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With a Little Faith
When Professor Jude Stringfellow finally realized that she was about to be talked into taking care of a little two-legged dog that her son Reuben had rescued from her own mother, she had no idea she would be caring for, raising, and aligning her life with the world's only two-legged dog what walks upright.
She had no concept of the fact that this same dog would propel her into the world of authorship rather than allowing her to work in her chosen field of Education. In January 2003, Reuben Stringfellow, then 17, brought home a little handicapped puppy without a name, without means of survival, without hope or even a prayer of becoming a normal dog. The puppy was named Faith not because the Stringfellow family believed she could one day walk for herself, but because they knew it would take faith for her to walk on her own. No one could do it for her. If Faith didn't do it, it wouldn't get done.
Getting up every two hours to feed the new three-week old puppy, training her to stand upright so that she wouldn't rub a hole in her chest, and standing guard over her while she played with other family pets, the Stringfellow's took turns loving, nurturing, and caring for Faith on a constant basis until she was literally big enough and strong enough to fend for herself. Though it took months to teach her to hop like a rabbit, it only took a few seconds for the family Corgi, a dog named Ean, to teach Faith to run foot-over-foot. Ean bit Faith on the back of her heel after stealing her food from her. Faith, not wanting to be the brunt of Ean's tease, stood upright and bolted after him without even a second's hesitation. Bounding across the new spring grass, hurdling over lawn and garden tools, a rake, a hose and even a rubber ball to win back her prize and to teach Ean a lesson in being a bit more cautious about who he picked on! Faith was no longer a passive pup watching the world through the eyes of an underling. She was up and running, and she hasn't stopped since!
Because the war in Iraq was just beginning and news stories seemed so sad and depressing to most, Jude Stringfellow contacted KFOR-TV anchorwoman Linda Cavanaugh to ask her to do a feature story on the two-legged wonder-dog in the city. Linda's first reaction was to send a cameraman over and take a short interview, however, after seeing the film and realizing what she was looking at, Cavanaugh decided to place the story not only on the 10 o'clock news, but to allow it to run in the Associated Press as well. Within hours Faith was a household name, her story and her message because an international success. Stringfellow has written a book titled “With a Little Faith” depicting many of the details and facts regarding Faith's earliest experiences as well as to tell an often heartbreaking, moving recount of what their family was forced to endure just before receiving Faith into their home. Divorce, anger, a kidnapping of her children, court issues and errors, fill the pages of this inspirational book from cover to cover. Through a different kind of faith, one that requires a great deal of assistance from others, the Stringfellow family has been healed after a lengthy battle of trials and tears. Teaching and training Faith to become as normal as she could be taught the entire family more life lessons than they could ever have imagined.
Today the goal of Professor Stringfellow and her children is to spread the stories and experiences they have shared with Faith. To take her to children's homes, hospitals, churches and other places where she can make people laugh and feel good about life. To see Faith walking upright is simply amazing, to realize the struggle behind each of her bipedal steps is worth reading about, and worth finding a little faith for ourselves to enjoy for years to come. You can see more about Faith at her official website of: www.faiththedog.net. You can purchase the book “With a Little Faith” on line at www.xlibris.com, ask for book number 30205.
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