Furry Pinball and Faith

My girls spent the past week at church camp with my mom…in return I watched my (special needs) brother for her…and her crazy, wiry, ball-of-fire dog.

**don’t let his cute looks deceive you**

My brother was the easy part, but the dog (Beardsley) exhausted his stay after the first five minutes when he marched into my home like he owned the place and wanted to mark his territory. That was Friday evening.

Saturday he barked most of the day.

Sunday, before church, my husband and son went on a high speed chase after him on foot for 45 minutes; he’d slipped out the door and thinks this kind of thing is a game. In reality the only one enjoying their self is the dog.

Early Monday morning we put Beardsley out to potty and within minutes the neighbor pounded on our door like the police to dramatically inform us the dog was obnoxiously barking…thank you Captain Obvious.

Tuesday was going great with the little fur ball, I thought…but at the end of the day he nabbed a syringe I’d been using to feed baby bunnies and destroyed it.

Wednesday night I passed the dog off to my oldest brother, as planned, and within a few hours he called to ask how to get him to come back to the house. He’d ran out their door and was on the loose. When this happens the best way to describe his behavior (so you really get the full effect) is to imagine the little ball in a pinball machine! Beardsley’s the little ball!! He’s crazy!

Thankfully their neighbor snagged him up and got him back to my brother’s house safely…where I’m sure he’ll be on a “tight leash” now…

Okay so let’s talk Jeffrey! My youngest brother.

I wrote recently about our family being in a car accident years ago where my father lost his life; well Jeffrey, who was ten at the time, was ejected from the vehicle and as a result suffered brain injury and has short term memory loss, which he’s fully aware of and will remind us at least a dozen times a day. He spends part of the week with my mom and the other part with a caregiver in his own apartment now that he’s an adult.

Jeffrey has a good sense of humor; the other day we laughed together because he went through my cupboards and drawers looking for a drinking cup for about two minutes, when all along his glass was sitting on the counter right in front of him!

He loves putting puzzles together and will sit focused for hours doing so. He’s actually made the front page of the local newspaper a few times to feature his story and love of puzzles. He has nearly 150 of them hanging on his apartment walls. A thousand piece puzzle takes him about ten hours to finish over the spread of a week. While he stayed at our house I got him started on a Duck Dynasty puzzle. He finished three and a half sides of the border to my half of a side.

On Tuesday we celebrated his 29th birthday with him. I got him in my kitchen to help bake brownies which he really enjoyed! Helping in the kitchen was a first for him and as a result he’s been telling people “I know how to cook now, Alicia taught me!”

And yesterday this is what happened:

He asked me, “hey Alicia is this a farmhouse?”

I smiled with satisfaction at the idea that someone FINALLY recognized my attempt to make it look that way!!!…then without hesitation I asked, “oh my gosh, how’d you know that?!!!”

….he pointed toward my kitchen and matter of factly responded, “uh because the sign above the sink says farmhouse.”

…oh…yes, of course it does…🙄

The thing that stands out the most to me about my brother is that he doesn’t judge others—just accepts them the way they are even though he doesn’t always receive the same acceptance. He doesn’t know a stranger and will talk to anyone, and especially loves it when someone tells him they know who are dad was.

He’ll spend hours everyday reading through the Bible or other nonfiction books even though he wouldn’t be able to recap any of it. The beautiful thing is though that Jeffrey has an incredible understanding of God and when his behavior flairs toward the negative he’s quick to turn it around for fear of misrepresenting Jesus to others.

Despite Jeffrey’s setbacks (memory loss, seizures on a daily basis, and an eye that constantly waters) he just wants to love God. He prays like he’s talking to a best friend and understands what so many people don’t—and he never questions or wavers in his faith.

Jeffrey knows that right now his body and mind aren’t healthy, but he believes the words from Philippians 3:20-21:

But our citizenship is in Heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

My little brother has faced more adversity than most ever will, but he trust the Lord is on his side and that one day in Heaven he’ll be made whole, without any imperfections or problems.

