love(y) lost and found

so we lost "doggie."  who is now, "bobby doggie" because ford has started calling him "Bobbieeee"  however, frank's bear is called Bobby because his cousin Hank's bear is called Bobby.  so in order to separate the bear from the dog, we call him "bobby doggie."  we also call him this because it makes us laugh.  say it out loud.  for real.  you can't help but laugh when you say, "bobby doggie."

last night I had my first BSF class (Bible Study Fellowship).  While preparing dinner and waiting for michael to get home so that i could run out the door, Ford was already a crying mess because he was hungry and tired and i could not find bobby doggie.  He still hadn't eaten when i left the house, and I could tell it might be hard to put him to bed.  I was, however, confident that bobby doggie was around somewhere and wouldn't be hard to find.

when i arrived home 2 hours later, frank was still awake and the dinner had not been put away, and i asked, "what's going on?"
to which michael replies, "i can't find the dog."

i start to be immediately concerned, because i assumed he was refering to Angus - because angus is the dog.  i go outside and start looking for him, and then it occurs to me that he was not talking about the real canine, but bobby doggie.  to which i explained that if you only would call him by his correct name, we would not have this type of confusion in the house.

michael had spent the past 2 hours unable to console ford and unsuccessful in finding that ridiculous piece of fabric that means so much to him.  he had searched inside and outside for over an hour and announced that he was done. 

Now here is the amazing thing, our good friends Alex and Don have been searching for a replacement doggie for months now just in case something like this ever happens.  and i just received bobby doggie2 in the mail just 3 days ago!  However...he is too fluffy and the tag has not been greased down with snot and drool yet, so as soon as i hand it to him, he launches it out of the crib.  (i will attempt to break him in on my own.)

Eventually, ford gave it up and went to sleep.  I asked michael if we could pray for bobby doggie, to which he laughed and said one of the funniest prayers that i have ever heard.
"Dear Lord, please help us find Bobby Doggie.  He is important to Ford, so he is important to us, I guess.  Amen."

around midnight, ford woke up because he couldn't find his friend in his bed.  he was restless and searching for him while he was asleep.  AND HERE IS WHERE BOBBY DOGGIE2 SAVES THE DAY.  Ford didn't notice the difference while he was asleep!  at least at first.

bobby doggie2 bought me at least a few hours of sleep, until around 4 when i had to sleep with him in frank's bed (as frank was already in my bed complaining of a hurt ankle. seriously, who hurts their ankle at 4:00am?) until morning.  apparently the only other substitute for a rag with a head is his mom's face that he plays with while sleeping.

it was a rough morning with two cranked kids and a mama with a dirty kitchen, no coffee and feeling anxiety about a missing piece of fabric.  I prayed some more, and then to my great joy, i started looking in the playroom closet, and there he was, all disgusting as always, hidden under a black cowboy hat.

Praise the Lord.  you should have seen Ford's face.  he held that germ trap up to his cheek like a lover who had been away at war.  he has not relinquished it yet.

see if you can find him.  bobby doggie somehow even made it into ford's baptism.