Rescuing the Princess

Superman, newly caped, spent the day rescuing the same maiden again and again. She seemed to need it. He was up to the challenge though: rescuing her from the work of opening her presents, getting stuck in the tree, a rabid puppy and even managed to save her from eating anything until mid afternoon due to all of the excitement.

Christmas Dog

Merry Christmas

(Click for Christmas Morning videos)

Christmas

Engaged!

Congratulations! Jonathan Sadd and Rachel Snyder are engaged! WOO HOO!

The family (on both sides plus Mateo) lay in wait while Jonathan proposed during the sunset on the banks of the ohio river. Within a day of Rachel's birthday it seemed a great plan. We surprised them, toasted their future together and spent most of the rest of the evening in hugs and praise.

We love you both and are so excited for you!

(sorry I am almost a month late in my blogging)

Taking Pictures

It's been a while since I just went out and took pictures. Thanks, Al, for the inspiration. These are just a few around Savannah.

Caged Beasts

Photoshop and the Group Picture

There is a great temptation to take the best expression/head/pose from each person in a group shot in order to create the "perfect" composite of what might have been if everyone had cooperated at the same time. But, as my dad always says, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." In this case, a bunch of pics tells a much more interesting story than a single mugging perfection. (shown here are the kids with the Sadd cousins, Joshua and Abby, in Pittsburgh)

Cousins

More Beah

I know, I know, enough is enough! Well, it's not actually because since you aren't paying customers, I post whatever I feel like! What's that? The sponsors are mad? They say we don't vary the content enough? HA!

Anyway, there are more shots of our Beah the wonder dog. Here's a shot of Noah picking her up to move onto the couch. (Yes, she is allowed on the furniture so that she can be where Noah is going to be.)

Growing 10 lbs this month means that she seems to be getting bigger by the day. But, she is completely trained to go outside to relieve herself and even to use a small, fenced in area to the side of the yard. She is almost always approaching and sitting to get attention instead of making contact...

She rode to Noah's school on his lap this morning. Noah rode with one hand on her head and the other straight up in the air to keep the sticks he was holding away from her (even though she hadn't expressed any interest.) Crated while Molly and I walked him into the school was easy and quiet. Then Molly and Beah and I went to my staff meeting at church for a good fondling.

I made an interesting discovery the other day too... Dogs aren't like cats in that they don't stay on your lap very well. They kind of leave the "not falling onto the floor" part of the deal to you instead of being perfectly ballanced at all times. That's a bit weird to me since I have never had a dog before. It's pretty darn cool, though.

Beah, Day 2

Sleep, play, stretch. Repeat with some food. Now a trip outside. It's a wonderful day.
Here's some pics of Molly playing the first tug of war (no, her sleeves are not wet fom this game).
Noah and Beah got to spend some time togeter after he came home from school. It's clear that he wants her to pay attention to him withouth his having to do much in return just yet. The cool thing is that is how it works.
Sleep went pretty well last night. One trip outside in the middle of the night. Beah hasn't figured out that she fits quite easily between the slats of the fence. Hopefully it will be just the right amount of time before she tries to get through. ;-)

Welcome Home Beah

Beah came home tonight. After a ride with Emily in the car, she started in the back yard and was introduced to us slowly from there. Once inside, all the pillows came off the couch and the children took turns gently welcoming Noah's new puppy. Throughout the evening, Noah fed her, petted her, carried her, snuggled with her and gave her his sticks to hold. More story and pics later, but it's late and dead batteries spoil the shots. Time to put Noah to bed. He's in the hallway clearly saying "Beah" over and over and over...

The Weather in Bluffton

From our local weatherman (or youth intern) Chris...


On the left side of the page you will find permanent links to both our photo and video albums. Check them out...

Meet "Green Girl"

This is "Green Girl" who, after a long search, will be joining the Sadd family in another two weeks. We spent the afternoon with Alysen and David. We got to meet their children, Zoe and Janessa, and a whole pack of dogs! Here's the whole gallery.

After spending much time looking, prodding, calling, playing and generally watching all of these beautiful animals interact with us and with each other, we narrowed the field to two: Green Girl (pictured) and Yellow Stripe Girl (they are named by collar color until they find homes).

