~Pray for the safety of our guards and household

~Praise God with me that we have precious friends who climb out of bed at 4:00 am to come to our aid--and for vets who make

house calls long before the sun rises.

The life of an animal cannot be compared to that of a human, but the loss of an animal still causes emotional pain and a sense of loss. This week both of our dogs, our yard security, a Doberman and Labrador weren't eating well. Those of you who've had experience with Labradors understand that this is a serious symptom. They live to eat! I immediately called for the vet. (It is interesting that in Proverbs I stumbled over a verse that says, "The righteous care for their animals.") He treated them--but their symptoms, while not the same, became more aggressive. The vet came again. Wednesday night both ate a bit out of my hand, so I thought that things were going to be ok. But they weren't. I will spare you the gruesome details, for they were, but both dogs died at nearly the same minute, before dawn on Thursday morning. All the help I could summon was there, doing all they could. In the end it has been surmised that they were poisoned or had both come down with a serious illness called, "Charbon" in French. I cannot find any references to this on-line.

Dogs, such as Dobermans and Labradors are very rare in this country--they are huge by comparison to the native dogs and, even if they are gentle, place an awesome fear in people's hearts. Only those who know us well felt comfortable walking in our gate.

The possibility of poisoning is high and turned our household to a security mindset. Emmanuel, who works for us during the week, Leon who works 6 nights a week as a night guard, Marc (John-Marc) our African son/ministry helper all decided that we needed to hire an extra night guard for a time. In this country, if someone poisons your dogs, it points to ungodly motives. I am not afraid. Since the robbery in 2000 God has promised through His word that He would, "Strengthen the bars of our gates." But it is wise to be prudent and follow the insights of those God has placed around you.

I called Kari in Parakou (who is having a wonderful ministry) and talked with Jeff. We will start looking for new puppies after they return and after the vet has disinfected our yard from any possible poison or microbes.

If you are dog-knowledgeable and could help me concerning the illness/poison from which they died, I'd be glad to correspond with you. Also, if you know techniques of training that will keep dogs from eating poisoned food, please share this with me. We've had two other dogs poisoned in the past, at different times and in different locations.

The bottom line is: satan's angry--which is just fine. Let's keep him so enraged by people coming to Christ and being freed from his bondage that he self-destructs! We bless the Lord for all those who have surrendered to Christ just since May and will continue to battle in the authority of Christ for those such as Sebastian and the people of Ouega.

Knowing our dogs died because we are in warfare gives their deaths a purpose--a sense of worth. Jesus sees the sparrows when they fall to the ground. He also sees when the animals he has given us are taken from us.