Her Name Is Lady...

The kids have done a good job practicing their Fruits of the Spirit this summer so we planned a surprise for them to celebrate their first full jar. When they came home on Friday we had 8 more rocks on our mantel. We told them we had a surprise planned for Sat. but only if we saw 8 more "acts" being done that day. (I know, our point isnt just to earn stones but to learn eternal lessons but sometimes they need reminders and incentives.) The kids ended up earning about 30 because of their big hearts/plans concerning Scott's Lyme treatment. *More on that story later.

The highly anticipated full jar...although I may need to buy more rocks to get to the top next time.

We had planned on getting Eli a puppy for his 9th birthday last May but because my mom was still in the hospital, we thought we needed to wait. We had planned on wrapping the dog accessories as some of Eli's gifts with a party theme of Puppies and had hoped to get an English Bulldog. Eli completely understood why we needed to wait because Mommy was already taking care of 6 people with 2 of them really sick and it just wasn't the right time...but he was still disappointed. After checking out petfinder.com we were moved to adopt a pet instead of shop for a pet. The bulldog puppies were $1000-3000 and personally we think that is insane to pay so much for a dog and we would feel better about ourselves if we saved a dog from death.... So after 4 months of living at the hospital I decided that the perfect time may never happen and that we shouldn't wait anymore....so when I looked again last Thur. I saw the perfect little face that made me fall in love and after a few phone calls she was ours! Her kennel name was Lei D. Bug and she is a 10 week old Boston Terrior/Pug mix....a Bugg!! We decided to keep the name but make it Lady.

We started our road trip early in the morning and kept the secret from the kids until we pulled up in front of the shelter...and wouldn't you know our smart kiddos guessed the surprise? Actually, they guessed it before we got there but we never confirmed or denied their guesses...though they figured out that we were hiding a travel kennel in the back under a blanket and that the gift bag had puppy presents...it was still a surprise when they actually met her and we confirmed their suspicions.

As soon as we met her we went out to the yard to see if she was a good fit. The kids opened their/her presents and got to play with her and see her personality. The shelter asked if it was a done deal and we said YES! She is so adorable!!

You can see Noah in the bkgrnd with Lady. He took off running with her while the other kids opened the rest of the gifts.

Her first chase with the kids.

Is that a real smile I see? Yes!

Eli told daddy...I don't know why but I think I'm gonna cry...

The kids were in love at first sight and love it that she is a snuggler.

Look at those happy faces!