In Motion

Praise God for answered prayers - Jasmine has finally found a new home. If all goes well, she'll be leaving us on the 14th (this Friday) to go to her new home out in the country.  I'm genuinely glad for her because this new home sounds like paradise. She'll have 4 acres of land to roam around in and a doting owner who'll love her to bits. And she won't have to compete for affection with another dog, too, because this owner's last dog passed away a few months ago. I've always felt that although she'd do okay in a home with another pet, Jasmine can be a bit of a diva and an attention-hog. =P It's all happening sooner than I'd thought it would, but I guess it's for the best. I had a good cry about this yesterday night, so here's hoping it's all out of my system now (I really don't want to start bawling my eyes out and make it awkward for everyone when it's time for her to go). I keep comforting myself with the fact that Jasmi...

January flew by. Is it just me, or is time speeding up as we get closer to leaving? It's been a pretty warm winter if I might say so myself. Thanks to the agreeable weather, I got lots of things done - we bought our final flight tickets home, I read at least 6 books, we explored two new grocery stores, we're doing weekly devotionals, we've been watching Read Scripture YouTube vids and spending quality time with friends and family - all in all a productive January. We're also in the process of finding Jasmine a good home, so any prayer about that is dearly appreciated! So far we have a couple of potential homes, but nothing confirmed yet. Things are looking optimistic though. This little doggie's future has been the subject of fervent prayer for a while now. As the date draws nearer, I'm filled with a sense of urgency to cross things off my bucket list. I know I won't be back for a long time, if ever, and I find myself treasuring things like the amazi...

Jasmine's bout of diarrhoea started yesterday at noon. As the day went on, her diarrhoea became progressively worse and she even vomited once (good thing I saw that coming and caught the bile before it got onto the carpet). Since her behaviour was otherwise normal, we decided to observe her to see if it would last more than 24 hours or eventually resolve itself. My guess is that her diarrhoea was caused by ingesting some of the cotton balls from the trash that I used to put on facial toner with because my toner smells like raw bacon. Just a hypothesis based on the mysterious appearance of semi-eaten cotton balls on the floor. =P A dog with diarrhoea can be mildly amusing. Jasmine usually doesn't indicate that she needs to go out, and instead depends on us to regularly let her out on walks and potty breaks, unlike other dogs who may whine at the door or ring a bell to alert their owners to their needs. However, yesterday she was noticeably antsy and restless. We were all nappi...

I enjoy learning about stuff. So when I have new things in my life, like a dog, I tend to read up and learn as much as I can. I've borrowed and read a few books on dog training in the past few months, and while they're very informative and interesting, I find that what's considered good dog training is a little too intense for my liking. I think my preferences are also influenced by my own philosophy of life. =P Anyway, one thing dog trainers keep emphasizing is that treats come after achieving something, not for just looking cute. While that's a good way to motivate a dog to perform, I feel like that's a little too much for me. After all, if my parents only rewarded me after achieving something, I'd feel like I was only loved for my achievements. Also, if I only rewarded Jasmine when she manages to perform a trick, she wouldn't get any treats at all because I'm not big on teaching her tricks. I also don't believe in rewarding her for good manner...

Happiness is... the smell of dog. I kid you not. Sometimes, I actually pick up Jasmine's dog bed and sniff deeply to get a whiff of her doggy smell. Happiness is... when Jasmine obediently drops a bone she found on her adventures outside because I said "No". She picks her owner's happiness over instant gratification! Happiness is... a dog insistently nuzzling its way onto your lap and curling up to sleep there when you're watching Netflix or using the laptop. Happiness is...when there's a warm furry hot water bottle curled up against you during afternoon naps in the winter. Happiness is... being greeted by a wagging tail whenever you come home, or even something as simple as wake up from a nap. It is so affirming that someone is that eager for you to wake up. =P Happiness is... watching Jasmine bound swiftly and gracefully with her super long legs to chase a squirrel. The not-so-fun part is having to clean up the wet mud splattered all over her aft...

As 2015 gradually comes to a close, I figured I should write a post about this remarkable past year and the ways that I have changed since coming over to the States. I'm writing this in advance because come January 31st, I'll be in Gatlinburg with the husband counting down to the New Year. Exciting! =D As I type these words, Jasmine is quietly snoozing on top of a comforter in her dog bed on the futon in a heated apartment with Christmas music playing in the background. American dogs, pffft, so spoiled. =P For the first time in my life, I am fully responsible for the life of another creature. I loved Lara as well, but mum was really the one who took care of everything from her food to her vet bills. With Jasmine, her quality of life depends solely on me (and JW, of course, but if things get tough, he always says she's my dog =P). That's a whole different level of love and commitment. We also don't have a backyard for her to romp about in, so I need to walk her da...

It's good practice having a pet to see what Jia Wern and I will be like as parents in future. Although none of it is a surprise, since I already knew I'd have to be the bad cop and he, the good cop. =P Anyway, it's super apparent with Jasmine. I set boundaries so that she doesn't get used to being spoiled, such as insisting she finishes her kibble before I give her any fresh wet food. I also insist that she sleeps on the dog bed instead of curling up in bed with us at night (she loves snuggling with us on the human bed so she tries to wiggle out of that one sometimes). I don't think I'm being unnecessarily strict - it's important for her not to get used to habits that might not be sustainable over the long run or if she'll need to be dog-sitted at some point. For example, if she makes it a habit to hop into bed with us at night, I would probably suffer from having not enough space to move around and also from stiffness because I don't want to mov...

Today is Thanksgiving, and I have so much to be thankful about. I'm a child of God, happily married to my husband, life is wonderful and relatively stress-free, we have a great church community, and we finally got a dog! Life with a dog is wonderful. It's definitely been an incentive to come home/stay home and to wake up earlier in the mornings (to let Jasmine out). And I love how she's such a snugglebug. We make her sleep in the dog bed at night because there simply isn't enough space on our bed for another creature, but in the morning she gets on the bed and snuggles up to us. If you've never had a dog snuggle up to you quietly, you don't know what love is. =P I also like taking her out on walks and seeing people smile at her (because she's such a cutie). I used to go all mushy with other people's dogs and now I have one of my own for others to go gaga over! The other day at Duke Gardens, two girls came up to us to asked to pet Jasmine. I was onl...