Sad news

Our sweet little puppy, Lightning, got out into the road early Tuesday morning and was killed. At this point I'm mostly wondering how much God thinks Jake really needs to learn about death at the ripe old age of 4. I know God knows what He's doing and to many of you losing a puppy may not seem like a big deal, but my animals are my family and I'm unhappy. It's difficult explaining to Jake about death again so soon. I'm worried that he'll start thinking that he may die too since Daddy Don recently died and now his puppy. I should also mention that Monday afternoon Phideaux managed somehow to catch our greenhead (that's a mallard drake duck for those of you who may not know) and kill it and brought it to the front yard for me to find. Good grief. Olivia seems to be oblivious to animals coming and going but Jake is very aware and I really am concerned that he may start thinking he's next, or me or Mike or Olivia. Explaining death to a 4 year old may be the very hardest thing in the world to do. I explained of course that Lightning is in heaven and that we'll see him again just like we'll see Daddy Don again one day. (Yes, I most certainly do believe that animals go to heaven, too!) I used the opportunity to talk to Jake about salvation and how to get to heaven. I also used the opportunity to reiterate how dangerous the road is and how he and Livi should always stay away from it.

We're driving to New Boston, TX tomorrow to get some baby turkeys and ducklings. Perhaps that will cheer us all up. I'll post pictures of our new babies next week.