Angel in the post office

I have to admit, this made me tear up. It was on "Best of Craigslist" Not only did I verify this on Snopes, I found out that this happened at our post office, the one that serves our neighborhood, here in San Antonio.

This is one of the kindest things I've ever experienced. I have no way to know who sent it, but there is a kind soul working in the dead letter office of the US postal service. Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month. The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could so she dictated these words:

Dear God, Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick. I hope you will play with her. She likes to play with balls and to swim. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her you will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.

Love, Meredith.

We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredith and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.

Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed, 'To Meredith' in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called, 'When a Pet Dies.' Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of Abbey & Meredith and this note:

Dear Meredith,

Abbey arrived safely in heaven. Having the picture was a big help. I recognized Abbey right away. Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets to keep your picture in, so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by. Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you. I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much. By the way, I am wherever there is love.

Love, God

Caption Contest

Every once in a while you see a picture that earns undeserved attention for the subject of the picture. The picture below is on the front of USA Today, probably to the dismay of the lady in the center.



I feel badly for her because she is probably aghast at how she was captured by the photographer. But we will not let our silly, considerate feelings stand in the way of some fun. If she sees this she is welcome to enter the contest.

The challenge is to see who can come up with the funniest/most creative caption for this picture? The winner will be chosen by how hard I laugh. I'm actually saving another one just in case no one responds.

I'll even give you an example: "Obama eaten by supporter".

The people I know that have responded to this blog so far are very creative, so this could be good.

The winner gets a free one year subscription to this blog.

Good luck

Family picture

We recently just had our first professional family picture. It will be outdated soon so I thought I'd post it. We took the boys in for pictures and thought we'd sit down and do a family one. I'm surprised it turned out well, because Corbin had had enough.

I'm thinking of adding a halo over our oldest son Donovan's head. He appears to be trying to maintain innocence in this picture. Classic Donovan.


Julie is doing a great job of containing Corbin and getting him to feign a smile while I am trying to get Donovan to laugh so that he has a natural smile. I'm glad I failed.

Popcorn

I am a popcorn purist. I'm a big fan of popcorn cooked in heated oil. I do like the occasional movie theatre microwave popcorn, but the best is made with this

We traditionally have used Orville Redenbacher oil with whatever popcorn seeds I can find. I haven't really found any difference in seeds. We also use popcorn salt which is very fine (small grains). I mix the oil, popcorn and some seasoning in the popper to cook and put butter in the top to melt and drip on the popcorn as it cooks.

When we found that my wife Julie is allergic to a few of the things found in the oil and salt, we were looking for alternatives to make the popcorn. It was a little depressing trying to imagine popcorn tasting as good as our original recipe.

My brother's wife, Laura, recommended using coconut oil to replace the popcorn oil. So Julie went out and found LouAna Coconut Oil. We popped the popcorn in the coconut oil only (without butter, too). After it was done we salted to taste and .....it was delicious. It didn't taste as heavy as our original recipe and was really good. It was great that we could alter our diet for Julie's allergies and the food actually got better. I recommend this recipe for people without allergies. And it's healthier too. I did add a bit of popcorn seasoning to my bowl and it got even better.

Thanks for the tip Laura.