Dog-gone It...

I have shared before that our family has not had much luck with pets. In almost 20 years, we have only had a couple of dogs and cats. They seem to fall sick or run away, or something. I shared in this post how my youngest son wanted a puppy and his daddy surprised him (and all of us) over the summer with this little guy:

Scooter came into our home and we decided that we would do our best to make this pet work. We trained him, loved him and made him a part of our family:

He went places with us and he thoroughly loved us!

He even became my buddy!


This was the last picture of Scooter taken:

Scooter had began to wander around the neighborhood and yesterday while we were gone, he was attacked by some neighborhood dogs and was killed. We are of course very sad and miss his presence around our home. It is a great memory to think of how a dog can bring good things into our home. Our youngest son loved to rough and tumble and chase around with him. I loved the way our older boys who are teenagers and so unemotional, would talk sweetly to the dog, and the first thing every morning would step out the door and look for Scooter.

As today is Valentine's Day where we reflect on "love", a great truth about love is that if you open up your heart, it may get hurt - period. But when we open our hearts, the blessings of love and joy certainly outweigh the risks of getting hurt. Although it would be easy to avoid risks and try to avoid pain and heartbreak, loving fully and completely fills the heart and overflows to those around you.

May God fill your heart today with His love and may you love, live and laugh to the fullest!