Thank You to All from Smokeys Family-- Dear Scottie Friends Everywhere, This is hard to write, because there are no words to accurately describe the gratitude in our hearts we feel toward you all. We wish we could thank each of you individually for what you (complete strangers) have done for our family and our Smokey. Whether it was a prayer, a donation, a caring thought, or an encouraging comment, your support and compassion for us during this tragic time in our lives have been absolutely overwhelming. To think, people who have never even met us or Smokey, would give so generously, without question. It just blows our minds. When we started this endeavor, we knew giving up on Smokey was not an option. Ive always said my dogs are priceless to me. I truly meant it. Now it was time to put my money where my mouth was. But the fact is there wasnt enough money for how much this would cost. We felt stuck. But like I said, when the Israelites were stuck with the Egyptian army coming from one side, and a whole sea on the other, if God could part an entire sea, He can surely provide for us financially. To go with what we could see with merely our five senses, and to say we cant do it, would be faithless and it would be limiting God (in Whom we say we trust). Smokey had already overcome an impossible situation, and had fought so hard for his life. Who knows... he couldve very well risked his life solely to defend his sister, Sparkle. Maybe he couldve easily gotten away while the animal attacked her. But maybe he chose to fight for her. No one knows. But a dog who fought like that for his own life, and possibly anothers life, deserves a chance. Not to mention, we werent going to give up on him for the simple, sole fact that we love him so much and he means so much to our family. For him to fight to get to us, the people he trusted to help him, then us not fight back for him, that would be just wrong. To get away from whatever beast was savaging him is a miracle in itself. Not only did he fight it off, but he made it all the way home from deep into the confusing woods in a state of mental shock and physically ripped to shreds. I say he had heavenly guidance. And why would God bring him this far physically for us to give up on him now, over something less important, like money? It made no sense. God didnt bring Smokey out of the woods literally, to make him and us stay in the woods figuratively. After the Israelites were brought out of Egypt and the saw the sea part with their own eyes, they still questioned God. Did God bring us this far to die in the wilderness? No! I knew in my heart Smokeys story would be one of survival. Wed been robbed of our precious Sparkle. Evil would not take Smokey too. We would believe Gods goodness, stand, and fight! The Thief comes only to kill and steal and destroy. But I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 And him being led out of the wilderness was the first of miracle after miracle that we began to watch unfold. Heres a recap of some of the setbacks and miracles we witnessed over the last few weeks: --My father-in-law happened to look out the window at just the right time to see him staggering in from the woods. --It was thankfully business hours at the vet clinic. --With the numerous punctures and lacerations (too many to count) covering his body, somehow no arteries were hit and no organs were permanently damaged. --He had brain trauma from being violently shaken, but was miraculously neurologically and mentally sound. --Then he began coughing up puss- setback 1. There was concern his esophagus or trachea had been damaged, requiring surgery. His throat was punctured in several places, but miraculously again, no internal damage. Just infected. He did require a blood transfusion, strong antibiotics, and IV nutrition. --He also began to get septic from his wound infections- setback 2. And he had to have a large section of skin and fat removed, leaving a gaping hole on his side. Dr. Collinsworth, his staff, the surgeons, Dr. Porterpan, and their staff did an amazing job of fighting every problem that arose. --His liver bilirubin was sky-rocketing- setback 3. We thought the infection clearing with surgery and antibiotics, along with liver protectants and a high nutrition IV, would all bring down his bilirubin level, and that would be the end of it all. --But then I got the phone call from Dr. Porterpan that she had bad news. His liver bilirubin wasnt budging much. Setback 4. She believed the violent shaking he underwent probably had caused trauma to his liver. She had to have the talk with me about the possibility of him not making it. That was the first time anyone had brought up that we could be looking at the end. And that was when I hit my lowest. I sobbed and prayed. Losing one dog had been more than I could take. The thought of losing Smokey too was just unbearable! --Then I went back in my head to all the reasons I listed above that he would be ok. I trust in God. And God is good. The will to live in Smokey, and the fight he went through to make it back to us, helped me believe he wasnt going to lie down and die now. Then I also thought back to another miracle that was taking place. In some unbelievable way, without any effort of our own, a large amount of Smokeys expenses were being taken care of. These were expenses we couldnt have imagined, expenses we had no way of affording. Yet, people from all over the country and world were falling in love with our dog, and being moved to help us. It brings me to tears every time I think of it. We couldnt have imagined when we started out