Meet the newest member of the family!

So since our life isn’t crazy or busy enough we added a puppy to the mix!

Meet Sawyer…

Meet Sawyer

He is a 7 month old Lab/Collie Mix. He is the sweetest dog you have ever met.

The kids just totally adore him. Ava already told me that Sawyer is her best friend.

The story of Sawyer begins with Prayer. We had wanted to get a puppy for the kids and I had been feeling convicted to also train the dog to do visitation at local hospitals especially for children. This was all before Lia came along but we just could not fit a puppy into the budget or mix at this point. Again I had started feeling very convicted to get a puppy and had been praying about it. I was checking out Petfinder.com as well as keeping my ears open for anyone with puppies. The biggest hurdle I have been having is finding the perfect puppy breed and then trying to fit it into our already super tight budget. This was going to prove difficult for someone who always shops clearance, end of season, and sales. Hmmmm…I do not know how or if this is going to actually happen so I just kept praying and asking God for a miracle. That we would get a free puppy somehow never really sold out to the fact that He was listening or going to truly provide a puppy and for free. I started reasoning that maybe we could afford to get a puppy and it just didn’t feel right. I know our budget has many other things pulling at it. I resolved myself to being ok with not getting a puppy if it was not under those circumstances since that would show me that He was answering us but with a no. He always has better plans than we do anyway no matter how ‘great’ we make them in our minds. I have done and do that a lot and am trying to be more patient not to mention a better listener. LOL He has His work cut out for Him with me. All I can say is that I am glad He can work miracles. (o:

Well typically, Jared has been taking a later lunch and taking our son and our neighbor’s daughter to pm Kindergarten. Monday was a beautiful day here. It was warm and sunny. All of the kids were healthy and I needed to get out for a walk. It just so happened that Jared had a luncheon that day and was not able to take the kids anyway so it worked out on both ends. Many of the times when I do take the kids to school I just drive, even though the school is a block away from our home, because I will use it as a good excuse to run errands with two kids instead of three! I did not have errands that needed to run that day and just decided that the walk would tire out Ava. Well…when I got down to our friend Kim’s house, she was outside. We started talking and walking together for a couple of houses. She told me her neighbor had a puppy that they needed to find a home for. I was not really thinking puppy at this point in the day. I was just thinking about quickly walking the kids to school and getting the girls home for naps so I could maybe get some stuff in the house done in my quiet mommy time. She talked me into walking back to her house and checking the puppy out before I took the girls back home for their naps. 

We walked out behind her house to go see the ‘puppy’. I say ‘puppy’ because he was HUGE! I was thinking tiny little cute puppy and I walk back to see a full-grown dog in a kennel outside. The couple was her neighbor’s daughter and son-in-law who were going back to Delaware Tuesday afternoon. Yes, that was the next day! They let him out of the kennel and all I kept thinking is how sweet his face was and he seemed so nice but not what I wanted. I did not want a black dog or one who sheds. I am a neat freak to say the least and the thought of cleaning up dog hair constantly gives me heart palpitations. I mean, come on! I have enough to clean up with three kids and a husband. LOL this would never work. He would bark too much, knock the kids over constantly, be TOO big for our home, and various other panic attack type of talk going on in my head. I do not even want to really consider this…do I? Well he was adorable and Ava loved him. Lia cried. Bad sign! Kim said she loved him and was going to talk to her husband about taking him. I thought for sure since he was so cute and seemed calm that we did not even have a chance at him anyway.  I called Jared, told him about the ‘puppy’, and told him he is not ‘puppy’ sized. He seemed very excited even in spite of me not really being super interested at the time, which was a complete surprise to me. I assumed I was going to call him and he would have the “Oh great…she’s asking me about a dog again” tone. He wanted to go and look at him when he got out of work. I prayed again about it that God would show me what we should do. 

That day was actually somewhat funny. I had run back to the consignment shop we had hit on Saturday for a breadbox I was feeling guilty for passing up. There will be a completely separate post on that little guy. Anyway I had been spray-painting that day and had just stuff on that I didn’t care if I got paint all over. Ava at some point was in the bathroom and I went in to check on her. I noticed in our bathroom mirror that I was wearing my T-Shirt from a local S.P.C.A. that I had gotten from a walk we did to raise money years ago. I rarely ever wear it. Mostly because I guess, I could not find it for the longest time. I had just gone through all my clothes to reorganize it all and it was more easily accessible. Well that was enough for me to feel a little more comfortable with actually feeling like this was the direction we were supposed to go but as I said, I did not think we had a real shot at getting him so I was still trying not to think about him too much. 

