Grr...

Blogger is not letting me get caught up on all my blog reading.  It will open up some of the blogs, but not all of them.  Or maybe it's our computers here at work.  I am having trouble loading my farm on FB too.  Not that I would be reading blogs or playing at work or anything.  This is, of course, a hypothetical situation. 


Ahem


Anyways, how ya doin?  It's been a few days.  Our last week has been eventful and emotional, to say the least.  And I don't know about you, but when I am going through something really emotional, I tend to turtle until I have processed the situation.  And by turtle, I am, of course, referring to the time-honored tradition of hiding from everything.  I happen to be an expert turtler.


We are in the midst of a legal & financial situation with our family corporation.  And, yes, I know how incredibly weird we are that we even have a family corporation.  But, here's the deal.  We have gotten to put out fires for the past few weeks ever since our dear local paper decided to splash our family's struggles all over the front page.  Lovely.  As if our family wasn't infamous enough in this town already.  But, honestly, it has been good.  We have gotten to see the true colors of a lot of people - some of them we know will stick by us no matter what, and some we have been able to say adios to because of this situation.  Now, I will not even pretend that what was written was slightly unfounded, or untrue.  I simply have questioned the motives behind what was written.  We could either lose everything because of this issue, or be completely debt-free.  It really is that extreme.  And, right now, it is completely and totally in God's hands.  There literally is no way I can control or fix this situation. 


And to top it all off, we got to go to court last Friday to finish the dog issue with our neighbor.  Essentially, the judge tried to rule down the middle.  The younger dog will not be back.  The owner has 30 days to find a rescue group that is willing to take the dog, or he will be put down.  The older dog is allowed to come home, but under some incredible restrictions that our neighbor created during mediation with our friends in order to try to keep her dogs.  They have to, before Sept 4, reinforce the entire property fence.  They also have to build a completely enclosed dog run and install keyed dead bolts on all the exterior doors to the home.  Only our neighbor and her husband are to have access to the keys.  When they take the dog outside, she is to be muzzled, on a shock collar, and on a 6 foot leash.  At no time is she to be unaccompanied when outside.  If they leave the house, she is to be locked in her kennel in the house.  If they go on vacation, they have to contact Animal Control so that they, and only they, can dogsit.  Both dogs will remain at the shelter until either the conditions are met by the required date, or they are put down.  She also has to write letters to the entire neighborhood, detailing this agreement.  If anyone in the neighborhood sees any violation of any of this agreement, and reports it, the dog will be put down immediately, and she will face serious legal consequences.  This arrangement will hold true if she decides to get any dogs in the future as well.


Honestly, I am not sure how I feel about it.  I have heard that the judge we had tends to be pretty wishy-washy, touchy-feely with first-time offenders.  She could have very easily sent both dogs back home with no restrictions.  She could have ruled to put both dogs down, but placed no restrictions in place for the future.  I was extremely grateful that the court system recognized that there were two victims in this case, our friends and us.  The judge allowed all of us to speak at the hearing, and I am very grateful our voice was heard.  Our friends repeated over and over that, while these restrictions seemed reasonable to them, they do not have to live next to these animals.  We do.  Honestly, I don't think there would have been a "right" answer to this.  But, as we consistently prayed throughout the week, I do believe that this is God's will for the situation.


Our neighbor approached us after the hearing, to apologize.  I can honestly say that it was only by the grace of God that I was able to talk to her.  I was able to tell her that I forgave her, but that I did not trust her.  And when she tried to convince me that this breed was really wonderful, that the press against them was unfounded, I was able to tell her, politely, that we were going to have to agree to disagree.  I do believe she is remorseful about what happened.  I know that, in her own words, this was a horrible mistake that will haunt her the rest of her life.  And I meant it when I said that I forgave her. 


And so, we are healing.  We (well, everyone but me) are sleeping better at night.  I have not slept well, due to the stress, and so my body is trying really hard to give me a cold.  But I am peaceful.  Given this past couple of weeks, I really don't understand how.  But I am.