You can't make new old friends

Jasmine and I have been friends since we were two years old. We were the sister to each other that we never had. We were as different as night and day. 

Jasmine liked to be girlie and I liked to be out getting dirty. But Jasmine would get dirty and I would get girlie and I believe we learned a thing or two from each other and our differences. I know that we are better women today because of the friendship we have shared.

We had our squabbles like any "sisters" would, but we always managed to make up and be best friends again. We shared our hearts and our dreams with each other. We had many adventures and special times together and then we grew up and moved away. 

It has been over ten years now since we lived just over the hill from each other. Our paths have certainly meandered in different directions. Jasmine moved to big cities and I moved to remote places.  

Through we don't talk as much or share as many adventures together these days. I could pick up the phone right now and no matter how much time has past we always start off right where we left off. 

I remember planning our wedding together as little girls.  I never would have dreamed that I wouldn't be able to come to her wedding back then and through I wasn't there in person, I was there in my heart. 

I am so happy that you found such a great guy to give your heart to. May God bless you my dear friend as you start out this new chapter in your life. May your life be richly blessed full of dreams come true and a baby or two or three or.... :)

Best of luck my dear friend and heres to many more years of friendship! 

"There is no friend like an old friend who has shared our morning days, no greeting like his welcome, no homage like his praise." - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Clover

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." - Unknown

I found Clover one day while walking to the post office. She was among a littler of 8 other puppies and I actually picked out a white one because it reminded me of my beloved dog, Rosie, who I had in Africa. They were only two weeks at the time so I had to wait to bring the puppy home. 

When I returned a month later, I sat on a bench a few feet from the puppies and looked down at them. Then I called them over. Clover was the only puppy of the bunch who boldly stepped forward. I looked at her boldness and decided then and there that, for the first time I would chose the confident puppy of the litter. I paid P300 ($7.50) for her and brought her home.

Clover turned out to be a feisty, playful, difficult, but extremely lovable puppy. She had a love for flip flops that got her in constant trouble - I don't know how many she destroyed!

 Clover has brought me laughter from the day I brought her home. She has one of the funnest personalities I have ever seen in a dog.

 As she grew, she grew in boldness, in silliness and in faithfulness to me. She helps me to smile when I  am having tough times, she helps me to feel needed and find joy no matter what is happening around me.

Clover got the luck of the draw when I picked her that day. In a world where I can do so little, I love that I have done big things in Clovers life. Instead of being flea, lice, mange ridden and on her third litter of puppies, she is happy, healthy and vibrantly full of life. This makes me happy.  

 I can't change the world for every person and every animal, but I can for some and for those it makes a world of difference.

A dog has one aim in life... to bestow his heart.

~ J. R. Ackerley

"The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog." ~ George Graham

 In all her silliness, Clover has a sensitive side. Some moments she is wild and rambunctious and some moments she just wants a loving pat and a kind word.

 Clover has a fondness for other animals - she likes saying hi to the neighbors water buffalo and cows. She has a love of chasing, cats, goats and chickens (I am trying to break her of this). I am hoping she will get along well with horses and enjoy trail riding. I am confident that she will be a squirrel chaser, and I know she will have a run in with a skunk and porcupine when she gets home.

 "I would rather see the portrait of a dog that I know, than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world." -Samuel Johnson

"The average dog has one request to all humankind. Love me." -Helen Exley

 Clover loves to have fun (as I have mentioned before), She loves romping through the rice fields chasing rats, she likes bounding after rocks, or mangos when you throw them into a stream. She chases her own tail, likes to dance, and wrestle :)

 As you can see she can also enjoys a snuggle. 

She is loyal and on occasion will sneak inside looking for me. 

"The dog is the most faithful of animal and would be much esteemed were it not so common. Our Lord God has made His greatest gifts the commonest." -Martin Luther

 She recently left her make in Tabuk, by running across the wet road cement - I might have encouraged her, but to my defense I didn't think it was THAT wet :0/

"The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog... He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer; he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world...When all other friends desert, he remains." - George G. Vest

I am so thankful that God blessed me with Clover. She is truly a gift from Him. I will always miss the faithful friends that have gone before her, but God has given me a heart to love and each one holds a special place in my heart and will never be forgotten or replaced.

Lord willing Clover will be traveling to the USA in late July. I am trying not to worry, but until she is safely home, I think I will a little bit. Please pray that everything goes smooth for getting her home.


A good dog never dies, he always stays, he walks besides you on crisp autumn days when frost is on the fields and winter's drawing near, his head within our hand in his old way."
    - Anonymous