Melodramas of all Sorts

Ever had one of those weeks where you feel like you have lived somewhere besides your own home? That's been the last week and a half for the Bryson family! I was in a melodrama at our church and we performed it last weekend. That meant that I attended 5 rehearsals last week, followed by 3 performances of the play. We raised a lot of money for the youth mission trip, so it was worth the time invested, but boy am I glad it's over!! The day after the melodrama, our church began a revival week, so we have attended 5 services since Sunday. Home, where exactly is that? Is that this big building with all the people, or that place where we go just to get in bed before we come back here?? In reality, the revival was wonderful, and we were very glad to attend. The speaker challenged us all to stand strong in the face of our culture, which is trying to water down our values and drive God out of our country. He definitely convicted me that I must be more bold in sharing God's love with the people around me!!
So, after the public melodrama, we engaged in our own private melodrama at home. We have had 2 dogs for the past 6 years, Sadie and Abby. Sadie is about 6 months older that Abby, and much bigger. But for some reason, in the last year, Abby has been trying to "dominate" Sadie. It started pretty innocently, with Abby just putting her paws on Sadie's neck and standing up over her. Then it progressed to Abby occasionally nipping at Sadie's neck while she did that. A few times she even snarled and growled at Sadie. We have had many discussions about her behavior and done some research into behavior techniques. We tried implementing a few, although we were probably much lazier about the whole thing than we should have been. It only happened occasionally, so we didn't worry much about it. However, while Dave and I were at the dress rehearsal for the melodrama, Abby bit Sadie's ear and under her eye enough to draw quite a bit of blood. Our babysitter called us home to help with the situation. After much discussion and many tears (all mine!) we made the decision to take Abby to the Humane Society to see if they could find her a new home. We know we had many options, including finding professional help or trying to find Abby a home ourselves. In the end, this seemed like the best way. A veterinarian friend of ours said behavioral modification might work but would take a lot of time and effort. I wasn't willing to take the risk that Abby might bite Garrett or Paige next. So, we're praying that Abby will find a nice home where she can be the only dog! Luckily, the kids have hardly noticed, and Sadie seems much more relaxed and less fearful. We pray we made the right decision, though it was very difficult. All in all, this last week has been "melodramatic" in many ways!