Saturday, September 26, 2009

36 Hours

Landon finally got to bring his puppy home on Thursday! He was SO excited.


Only problem was, he was bringing it home knowing that it probably wasn't going to live.


We got a call from our friends who gave Landon the puppy and he told us all but two of the litter of eight had died. All they knew at the time was that the mother's milk was bad and had made the puppies sick. The vet said that usually the whole litter will die when this happens and there's not much you can do. UGH! I assure you I wanted to protect Landon from heartache and just tell him that Gypsie wasn't going to be able to come home, but he insisted that he needed to go get her and pray for her and ask Jesus to make her stay alive. So, that's what we did.

When we picked Gypsie up, she was so weak and sick that she could not even stand on her back feet and could barely hold her head up. I had a little boy who did not care that she was sick...he only knew he loved her and that he was praying for God to heal her. He knew and understood how sick she was and that we were telling him she probably wouldn't live. We took the dog, got it some medicine and a shot to give it all the chance we could to survive. We waited and Landon prayed.

I was shocked when I was awaken on Friday morning by Landon's excited voice that Gypsie was walking around and had eaten some and drank some water. I figured we would wake up and find her dead. Landon looked at me and said, "Mom...I knew Jesus was going to let her live." Landon and Gypsie played most of the day Friday in the yard and he showed her so much love it made my heart smile!


They had the best day ever. When we got home from the Homecoming Parade Friday afternoon, (I'll post pics of that later. It was awesome!) we could tell Gypsie was very bad again. Landon helped daddy bath her and gave her some more of her medicine to make her comfortable and stop whining. Landon wrapped her up and held her and prayed again. That's when Landon looked at us and said, "Gypsie is going to die, I just know she is. Jesus is going to take her to dogie heaven."

We had a Rock-A-Thon for the youth from midnight till 8am Friday night, but around 3am this morning Landon wanted to come home and check on his dog. She was still alive but barely breathing, so Landon said his good-byes to her and came back to the church and told me that he was sad but happy that Jesus was taking care of Gypsie. He told us he gave Gypsie to Jesus because she would be well in dogie heaven. The kid amazed me and taught me so much about UNCONDITIONAL LOVE this last two days.

When we walked in around 8:30 this morning Landon went straight to Gypsie's bed and found her dead. He cried and held her and of course had a dozen questions that we didn't have the best answers for. He insisted on helping his daddy bury her and make a pretty marker for her. Well, I expected to have a very sad little boy for the rest of the day. It wasn't near as bad as I thought. He did cry himself to sleep and took about a three hour nap, but when he woke up he looked at me and said, "Mom, I miss Gypsie. I didn't want her to die, I loved her and wanted her to be my dog forever, but I'm glad I brought her home and had the bestest time with her yesterday. I think she was happy she died here with me."

What do you say??? What do you do??? When you look at it in that light, I'm glad we let him bring her home. She made him the happiest I've seen him. I know he's my son, and I'll sound like a bragging mother here, but just overlook that for a moment...I'm thankful that he has such a big heart. He has so much faith that it amazes me. He believed with all his heart that God was going to heal his dog, but when that didn't happen and when he knew she was going to die, he never got angry or mad. He just accepted it and even told us that he was "glad Jesus let him know Gypsie and met her."

I'm glad Gypsie became a part of our life too...even if it was only for 36 hours. But oh, what an impact she made on a little boy!

8 comments:

Pam said...

That is such a sweet story. I love Landon's faith.

Parsley said...

I could just cry. Thank you for doing all you could. I really admire you for letting your son experience that kind of love under such heartbreaking circumstances.

Praying for his peace as he mourns. I mourn with him.

Carol Kennon said...

Thanks Pam.
Thank you for praying for Landon, Parsley. As much as I didn't want the dog when Landon first feel in love with him about a month ago, I am glad that we made the choice we did. Landon amazed us both at how he handled the situation. And, it truly was worth every penny we spent trying to save her...we were just too late. We did give Gypsie comfort and tons of love in those 36 hours, and she tried her best to respond to that love but she was just too weak. That alone made it worthwhile.

Alexis said...

That story just broke my heart! My husband read it over my shoulder, and he said that it sounds to him like the little boy you had to wait so long for must be a good one. :)

I've heard before that children understand more about the sacrifice that Jesus made for us when they lose a pet. I don't know if he's had any experience with death before, but it could be that God is going to use this to call him to Him in time.

Praying for Landon. Does he want a kitty? My SIL has them to spare!

Carol Kennon said...

Alexis, I think we'll pass on the kitty. LOL Tell your husband that Landon was definately worth the wait!

Miller Racing Family said...

This was such a wonderful post. The pictures are priceless. Little Landon's faith is as big as a mountain. What a strong boy you have raised.
Thanks for sharing, we will keep you in our prayers as we know what you are going through.

Dunn But Not Finished said...

Such a beautiful story. It parallels with God's love for us. Thanks for sharing this.

Debra said...

Ok, so now I have tears in my eyes! This is such a bitter sweet story and I'm so glad you shared it with us. How wonderful that Landon has so much faith in Jesus and such a big heart. The pictures are beautiful!!!