The Adventures of Bob and Fernando The Epic Friendship of an Elephant and a Chihuahua

By Michael Canny

Discover the heartwarming stories of an extraordinary friendship between an elephant and a Chihuahua! Follow the exciting escapades of Bob and Fernando, two preteen boys who learn that with faith in God, determination, and creativity, anything is achievable. Their adventures include trying out for the school baseball team, competing for the prestigious title of "The World's Greatest Checker Player of Awesomeness," attending church camp for the first time, and even building a time machine where they encounter dinosaurs, pirates, and even Jesus himself! Throughout their journey, they overcome obstacles and gain valuable life lessons. And learn that no matter your size, abilities, or circumstances, true friendship and teamwork can help you overcome any challenge while having fun the whole time!

Join Bob and Fernando on their incredible adventures as they demonstrate the power of friendship and prove that with God's help, there's nothing you can't accomplish.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 11, 2024
• ISBN: 9798891304710

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The Adventures of Bob and Fernando The Epic Friendship of an Elephant and a Chihuahua

Mike Canny

Copyright © 2024 by Michael A. Canny

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Bob and Fernando Meet the Friendship Begins

Bob and Fernando Learn American Sign Language (ASL)

Bob and Fernando—the Odd Couple

Bob and Fernando Try Out for the Baseball Team

Bob Meets Isabelle

Bob and Fernando’s Big Challenge

Bob, Fernando, and the Time Machine—Year 1!

Bob and Fernando Time Machine Adventure 2

Bob and Fernando Time Machine Adventure 3

Bob Goes Camping

Bob and Fernando Go to Church Camp

Bob and Fernando’s Big Summer Adventure in Mexico

Bob and Fernando’s Very Best Christmas

Bob and Fernando’s Awesome Friday Nights

To my amazing wife, Cathy (1958–2012)

"I love and miss you dearly."

To my two amazing daughters, Kristin and Heather. Telling stories to the girls at bedtime is where Bob and Fernando began.

"Thank you for loving me and encouraging me to write this book. I love watching you both grow in your faith and become such amazing, beautiful adults, who have such a heart for the Deaf community and serve them every day with your talents."

To my two awesome grandsons, Caleb and Aidan, who begged me to keep telling them more about Bob and Fernando’s adventures. They really stretched me to create these stories. I got so much joy watching their faces as they listened so intently, asked endless questions, and laughed for hours. This was so much fun getting them out of my head and down on paper!

"Thank you, boys. I’m proud of you!"

I would be remiss if I did not thank Marie Lakin for taking all the time to help me edit this manuscript. I could not have done it without you! You and Brian are such amazing friends. Love you both!

Preface

It is my honor to share these stories with you. I have always struggled with reading and writing. When I was in school, dyslexia was not something that was known or discussed. So my time in school was a struggle. In elementary and junior high, I was in the special reading classes and was constantly in the lower English classes. I always got the check on my grade card written with needs to work harder. And when it came to reading, I really struggled. For me, reading was very exhausting. I’d read a paragraph and have to read it again because I couldn’t understand what I had just read. I would always panic when I would be asked to read out loud because I read so slowly and would get stuck on even the simplest of words. I needed help with pronunciation, and I always felt so stupid. Like Bob, the other kids would laugh at me.

When I became a father, I wanted to read my kids bedtime stories and pray with them. It was an important part of our nightly routine at bedtime, and our girls really looked forward to it. At first, it was easy because the preschool books were short and filled with lots of pictures. However, as the girls got older and the books became more school-aged, I realized I was struggling to read them as they were written. When I’d get stuck, I’d just create my own version of the story from the pictures. I thought many times that I made up better stories than the ones written in the books themselves!

That worked great until my oldest daughter began to read. She was following along, and when I changed what it said, she called me on it and said, That’s not what it says, Daddy. It wasn’t long afterward that I had the girls read the stories to me so they could practice their reading. Smart! Ha! Nevertheless, soon we realized they were struggling too. It broke my heart to watch them struggle to read, write, and spell. On Thursday nights, they would get so frustrated and upset because it was the night before the dreaded weekly spelling test! No matter how hard they tried, they would practice and practice but could not remember the correct spelling and many times flunked the test. They really struggled!

