Ordinary Under Grace

I simply cannot end my day without writing a post about how thankful I am that Moose is now found and back home with us.

For those of you who don’t know, let me introduce you to Moose, our Golden Retriever. Moose came into our life when he was just a little puppy. Tye and Trail’s music teacher breeds Goldens and in 2024, Honey had her first litter. It was instantaneous puppy love for the boys. Each week, we got to love on the puppies and eventually pick which one we thought would be right for our family–Moose! He joined our family in September 2024.

Moose has always been a sweetheart. He trained easily and simply loves to be present in whatever activity we are doing. He has been a blessing to the boys and I, a fun and comforting presence not only in our happy days, but also in our sad days.

From the get-go, these two were a pair! There is nothing like a boy and his dog. Tye and Trail loved Moose too and quickly had him spoiled.

We live out in the country, and along with Moose, we have our Lucy, a half Border Collie and half Pyrenees mix who is 4 years old. Lucy is our guard dog who stays up at night to alert of the coyotes howling, the cows mooing in the pasture across the dirt road, and any other strange noise. But she is also the one we can count on to be watching from the yard, unless she makes a trip to the pasture to watch the neighbor’s cows. Moose happily goes wherever she goes, running beside her, taunting her, nipping her, begging her for a rough and tumble moment of play. If Lucy was home, Moose was home. He never wandered and wherever Lucy was, Moose was not far away.

This past Thursday was a usual workday for both T.J. and I. The boys went to their Punk and Hunny’s, which left Moose and Lucy in charge of the place while we were gone. The boys had their last Entomology practice in the evening, so I beat them home. Moose was not there to greet me when I pulled in. He and Lucy both usually fight over who is going to crawl in my lap in the driver’s side as soon as I open the car door.

I called for him, but he didn’t come. At the moment, I didn’t think too much of it as I had a splitting headache and wasn’t feeling well after having a particularly hard day. I tend to get headaches at work, so I am often overly spent and exhausted when I get home.

T.J. and the boys were right behind me and they also noticed that Moose was not around. They called out for him and then T.J. and the boys drove around to look for him while I took some ibuprofen and soaked in the bathtub.

After T.J. and the boys got back with no luck of finding Moose, Tell, Trail, and I took our turn in my car driving around after we walked our 15-acre property on foot. It was getting cold and had some promise of rain, so we were bundled and worried about Moose being out in the rain. We drove around until close to 10:00 PM. There was a huge feeling of defeat as I parked the car and assured Tell that Dad had sent out a group text to the neighbors and that we would resume looking in the morning.

Friday morning we walked the place again and T.J. drove around again searching. I had to go to Olton to pick up my order from Azure, but when I returned home, I asked T.J. if the 4-wheeler was working so that we could drive around the pastures in the event that he was hanging out with the sheep dogs. The 4-wheeler has been giving trouble, so we weren’t able to get it working.

Tell was adamant that we check the abandoned house down the road from us, so we walked in search of Moose as we looked in the ditches and, in the fields, hoping that we would find him there as this has previously been a hang out spot.

On the way back home, I was thinking about how Jesus left the 99 sheep to find the 1 lost sheep. I knew that I could not leave any stone unturned in our search for Moose. I had posted on Facebook and shared the post to the Lost and Found Pets in Plainview page. As we walked along the road, Tell and Trail threw out ideas of where they thought Moose might be and why he might have run off–or worse–did somebody steal Moose?

Once again turning home with no Moose, I was feeling pretty down and Tell was too. I’ll admit, I have occasional bouts of depression and Friday was one of those debilitating days. I couldn’t do anything but sit in my chair and cry and pray, and cry and pray, and cry some more, and then mope and sleep. Tell would hug me and then he would cry. He would step outside and call, “Moose! Puppy! Come ‘ere!” And then I would cry some more because a boy who has been through as much as Tell has should not have to lose his dog.

I knew that I was going to have to get my act together at some point, but I was so disappointed and worried that Moose was gone for good. The “what if” scenarios were endless. It was like a nightmare. Grief is a dark cloud that surrounds my mind, fogs my brain, kills my senses and changes my thinking. I wrote out some of those thoughts in my journal. Despite these thoughts, I knew that God cared and that He heard me. He knows and He sees our suffering. I encouraged my sons and I told them not to give up. I told them that God hears our prayers. I also pointed out that if Moose had been hit by a car, we would have found him near the side of the road, so that was good that we hadn’t.

