Unthinkable Attack

As we have made physical preparations for our mission trip, we have also worked on making spiritual preparations by doing devotions as a team and reading the Bible and praying together, for the Lord to use us in mighty ways.

I don't know the reason why, but on Friday, December 22nd, Caleb and Paisley were attacked by a German Shepherd that lives on the corner of our street.  Caleb is OK physically, but Paisley is not. Her underbelly is destroyed and even worse than this side view.

Caleb was walking Paisley on our road and he heard a bell on the collar of the dog and looked up and it was charging them.  He had little time to react as the dog latched on to ours and would not let go.  They all ended up on the ground and Caleb had to kick the dog over and over again and it would not let up. 

It’s owner came running and jumped on his dog and he had a few seconds to get Paisley away.

Thankfully some neighbors on our street were driving by and picked them up and drove them home and Caleb immediately drove her to the hospital.  It was (and is) so hard to see her so fearful and in so much pain.  She had tons of lacerations and the vet was certain she would have organs punctured due to the power of the breed and the location of the bites.

Many of you prayed for her and our family during your party, and specifically against punctures.  GOD ANSWERED YOUR PRAYERS!  XRays weren’t quite clear with certain organs because of the damaged flesh impeding xrays views so they had to exploratory abdominal surgery.  Praise God she did not have any organ damage, just lots and lots of bruising and ripped flesh.  She was in surgery for several hours and has hundreds of stitches and two drainage tubes.

It is looking like she will make a full physical recovery with time.  We are not sure emotionally yet.  She wags her tail a tiny bit when we pet her, but overall she looks terrified and sad.  It’s hard for us to see her this way as she is normally so happy go lucky.  We are not sure how her personality will be after this so continued prayers for that would be much appreciated. We will no longer be able to walk her on our street unless the neighbor decides to put their dog down.  I don’t feel safe with my kids walking by themselves either.  My husband called the police and animal control will be following up next week sometime.  We pray that the owner makes the right decision for the safety of others as well as our family.  He did say that he put a check in the mail to reimburse us for the full cost ($2000), so that is an enormous answer to prayer as well.

Our mission trip to Guatemala is on December 26^th.  We can obviously no longer board Paisley and she has to have a few follow up appointments over the next few days.  I feel that this attack is Satan trying to stop us from doing the Lord’s work.  We will not let him deter those plans.  It’s looking most likely that we will try to get Caleb’s departure delayed by a few days and hoping his parents can watch Paisley for us. The kids and I are planning on going down with the team.  Please pray for discernment.  It is difficult to know whether this is the Lord redirecting our path or Satan interfering with his plans. We will just move forward one day at a time and surrender to whatever He wants for us.

 We are so thankful that Caleb has no injuries whatsoever and that the Lord spared Paisley from further complications. Please keep us in your prayers.  We are pretty traumatized.  We lost our one-year-old dog 3 years ago during the negligence of a Rover sitter so this is also bringing up those very painful memories.  We would still love to have a fruitful mission trip to Guatemala, if possible.  The Lord is bigger than this and we will overcome with his help; it’s just hard.

Thank you again for your love and prayers through this challenging time. Being this hard with our pet, we can’t even imagine what families in Israel have and are going through.  It is a strong reminder to pray for those suffering more than us as well.  We are praying for peace this Christmas…for the world, for you, and for us.  God bless you and keep you.