But now, this is what the LORD says– he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43:1
It would be an understatement to say things have been hectic around here. It’s the kind of craziness I’m excited to take on because we’ve moved! The air mattresses are still going strong after about a month in use, but that will soon change as furniture slowly comes in. Even with a few obstacle courses left of containers and items ready to find their own place to live, we’re getting somewhere. It gives me more motivation to get things done!
An adjustment period hasn’t really been needed. It’s the area we’ve come to for years and have called home for such a long time. We feel like it’s where we’re supposed to be. We all have our own places that welcome us, inspire us, and give us great joy. This is one of those places for my family. Breathing a little deeper, shoulders going down in relaxation, and smiling a bit more is an amazing thing. When you find that, the outside world takes a backseat.
Every single person in our family was on board with moving. Each one of us fell in love and unanimously voted on the house we chose. The only member who didn’t get a say was of the four-legged variety. How would the pup adapt to a new house, new neighborhood, and new view? He does really well when he travels with us, but some places are easier than others. Dealing with “pup quirks” during short time periods aren’t a big deal, but what kind of things would we be getting into?
It could be very stressing to an animal to have many things he’s used to change. Routines have been a little off, locations have changed over and over as we went through the last couple months, and I even changed his bed on him. Really, the main thing the prince got perturbed over was his bed change. He had all of us together; that’s what makes him the happiest.
On a side note, please let me tell you this whole bed scenario and why I might’ve had a few qualms about his change of address. We were in our old house when I realized his bed that fits into the crate (because royalty does require plushness) needed to go. The zipper was broken, and I didn’t want to travel with the raggedy thing. I searched and found a nice memory foam bed that would fit perfectly inside the crate. I was excited at how great it was and on the deal I got. Then, I brought it home.
First off, something foreign was being put into his private space without his permission. That earned me a side-eye and sigh. He let me off with a look that said, “I’ll forget all about this if you just fix the little situation you have going on in my crate.” With that, he left. Secondly, he thought I’d follow his orders. I’m more stubborn. I won. It was still there when he went to retire for the night.
Usually, when a certain time hits, he heads to his crate and doesn’t want to leave the bedroom. I think he expects us to hold all calls until morning. He went to his crate like he normally does, but when he saw I didn’t remedy the problem, he did something that made me throw my hands up and say, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
He made a disgruntled noise, did an about-face, pranced with his royal head in the air in a quite determined way (while refusing to look at me), walked into my oldest son’s bedroom, and planted himself on his bed, which he never does! He isn’t even allowed on our beds except for the handful of times he got permission first.
The joke was on him because it was just an air mattress anyway. He pretended he didn’t notice that part. I marched him back to his bed as he glared at me the whole way. Yes, he finally was looking at me again. We’ll call it a win. Besides the whole bed fiasco, moving has been fantastic with the pup. He’s quite pleased with the choice we made for him.
What I was concerned about was the neighborhood. We actually have houses around us that you can see without going for a nice, long walk or driving to. We’ve certainly stayed in houses like that before, and also in hotels, but I wasn’t positive on what his reaction would be. He handles most change very well, but there can be an adjustment. A couple places while travelling, he simply didn’t prefer. I’m sure he takes some cues from us…when we’re comfortable, so is he, but the noise and seeing people made me wonder how he’d do.
The view of the water and ducks don’t bother him in the least. I think that we prepared him well with all our trips to this area. He’s given a few “boofs” when seeing people and dogs walking while looking out the window, but nothing a little correction didn’t take care of. Simply telling him to be quiet did the job.
He’s settled in like this was always his home. He’s calm and confident here! The one problem showed itself the other day when my hubby came in saying, “Kelly Girl, you’ve got to take your dog out to go to the bathroom.” I was confused; he was walking in from doing just that. Also, what was up with the “your dog” part? He went on to tell me the noises of the neighbors were keeping him from doing his business. Of course, the prince needs his privacy!
I take him back out and give him the command to do his thing. He circles around a few times, gets ready to go, the neighbor makes a noise, and his concentration is interrupted. We start the process again, and the same thing happens. Each time the circling time period gets longer and longer until he’s circling a bazillion times before trying again.
This is the point when I just realized within a week of being here, the neighbors think I’m a bit loony already. Here I thought this was my new shot at seeming normal. Nope, I’m standing outside with my dog, laughing like crazy at his antics, and talking to him. Yes, I told him he was ridiculous! He finally went just to shut me up, I think.
I take him back into the house and repeat my sentiments to my hubby, “Your dog is ridiculous.” His dog now.
I’m so glad God doesn’t hand us off when we’re ridiculous. He doesn’t get annoyed with us and say to someone else, “Your human is out of control.” Nope, he sticks it out, works through it with us, and prepares for the next time we decide to be ridiculous. Something to be thankful for!
Remembering that even though there might be corrections and consequences to our actions, The LORD still says, “I have summoned you by name; you are mine.”
