The year of our Shih-Tzu Puppy and our Adoption Paper Chase
Puppy Love
On December 18th of 2005, Laurie and I met a fluffy, little creature, who had been born on October 8, at a dog breeder’s house in Backus, MN . We were allowed to pick her up on New Year’s Eve, at exactly 12 weeks old, and bring her home. She’s a purebred, black and white Shih-Tzu (careful how you say that; it is pronounced “shee [slight pause] tsu”) who has wiggled her way into our hearts. We quickly learned that she thinks she is the alpha-female and stubbornly resists submission…not something we were exactly prepared for since all the literature we read on the breed mentions adjectives such as sweet, affectionate, docile, and of intelligent mind. She does indeed display those adjectives, but she is also full of mischief and dominance. Though she has quickly learned to do many different tricks (sit, stay, wait, roll over, drop toys in our hands, etc.) the simple command of “come” has been met with a serious lack of submission at times and thrown Laurie into a quandary. We think that little dogs have a difficult time with “come,” unlike bigger dogs.
We affectionately named her, “Little Girl,” but soon found ourselves calling her, “Binkey” (and other variations) because it just seemed to fit her. We also began to call her our, “Fur Bearing Anomaly Detector” because she has an uncanny knack of noticing when things are out of place (clothes on the floor, curl in a rug, dirty dishes in the sink, hay bale in a field [it wasn’t there the day before], grocery bags on the steps, plant leaf on the floor, her own toys piled behind a chair, reflections in the window at night, or our car parked in the wrong spot) and then she lets loose with a little “woof” that makes her whole body wiggle. The Shih-Tzu breed is not very vocal and she follows that trait (outside of the anomalies she finds) unless she hears loud, rock & roll music that suddenly emits from a television commercial or an animal on one of our nature CD’s. When that happens, we get to hear her “real” bark which is a sort of long, “roo, roo” sound. Little Girl has mellowed a bit throughout her first year and even becomes cuddly at times, but her absolute favorite thing to do is play with her knobbly wobbly (a plastic/rubber ball) or her squeaky, stuffed dog, named “Buddy”. She can entertain herself quite well with empty pop bottles, tape, crunched up paper, or her bed towel that she gets underneath and pushes up with her feet. She also loves laundry day, when she gets to play under the dirty sheets.
We never thought that we’d own a “foof” dog, but here we are, with a small, furry, dog that wears a pink and green sweater, a pink raincoat with flowers on it, and who goes everywhere with us equipped with her crate, leash, toys, food, and water…definition of a “foof” dog. One of my co-workers calls her a, “cat that barks”, however, she loves the out-of-doors and is quite the intrepid explorer. She has incomparable skills when it comes to locating stickers and burrs. She is single-pawedly trying to control the spread of noxious weeds that line Minnesota’s trails, by collecting the weed seeds in her fur to be plucked out by us and deposited in the trash. We have experimented with both long and short hairdo’s for her and though the long style is awfully cute and allows Laurie the pleasure of putting bows in her top knot, the short “do” seems much more practical and in line with her love of the outdoors and her abject aversion to her comb and brush. Her first short “do” gave her a Schnauzer-faced look which I liked, but Laurie was quick to trim for a more even, teddy bear look, as was her preference.
This summer we got Binkey a flotation jacket made by,“ Outward Hound” for her to wear while we are canoeing. She’s not at all thrilled about the water nor her little life jacket, but she tolerates it and sits in Laurie’s lap while we paddle. The instinct she has to “dog paddle” can be hilarious. If I hold her by the handle on the back of her life jacket and simply hold her over the water she instantly begins to paddle…mid air.
In reading up on the Shih-Tzu (lion dog) breed, we discovered that they were a cross between a Tibetan mountain dog (we figure the reason she loves to climb to the top of everything) and the Pekingese. Shih-Tzu’s were specifically bred to be pets for the emperor’s in China as early as 1644 AD with ancestors tracing back to 624 AD. In keeping with that “royal” blood line, Little Girl enjoys sitting atop her “throne” (the kitchen chair), placed at a window, so that she can survey her kingdom and subjects (squirrels). After determining that all is well and in order, she curls up and takes a nap. Oh the joy and laughter she has brought to our lives this year! What a tremendous blessing!
Off With Their Wings!
