After 18 years, today we say good-bye to our faithful friend Tippy….
I would like to thank MAF who went above and beyond to help ease our grief. Last week Tippy managed to get a hole in her leg that went right to the bone. She’s been in pain for quite some time and this was just too much. We wanted a humane way to end her suffering. Because we are in the states – we have no way to handle this properly. Of course the kids are really sad that we can’t be there during her final days.
We contacted one of the pilots from MAF – who contacted a veterinarian in Port-au-Prince. She gave them the needed medications, explained how to do it, and the gracious pilot administered it this morning while dropping off some folks in the Mole. Morgan and Beth took Tippy on her final ride to the airport strip.
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Tippy’s Story
When I was a little kid, I had an Australian Shepherd named Checkers. She was black and white. She was one of the dogs I lined up to teach about Jesus. She was also the dog I took to 4-H camp where she won first place in obedience! She walked the subdivision with us kids and dad every night. She passed away when I was a freshman in college in 1997. This was the same year I met Jose.
My dad was extremely close to Checkers. We buried her in our front yard and placed a bush right over her grave just so we could keep her close. I could tell my dad was lonely so I decided to buy a puppy that looked JUST LIKE Checkers. I gave her to dad as a gift. Something I have since learned from our own losses is that you can get a pet that looks just like the one you had – but they can’t replace them. My dad named the dog Tippy.
After Jose & I got married – my dad gave Tippy back to us! She wasn’t Checkers and he was in Haiti too much to have a dog. So we got married in Haiti and a few months later began building our home. Once it was ready we loaded up our two dogs – Tippy & Louie – along with all of our furniture and headed to Miami. We then took a 3-day boat-ride from Miami to Haiti. This boat-ride is why I am terrified of the ocean! But the dogs seemed to enjoy it!
One year we used Tippy for our Mission VBS program. My mom & sister wrote our VBS Curriculum to send out to stateside churches who wanted us to be their missions for that week. So we had a powerpoint presentation where Tippy told the story of NWHCM and all the ministry that we were doing at the time. Here’s some pictures from that presentation…..
Tippy loved living in Haiti. She followed Jose around everywhere he went. She was a protector ready to bark at any possible threat….and I do mean bark at anything and everything!!
I’m not sure if the movie is correct and – All Dogs Go To Heaven. But if she had a soul…it would be a good one. She loved to go to church, our women’s Bible Studies, revivals, VBS, sports camps…basically any program we were hosting. I’d like to think she was learning about Jesus along with everyone else – just like when I taught Checkers & my other dogs as a child.
Thanks Tippy for always protecting our home, our family, & our missionaries. Thanks for letting our kids trip over you, lay with you, tug on your hair, share their food with you (I think they even ate some of your food), climb on you, and ride you. You are apart of our history – right from the formation of our family. We will miss you.