this would cost this much, and we also couldnt have imagined the help and support we would receive from all of you. --Again, I realized, if this financial mountain is being moved on our behalf, theres no reason the more important need at hand (Smokeys health) wouldnt be met as well. God is big! And the love He puts in the hearts of people like you for His creation is also big! Big enough to move mountains! The Bible says He will meet ALL our needs. I believe that to mean physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. But sometimes the reason those needs dont seem to be met is because we limit God and lose hope. That is what I was beginning to do. Thankfully, I caught myself, and pulled myself out of that evil trap by reminding myself of all the miracles I had already seen done for Smokey. I lifted my heart to believe once again God is able. Now to Him Who is able to do exceedingly above all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that works in us, to Him be the glory... (Ephesians 3:20-21). I had already seen that come to pass, and even more than we could fathom was still yet to come. --Sure enough, the very next day was when we got the call that Smokey had gobbled up food for the first time! Dr. Porterpan was excited and said that was a very good sign! Then a couple of days later, his bilirubin had come down significantly! I just knew the end was finally in sight. Over the weekend, it dropped even more and he was doing so much better! He also had to have another surgery on his skin, but Wednesday was the day he was going to come home. We were ecstatic, preparing all day. --Then when my husband was almost to the hospital to get him, the vet called, and said she couldnt send him home because he started throwing up. Setback 5. I was heart-broken all over again. It took a couple of more days, but finally, instead of having to say goodbye with him hooked up to tubes and looking back at us, we were able to walk out of that building, for the first time, with him! It was a moment that I will always remember! For weeks, all I wanted was to hold him (and Sparkle) and let them know how much we loved them and that everything would be ok. Smokey was finally all ours again! And that would help us heal from losing Sparkle, and from the whole rotten event. We would help him heal, and he would help us. This was not the first time Smokey has helped our family heal. Just three years ago, tragedy struck our first two four-legged babies. A Scottish Terrier named Chocolate was a huge Scottie that captured our hearts and sealed our love for the breed forever. We got him right after we got married, and he was our baby, our first puppy love. A year later, we got the sweetest little Miniature Dachshund, that captured our hearts equally. When Chocolate was 9, heart failure hit him all of a sudden, and we had to watch him suffer and die in the end. Only five weeks later, our dachshund squeezed out of a tiny gap in our yard we didnt know she could fit through (probably searching for her life long companion that just passed). We searched, made calls, knocked on doors, hung up fliers. We assume a coyote got her too. She loved us and wouldve came back if she couldve. We were devastated, and I didnt know how I would ever recover. We decided to rescue a Scottie in their memory, and we came across Smokey from West Texas Scottie. He is so good with our kids, and just loves people and attention. While he didnt replace our first two dogs (no dog is replaceable), he certainly gave us a new place of joy in our hearts. And we were able to love again, even though it had seemed impossible. We hoped we would also help him heal from any hardship he had had in his two years of life prior to coming to us. We wanted him to know, we were his forever home, and he was not going to be shipped around anymore. We were his for good. We never imagined only three years later, something like this would happen. Going through this with Smokey and Sparkle was all too familiar. One dog being gone instantly, and the having to watch the other suffer. I just couldnt go through losing two dogs all at once again. I was concerned Smokey would also be scarred emotionally for life after this. But you all will be happy to know, after only about 1 week home, he is already pretty much his normal self. He has made himself at home once again, and is the center of attention around here. There seems to be no emotional scarring, and his physical scars somehow amazingly already look miles better! Us, our three kids, and Smokey thank Texas Scottie Rescue Fund, West Texas Scottie Rescue, and every one of you for your donations (no matter how big or small), for your prayers, and your compassion. We ask Gods blessing on each of you. Smokey is our miracle dog. We will never forget what youve done. It has caused us to be more open in giving too, whether we can afford a lot or not. Your help has been powerful in so many ways in our lives. Since there is no way we can repay you, know that we will try to pay it forward and help others in need, as we were so freely helped. And maybe if you can imagine the looks on our childrens faces, us playing with Smokey in the yard and cuddling with him on the couch, the new baby on the way falling in love with him, and the joy we all feel in our hearts to have Smokey home with us again, maybe those images will properly express our gratitude. Thank you, once again, for being a part of our miracle, From. The. Bottom. Of. Our. Hearts. Love, The Joneses
Posted on: Fri, 09 May 2014 14:37:41 +0000
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