Elsie is with the Lord.

Many of you remember my post about our precious family dog, Elsie, back in September. (http://taylorandjosh.blogspot.com/2009/09/elsie-marie-brannon_15.html) After removing her initial tumor, we've had many wonderful months with a spry and happy Elsie. Yesterday, however, mom took her to the Vet in Auburn to be checked out because she had been having fevers, the shakes, and a distended abdomen-which lead us to believe her abdominal tumor was back. As it turns out, Elsie had tumors all over her body and was given 2 weeks to live. Last night, that sweet girl took a dramatic turn for the worse, and is being put to sleep as we speak.

As you can imagine, it breaks our hearts, especially my momma's, because Elsie is her best friend. Elsie came into our family's life at the perfect time, some might say an angel sent straight from God. She has been through a lot with us and will leave quite an empty space as her spot could never be filled. I'd appreciate you taking a quiet minute to lift my family (especially my momma) up in prayer for peace and healing. We absolutely know that this is what is best for Elsie, so that offers a sense of peace, but a broken heart is not quickly mended.

My parents brought Elsie by my house this AM on the way to the Vet for me to say my good-byes. She was not very responsive, but did open her eyes when I spoke to her. I thanked her for being such an important part of our family and told her I love her. Josh and I came inside and tearfully hugged for a few minutes. We talked about how it seems almost harder to lose a dog family member than a human sometimes. Thinking about it, I feel like maybe it's partly because they can't speak for themselves, telling you when they hurt, but also because they love you SO unconditionally, constantly giving of themselves, only asking for love and relationship in return. Funny to say, but dogs seem to offer the most Christ-like example to us all. . .

ps. Many of you might not know, but Elsie was actually in my wedding. We got married in my parents' garden. During rehearsal, Elsie (aka: mom's shadow) kept following her down the aisle and sitting by her chair like such a good girl that we decided to let her be in the real ceremony. :)