But, one of the main things we were looking for is a dog that is very interested in Noah as well as one who fits the rest of the profile we were looking for. Green Girl is it.

In watching GG and Noah it was fascinating to see how they worked. GG would approach Noah and stop inches from his foot. She would raise one paw and look up at him as if she was about to paw his shoe, but she never made contact. And, then she would wait. When he bent down and invited a further advance, then she would move in. She was very persistent and very patient. And Noah also noticed her. He had a stick he would give to the puppies (or keep from them as was the case more often), and whenever GG was near him, he was very careful to make sure that she was the one who got it. When it was snatched by another dog, he would give chase and return it to GG.

There was one incident in particular which stands out in my memory. Noah and GG were seated in front of the dog house. She was on his lap and went up too close to his face. He calmly took both forearms and pushed her head down as he defended his face. She responded by backing off and waiting at what was clear to me was the exact distance that Noah had requested. And as they played, she never crossed that boundary again unless invited. Amazing.

So that's it. Two weeks and we get to bring this treasure home and begin the hard work. They still have one dog left if anyone wants a truly amazing animal. Now, for a name...

Friday

Friday we go up and look at all the dogs... Please pray that we are given wisdom in finding the exact one for Noah.

Lost and Found

Powerful church service this morning. Did you ever notice that both brothers in the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15) have the same problem? They both made a deal with the father. They treated family as a business relationship. The younger thought that he could be happy by taking what was his and leaving. The 0lder thought that he could make dad owe him something by staying and always obeying, but with a cold heart. In both cases, the kids didn't get the whole idea of a father's love.
Anyway, on with the post. Here's a video that we put together for the sermon this morning.

It was shot on Saturday and Wednesday by Jody Dorrell and edited by me with lots of help from Josh Bell (the guy playing the son). Thanks to Jay for the idea and vision, Jody for the gear and shooting expertise and Josh Bell and Howard and Dawn Duff for their acting skillz.

The Dog Saga Continues

Well, we are just about a month away from our new puppy... Here are some new pics and movies.

A few of you have asked what happened between the stories of Lexie and this new puppy. Sorry for the confusion, I need to read my own blog a little better, but here's the story:

Lexie is an amazing dog, but she was never going to be ours. We were greatly blessed in the time that we got to know her. But, it was pretty evident that she was not the right dog for Noah. One of the keys to a therapy or assistance dog for him is that the dog needs to be low energy. Noah needs a dog who will have a calming effect on him. While Lexie could be calm with Noah when he wanted to be calm with her, the dog's natural response to a human touching her was to get more and more wound up. Noah needs a dog who will usually be calmer than he is.
Also, most of Lexie's significant skills would be lost on Noah. Drop a fork and instantly, Lexie would pick it up. But, Noah can pick up his own silverware (and does whether he's eating or not). It would have been a loss for someone in need of physical assistance not to have these skills and so it would be wrong of us to keep Lexie.
We miss her terribly, but are excited at her future with someone who really needs exactly who she is.

So, we wait for the puppies to grow up a bit more. We will then be able to go and take a close look at all ten dogs in the litter to find exactly the right one for what Noah needs. We are working on names now, but that's a secret. Noah may have some ideas on that front too!

What does david really do at work?

Left over footage from a Sunday morning video.

Thirty Four!

Woo hoo! Happy Birthday to Emily!

Crabbing!

Another day on the dock netted us ten good sized crabs (and 20 more that we released). Noah played with them more alive than cooked and has a few pinch marks on his hands to show for it. It's hard to keep a determined seven year old out of a game he wants to play. As hard as it is to watch, sometimes it's just better to let the crabs do the teaching.

Andrew and Elaina worked hard bringing crabs out of the water and into the big bucket (with lots of terrified/excited screaming). Elaina got so good she even caught two at once!

Then came dinner; what a fun mess! Noah only seemed to want to play with the shells. Andrew had a great time smashing things with his hammer. Elaina did very well and has the cut up hands to prove it. Because crabs contain trace elements of mercury (something the boys systems can't process), they didn't get much meat, but had a ball anyway.