{"id":785,"date":"2009-10-29T21:41:58","date_gmt":"2009-10-30T03:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/?p=785"},"modified":"2019-07-28T12:26:12","modified_gmt":"2019-07-28T18:26:12","slug":"melodys-life-savings-part-5-the-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/melodys-life-savings-part-5-the-end\/","title":{"rendered":"Melody's Life Savings – part 5 (the end)"},"content":{"rendered":"

to read part 4 click here<\/a>
\nThe next three years were filled with some of the hardships of life.\u00a0 First, I ripped cartilage in my knee and had surgery.\u00a0 Then, a disc in my neck ruptured, causing excruciating pain and loss of function in my right arm.\u00a0 I had another surgery.\u00a0 After recovery from that, Greg and I went to work at an orphanage in Zambia, Africa for a couple of weeks.\u00a0 The strain of building relationships with many of the children and then leaving them behind was tremendous.\u00a0 This was intensified dramatically when our process of adopting two of the boys fell through at the last minute.
\nAt nearly the same time as that bitter disappointment, we were betrayed by people we viewed as friends.\u00a0 Their dishonesty about money fueled their actions.\u00a0 Before I had time to catch my breath, some significant people in my extended family expressed great contempt for me, using many harsh words.\u00a0 My lack of value was made crystal clear.\u00a0 This different kind of sorrow nearly crushed me.
\nI was almost not surprised when I developed an agonizing pain that pulsed and radiated through the whole left side of my face and front of my head.\u00a0 Neither dentist nor neurologist could find anything wrong.\u00a0 I was told I had an incurable nerve disease, dubbed suicide disease. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Four months later, however, it was discovered that a back tooth had cracked, top to bottom, front to back, but it had been held together by an old filling, making it invisible to x-ray and examination.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was happy to find that all I needed was an oral surgeon.
\nThroughout it all, we discovered we had a core of friends who valued us and we could trust.\u00a0 And we were blessed with the addition of a few very important new ones.\u00a0 All of these relationships flourished and grew stronger.\u00a0\u00a0 They put God\u2019s love into action as they nourished our souls with listening ears and kind encouraging words.\u00a0 God even let us be an encouragement to them.\u00a0 We were knit together by the simplicity and purity of God\u2019s word.\u00a0 How fitting it was that an unexpected surprise should come through one of these families.
\nA year after the face pain had begun, we were told that our family dog would die soon of cancer.\u00a0 A couple of weeks later, our friends found a four month old stray puppy.\u00a0 They tried all known methods of finding the owner, especially since she looked like a well bred dog.\u00a0 She had long, slightly kinky dark merle blue fur.\u00a0 Her form was reminiscent of both Australian shepherd and golden retriever.\u00a0 She was intelligent and responsive, seeming to want to please.\u00a0 I knew immediately that I wanted to take her home.
\nMy husband hesitantly agreed.\u00a0 He knew my history of fear of dogs.\u00a0 Plus, I still had four kids that I was teaching at home.\u00a0 Still, he conceded, with the understanding that she was not his responsibility.
\nIt seemed to me that she was the pet that Melody and I had talked about.\u00a0 I spent\u00a0 Melody\u2019s money purchasing equipment and dog food.\u00a0 Much of it went towards the open wire crate, or indoor kennel.\u00a0 She was given the name \u201cKiwi\u201d based on the idea of her being fuzzy on the outside and sweet in the middle.\u00a0 She was attached to me by a leash when she was active and locked in her kennel for resting.\u00a0 Since we are home most of the time, we bonded very quickly.\u00a0 I soon discovered that she would sleep by my bed without leaving all night and wait for permission to get up in the morning.
\nI researched training methods and blundered through some positive reinforcement techniques before I recognized it as ineffective and silly.\u00a0\u00a0 Then I recalled a program an acquaintance had mentioned to me years ago.\u00a0 This 10 week group class, with it\u2019s daily practice, gave me the tools to deal with every challenging behavior and circumstance.\u00a0 Once I was established as Kiwi\u2019s primary trainer, the kids also learned to apply the training and have even more fun with her.\u00a0 Greg even started to have fun with her.
\nIt says in James 1:17 that \u201cEvery good gift\u00a0 and every perfect gift is from above, and come down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.\u201d\u00a0 (New American Standard Bible) .\u00a0 Kiwi was the perfect gift for me at the perfect time.\u00a0 She is not yet perfectly trained, but she was just what I needed.\u00a0 God specifically arranged for her to come into my life like a hug from heaven, like a breath gently whispering to me in my heartache.\u00a0 Only He knew how to so beautifully complete Melody\u2019s gift to me.
\n\"Melody
\nclick here for Scotch Pines Dog Training, Nampa and Boise<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

to read part 4 click here The next three years were filled with some of the hardships of life.\u00a0 First, I ripped cartilage in my knee and had surgery.\u00a0 Then, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,10,80],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}