Goodbye, Fireworks "Pyro" - Forever With Us

July 28, 2004 - July 26, 2018: You almost made it to 14 years little buddy. So many memories and so much love!

Two weeks ago we said our final goodbyes to our border collie who was truly a one of a kind, amazing dog. It's hard to believe he's not here with us anymore and we are missing him dearly but we are thankful for the time we had with him and that Ella got to meet him! Just before Christmas, when I was 30 weeks pregnant, Pyro experienced some sort of a seizure/stroke that really played a toll on him. The vet suggested we look at putting him on a low dose of meds to hopefully avoid any possible future seizures. Thankfully he didn't experience any more of those episodes but he definitely wasn't the same Pyro after that. He seemed happy so we carried on continuing to enjoy him for the time we had with him in hopes that he'd be able to meet baby Coblentz! He hung in there like a trooper but started having trouble being as physically active as he used to be. In June, Pyro started to lose the ability to use his back legs well and would fall on a regular basis. Some days were worse than others and he didn't seem to show much pain or discomfort but as time past we started to realize it was probably going to be time to let go. Most definitely one of the hardest decisions Chris and I have ever had to make. As I held back tears and made the appointment call to the vet, I felt like the worst dog Mom ever. It was a dreaded week, waiting for Thursday to come. As I knelt down beside Pyro for the last time, I had Ella strapped to me in a carrier and as soon as she was level with Pyro she laughed the most precious laugh. She isn't to the point of laughing on a regular basis just yet so for us to be able to hear that in her reaction to seeing him up close and personal was priceless.

There will never be another Pyro or a dog that could possibly even come close to being as cool as he was. He was born the summer of the year Chris and I got married and was owned by the lady I worked for at the time. She traveled a good bit so we would often take care of Pyro various times she was away. When I quit working for her in 2008, we still kept in touch and continued to dogsit for her some. In the summer of 2011, I was having a conversation with her and she briefly mentioned she was possibly looking to rehome Pyro. I talked to Chris and on July 15, 2011 Pyro came for a trial run and never left! Pyro was a well trained and very intelligent dog who spent his early years doing agility and traveled around quite a bit taking part in many competitions. He loved to play and hated bath time. He would chase his frisbee just as many times as we would throw it for him. He could do the following on command without skipping a beat: sit, lie down, stand, back up with "beep beep", give five, and spin in circles with the motion of your hand to cue him to do so. He would inhale rawhides that were meant to take most dogs a few days of chewing to finish and he was a great comfort and source of joy to us in the years that we waited to have human children. There will never be another Pyro and we are so thankful for the time we had enjoying him to the fullest! It's not the same without him in our home but we look forward to sharing pictures and telling stories of him to Ella someday.

 You were loved to the fullest, Pyro. You took a piece of our hearts with you to the grave and we will never forget you! Run free, little buddy, run free.

Wish You Were Here

Warning: This is a very raw, graphic and candid entry straight from my heart.

It's a very bittersweet day in the Coblentz household. We are celebrating the beginning of my 18th week of our second pregnancy but mourning the loss of baby Ira Jude who was due to come into our lives today. I am so very thankful for the new life that is growing inside of me and for the hope that we have after the gut wrenching pain of loss. The months between our miscarriage and our next embryo transfer were filled with so many different emotions that I could never really express accurately. I had to give my body time to heal physically but emotionally we had a lot to process as well. Going through loss is not something you ever get over or fully heal from but choosing to cling to God and each other was the best option we could have chosen as we processed. We did things to bring comfort and closure to the memory of Ira. While each of those steps were the hardest things I've ever had to do and I dreaded and procrastinated them, I knew ultimately it would help to bring the healing we so desperately needed.

At our ultrasound appointment on Monday, February 6th, when I was told that I was having a miscarriage, I desperately hoped and prayed that I could pass this precious life in the comforts of my own home. The possibility of a D&C was suggested but after so many medical procedures already, I was just so done with even the thought of having to do that in such a horrific time. God so graciously heard my plea and after the unknown of waiting, a week later I knew it was time. Monday, February 13th, my body did what it was supposed to do and all the miscarriage stories I had read about, suddenly became a reality for me. Relief -- God heard my prayer. Numb -- Our first precious baby whom we have longed for so long is truly leaving us for Heaven. Chris was my knight and shining armor of a nurse that day. God bless him. So many questions -- Why us? Did I pass everything? Will I still need to have a D&C anyways? Two days later, I firmly believe God allowed me to pass something very tangible for the closure we needed. Hand in hand we held our precious firstborn for the first and last time.

Two days later, I made another trip to Shady Grove Fertility where they confirmed via ultrasound that I was able to move forward with treatment again after my body had time to heal.