In the meantime, Kim had called me to tell me that they found out the couple would work with them on timing if they decided to take him. They are moving to a new home in two months so they wanted to take him once they moved in. She was going to speak with her husband about taking him after they moved. I have to be completely honest and say that I was actually heartbroken. She did tell us to still check him out just in case they decided not to take him. We waited for Jared to get home and rushed him out the door to go check the dog out. We walked over and I could tell after Jared seeing him that he was totally in love with this dog whose name was Lucky Joe. We told them that we were just looking at him just in case Kim’s family did not want him. They offered us to have a sleepover with him since we were not sure how it work out. I called Kim and she had told me that they were not going to take him after all. I hate to say that I was THRILLED! I was so sad for her because I know she really wanted him but I was just sure we were supposed to have this dog and he was the answer to my fervent prayers. If she would have told me she was taking him, I would have been happy for them and enjoyed being able to visit him. Jared called the woman who had him and told her that we would take him for an overnight to see what we thought. Yeah…it did not even take the whole night. Jared was already out at the Pet store buying him a bed, toys, food, etc. I knew we were keeping him and for free! She gave us his crate, leash, collar, toys, treats, and food. She was so sweet and nice. I felt bad for her. She loved him so much and you can tell that he was very well cared for and loved. They could not keep him because they already had two other dogs and just wanted him to have a good home of his own. They had taken him from their Grandson who worked full time and did not have the time for him. Our situation is perfect since I stay at home and he would have the kids to play with all day. Plus with Jared doing class one night a week and business trips here and there I really wanted a dog to keep me company as well as 'protect' the house. We told her she could visit anytime she wanted and we would keep her updated on him. She made us the happiest new dog owners EVER and I am very grateful to her wonderful heart in wanting to give him his own family to grow up in.

We decided to rename him to make him more officially ours. His name had been changed a couple times before us. It was Zeus, then Lucky Joe, and Shadow. New family...new name. Originally we were going to name him Hurley after the character on LOST (I am a HUGE fan of that show) but then our son kept calling him Harley. NO WAY! There will be no ‘Harley’s’ in this house. It makes me think of the motorcycles and we are not motorcycle people for sure. Then I thought if you shortened it up a bit it sounded kind of gross....think about it. Right?! Gross. It totally would not fit. We then went with what was my first choice all along and that is Sawyer from the same show. Ever since I heard that name, I thought it would be a great name for a dog and I kind of tucked it away in the back of mind for if we did get one. I cannot say enough wonderful things about our Sawyer. He is potty trained, sweet with the kids, submissive, well behaved, ridiculously smart, and not destructive or a big barker. I almost want to pinch myself to see if this really happened to us. You can tell him no for a kid’s toy he grabs instead of one of his own and he doesn’t try getting it again. He drops it and realizes that is not one of his toys to play with. He gets to eat enjoy the scraps that Lia throws down from her highchair and it has been great not having to sweep up the puffs that she throws or drops onto the floor!! We found out about him and less than 24 hours later he was ours! God may take a while to answer prayers but when He answered this one it all happened so quick. I am so glad we listened. Sawyer is already the most spoiled dog. He goes on at least one walk a day. Yesterday he had three! Jared walks him in the morning first thing, I walked him to school with the kids, and then we took a family walk in the evening. He has a million toys, a basket to keep them in, a brand new bed, lots of doggie treats, a new blue collar, run of the whole house, and a nice sized fenced in yard. There is also a stream behind our house that I can already foresee him playing in when summer hits. The kids always beg to go down and play in the stream and I know he will happily be in tow with us. I can already see him loving the lake near our house with us this summer, too! We always have lots going on and people dropping in so I am glad that the two breeds are great with people and especially strangers coming into the house since we have a lot of play dates here at the house. I am actually in the process of spring cleaning our bedroom and while I am doing that I figured I better make a nice cozy spot for him to have his bed so he can lay up here anytime we are on the computer. He loves to be in the same room with us. 

So Sawyer found his furever home and I get to give God the praise for all of this. Soli Deo Gloria! You will be hearing much more about his crazy adventures in future blog posts I am sure! Hopefully by then poor Callie, our cat, will have decided he's not so bad either.

This says it all. THIS is the face that was burned into my thoughts when I first saw him. Look how sweet he looks. How could I say 'no' to this face?!

So loved...he is going to be just totally spoiled rotten with all the attention from our family. Ian already loves playing tug of war & fetch with him and sweet little Ava hand fed him his first two meals.

Now I will be praying about the direction God wants me to take Sawyer in. I can train a dog and have done so with dogs growing up but it is MUCH more involved when getting them prepared to do therapy work. I will be praying for patience & direction as well as the time to be able to do that without taking time away from the family. God is good. If He has this for us to do I know He will provide lots of grace & guidance to get the job done!

I hope you have a blessed day! †

·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· ஐ Rebecca ·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· ஐ