Sadness

Today was a very hard, sad day in our home. Early this morning, when it was still dark, two of our dogs, Sandy and Maggie, were killed on the road in front of our house. They were hit by a vehicle. We did not see or hear it happen. Adam took them to the pasture early for their first visit outside. He came inside for a few minutes, but when he went back outside, they were not in the pasture. He hunted till he found them. They were already dead. We do not know what drew them both so far, and into the road. He buried them beside each other near the fence where the passion fruit grows, between the orchard and the barn.

darling Sandy

Sandy loved living on the farm, sleeping in the sun in the pasture.

Sandy and Beau were such good pals.

Sandy would have been seven years old this summer. We got her when our old Sheltie Lacey was an elderly dog. Sandy achieved the status of "Best Dog" -- a term Adam uses to describe a dog that has become the very BEST she can become. Sandy was that. Wonderfully obedient, sweet through and through, so happy. I miss her very much. She was a good friend.
When Maggie Moo came to us the dogs became a true pack, a real herd, and their greatest joy each day was when Adam would say each morning, "Do any dogs want to go to work?!" They would run for the back door. All three would charge through the pasture gate. Sandy and Maggie would engage in bark wars over a stick. There was nothing so hopeful in this world as Sandy's face, hovered over a stick, longing for you to throw it.

truck dogs

 I don't have as many photos of Maggie because we haven't had her as long. She was only five months old, but already bigger than Sandy. She was happy, rambunctious, goofy, wallowing, affectionate. She would lie down on the kitchen floor with her food bowl between her paws and eat. We often just called her Moo.

In the evenings, the three amigos snoozed in the living room just like this:

We still have Beau, and we are so, so thankful for that. I think it would have crushed Adam utterly to lose Beau also. It has been truly horrible to lose two dogs so suddenly, so brutally, in one day.

Beau is lonely without Sandy. I'm sure we will get more dogs at some later date. As Adam says -- you don't replace a dog, but you can make new friends. Sandy and Maggie, we love and miss you. Did you know that in the Bible, the word for "living soul" that applies to humans is also used in Genesis to describe animals as well? We hope to see our dear dog friends again on God's new earth, where all things are made new, where all of His creation is redeemed. That will be a happy day.