One summer day, after taking a walk with Little Girl, Laurie brought in a tiny little monarch caterpillar and put it in a jar to watch it finish up a chunk of milkweed, cocoon itself, and emerge as a butterfly. One day Laurie noticed that the caterpillar had disappeared…the jar lid had large holes in the top…apparently, too large. The next day, Laurie found a cocoon under the kitchen counter just above Little Girl’s crate! Apparently, the jar was not adequate for this particular caterpillar’s cocoon. We were pretty jazzed and kept an eye on it for the next couple of weeks. Finally the butterfly emerged with very wet wings. That evening we took off for a couple of hours leaving the drying butterfly at home. When we returned, we found a wingless butterfly, laying on the carpet! Laurie was heartbroken as she had intended to release it outside when it was finished drying, however, we realized that as it’s wings dried and it took flight, Little Girl must have found it to be a “threat” to her kingdom and did what all good watch dogs would do…she disabled it.
Our Adoption Paper Chase
For those of you untouched by our prior emails, it will be a new revelation that Laurie and I are in the process of adopting a daughter from China. Since early 2006 we have been involved in completing a Home Study, applying and being accepted to an international adoption agency, and finally completing the myriad of paperwork required by China and the US for international adoption, and then sending that paperwork (called a Dossier) to Beijing, China in order to be matched to a 6-18 month old baby girl from one of their orphanages.
From our Dossier log in date of October 6, 2006, we WAIT (a four-letter-word to us in this process) another 15 plus months before we receive a referral (word that a child has been matched to us) and finally a travel authorization and departure date to fly to China to pick up our daughter. Sometime in the first part of 2008, we will board an airplane to China and will return to the United States as parents, with a long awaited, precious daughter in our arms.
Needless to say, this is a very good thing; please join us in praying that all of our plans and preparations are and remain immersed in God’s will and that the officials in the China Center of Adoption Affairs are guided by God as they select His chosen daughter for us.
Eventually, we’d like to adopt a second daughter, but there are some financial, age, and health challenges ahead due to China’s recent changes, that will affect us in a future adoption. Pray with us and we’ll see what God does to work out the challenges.
For the Birds
In the spring, Laurie and I created a bluebird house assembly line in our garage and churned out ten houses from scrap lumber. We installed them on various fence posts around our property line and were thrilled to discover at least 6 broods of tree swallows and 2 broods of bluebirds that used them.
Our neighbor also informed us that we had a wood duck nesting on the ground in our woods just 50 yards from our door! She had stumbled upon the anxious wood duck mother while chasing her loose horse through our woods. Unfortunately, we only got to see the evidence of the nest (broken eggs) and not the actual beautiful birds, so we’ll be putting up a wood duck nest in our woods this spring hoping to catch a glimpse of them ourselves.
Career/Projects
I (Kent) continue to work full-time at Synstelien Community Services with the title of Services Coordinator. What that means is that I write behavioral programs for our clients and help to implement them; I write all client reports; interact with case managers, guardians, and doctors; deal with concerns that arise with clients and staff; teach; and learn. It’s the most wonderful job I’ve ever had and I’m not saying that because I plan to send my supervisor a copy of this letter; I mean it. Truthfully, there is nothing cooler for me than being part of a community devoted to the care of others who are physically and /or mentally disabled. It’s been a bit over two years and I continue to be challenged on a day-by-day basis to learn and grow in both my skills and my understanding.
Since September of 2006, Laurie has been working a temporary, part-time job in the front office of a podiatry practice (foot doctor specialists) in Fergus Falls. (The doctors are a husband/wife team, we met through their two boys who have been in both plays we’ve been involved with…more later.) She works two to four days each week, riding in with me to keep fuel costs down. She will be done in February of 2007 and will assess the possibility of finding another part-time, temporary job to help out with covering our adoption expenses.
During Laurie’s “off” time, she is working on getting all of our personal photographs from 2003 to 2007 into photo albums, adding our annual update letters between the years of photos, and putting all of our family and friend photos, that we get each year at Christmas time, into photo albums so we can see how the families grow through the years. She also loves taking Binkey on long morning walks and finding wild flowers to make into bouquets. Last year she used the bear, moose, canoe, and tree cut outs that I made out of wood and she painted; and the pine cones, reeds, acorns, and American lotus seed pods, we’d collected through our years of canoeing, into six rope swags and various ornaments to hang in our office.
This year she is excitedly designing and decorating our nursery. She decided to “splurge” on the nursery by changing it from the primary colors and “crayon-theme” that we’ve had for 7 or 8 years, to the colors: pink, white, and green with a nursery rhyme theme which includes: “Mary had a Little Lamb”, “Mary, Mary Quite Contrary”, and “Jack & Jill” as found on some fabric she found at Hobby Lobby in Fargo, ND. She has been excitedly buying fabric and supplies to make wall hangings, two crib quilts, two crib bumpers, two crib dust ruffles, and two changing pads to cover the antique commode she’ll be using as a diaper changing table. She’ll spend the spring and summer at yard sales to find baby clothes and hopefully a very small rocking chair. All of these, things she’s dreamed of doing since before we were married.