Thanks so much mom for having us watch Jeffrey…Beardsley, on the other hand, probably isn’t welcome back…

Revelation 21:4 ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’

Author: alimw2013

About For His Purpose~ My name is Alicia and I'm a thirty-something year old who loves Jesus. Only through God’s amazing grace and mercy I have been redeemed from past regret and shame. Reading His word has allowed me to look past Satan’s forceful lies, to see myself for who Christ says I am in Him. Through writing I have learned why I made the choices I made in my younger years and I now have a better understanding of why I desire to love God like crazy these days. Despite my daily failures, God remains faithful always. I am reassured of His unconditional love for me by every ink-drop spilled out on paper, each committed prayer as I cry out to Him, and deep understanding reflected through reading His word as truth. Yes keeping a blog will make me vulnerable to others’ opinions- there will be some who don’t understand, some who may criticize or judge, but on the other hand if just one piece expressed through my writing grabs someone’s attention and directs them to God, then pouring out my heart in a blog for the world to read is worth it. I choose to glorify Him alone through words streaming across a glowing screen. And it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t reveal the fact that I’m incredibly quirky; I’m my loving husband’s best friend, my vivacious kids’ craziest cheerleader and spiritual trainer (3 John 1:4). I love anything farmhouse and rustic style. I think cupping a warm coffee mug in the palm of my hands is more satisfying than the contents within. I share a common obsession with my husband for the mountains, but I would (without a doubt) settle for waves crashing against my legs at the Atlantic Ocean just as well, and I almost always have a Yorkie curled up on my lap while writing. *All photos are photographed by forhispurpose.blog and therefore may not be stored or photocopied in any manner.

41 thoughts on “Furry Pinball and Faith”

  2. I didn’t know whether to start my comment with an “Awwwww” or a “Lol. So I’m starting it with both! This was so heart warming Alicia! It’s so not fair, it just makes me want to be your neighbor even more. When your brother said that farmhouse was written on the sign, I laughed out loud. That’s great! And your comments on Beardsley, well.. I understand lol. Animals are fun. Hehe. I will have a post on our noisy cat one of these days. She’s sweet, but she has her moments where I think Andrew would like to strangel her. Lol.

    Thanks for sharing about your brother. It was so worth the read. Love you, my friend, and your beautiful family. ❤

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    1. Thanks for reading Tina! Oh to be neighbors!!! Lol we’d have a blast..our youth pastor’s wife and I are pretty close and have been known to go out for supper (Mexican restaurants always lol) and then we chat til wee hours of the night..or the next day lol midnight, one a.m, etc….I could totally see that being us!! 😂

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      1. Awwww. That sounds wonderful. I’m glad you have some close relationships. Andrew and I are kind of in a wierd place with our health stuff, but I do hope one day we’ll be through this valley and we can have a bit more community. Andrew is really feeling isolated. I at least have my online friends, but he’s feeling like everyone has forgotten him. Things were better before our Pastor retired. He would take Andrew out to lunch. Our new Pastor hasn’t visited once. He was going to, but he’s a firefighter as well, so he’s got a lot on his plate. But yeah, I’ve been feeling bad for him because he is the kind of guy that will be there in a heart beat for anyone, but I people kind of flake out on him. I think we also notice it more because we don’t have a family of our own, and our health challenges make it more difficult to plug into things. But I’m thinking long term. I don’t believe it was always be this way. I think this is just a valley, and a growing season. Seasons change.

        Thanks for making me smile. I can totally imagine us hanging out and enjoying each other’s company. I’ve really enjoyed living vicariously through your posts too. 🙂

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      2. It’s been awesome to get to know you through your words! And it’s always great reading commentary on Andrew lol and the cats!
        Praying your health would improve for the both of you so you can get out and about! I pray for you guys regularly!!! Relationships are so important, I’m thankful Andrew has such a great wife to keep him company but I’ll be praying for some of his other relationships to pick up also!! I know at times I experience times where I haven’t talked with a friend in a while and I have to remind myself this busyness is just a season but it’s hard!!

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      3. Thank you so much for your prayers and your friendship. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you as well. When I take stock of all that God has blessed me with, including those he’s blessed me with, it really helps to keep everything in perspective.

