Great comment from a donor today

Today we were blessed with a generous donation from someone today that shared this:

Happy Holidays! I'm a friend of S's, and when I heard about Marlee and read your lovely blog about finding and rescuing her, I knew I had to make a donation. I commend you on your determination to help a pet that hasn't been so fortunate in the past, and I am happy to be able to help in some small way. I have three kids, now teens, and when we finally got a house of our own, we got a rescue dog. She's a Jack Russell named Gracie, and we can't remember what life was like before she was part of our family. Sometimes the best things happen when you open your heart to the possibilities.

Blessings to you and your entire family, including Marlee.

I really love what she said about the best things happening when we open our heart to possibilities. When we decided to keep Marlee we could see she was going to need a lot of TLC, but we had no idea how much trouble she was in with her health or how expensive caring for her would get. Even after learning the deeper issues for her, we felt like Marlee is a valuable soul, and we wanted to commit to her for life. As the financial side of that decision got increasingly difficult, it was sort of an epiphany to me when I thought, "Hey...I could ask for help."

I tend to be a very do-it-yourself kind of person. Asking for and receiving help isn't my first instinct. I'd much rather be helping you than asking you to help me! 9 years ago I was on bed rest with a high-risk pregnancy and had to have friends and loved ones helping with meals, childcare, cleaning the bathrooms, and laundry. It was a really humbling experience, but a good one, because it forced me to learn how to let people know that I needed help, and to humbly receive it. As you probably know, if you've ever been able to help someone else, it is also a blessing to be able to do something for someone else. So many people who came to help at that time in my life said, "Hey---lots of people have helped me out along the way, and it's a joy to be able to pay it forward."

In this situation with Marlee, it's uncomfortable to not be able to just pay for all of this ourselves. However, it's good to be reminded that people (and animals!) need each other. It's good to go ahead and admit we have a need, and to see how excited some people are getting when they are able to help us. Regardless of the amount of type of donation, the point is that people are deciding to get involved, and being able to experience the joy of being a blessing. It's been really, really neat to be able to write back to those that have so generously helped us, and to share a cyber hug. Several people have told us about their own rescue pets and how much of a positive impact those pets have had on their family. I know that we are getting some valuable life lessons from sharing our life and home with Marlee. On days when she has accidentally peed in the house or wakes me up at 2am to go out *again* I can sometimes be tempted to feel a little grumpy about it. But then I think of the wonderful people that have come alongside us to love and care for Marlee, and it gives me a boost. I remember that I'm not in this alone.

Thank you!

My Kids Thank Our Generous Donors

My Husband Talks About Marlee

An Encouraging Blessing Today

I was out and about with five of the kids for most of the day. First we did our usual work shift at the local emergency food pantry, and then we went on a trek to meet a family that I know from the internet! :) After a fun day and lots of driving, I got home to a generous donation for Marlee from a sweet woman named Susan. And to top it all off, she wants to knit Marlee a sweater! How cool is that?!

I have met some awesome people thanks to this site. What an encouragement! With this latest increase in Marlee's medication I have been wondering how the money was going to work out. Double or quadruple some meds, plus throw in winter needs for the doggie, and Christmas for six kids, and things start to look rather...interesting!

Thankfully, we created a straw bale dog shelter for Marlee for the times when she is outside. It only cost $15 in straw, plus materials we already had here at home. Marlee really, really hates to go into her crate or any other small places, so I didn't think she would be willing to use a dog house outside. The straw bale house idea was something I came up with, thinking the straw would probably be warmer insulation than a plastic dog igloo or whatever, we could make it bigger than a regular dog house (which might mean she'd be more comfortable going into it since she seems to really fear small spaces), and in the spring we can use the straw in our garden.

We don't leave Marlee out a lot, but since she has some bladder control issues, if we are going to have to be away from the house for a few hours, we usually leave her outside. She needs a place to get out of the rain and wind, and now she's got it. She still prefers not to go into it, but has shown that she is willing to if necessary. Fortunately, we're home almost all of the time, so it isn't much that she has to be out, but now I feel a lot better that she has her straw shelter available. Marlee has two buddies--cats from next door that love her and come hang out with her every day. The cats are very impressed with the straw (I even created a little niche in the back corner so they could stay cozy in there and still get to hang out with Marlee in the winter) and have already been enjoying the new pet hangout.

Our next project will be the ramp. My husband thinks he is just going to make a ramp for all of us to use, since there doesn't seem to be a good way to make a ramp that is just for the dog. She really struggles with going down the three deck stairs, and I'm sure once it gets even slightly slippery she won't be able to safely do it at all. So....my handyman husband will be hard at work figuring out a solution to this! If you have any suggestions, let us know. We're open to ideas. :)

Marlee Update Nov. 13

This month I took Marlee for some more lab work to see if her thyroid medication is doing the trick. Poor girl--her thyroid levels are still way low, so for this month we are going to double the medication and see if that helps. However, the vet said that for as low as her levels are, he suspects that we will have to quadruple the original dosage. Which means,of course, quadrupling the cost of that particular medication.

Oh..and did I mention that we will have to do lab work again at the end of this month to figure this out?

Sigh....

This is an expensive undertaking so any help we can get is sure appreciated. However, we're happy to see Marlee all filled out and doing well.

Our next challenge is that we need to build some sort of handicap ramp for Marlee to get off our deck this winter. once the steps get slippery she will be totally unable to get herself into the yard. (it's only 3 steps, but she is really nervous about it and a lot of times we just lift her down to the ground)

We also need to get a dog house of some sort for her. She isn't able to control her bladder very well all the time, so we can't leave her alone in the house for longer periods of time when we have to be gone. So she is going to need a cozy shelter out there. Thankfully, KY winters aren't generally severe, but they are quite rainy. Marlee really hates to go into small spaces. She still resists going into her crate (though we continue to use it and encourage her to get more comfortable with it). I have my doubts that she would even use a dog house if he got her one. I am seriously wondering if it would work better for her if we made a straw bale dog house for her. I'm thinking it would be more cozy, we could change the size of it if we needed to, and in the spring we could use the straw in the garden. Sort of a thrifty, earth-friendly, clutter-free doggie habitat. What do you think?

Lastly, I want to thank Michele, who was kind enough to send me some coupons for free dog food and several dollars off dog food. I am happy to receive coupons for dog products, so if that is a way you want to help out, just let me know! :)

Thanks for your kind support.

Til next time
Erica