The Care and Feeding of Pippa

     Little Miss Pippa Parks is now 13 weeks old and growing like crazy!  At her 12 1/2 week check up she weighed a whopping 5 lbs 5 ozs!  Of course, in her mind she's still that huge grizzly bear or big bad wolf depending on which vicious creature she needs to be for the occasion. 
     As Pippa grows, so does her appetite.  She not only eats her food but anxiously jumps up and down for the treats she gets as reward for 'doing her business' in the proper place.  And kinda like a baby who tries to put anything and everything in it's mouth, Pippa will try to eat anything!  Well, almost anything.  The vet gave us a pill for her last weekend.  When Pippa saw me trying to open the packaging she could not be still.  She wanted it so badly she was absolutely beside herself with excitement!  Until I got the package open anyway.  Because she eats anything and was so excited, I thought placing the pill on the floor and letting her just eat it might work.  Boy, was I wrong.  One little tiny taste of the pill and she was gagging and carrying on like the kids used to when they were little and had to take medicine.  In fact, our little drama queen made herself sick to the point she threw up!  Fortunately placing the pill inside a piece of cheese did the trick though, and she had it down in no time.
     When Pippa's 'brothers' took her out in the snow a few weeks ago she found something I wouldn't have believed if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.  She found a dead baby snake!  Yes, in the snow!  Somehow between the time she found it and then dropped it on the deck it's head disappeared.  I can only imagine.....  So she gagged at a pill but ate the head of a dead snake.  Ugh!
     The weather is warming up a bit so Pippa is getting to play outside a little more and she loves it.  Thankfully we haven't had anymore snake issues.  But apparently she does find plenty of other things to devour.  One day last week I got an urgent call from the boys.  After playing outside for a while Pippa was throwing up and according the the report I received, convulsing violently.  I was able to stay calm and suggested that perhaps she had eaten a bug while playing outside.  Sure enough it wasn't long before she was back to her normal ornery self and annoying the boys instead of worrying them.
     While 'daddy' took a little longer to warm up to us having a new puppy, yesterday he and Pippa had some really fun bonding time.  I was still at work when he called me.  I could hear Pippa barking in the background.  He started taking pictures of her and sending them to me.  He was in our front yard and she was at the storm door doing everything she could to get him to open the door and let her out!  So he rewarded her with some backyard time.  Because she is still so small, we don't let her play out back by herself yet.  Perhaps it's the idea of a big bird carrying her off.  Or maybe it's the holes in the fence that I fear she will scooch through.  We just can't let her play outside by herself.  And keeping up with her is quite a task.  She cannot be still.  According to 'daddy' she runs, catching leaves in mid air in her mouth and eats them!
     About the time I left work, I got a text from my husband.  "The dog just threw up".  So, like I had told the boys last week, I texted back "she probably ate a bug".  He went on to describe the appearance of what he had seen and said that they were still in the backyard.  When I arrived home I found him standing very still, watching Pippa as she stood between the fence and our storage building.  I walked out to him and he didn't say a word.  I saw Pippa, slimy stuff hanging off her chin and a bewildered look in her eyes.  Picking her up, I started for the house.  Hubby explained that he had walked away from her briefly as he checked out the holes in the fence.  When he returned he found her sick with her little head hanging over the bar at the bottom of the swing.  I began cleaning Pippa up a bit only to experience a couple more times what he had already experience several times.
     After I wrapped her up like a baby and holding her for a while, she fell asleep.  And she was so cute!  Then she heard 'daddy' in the next room and began to perk up a bit.  We had some stuff we needed to work on so I put her in her bed, occasionally looking over to check on her.  Did I say drama queen earlier?  Oh my what a drama queen she can be!  She was obviously feeling better but lay with her head resting on the side of her bed and looking at us like she expected us to hand feed her, give her water and carry her around on a satin pillow while she wore a tiara and waived to her subjects! 
     It wasn't long before Pippa had not only recovered but had eaten all her dinner and was playing.  She was feeling so much better that we felt comfortable leaving her for a while.  (Hubby and I actually went out for the 2nd time in 5 nights!  Woohoo!)  Of course as soon as our daughter got home the first question texted to her was "How is Pippa?". 
     Last night was one of those nights that, although it was winter, we suddenly experienced an outside temperature of 70 degrees.  It was around 3AM.  I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.  Hubby woke up.  Apparently he was still feeling guilty about Pippa getting sick and he apologized again.  For a minute I thought maybe something else had happened and I forgot.  Then I realized it was just his soft heart feeling badly about her getting sick earlier.  That somehow triggered a very interesting dream when I finally did go back to sleep.  In that dream Pippa's hair on her head was very curly and didn't match the rest of her hair at all.  Not sure how long that goofy dream lasted but when I woke up again it was because hubby had tossed a very happy, healthy and excited Pippa on me and she was kissing me like crazy! 
     Pippa is growing.  Pippa is learning.  Pippa has made her place in our hearts.  And oh the lessons we are all learning while carrying out the care and feeding of Pippa. 