        You are very busy! I don’t know how you keep up with it all, plus a blog. Just make sure you’re not trying to do it all. That’s a trap. You’ll burn yourself out.

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  4. This moved me to tears. So sad about your loss of your dad, and your brother’s injury.

    That ending, though… the encouragement of that Scripture… to be with the Lord, and the sooner the better!

    How are the baby bunnies doing?

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    1. Yes true!! Such a blessing to have the Lord’s word for encouragement!!!

      The bunnies are sooo cute and they’re doing great! We have three adults, two babies that are almost two months old, and three that are two weeks but those last set of babies have a mama who’s selfish so we’ve been subbing with goats milk feedings…I told my daughters we’d let each of their bunnies have babies and then Daddy bunny would need fixed….we’re at that place now!!! 😉

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      1. Good to hear the bunnies are well. I have raised some through babyhood with an eyedropper when their mother refused to feed them.

        Rabbit manure made me have my best garden ever, years ago. Sometimes I miss having rabbits around.

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      2. Sweet I’ll be anxious to read! I used to be good about staying caught up on reading posts but then I began following more blogs and now I’m overwhelmed!! I’m gonna go through and clean up that part of my blog lol

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  8. yes Beardsley cuteness andvhis luau shirt looks deceiving

    its always the little ones that are so loud

    good thing ur older brother’s neighbor caught him

    the baby bunny is precious!

    the completed puzzles are really newspaper worthy. very admirable

    love the photo of ur brother working on a puzzle.

    he looks like how those chess playing geniuses do

    God’s blessings to u

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  9. This is a wonderful post in many ways. For one, it made me LOL when you talked about Beardsley. I have a granddog that is a Yorkie. Apparently, they’re all the same! The part about your brother warmed my heart and made me smile. I also love to do jigsaw puzzles! But unlike Jeffrey, I like 300 pieces! And by the way, this is an excellent piece of writing! God bless you, Alicia!

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    1. Thanks so much Cindy for your sweet words! Beardsley is part Yorkie and Pom!!! And then we actually have two of our own Yorkies! Love Yorkies but that Beardsley’s a wild guy!! Cute but wild!!
      I’m with you on the 300 piece puzzles, much easier to navigate!! I’m glad Jeffrey brought a smile your way🙂❤️thanks for reading!

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  10. Oh goodness…. this is my first time visiting and your post took me through a roller coaster of emotions. I laughed, cried, and smiled. Your family’s story is so heartbreaking and beautiful and hopeful – all at the same time. Thank you for sharing it with us.

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    1. Thanks so much for reading!! I have quite a few posts that tend to do that, even when I go back and read through some I wrote a year ago I still get a little emotional, a mix of tears of pain and joy! I look forward to checking out your blog! Blessings!!

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  11. WHAT TO DO NEXT TIME: My parents had a Beardsley, only it was an insane Irish setter named Blarney. Once he’s out and on the run, no one can catch him … almost no one. My husband Marty apparently knows how to handle these situations. One Sunday morning as my parents left for church and we were to leave momentarily, we were told to be sure not to let Blarney out. Of course, he pushed through the door and triumphantly ran circles around the house with his tongue flapping and an infuriating grin on his face. At about the third lap my husband was ready for him with a snowball, and as the dog came around the corner, Marty managed to nail him right in the side of the face. Blarney skidded to a stop, dropped his head, and obediently came in the house, and we made it to church on time.

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  13. I so enjoyed this post! I laughed so much reading about Beardsley; & then I felt so uplifted reading about Jeffrey. He sounds like such an amazing person & example of what it looks like to have a relationship with God. Thank you for sharing!

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    1. Oh my heart! I just love the innocent character of special needs children…my brother who is 30 now is a blast for our family, he probably has the mentality of a 7 year old though. We just focus on making the best of our time together.
      Thank you for reading and commenting on this particular post, it caused me to go back and read it tonight and has warmed my heart!!
      …I hope you got the Cheerios out for your sweet boy.😉

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