By Saturday I was surprised and thankful to find that my Facebook post had over 100 shares. My sister-in-love, Melissa, was encouraging and helped me come up with another post offering a reward for Moose. She has one of Moose’s brothers, Goose, and is also an avid animal lover as I am. I posted again offering a reward.

Here is a picture of Moose and Goose together last year when we stayed at Melissa’s house. These two are hard to get a picture of because they are rarely still!

Saturday was a busy day full of District 4H contests. We had Entomology in the morning and archery in the afternoon. It honestly helped that we were super busy and able to pass some time because by this point, we knew that Moose was not anywhere near the house. The pastures had been checked, neighbors had been keeping an eye, we had driven around and walked the property multiple times.

There was unwanted excitement in the afternoon because a fire sparked on the north section, which is the section of land that we live on. T.J. had to leave archery early to go help. I wasn’t getting clear answers, panicked, and I also left to go turn the sprinkler on at our house as soon as my dad arrived to watch the boys finish out their archery tournament.

By this time, I was angry. I was thankful that the fire had been put out. But I was angry at life in general. I spent the evening working off my anger by cleaning out underneath the evergreens–a big project that I wasn’t able to finish, but for which I made good headway. It was good to watch the brush and dead wood burn. It was good to spend time alone outside while I spoke to God of my raw feelings. I felt the emptiness of Moose not being by my side while I worked.

Sunday morning my Facebook posts had a total of over 200 shares. You find out who your friends are in times like these. People reached out to me and asked about Moose over the weekend. They told me encouraging stories of when their dogs were lost and how they were found and not to give up hope. I felt surrounded by my community and people I didn’t even know who were on the lookout for our dog.

Tell told me that in Sunday school they prayed that Moose would return home. His close friend, Jonathan, had piped in the request. The faith exemplified here is pulling on my heart strings. Other members of our church asked me about Moose and how they were praying for his safe return. I thanked them, recognizing that hope and faith were what was keeping me going. Watching my son have faith in Jesus–isn’t this what life is all about?

After church we had to run to Homebase as we are having some trouble with the well and T.J. needed parts to fix it. You guessed it–when it rains trials and tribulations, it seems to pour.

On our way home, I received a call from Jon, a best friend of ours. I was initially concerned because I thought something must be up with Krista. My concern soon turned to joy as he told me that his sister, Melissa, had tagged me in a post on Facebook of someone posting a found dog that looked just like Moose on the Hale Center page. I pulled up the post, and it was Moose!!! I messaged the lady who had posted, and she quickly called me with her address.

Moose was found 9.4 miles from our home, close to Hale Center. NINE MILES! Moose was definitely on the move. Krista thinks he picked up a scent and went after it.

I will never forget the moment of joy as we pulled in. Moose recognized our car and came running to greet us. He hopped in the car with a big ol’ smile on his face and the boys were instantly hugging him.

I met the two wonderful women who had posted they found Moose, McKenna and Kendra (she shares my name!). We wiped away tears and I offered the reward money, but they refused, saying they were just happy Moose had found his family.

These smiles and hugs say it all.

Moose was starving. He ate 3 of his normal servings. He is usually picky, but not this afternoon. Caspian thought he needed to share with Moose. I think he missed Moose too.

Tell came to hug me once we had Moose settled and he said, “Mom, God answers our prayers. I prayed to God and now Moose is home.”

I squeezed Tell back in a bear hug. “He sure does, Tell. God knows what we can handle, and I think He knew we couldn’t handle another loss. He knew we needed our Moose back.”

Tell smiled up at me, “This means Moose gets to celebrate my birthday with me!”

The sun is out again. I’m thankful for my community, for my friends, and for my family who helped us to find Moose. I’m thankful for those who understand the value of a furry family member. I’m thankful for answered prayers. And I’m thankful for feeling the love that surrounds me as I desperately needed it. Thank you, Jesus, Moose was lost, but now he is found!