Viper, Viper, Viper…the easy-going, well-mannered dog, did not have a spectacular day today. In retrospect, it was really kind of funny at times. It was not the kind of funny however that you would laugh out loud at, quite frankly because all of what he did really affected Amanda more than anyone.

The picture is actually from a couple nights ago. He really does sleep on his back, or on his side with his paws against the wall….and yes, he snores. He rarely does anything bad, but tonight as we were scrambling around getting ready to leave for Holy Spirit, Amanda came downstairs as mad as a snake AND LIMPING. No, she was not hurt, she was just wearing one shoe while looking for the other. Viper doesn’t chew things, but he does like moving shoes….generally just one of them, and tonight he moved one of hers real well. We never did find it, though we will. What we did instead was hear what a moron he was for moving her shoe. And as a note to other husbands out there, my line about how it wouldn’t have been lost had the shoes been put away, really did not go well. (Though I have been told that myself on a variety of occasions!)

Anyway, we got out the door in second-string shoes and made our way towards Brownsburg. Deacon Tony called and said that many of the people attending tonight were not going to be making it (as if there was something like a Colts’ playoff game going on) and since it would be primarily his family, he offered to do the service himself. It was a needed break, so despite her Junior Varsity footwear, we headed to the grocery to pick up a few things before heading home.

Right before we had left the house however, Amanda put something she made for the pitch-in in Kokomo back in the fridge, and to make room for it, she took out a turkey and rice dish that I had made earlier in the week and set it on the counter. And yes, you guessed it, Viper decided to do the dishes for us while we were gone, but not in the conventional human way, but in the good old-fashioned dog way. There was a lot of it, which no one ate earlier in the week, but if there is a blessing in any of this it is to say that at least the dog liked my cooking….all but the part he left all over the kitchen floor.

So Viper and I are laying low, and hopefully the Colts win can be a distraction for her. We still haven’t found the shoe, but I will not mention it to her tonight at all. I will just smile and he will wag his tail, and we will pray to the Lord that neither of us do anything else stupid for the rest of the day!

Keep us in your prayers!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+