Recovering with a Dose of Honey

I'm sitting in bed today with my laptop, sick with a fever and flu with a respiratory component that prompted the doctor to prescribe the same inhaler used for swine flu. So it's not a pretty picture. The one positive aspect is having Honey cuddled up next to me. She's the puppy we rescued on the Saturday before Easter. (Actually, I had wanted to name her Easter, but my husband Andy and son J.D. vetoed the name -- even though Sheryl Crow used it in a song.)

We weren't sure what kind of dog she was when J.D. brought her home from the streets of Phoenix, where he found her hiding by a busy road, injured, sick and dirty. The Phoenix animal control wouldn't take the dog that day -- and the Humane Society here was closed on Easter Sunday. I decided to house train Honey, in case we decided to keep her. Even if we didn't, it would have made her a much more appealing dog for adoption. The training took five days. After a week of checking newspaper listings and Craigslist for lost dogs, it appeared no one was looking for her.

When I took Honey for her shots and exam, Dr. Tammy Pauletto took one look at her and said, "She's got angel wings!" I hadn't noticed really, but the white markings on her back behind her front legs do resemble wings. That clinched it for me -- how could I send her away? Honey is an Australian Cattle Dog or Heeler, possibly mixed with a yellow Labrador Retriever. Unlike most Heelers, she's neither red nor blue, but completely golden yellow. She especially looks like a little angel when she's sleeping and staying out of trouble.

Having a puppy has kept me running for the past three weeks. It's like having a toddler in the house who tries to get into everything and will eat anything. We have a routine finally, and she's starting to get easier to handle. Although we never officially said "she's staying," once I had a tag made for her collar with her name and our address and phone number, it became clear that I had no intention of giving her up. Andy is still set on getting a Golden Retriever, but we did plan to have two dogs -- it's just that one landed in our lives unexpectedly, like a little gift with angel wings, watching over us as we watch over her.

Listening to God Brings a Lost Sheep Home

Nadia Bloom, an 11-year-old girl lost in the swamps of Winter Springs, Florida for four days, was found by a volunteer from her family's church early on Tuesday morning when he prayed for help from God and heard a voice that told him where to go to find her.

In the 911 call that he made to tell officials that he'd found Nadia, he broke down in tears when he said that God had led him to her.

Nadia's rescuer, James King, explained how the voice told him to head toward the rising sun -- east -- when he gave an interview on the Today Show. His story is a lesson to the world on the power of prayer. As a man who has a relationship with God, and who prays often, he was prepared to listen for His voice -- something many people don't do even when they pray. Sometimes God speaks to the faithful, and sometimes He does not, but the most important thing to know as a Christian is that you must ask for His guidance in order to receive it.

Nadia, who has a mild form of autism called Asperger's Syndrome, was barefoot and confused when she got lost in the densely wooded swamps near her home. Raised a Christian, and being familiar with scripture, she said she prayed in the swamps: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Her rescuer, too, said that he had prayed the same thing as he brought Nadia out of the swamp. Both of their prayers were answered.

Now I pray thanks to God for both of them, for their safety and for their testimony to the world of His grace and love.