At first, I feared that Lovey, one of Ed and Carol Gulley’s affable Australian Shepherds, had collapsed or suffered a stroke. Then I saw Lovey, who loves to be touche and rubbed, had just laid down in bliss as the refugee kids rubbed her and her shoulders and belly.

This was therapy work, on both ends. If you talk to these children, they will often speak of the animals they left behind, of their great love and need for animals, and how much they miss them. Few of these families have the time or money or energy to have animals, and I could see how much these children love and miss them.

There was a lot of healing going on today, and the animals – Red, Fate, the donkeys, baby goats, the Gulley’s calves and dogs – were doing what animals do – soothe and heal and touch our hearts and souls. We were at the Gulley’s for nearly and hour, and Lovey was getting her belly rubbed every single minute of it.