Goodness!

Goodness everywhere, I'm happy to announce!

Here's the catch-up: Mom arrived on February 28th for a visit. The first few days were chilly and not good beach days, so we did our little day trips on those days. We went antiquing in Naples, we visited Louise and Jay in St. Pete,


we went to the Lee County Fair to see the rabbits, we went to Sarasota to see an antique market, got seafood, seafood, and more seafood, and did even more I can't remember. By Wednesday things were heating up, so we got outside a bit. We had a beach day at Sanibel and then Thursday was more beach time at Barefoot Beach in Bonita and a sunset dinner at Doc's on the beach.


On Friday we visited Sandi and Allen at South Seas on Captiva and went parasailing together!


While we were up in the air we saw two groups of dolphins in the water! It was a short 15 minutes, but felt like a hour of good therapy!


It was very peaceful and relaxing. For the weekend we rested and recovered from our busyness. It was jam-packed with fun and relaxation. So good.

But on Saturday night little Georgie stopped eating and pooping. By Sunday she was cranky and grinding her teeth, indicating pain. No vets are open on Sunday except for the emergency vet, so we thought we'd just hang in there until Monday morning. By Sunday night George was miserable and I wasn't sure she'd make it through the night. At one point she flopped over and looked dead! Brad and I shrieked and she sat up, but we decided to take her into the emergency vet. Costs be damned, the poor things was suffering so. The vet felt a mass in her stomach, but due to his unfriendly and unprofessional nature, we asked just for some pain medication and decided we'd wait until the morning to get an x-ray.

She survived the night, although we didn't sleep well, worrying about her. It gave us a little taste of what parents go through when their little ones are suffering. It's so hard! And we felt so inadequate, not ever having been bunny parents before. On Monday I took her to a good vet who x-rayed her and found lots of gas (painful) and a stomach impacted with lots of food-- a blockage. He was not hopeful that she would survive, and said that it was a formidable task to help her recover. This kind of thing can kill bunnies in 12 hours, due to the pain and blockage.

He gave me a handful of medications and I spent the day caring for Georgie in the bathroom. We moved her to the bathroom for now as it's easier to catch her come medicine-time. The meds have to be force-fed by syringe which is no easy task! When Brad got home we gave her a syringe of laxative, a syringe of pain medication, three syringes of water (she's not drinking), and a few other things to help with digestion and nutrition. The poor thing fought and fought, but calmed down once we started the prescribed tummy massage. We felt things gurgling around and took hope that they might work themselves out over time.

By morning she had made a few deposits. We made over them and praised her for a few good poops. She seemed quite proud, and less umcomfortable. We had hope! By later in the day she had made many more deposits. I took her in to the vet again on Tuesday for a second dose of sub-cutaneous fluids to keep her hydrated, and he was pleased with her progress.

Throughout the week it has been up and down, with moments of hope and moments of worry. I've been working hard to give it up and trust God will have his way, but it just tears my heart to shreds when I see another creature in pain.

We knew things might be ok when we took Georgie out on the lanai the other day and she invented a game of hide-and-seek! She has three hiding places: behind the firepit, behind the plant stand, and behind the nordic-track. She runs, wagging her tail, to one spot: waits for me to find her and say "I FOUND YOU!!!", and then dashes off to spot number two. Repeat, repeat, repeat. We must have circled the lanai ten times! This is now a daily occurence, and is terribly cute. Although this bout of GI stasis has not been a party, it has bonded the three of us together and she seems to trust us more. We'll go back to the vet on Monday for another x-ray to see if things are truly ok. Who knew that bunnies could be such fragile creatures!

In other good news, Brad is applying for jobs up north and is finding many viable options. The one he applied for last night seemed to be a perfect fit for him! It's so exciting to see him walking forward in this new career path, and it energizes him, too.

In still other good news, I got a phone call yesterday from the scholarship committee at Columbia. I was awarded a massive, unexpected sum of money that we consider to be straight from heaven. We had been a little concerned at how the math was going to work out as the financial aid packages just aren't very generous and the costs are outrageous. This windfall of scholarship money will more than make up for what we needed. Remember how I said to sit and wait for the miracle? Well, you can do your rejoicing now. It's just so humbling, and exciting to know that I'm on the right path, and God is making a way. It's faith-building, that's for sure.

So things are going well! It's a new thing for us, this onslaught of goodness, and we're thrilled for a new season of life. These past four years have been trying, as you've read, and we are so thankful to see more goodness these days.