King of the Castle

This is Samson. He is going to be 9 years old in about 2 weeks! He has been the center of our home for those past 9 years. He is a greeter to all who enter our home. He has a wonderful manner about himself and he likes to be where the people are, unless it's 10:00 p.m. At that approximate time, he ventures to the upstairs to get ready for bed. He stands at the bottom of the stairs and waits for Jim or myself to say, "let's go outside" and then "it's okay Sam, you can go to bed now!" We could have 2 people visiting or 20 people visiting. when he is ready to go to bed......that's what he does.

He LOVES to go "bye-bye" and enjoys walking (on low humidity, sunny days at home, but when on vacation, he walks anytime, anywhere), and has a morning ritual. which consists of going outside to do his business, a half piece of whole wheat bread (any type of bread will work), that is what is in our pantry, then back to bed for a little while or next to "his mom"--ME, while she begins doing her things for the day.

He is a protector of our home, especially when he is inside looking out. He hides behind us when walking and encountering the same things he protects us against when inside :0). He has a tendency to bark more frequently then we have liked over the years, but we have found a device recently, a high-pitched whistle, that when blown immediately calms our "savage beast" and he even, at times, retreats to another floor of the house.

All in all he is a daily joy to us.

Again, look for those daily joys in your life. They are plentiful even when your are going through trials and struggles. God always has a light of joy for us. Phil. 4:4, "rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice". When we rejoice we are joyful. Our situation may not have changed, but our hearts did when we hold to that rejoicing in Him. He is the true daily joy and He gives us tangible things, like our Samson, for a "dose of joy" daily.