Coby Jack Tinsley

I uploaded these pictures in the opposite order that they showed up, and I'm too lazy to switch it!

This has been both a fun and sad week. Well, and crazy, but that is really a given! So...we went on our 5 hour trip, as I posted before, and I still intend to get photos up from that trip. On our way back, we picked up baby H, a friend's little girl, and we watched her until Thurs. We got home on Sat., and our dog Maggie was in the front yard. The dogs (Coby and Maggie) are always in the back yard and we don't let them out on purpose. We hollered for Coby, but he never came. On Sunday Autumn went to pick up little cousin B to keep him for a week (yep, that's 2 extra little ones) and I took some of the girls to church. Me and my crew drove around looking for Coby near us, but didn't find him. So I called Autumn to tell her of our failed search, and she told me the news.......He was on the side of the highway just 1/2 mile from our home. DEVASTATED!!!!!!!! I yelled......not the right reaction, but I yelled......then I apologized to the girls later. Coby was my dog. I didn't even want ONE dog when we got Maggie. But Maggie is such a great dog, and something in me just wanted one for myself. So we went to the shelter and picked out Coby. We all loved this dog. Sister 3, A, especially loved him. Of course she loves all creatures, but her and Coby just seemed to bond really well: they both push REALLY hard on you when lovin on you, they both can STINK up a room, they are both stubborn, and they are both really loving and sweet. So when we told the girls........of course we were all just heart-broken. So how did they get out of the yard? Well, we have this neighbor who has a son who is mentally challenged, and we have had lots of situations where we had to call the sheriff on him. He had let our dog out before, so there were locks on the gate, but he loosened the fence at the corner and let them out. So, I realize this is "just a dog" to most people, but this was part of our family and we have to figure out how to help ourselves and our kids grieve.
Of course there were tons of questions and they just couldn't believe it. S kept saying, Toby wouldn't run into the street. He knows to watch for tars.
It has just been so sad. So we decided we all needed closure, and today we had a "service" for Coby. We let the girls pick out their clothes and how to do their hair, and we picked a tree to be "Coby's tree". We gathered some "flowers" from the field and all said a few words about him. S had been praying for God to help Coby, and A informed her that we can't pray for dead people. A: When people die, they already made their decision and they are either with God or the devil. Like Elvis. He did bad drugs and now he's with the devils but maybe he's with God but it won't help if we pray for Elvis, so we can't pray for Coby either.

Did you follow that? Well, welcome to our world of following random thoughts! So we made it clear that in our service, we would just say words ABOUT Coby not TO Coby, cause we can't talk to dead people or animals!

When we headed out to the "service" S thought we were going to the church. Makes perfect sense....we always have service at the church! She asked, Is everyone going to tome and say something about Toby?

So we had our service. They said how they liked Coby to follow them around, wake them up in the mornings, cuddle with them at nights, etc. M sang a song about Coby. There were tears. It really was sweet!

We love Coby very much, and the girls are ready to love another dog, but I'm not so sure I am ready for another dog. Autumn loves to look at the dog shelters websites anyway, so she already had some in mind to look at. I don't know how soon we will get another dog, but the girls have enjoyed looking at the pictures of dogs. S doesn't seem to have an opinion on any of the dogs. H gets stuck on a few that she really likes, but she would go for whatever. She asks us about ever 2 or 3 hours if we have filled out the application for a dog yet. A wants another dog, but she looks at me to get my reaction before she decides if she wants that dog. M begs for every dog we look at. I told her We can't just get every dog we look at. We saw a lot of kids at the shelter before we got you. If we would have just gotten the first ones, we wouldn't have you! We have to wait for the right one, not just the first ones. She understood perfectly and hasn't pushed anymore!

So, why was our week fun? Well we had those two precious babies visiting, and we had TONS of fun! Really, I think that was the Lord's timing that the two babies were with us. They helped to keep our minds off of Coby. Also, I was working a day camp this week and M and H attended this camp. We had SO much fun! Our town puts the camp on and we focus on healthy eating and anti-bullying. We also have a lot of fun activities.....soccer, archery, tennis, golf, art......it is TONS of fun! So it has been a good week, even in the midst of heart ache. Good thing our joy comes from the Lord and doesn't depend on our circumstances!