As Small As A Mustard Seed

Faith: As small as a mustard seed. (Click on any picture to see larger view)

"Jesus told them. "I assure you, even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, `Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible." ~ Matthew 17:20 (New Living Translation)

"My little dog---a heartbeat at my feet." - Edith Wharton

This is Faith. Her mom is Susan, a physical therapist at the nursing home rehabilitation center where my mom has been staying after her knee replacement. Susan and the other therapists worked my mom and all the other patients there very hard, trying to get them back on their feet and ready to go home. Therapy was twice a day with exercises to build the muscles around the knee and to work up the flexibility in that knee. Of course other muscles in the shoulders, arms and legs had to be worked as well. My mom has done well and we brought her home yesterday after 20 days in rehab. Now she will work with another therapist here and on her own. The biggest problem has been the swelling in the leg, but that takes time to resolve and she has to work through it.

About Faith. She is a Yorkie but likes to keep a shorter cut as she is a working girl. Three times a week she spends her day in the physical therapy room of the nursing home. She has her own little corner with a round comfy sleep bowl and she has a blanket to sleep under. She does more than sleep, however. As part of her job she sits next to patients as they do their exercises on the big platform mat. Sometimes she licks their hand for encouragement or snuggles next to their arm quietly. One day she climbed up on my mom's chest, lay down there,and watched her as if to say "Keep going, you can do it". The patients all love Faith; in fact, some of the residents only seem to react when Faith is in the therapy room. She is a good little therapy dog. She loves everyone, doesn't bark and never gets in the way. If there is a lump under the sheet on the exercise table, it is likely to be Faith. She is paid for her work with small 1.5 inch chew bones and tiny biscuit treats, as well as innumerable hugs.

Faith also loves to dress up for work. The day I took these pictures she was wearing a gold fashionable kimono with red embroidered dragons. She has a navy sailor suit (Norfolk is a navy town after all) and she has a new orange hoodie sweater for Halloween. My mom reports that she likes the sweater but not the hood so much. Faith's favorite character is Tweety Bird, thus her identification tag. Faith's mom has a little Tweety Bird tattoo on her ankle so they can match. She reminds me of a little dog we used to know in Mississippi named Divot. Both are very tiny little dogs with a big presence and huge hearts.

Hats off to Faith for her most excellent work!


Faith and my mom in the therapy room.


Faith and her "mom" Susan. OK, so you can see her mom's tag anyway.


Showing off her pretty kimono and Tweety tag.

Faith will visit the other animals at Friday's Ark this week will be talking to the other puppies over at Carnival of the Dogs hosted by Mickey's Musings.