Saturday, February 18th we had unusually warm temperatures for the end of winter and we were able to continue the process with healing as we chose to bury this precious life in our front yard. As I closed the lid on this jar and watched Chris begin to dig the most perfect hole ever, every fiber of my being SOBBED. No one should ever have to watch their husband dig their child's grave. 

As we both knelt down on either side of this memorial, we wept and held hands. We prayed that God would heal our hearts and bodies, and that He would bless this journey we found ourselves on. Quite frankly, just two exhausted people still filled with much determination but losing hope that this was ever going to move beyond disappointment and pain.

We knew right away we wanted to plant a Japanese Maple tree in this area as a remembrance to Ira but we waited until the weather got a bit warmer. On April 11th, we ventured to the local nursery to see what we could find. Nothing was quite right and I was getting frustrated because I just wanted to find the perfect tree. We walked to the back of the lot where nothing had been priced yet for the season and behold -- there it was! The perfect tree.

On Mother's Day after I shed many tears, we planted our special tree!

 

In June, we completed the new addition to our front yard.

And this was taken a few weeks ago after all the annuals I planted got full size. I LOVE looking out my front windows to see this beautiful reminder. I can't wait until the tree gets bigger. :)

God has been SO good to us through the ups and downs of infertility and miscarriage. I wouldn't wish these heartaches on anyone, but I know that we are both stronger people because of this journey we've walked and that our marriage is something I wouldn't trade for anything in this world.

Ira Jude -- Daddy & Mommy miss you so much and can't wait to see you again someday. <3

Punta Cana, Trip of a Lifetime Recap

New Year's Eve marked a year since Chris and I had settlement on our first home/rental property. This was a huge relief and answer to prayer for us to be able to move on from the landlord stage of our lives. We both agree that we are not completely against owning a rental property or two in the future at some point down the road but we needed a break for now. :) Anyways, I say all that to say that we made a deal that if we sold our rental property and everything went as we hoped that we would reward ourselves with a big flat screen tv for our newly remodeled basement space and hopefully look at going somewhere new and exciting for our then upcoming 10th wedding anniversary which we just celebrated October 30th, 2014.

We found and purchased our tv last New Year's Day which seemed like a dream come true. Suddenly the long hours of running back and forth and working to clean up after disgusting people seemed to be validated. :) In the first few months of 2014, our thoughts quickly turned to researching options for our anniversary trip. We've made several trips to the Gatlinburg, Tennessee area and love each time we go but we wanted to do something wild, crazy, and different for us. Neither of us had been outside of the country before (except to Canada which doesn't count in my mind) so this was all very new and somewhat daunting. Thankfully a good friend of ours has had a lot of experience traveling to tropical places and offered her assistance in helping us pick a location that would be a good "first trip" for us. Thank you, Kayla. :) After driving ourselves crazy with Expedia searches and Tripadvisor reviews, we finally settled on the Meliã Caribe Tropical in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. After going back and forth about many things including whether to pick something different from our usual vacation spots, how long to go, and whether to spend the money, we finally bit the bullet and booked our trip on July 16, 2014! It was exactly four months from the day we would fly out of Dulles! We shared the trip with our families and a few close friends but other than that we kept it pretty quiet. It all seemed like a dream to me so I wasn't sure it was actually going to happen! Haha! It was so exciting to be able to look forward to spending a week in paradise with my best friend. :)

Those four months of waiting came and went pretty quickly and the morning of Sunday, November 16th dawned bright (not so much brightness on initial wake up time) and early with some nerves and lots of anticipation! We had smooth and easy travels to the Dulles airport. Going through security was mostly uneventful which we thought may be a pain since neither of us had flown since 2008. Things have definitely changed as people continue to do stupid things and security tightens. The most memorable thing about our airport experience when flying out was a random piece of luggage that was sitting on the floor that seemed to be unattended right before putting our bags on the security belt. They are constantly playing announcements about not leaving your bags unattended for security purposes, etc so Chris and I as well as the people around us quickly starting questioning this random bag sitting there. I then realized that the guy in front of me was holding a full grown CAT. He looked a bit frantic (as did the cat he was clutching) and stated that he forgot to put his bag up on the belt. I would probably have forgotten too if I was trying to get my cat through the airport! We then realized that the lady who was with him and in front of him ALSO was clutching a cat. There is no way you could pay me enough to take Zeus and Hera through an airport. Upon exiting security, they quickly stuffed the cats into bags and away they went!

