A little bit of unnecessary excitement...

Sundays are busy for us. They're one of our "big days" in the week, if you like. So this morning began as usual with me getting up to begin the process of getting the kids ready, and putting together the last minute pile of things for my lesson. As usual, I let the dogs out first so they could do their morning sniff, and turned to the kids. They had some dominoes out, and wanted me to sit down and play with them. I thought we had enough time for a little game.

Twenty minutes later, my husband came into the living room and opened the curtain.

"The gate's open. Where are the dogs?"

Sudden Chaos.

Our smallest dog is known for her silly habit of going on aimless runs and getting herself lost. Our largest dog is known for his silly habit of following her out. They had a twenty minute head start. We had an hour to get ready for church.

While hubby raced out in the car to do laps of the streets, I tried to concentrate on getting the kids their breakfast. I raced out into the lane, whistling and calling. Then I raced back into the house, buttering the toast. Out into the front yard. Back to put the weet-bix in the microwave. Into the lane. Back to get the juice.

Hubby came back. No dogs. "How long ago did you let them out?"

Too long.

I prayed. "Lord, please bring the dogs back before church." I had horrible mental images of our bigger dog sitting next to the flattened carcass of the silly one. She has no road sense at all.

The kids were happily eating their breakfast, oblivious to the panicked looks on their parents' faces. Hubby went out in the car again, looking in another direction. With a twenty minute head start, they could be anywhere. The bush. The highway. Someone else's backyard. I paced.

I thought about the dog bowls. The sound of clanking them together often brought the puppies running. Perhaps that might help. I went outside and picked them up, walking around to the front, whistling and clanking. A car pulled into our yard.

I walked slowly around to see if John had found the dogs yet. Time was running out, and we were going to have to give up the search to get ready for our weekly programs.

But it wasn't my husband in the driveway. It was a couple who lived across the other side of town to us. They were smiling.

"We found the dogs. They're inside. They were running around on [blank] street."

We still had half an hour to get ready for church.

Oh, and the reason for the open gate? We found an almost-finished beer bottle discarded on the ground next to the fence. It was Saturday night, after all.