Voices

     What voice do you listen to?  I don't mean like when someone claims to hear voices in their heads and hearing those voices gets them out of punishment for a crime.  Or maybe I do.  At least in a sense.
     A few months ago I saw a picture on twitter that compared God's voice to Satan's voice.  It went something like this:
                          God's Voice                                           Satan's Voice
                           Stills you                                               Rushes you
                           Leads you                                              Pushes you
                           Reassures you                                       Frightens you
                           Enlightens you                                      Confuses you
                           Encourages you                                     Discourages you
                           Comforts you                                        Worries you
                           Calms you                                             Obsesses you
                           Convicts you                                         Condemns you

     This made such an impact on me that I now have it displayed in my home so that I see it every day.  I think about it.   It sends me to the Word for confirmation that it is right.  Many of the passages I've read recently relate to this.  2 Corinthians 10:5 speaks of taking every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.  How do we take every thought captive?  By listening to the voice of God and not allowing confusion to enter our minds.
     We decide which voice we will listen to.  That voice we listen to, the voice we host in our hearts, our minds.....that voice becomes our pulse.  Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts.  Not half our hearts.  Not just a corner of our minds.  But with all we are.  Letting the enemy get even a small part of our minds reduces our strength, our ability, our faith.  And if the enemy can make us doubt even the least little bit, he can make us worry and frightened. 
      I Peter 5:8-9 reminds us that the devil is prowling about, trying to get in our heads.  He uses his voice to frighten us, to confuse us, to discourage us, to paralyze us.  While life may be difficult, we must resist him.  Allowing his voice in our minds brings destruction.  But trusting the Lord with our whole heart brings peace....and usually the bonus of a good night's sleep!
     Quite a few years ago a comedian named Flip Wilson had a TV show.  In one of his skits he would proudly announce "the devil made me do it".  Every time he said it, we laughed.  But the truth is that the devil doesn't make us do anything.  We choose if we are going to listen to his voice.  And his voice NEVER brings ANYTHING good!  It may look good for a while.  But if the voice we listen to isn't telling us something we confirm in the Word, it's definitely the wrong voice.
     Life is not always great.  God has reasons for allowing us to experience difficulties.  The enemy will use anyone and anything he can come up with to drag us down.   He will even try to convince us that God doesn't love us or we wouldn't have difficulties.  Any little confusing thought he can sneak into our minds he will do it. He knows doubt takes root and grows quickly.  He counts on that. 
     Awwww.....but the Voice of Truth has been telling me Philippians 4:8 ' Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable---if anything is excellent or praiseworthy---think about such things.'  Think about such things!!!!  The devil will tell us that because our spouse doesn't call at a certain time that we can't trust them.  He will sneak in our minds with doubts.  He will tell us our kids will never amount to anything because they made a mistake or two.  He will try to get us to believe we just can't take anymore.  He will encourage us to give up.  The enemy will try every trick he's got in order to bring us defeat even while trying to convince us that it's for our best.  But....but.....BUT THE VOICE OF TRUTH  tells us a different story as the song says.  It tells us to not be afraid.  The Voice of Truth will never lead us into anything that is not for good or anything that will be in contrast to the Word. 
     Psalm 29:4 says 'The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic'.  The voice of the Lord is powerful!  Is His voice the voice will you listen to?  I choose the voice of the Lord.  Hope you do too.