It was several years later that an amazing teacher recognized the symptoms of dyslexia in our oldest daughter, Kristin. She saw how hard she was trying and how much she was struggling. At the time, dyslexia was a relatively newly diagnosed syndrome. With help from the school, we were given the name of a doctor who could test for dyslexia and get us the help and tools she needed to help her in school. At the consultation of the results, the doctor diagnosed her with an extreme case of dyslexia and difficulty in written language and decoding.

He then looked at me and said, You have it too, don’t you? It follows the father. (I guess I pass only the best stuff onto my kids! Ugh!)

In that instant, my whole life changed. I realized I was not unintelligent like I had been made to feel all those years in school. My whole life suddenly made sense. I was not dumb. I (we) just learned differently. He pointed out some of the most creative and artistic people in the world who have dyslexia, people like Albert Einstein, and George Washington—awesome successful people! For literally the first time in my life, I felt like I was not a mistake. In fact, I was special.

I have always gravitated to and loved art and drawing, creating things, architecture, photography, and doing audio and video production, which is what I do now! That day, the doctor gave me a new lease on life. Together, the girls and I are still discovering what we can do! Now that they are grown, they have both become very successful interpreters for the Deaf. It seems that since American Sign Language (ASL) is such a visual language, it allows them to not only thrive in it but also express themselves more fully. They became a great help to the Deaf community.

So to get around this problem with the girls at night and their bedtime stories, I would tell them Bible stories from memory. I’d add sound effects and use different voices. I was great! Ha! I then ran out of Bible stories and began making up my own stories. As the girls grew older, to my dismay, they also outgrew bedtime story time. Nevertheless, we continued bedtime prayer time until the day they left for college, and I still pray every night for them.

So all of my crazy bedtime stories became distant memories. But several years ago, circumstances were such that my oldest daughter and our two young grandsons came to live with us. On that first night, I wanted to start that tradition again, so I told them a story before bedtime out of the new Action Bible. It has amazing illustrations! And again, I’d use great emotion and sound effects and talk in different voices. I would try to make these amazing stories from the Bible come alive.

One night, my daughter came in and said, You know what? You should tell them some of the old stories you used to tell us. We loved them.

I had literally completely forgotten about them; this is where the idea of Bob and Fernando was born. I loved to tell them stories about crazy adventures, and I wanted to leave them with a meaning or a lesson. Most did. To my surprise, I remembered some of the stories, and to my delight, they loved the stories too.

So I’d search my mind for some of the other adventures to tell them, and that’s where the elephant and the Chihuahua stories were born. The boys would beg me to tell them more about Bob and Fernando’s adventures.

One night, my youngest daughter, Heather, said, You should write them down, so I can have them for soon-to-be born baby. Kristin, our oldest, told me I should write a book so other kids could meet Bob and Fernando. So here it is.

This was done with lots of love. I don’t type well or fast, so this has literally been a hunt-and-peck adventure! Nevertheless, with a lot of help from my wife, Cathy, here are a few of the adventures of Bob and Fernando.

Bob and Fernando are two preteen boys who are best friends and go through many misadventures. Along the way, they are learning that despite their limitations, when they work together and with God’s help, there is nothing they can’t accomplish.

Bob and Fernando Meet the Friendship Begins

Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

—Romans 12:10 NIV

Once upon a time, there was a young elephant whose name was Robert Timbo III, or, as everyone knew him, Bob.

Bob prayed every day that he would find a friend. Bob was still in elementary school, but like most elephants, Bob was quite large.

All the other animals at school would make fun of Bob because of his largeness. Bob would try so hard not to be noticed. However, the problem was that when he came into the classroom, he would turn around to put his books away, and he would knock down his chair. He would turn the other way