Submit any past and present pictures of your pooch, from a Popeye-d poodle to a Dracula-fied dachshund. We’ll pick the top five photos and post them on this page, where you can vote for the winner.

The person’s photo with the most votes will receive an autographed copy of “Angelic Tails,” along with three books: “In the Arms of Angels: True Stories of Heavenly Guardians,” “Angels and Wonders: True Stories of Heaven and Earth,” and “Guardian Angels: True Stories of Answered Prayers.” The winning photo will also be featured on Angelic Tails’ Facebook page, on this website, and in Joan’s newsletter.

Simply e-mail a picture of your dolled-up dog along with its name and a short description to rlane@loyolapress.com by 5 p.m. on Nov. 1^st. We’ll begin voting on Wednesday, Nov. 2, and announce the winner on Nov. 4. Stay tuned for a follow-up post detailing when you can begin voting.

Enjoy, and get creative with your angel dog!

OFFICIAL RULES: This contest is open to residents of the United States and Canada who are 18 years old or older. Multiple entries are allowed per household. By submitting photos, contestants confirm that they are the copyright holder for each photo, and agree to allow Loyola Press to display their photos on LoyolaPress.com, Loyola Press’s Facebook pages, Joan Wester Anderson’s website, and Joan’s newsletter. 

This contest is sponsored by Loyola Press.

Visit Angelic Tails’ Facebook page for more information: http://www.facebook.com/AngelicTails

Fran H. has been subscribing to this newsletter since it began, because she is a big fan of angels and saints. In fact, when she was six years old, she slipped into a coma due to encephalitis. In those days, this serious disease took many victims, and things did not look good for Fran. “My dear Mom and Dad prayed with St Theresa, the Little Flower, and today I’m a wife, mother and grandmother,” Fran says. “Do I believe in prayer and angels? You bet!”

People often ask how they can “get in touch with their guardian angel.” Unless you spend time with a friend, it’s difficult to recognize his voice, isn’t it? The same is true with angels: they want to be in touch so they can guide and comfort you, and keep you on the path that leads to God. The more time you spend with them, the closer you will come to that unity. To Fran, it’s natural:

“I was sitting at St. John Neumann’s Shrine on his feast day in the church upstairs,” she says. “There were hundreds of people there, waiting to attend mass, and the choir boys were lining up in the back,” she says. Suddenly Fran got the urge to go to confession before Mass, but there were no lights on in any of the confessionals. (Lights on means a priest is hearing confession inside.) However, she did see a priest coming down the aisle toward her, AWAY from the confessionals. Fran has a deep friendship with her guardian angel, so what happened next was not unusual.

“Angel,” Fran began, “would you please go to the guardian angel of that priest that just passed me? Ask him to go to Our Lady’s Chapel on the side of the church. Oh, and let there be no one there but him, and me.” This was a challenge, she realized. With a crowd like this, many would want to go to confession.

Then, as Fran watched, the priest—who had appeared to be leaving the church—-turned, went up the side aisle to Our Lady’s Chapel, and went in. Quickly, Fran followed him up the aisle, and into the Chapel, where he was standing, looking a bit perplexed.

When he saw her, he smiled. “Hello,” he said. “Are you the woman who asked my angel to tell me to come here for a confession?”

Joy raced through Fran. She was never surprised at what her angel would do for her, but she was always thrilled at how things worked out. “Yes, Father, that’s me,” she said. In complete understanding, priest and penitent celebrated the sacred ritual. “It was a wonderful confession,” Fran says. “And no one came into the Chapel the entire time.”

Start asking your angel for small favors, and be sure to say thank you. Then watch what happens!

Eileen Knecht has started making a Baby Jesus doll (“I want to put him back in the crib where he belongs,” she says.)  Visit her site and see what she’s doing: www.k-connect.com ~ for pictures and info.

And here’s our story:

Rebekah Manthei was glad to have a job in her family’s hardwood flooring business in northern Michigan, even though it was physically demanding.  Part of her job was to get flooring orders together in the warehouse, and she did this by finding the product and moving it with a forklift.  Different woods were arranged in different locations so, depending on the products, it took a lot of moving and rearranging to get an order together.

“One day we received an order very late, that needed to be ready first thing in the morning,” says Rebekah.  “I decided to stay late to get it ready, since it involved an hour or so of moving large stacks of flooring by forklift in order to get to what I needed.  One of these stacks was piled almost to the ceiling of the warehouse.”

Rebekah was unaware that someone had left a loose hardwood board on top of the flooring she had started to move.  As she began to lift the top bundle from the stack, the loose board fell vertically, aimed right at her head.   “I knew I was done for,” Rebekah says.  “I closed my eyes and waited for it to hit me, knowing it would most likely kill me.”

A few seconds passed and nothing happened.  A couple more seconds…  Then Rebekah heard the board clatter as it landed, but it sounded very far away.  Slowly she opened her eyes.  Everything seemed normal.  But where was the board?  “Baffled, I got off the forklift and went to find where the board had landed,” Rebekah says. She walked the entire length of the large warehouse, and finally….  At the other end, behind more stacks of flooring, lay the board.  There was no way it could possibly have landed there.   No way except for one.

“I knew right then that God had sent my guardian angel to protect me,” Rebekah says.  To this day she still envisions her angel catching the board in mid air and throwing it across the warehouse.  Thank you, angels.  Wherever we are you are there with us.

Joan Wester Anderson’s latest book, Moms Go Where Angels Fear to Tread ($13), is published by Guideposts, and can be ordered at 1-800-586-2572. Perfect for young moms.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.