Trailer Project
We’ve been making progress on our camper trailer and were actually able to use it for a few camping trips this fall, but, we still have a long way to go before we are finished with it. We’ve successfully installed insulation, walls, flooring, a window air conditioning unit, curtains that Laurie made, kitchen cabinets, countertops, and a sink. I began creating a fiberglass icebox inside of one of the base cabinets to be used as a large cooler (RV refrigerators are way past our budget) that drains out the bottom of the trailer, but I’ve learned that fiberglass is an art form that I am not particularly good at. I’m currently working on the electrical system and building in a queen sized, futon type bed that will triple as bed, couch, and storage. Eventually, we will finish the bathroom, put in the plumbing, and someday make bunks for our daughter(s).
Our camping trips this year were close-to-home due to high fuel costs, but we’ve found our local parks and campgrounds to be beautiful places to camp. We spent one weekend at a small county campground on the Crow Wing river, another at Carlos State Park, and another, very cold night, at Savannah Portage State Park. We would have been better off trying to camp in December this year than in October! We found that we need to work out some heating logistics so that we’ll be able to stay cozy when snow is on the ground. Our hope in building this trailer is that we will be able to take a lot of family trips in the years to come and not have to worry about rain or snow.
We plan to home school our daughter(s) and envision our trailer to be a wonderful, wandering classroom for all sorts of natural discoveries. Laurie’s love of creation will most certainly be passed along as we teach our daughter(s) about the natural world around us and our role as stewards of the same. I have no difficulty imagining a future scene in which the three ladies of my life are walking down a wooded trail; the tallest light-haired one calling out the plant and flower names, the little dark-haired one repeating back the names, while the little furry one runs back and forth with her nose to the ground making sure no odor goes unsmelled and no burr or sticker goes unharvested.
Cheap Transportation
Our faithful, little, green station wagon, a 1993 Ford Escort or “Essie” as we called her, whom we purchased back in ’97 finally gave up the ghost. I was driving home after work and she developed a serious engine knock that deposited pieces of piston all over the #2 spark plug. We toyed with buying a new(er) car but simply couldn’t part with the money in a year fraught with adoption expenses.
Finally, after way more interaction with used-car salesmen than anybody should be subject to, I found a ’94 Ford Escort we’ve nicknamed, “The Silver Bullet”. It’s not as cool as Essie, because it doesn’t have power windows or locks, nor cruise control, nor is her fuel economy as good as Essie’s since it has an automatic transmission, but it has working air conditioning, gets a lot better mileage than our full-sized GMC pickup, and it’s already paid for. Yea!
Photography
Though I haven’t added to my photographic portfolio as much as I would have liked in 2006, I have taken the time to update our photographic website at www.togetherbydesign.com and I’ve spent some time organizing our 11,239 images, which is a clerical task and not the creative one I prefer, but necessary. Laurie is also working on getting 40 of our nature photographs exhibited at the local hospital for the months of February and March of 2007.
Theatre
Laurie and I did carve out time this summer to accept roles in our community’s musical production of Rogers & Hammerstein’s, “Oklahoma!”. I played Andrew Carnes, Ado Annie’s shotgun wielding father, and Laurie was a member of the Older Women’s Ensemble. They picked Laurie because of her awesome voice; they picked me because of the dashing figure I cut in overalls. :-) Laurie enjoyed singing and dancing and I enjoyed learning about the ‘art of acting’ and increased my appreciation for the developed skill that it truly is. In addition, we were blessed to get to know some incredibly talented individuals and I actually was trusted with two solos, “spinach and termaters” and, “the farmer and the cowman should be friends”.
Friends and Family
Last (2005) Christmas we had a surprise visit from our niece, Jaime Wells, who drove up from the Chicago area to stay with us during the Christmas weekend. On Christmas day we reluctantly drug ourselves out of the warm, comfortable house to the top of the hill, just behind our house, and then had a blast sledding down the hill together! We were so glad we made the effort to “play” outside. I spent my time pulling Laurie and Jaime back up the hill behind the 4 wheeler…yep, they cheated, but it was great fun!
We shared the Passover Meal this year with Laurie’s piano teacher and Family, the Stoddards. Since Laurie has been working outside the home, her piano playing and lessons have been put on hold, but she is hoping to pick that back up in February.
