I must admit, this is a pretty cool story. My daughter Hannah used some of her Christmas money to purchase a Build-A-Bear Workshop stuffed animal, a husky dog. If you have kids and don't know about BABW - you gotta check it out. The experience we had at the store was pretty cool. My daughter picked out her unstuffed, unnamed dog and a little stuffed heart. She then brought these lifeless items to the sweet lady that was running the stuffing machine. The lady had my daughter run through a whole routine to properly warm and start the heart beating before stuffing into the dog and bringing it to life. It was sweet. My daughter then went through the procress of naming the dog to produce an official birth certificate. She named her new adopted pet - "Shasta". And everybody lived happily every after... until...

Well, those of you who know us, know that we have two new dachshund puppies: Lucy and Lilly. We love them dearly, however, being the puppies that they are, they love to chew on things. Unfortunately we left the puppies alone in the house while we all went outside. One of the puppies thought it might be fun to play with Shasta while we were out. When we came back in we found Shasta missing part of his bottom jaw, his tongue and part of his nose. As you can imagine, this created a great deal of sadness. We quickly assessed Shasta's wounds and determined that they were beyond our ability to properly care for. Mommy immediately went to work looking for a doctor. On the BABW website they say that you can bring your animals in to any store for repair. We took our sad daughter and her injured pet to the shop where we bought him. They were so good. They told her that Shasta needed to go the Build-A-Bear Hospital to see Dr. Robin. They also showed her a one-eyed bear that was brought in earlier that day that would be keeping Shasta company on the trip to the hospital. They said that as soon as he was better they would ship him directly to our house with a full doctor's report on how he did. They are going to do all of that at no charge. Now I won't lie to you, Hannah shed many a crocodile tear having to part with her new pet, but I think she will be OK once she sees her pet all healed up and back in her arms. Way to go Build-A-Bear!

I just setup my second BlogEngine.net blogging site. This one for my sons and their friends. They want to have a place to write book reviews, video game reviews, and other such things. I pray that they join the rebelution. Keep an eye out for future content... To Hunter and Fisher - I hope you like your new window into the world wide web. I pray that you will be mighty hunter's of lost souls and great fisher's of men.

KingsArrows.com

You gotta love technology. Below is an on-line "chat" conversation I had with my youngest daughter. Now it may not seem like much to you, but it is oh so sweet and special to me. You may not understand all that is going on in our conversation like the part about Mommy "spit testing the girls", but that's ok.  (btw, that has something to do with alpacas and checking to see if they are pregnant. But I'll leave it at that.)

Hannah: hey dad this is hannah
are you there

Richie: hi sweetie!!!!

Hannah: hi daddy how are you doing

Richie: I am doing fine - how are you??

Hannah: good Im done with school

Richie: AWESOME!!!
WHOO HOOO
CELEBRATION!!!!

Hannah: ha ha yay im having so much fun

Richie: hahaha - you are soo funny (and cute too)_

Hannah: thank you

Richie: you are most welcome my-lady

Hannah: mommy is going to spit test the girls

Richie: oh boy - now that sounds like fun

Hannah: realy fun

Richie: :)
do I need to call her?

Hannah: diddo

Richie: diddo?

Hannah: it means the same bake to you
not abought the i need to call her thing

Richie: ahhh - it is spelled "ditto"
ok

Hannah: oh sorry
were are you

Richie: at my desk
eating my lunch
doing a little work...

Hannah: Good are you trying to get as much done as posible so you can come home as soon as you can right

Richie: absolutely
you sound like your Mommy
;)

Hannah: ;) good kus i miss you

Richie: awww - I love you and miss you too
such a sweetie
my sweetie

Hannah: i love you the mostus

Richie: bless you

Hannah: and i love mommy the same as you
;)

Richie: and we love you the mostus
:)
but don't tell your sister or brothers that
;)

Hannah: OK

Hannah: I wander wats happening back at the barn
:)

Richie: hopefully no spitting

Hannah: hope not

Hannah: wat time do you think youl be able to leave

Richie: hopefully by 4:00
by the way - "What" is spelled with an "h" in there
;)

Hannah: here

Richie: I should be able to leave at 4 which should get me home around 4:50

Hannah: great

Richie: Mr and Ms Terri are coming over tonight

Hannah: yep and mom is going to ask if they kood bring kit kitridge

Richie: k

Hannah: call and ask if they will
:)
:):):):):)

Richie: are you asking me to call?
I'll let mom do it - she is so much better at those things than me

Hannah: nonono i ment mom

Richie: ok
good
:)

Hannah: :) :) :) :)
did you call mom

Richie: she just called me

Hannah: raely

Richie: y
talking now

Hannah: cool
:)
shes coming up right now
shes inside right now

Richie: y

Hannah: yep