Cafe de Valentine

indie is our dog. we adopted her from a shelter the first weekend in jan. she was our new years resolution. not really, but i haven't stuck to any others and i still have her... so we'll pretend. we were heading to home depot with some new found "housewarming" gift cards this particular sunday afternoon. we had to walk past petsmart to enter home depot. i'm not sure which of us suggested we take a look inside but the other quickly obliged. it happened to be an adoption sunday which means they have multiple dogs and cats there in the store that you can adopt right then and there. we looked, we pet a few, and then we were about to leave when she caught ryan's eye. ryan commented on how pretty of a dog she was and how sweet her eyes were. she looked lonely. she was in a cage with another dog, but she didn't pay him any attention. she had her eyes fixed on the adoption lady. everyone the lady went, indie's eyes followed her. you could tell they had bonded.

there are two families that i have been following for sometime. one of which i know i've shared quite a bit about here on this blog for two reasons. one, because i actually knew this family when they lived in fresno and they were a huge part of our church. two, because my heart ached for a young woman, not much older than myself, suffering & fighting for her life with a husband and small son at home. the second family are complete strangers yet good friends through the blogging world. their small daughter was born premature and weighed just 1lb and 1oz at birth. she is now 11months old and declared brain dead after the last surgery where something went wrong and cut off oxygen to her brain. both lost their battles on monday of this week and were called home to heaven. monica leaving behind her husband, almost three year old son, parents, two sisters, in-laws, and many many heart broken friends. she was a fantastic woman of God and we all have a peace knowing that she is in God&

Here are the rules: Bold the things you’ve done and post on your blog! 1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band (does Rock Band count?) 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity (and God still made a way) 7. Been to Disneyworld/Disneyland 8. Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea. 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitch hiked (in Cali, are you crazy?) 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29. Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run 32. Been on a cruise 33.

i feel the need to share a quick story with you before heading to bed for the night. i know there aren't many that read my little blog, but those that do i'm sure could help pray for this family. sol and monica rodriquez are a couple that i met years ago at our church. sol played in the worship band and monica was a quiet sweet spirit that helped out frequently. they both held youth events at their house and were a huge part of the well community. they moved down to the LA area a few years ago for a job and for sol's band etc. they have a son named kai that i believe will be 3 years old this summer and he's DARLING! monica was diagnosed with breast cancer back in sept of 2007 and has been in the battle of her life ever since. she was very early pregnant when they found out and they told her if she didn't terminate the pregnancy that she wouldn't live long enough for the baby to make it full term. it was a very aggressive tumor so they started chemo before oppera