Our flight down was great and when we arrived it was hot. :) The airport was a circus trying to figure everything out with customs but once we finally made it through and picked up our luggage, we were off to find a taxi! Everyone wanted to "help" us and it was quite an adventure trying to figure out who was safe to trust and who wasn't! Haha...an easy thing for seasoned travelers I'm sure. We got a friendly, talkative taxi driver and about 20 minutes later we arrived at our resort where we spent 7 days and 6 nights in a beautiful place that felt like a dream world to us. This was an all inclusive resort which was perfect for us as we just wanted to lay around, sleep, or swim for a week of rest and relaxation. Once we got checked in and had a quick tour of the adults only side of the resort (which we are so thankful we upgraded to when booking our reservation), we collapsed in our room. Hungry, overwhelmed, and tired from the day of traveling we were a bit frazzled. While the room was beautiful we had some initial glitches with the patio door not locking and the safe deposit box not working. After some maintenance calls/visits we were fixed up! The first day or two was spent figuring out how the "all inclusive" resort thing worked and since the resort was MASSIVE, it took some time to understand how to get to everything, etc. Once we had more of a feel for all of those things, it definitely made the rest of the week much more enjoyable. We had perfect weather for the entire trip. There was minimal rain (mostly when we were sleeping) and the beach and pool areas were just breathtaking.

I could go on and on about so many things but there are a few things I'd like to highlight. The staff were all so friendly. Every single person you walked by would say "Hola!" with a smile. Most of them didn't speak english but they worked hard and you never saw anyone sitting around waiting for someone to give them something to do. Americans could learn a thing or two from the Dominican folk. :) The language barrier was a bit frustrating at times but it could have been worse.

It truly was a beautiful and amazing vacation. Saturday, November 22nd, the morning of our departure was bittersweet and yes, I cried, but what's new? I cry at everything. :) I was thankful to be leaving with a bit of sadness instead of wishing the week away by wanting to get home. Our taxi drive back to the airport was quiet as the driver didn't seem to speak much English. We navigated the other half of the Punta Cana airport and were very relieved to make it through customs. That was a bit of a circus compared to exiting the USA. We had to take our shoes off, take all the electronics out of our carry on bags, and after going through the security area, everyone got a pat down no matter what. Not awful, just not what we were expecting! Our flight home included Chris sitting beside an 8 year old boy. You can imagine the things we were told in the span of our 4 hour flight. ;) Going from 80 degree temperatures to low 30's was an adjustment but our Explorer was still in the parking garage so that's all that mattered to me at that point! Home sweet home was just a 2 hour drive away!

The animals seemed pretty stoked that we had finally returned! While we feel like this was a trip of a lifetime for us, we are already dreaming up a return trip someday or another fun getaway to a completely different tropical location. We feel very blessed to have had this first experience and also very thankful for the reasons we were able to get away and celebrate! Memories to last a lifetime for sure.

If you would like to see the full photo album recap of our week, feel free to take a look here! Beware: We took a lot of pictures, ;)

S.W.A.P. Rewind

August 6-12, 2000 was a week filled with many great memories that I hope to never forget. I was 15 years old and had been so excited to go on a missions trip with fellow "Franklin Conference District Youth" friends. Several of the older youth had gone in previous years but you had to be 15 to participate so I couldn't wait until I hit that mark. The year finally came and we embarked on a billion hour van ride to Harlan, Kentucky. The outreach called "S.W.A.P. - Sharing with Appalachian People" takes groups in for a week at a time to work on homes that are falling apart in one form or another. My group consisted of Kara Lehman (youth group and lifetime friend) and two guys from New York whom we had never met before. Our task was to completely gut a bathroom for an older lady who was in desperate need of a bathroom remodel. This was her only bathroom so we all had to use the neighbors bathroom while we were completing this task. Not only did we get to know the lady we did the work for but we get to know the neighbor lady and her son as well. It was neat to relate to all of them in just the short time we were there. On our last day of work, I swapped addresses with them and have managed to keep in touch via snail mail over the years. The lady who we did the work for stopped corresponding a few years ago but the neighbor lady had continued to keep in touch. Shirley Elkins -- would you believe we even shared the same birthday? Over the years we would write when we could and swap birthday/Christmas cards on a regular basis. 

Fast forward to today. I received a hand written letter that had a return address of Frankfort, Kentucky but the person's name wasn't familiar to me. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach and upon opening the letter my suspicions were proved true. The letter was written by Shirley's oldest daughter whom I never had the opportunity to meet. She was writing to tell me that Shirley passed away suddenly. She began to tell me that Shirley always loved hearing from me and thanked me for keeping in touch with her. She ended the letter saying "She thought a lot of you." 

It's never easy to hear when someone passes but I took this letter particularly hard. I can't say where Shirley is today but I hope and pray she is rejoicing in Heaven with Jesus. The questions flooded my mind....

Did I say enough? Did I really make an impact on her life in a positive way? Did Jesus shine through my letters? Did the week I spent interacting with her almost 14 years ago make a Jesus impact on her and her son? Sobering to be reminded that all of our days are numbered and every interaction we have with others in this world are of serious eternal value. May I never take the power of my actions and words for granted and may Jesus SHINE BRIGHTLY through me in all that I do and say today and always.