In May my mom & step-father came from Arkansas for a visit and Kent’s mom helped Laurie start her sewing project with our camper curtains. I had helped Laurie find navy blue fabric with chickadees and pinecones on it that look great for curtains and pillows in the trailer.
This fall Laurie got to sing with her cousin, aunt, and uncles at a cousin’s daughter’s baby shower. We also got to go four wheeling down some local MMRs (Minimum Maintenance Roads) with our niece’s family, since her husband had brought his four wheeler with them when they came to our house for a visit. After four wheeling, Laurie violated a million or so product safety regulations by riding down a hill with our great nephew, Josiah, in her wagon. She sure loves the wagon I got her for an anniversary gift. Most women want jewelry or something like that for their anniversary, Laurie wanted a garden wagon. Cool.
In December we hosted two different parties with our Bible Study friends and played crossword scrabble, Bible Taboo, and a “get to know you” game. We also ate some wonderful, homemade hors d’oeuvres and cookies. Laurie’s sister, Karen, and one of her daughters stayed the night with us, which usually means talking, laughing, and playing games until 11:00 p.m. (or later).
Many of you know because of previous e-mails, that Laurie’s dad had a difficult time with his health this late summer and then had prostate surgery this fall. From latest reports, he is facing another possible hernia surgery and still has an infection in his body that they cannot seem to find. He is still very weak with possible thyroid trouble and frustrated that he can’t do the work he is used to doing. Your continued prayers for him and Laurie’s mom would be appreciated.
My mom started the year dealing with breast cancer, but was able to avoid radiation with a new medication and is doing well. She has been a real trooper through her husband’s struggle this year with numerous stays in the hospital due to a weakened lung condition and kidney failure. He is currently undergoing dialysis three times a week and is in a rehab unit until his lungs are stronger. Your prayers for this situation would also be welcomed.
Many of you may also remember that our niece, Lacey, has been fighting bone cancer in her leg for the past two years. We are so relieved to report that her last visit to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester this November revealed that the bone graft they put in to replace the cancerous bone is now growing normally and she is doing well. She has had to take her junior year of high school over and so she goes to school with her younger sister, Candy, but she is in great spirits and is enjoying her, “Make a Wish Foundation” gift of a Great Dane puppy whom she named Ringo. Thanks so much to those of you who have prayed for her through this!
Christmas 2006
Laurie and I decided to get a “taste of big water” and the “mountains” of MN by spending the Christmas weekend in Duluth. We enjoyed two movies at the Omni Max theatre, a long walk along Lake Superior, ice skating on an outdoor rink outside of the aquarium, and eating in the rotating restaurant at the top of the Radisson Motel building. Thankfully, we were able to find a “pet friendly” motel to stay in so Little Girl could join us.
Whenever we are packing to go on a trip, she sits atop our suitcase or her crate by the door in hopes that we won’t forget to take her along. From her point of view, we forget to take her along whenever we go to work. We’re sure grateful that she loves to travel like we do!
When we got back home from our Duluth trip we lit our last Hannukah candle and opened our gifts. Unfortunately, one candle melted into another and eventually spilled wax all over a doily, down the front of our bookshelf, and down into a puddle on the floor. Uff da! It took Laurie a whole afternoon to clean up the candle mess. We won’t do that again!
Preparing a Place
Laurie has had a Precious Moments nativity scene ever since our first Christmas together, 13 years ago. This year she asked that I make a stable, also known as a booth or temporary dwelling, that all of the figurines would fit in and that would imitate the one that Yeshua (Jesus) was born in during the Jewish celebration of “Sukkot” a.k.a. “booths” or “Tabernacles”. Each year the Jewish people make temporary dwellings or tents to remember their temporary dwelling in the dessert with Moses. So, I headed out into the woods with a pair of loppers and cut down a bunch of finger-sized saplings and cobbled together a pole-stable. Then we walked out to the pasture area behind our house and cut some dried grass to use as straw.
I think about Joseph looking down at a baby in his wife’s arms that didn’t come from his body, but still, he was the one selected by God to be that baby’s father. A similar sort of thing will be going on in our lives next year. God is in the process of creating a baby, yet to be born and abandoned, that will be placed in our arms to parent. We’ll look at this baby, born of another, and wonder why, of all people, we were selected to be her mom and dad. What a strange and wonderful blessing it will be!
Thank you to all who sent cards, letters, and photos. Hearing from family and friends is one of the things we look forward to the most, during the Christmas season!
Kent & Laurie Anne Runge
krunge@gmail.com
www.togetherbydesign.com
