it is. Joe was absolutely devastated--cried uncontrollably for the first few days, at the drop of a hat. Sam seemed more "untouched" and only broke down and cried a few times. He seemed that way... but he's the one who sobbed just a few days ago out of the blue--days after the other kids have been fine. And again tonight...

I had been playing the piano for a while (just found my chorus book with all the chords in it! Wa-Hoo!) and noticed that Sam had been sitting at the table real quiet for a long time. I went over and asked what he was doing. "Drawing Hershey's life," he said.

That's a tree at the top right, with Hershey's "rope" tied to it. (What we used to use to tie him out with when we were traveling and somebody didn't have a fenced yard.) On the top left, under the rope are his dog dishes. Below that is Hershey's leash. On the bottom left is "Hershey's favorite spot": the fireplace, on the right is his toy duck, and in the center is his grave.

And, of course, Hershey Dog. (Don't know what happened to his fourth leg, but he got the curls down!)



Sam seemed fine until he began explaining what everything was, then he got lost in another of those crying episodes where he chokes up and can't speak. !!! He is so different from the other kids--and I'm so thankful to be learning more about him and his nature. Sometimes he seems so aloof (emotionally) and I wonder if he really cares about certain things. But I'm learning so much more about his little heart through all of this. Losing Hershey is just as hard on him as it is any of the rest of us; he just deals with it differently. He never cried buckets for days on end, but he has these unexpected gushes of emotion. Tonight he really opened up and tried to talk about it and tell me how much he loved Hershey and how sad he is that he's gone. It broke my heart, yet it feels so right. That somehow God is teaching our family so many things through this. For that I am so grateful. I have such special kids. I still miss my dog (!!!), but I'm thankful that God is using this to work in our family. All things work together for good somehow, right?

Okay, I just turned the brisket down, so I can go to bed now. I'll post more in a few days--and hopefully make the rounds to everybody else's blogs! (Maybe I'll even sneak in a few of those while I'm supposed to be working on the paper...) ;-)