The Power of CUDDLES

Cuddles has been a gift from God.  The word cuddle means: a prolonged and affectionate hug.  Well we have enjoyed that prolonged and affectionate hug for 16 1/2 years.


Many of you know our journey but some of you might not.  We worked in South America for 15 years.  While we were on our last home assignment, due to the unrest in the area our ministry shut down.  We were not able to go back as a family and have any kind of closure.  We also lost everything we owned: our house, things, pets,  a ministry we loved, relationships that would now not be a part of our every day life, and the list goes on.  We resettled in Ontario but that was a hard adjustment as we were grieving from all the loss we had been experiencing and Ontario just did not feel like home.  


Titus really missed our pets in Venezuela and we started praying about getting a dog.  We did not research types of dogs or anything we just knew with having people and especially a lot of children in and out of our house we would need a smaller dog.  Before we knew it we found this little puppy who became our Cuddles.

We knew nothing about transitions, grief and loss or how therapeutic dogs were.  Our Cuddles brought so much healing to our family.  Over the years our Cuddles has been so much a part of our lives.  She lived with us in jungle camp, went on road trips, and has been there for birthdays, Christmases, graduations, and even in Vern's recent health crisis Cuddles was there with us in VA.   When Vern's dad died I was away at a conference and Cuddles followed Vern around the house and stayed by his side to help comfort him and as she knew something was wrong.  As our family has grown our grandchildren have been able to build some fun memories with Cuddles.

Cuddles health has been declining but in the last five days she went very rapidly and yesterday we had to say good-bye to our beloved Cuddles who had become such a part of our lives.  We have shed MANY tears already but after 16 1/2 years of her being such a part of our lives here in Ontario we can not even remember life without her.  So as we go through these next days and weeks it will be quite an adjustment as we miss her already. I will be keeping a box of Kleenex  close at hand.  

The Grand Reopening of "The Shepherd's Inn"

Years ago in the remote area where we were living in South America we had our own little family owned and run restaurant we called "The Shepherd's Inn".  There were no stores, restaurants, or anything where we lived.  All of our groceries had to be flown in to us and for many years we only got our supplies in every three months.  You end up making your own entertainment for your family and coworkers.  While we were there, our coworkers were celebrating their 25th Anniversary.  Well, there was no way we were going to let this special event happen without doing something special, thus we launched "The Shepherd's Inn".  During our time in South America "The Shepherd's Inn" helped many people celebrate special events such as anniversaries, birthdays, and even Valentine's Day were celebrated at "The Shepherd's Inn".  Our children often were the waiters and waitress as we served dinner, so it was a family affair.  During Covid 19 we have tried to do special things to encourage our family and friends.  When we celebrated our anniversary in June we realized there were few options of places to go.  There was no in restaurant dining available.  Now you can eat on outdoor patios but many places are booked up for weeks in advance.  Therefore we thought it was time to have a GRAND REOPENING of "The Shepherd's Inn".  We offered our coworkers a FREE date at "The Shepherd's Inn.  To win this FREE date they had to be celebrating their anniversary in July and they had to be one of the first two couples that emailed me back with their engagement story.  So it was with great JOY that tonight "The Shepherd's Inn" had their GRAND REOPENING.  It was a bit touch and go as it was pouring rain right before our guests arrived.  But the weather cleared and dinner was served.