our adoption story.

i've been following adoption stories for quite sometime.
my heart years for a darling Uganda baby.
but, alas, we already have MANY children and i'm pretty confident that Ugandan adoption is not in our future.

enter saturday morning.
i awake with a clear knowledge that we need to visit the humane society as a family that day.
i refuse.
i feel the nagging again and i listen.
i say to my dear husband... how about we visit the humane society today?
he says, "Great idea honey, I've been feeling that we should do this too!!"
well, more like... (are you crazy?  really?  is it ok if i wait in the car?  really?)
we visit.
it was love at first sight, for the kids... not for me.
we left.
i spent the night thinking "NO WAY!"
the kids and todd fasted and prayed the next day.
yes, God does care about whether or not we get a dog.
i know it.
i spent the day thinking about ME, ME, ME...
and it sounded hard.
we visited the shelter one more time and i heard crazy, ferocious dogs going crazy...
i saw our sweet little dog with her nose at the gate, her tail tucked under, and for the first time i thought about HER.
we could be a blessing in her life.
i knew it.

the shelter called her zella.
she is a mix between a chihuahua and and daschund-- a breed called a Chiweenie.
She was taken from a home two months ago where she was locked all but a few hours of everyday in a kennel.
When they got her the medical reports describe her atrocious condition.
She had no hair, her body was covered with yeasty infection, her nails were so long they curled in circles and she was very overweight.
they think she was fed either really bad dog food or human junk.
when i see her i think of the digging-est dog...
"i was the saddest dog you could ever see,

sad because no one wanted me...
i was tied to a bare, hard floor of stone
i could not even dig for a bone.
i was living all of my life alone,
a dog that no one wanted to own."

she was transferred to our shelter from another shelter because she looked so bad.
she spent the past month and a half in a foster home where they bathed her four times a week with medicated shampoo and started feeding her healthy and loving her up.
EVERY vet report, every note about her in the paperwork ends with "such a sweet dog, she would be great in a family."

Zella was renamed

Daizie Pinky Pan-a-cake.

The name Daisy was actually Jakob's idea.
The boys fought hard for that name.
Anna was certain that it was cuter to spell it with a Z and an IE.
Lily insists on Pinky- because pink is her favorite color and EVERY stuffed animal she owns is named pinky... and Leah came up with Pan-a-cake, because she's brown.
Ellie wanted to name her Mayflower and call her Maysie...  Daizie was ok because it rhymed.

so far, it has been SO FUN.

the only hard thing for me is that eve cries if i'm not near her when the dog comes by her.
she really likes the dog, but wasn't too excited when Daisy licked her face.
(seriously, it is annoying to type Daizie... personally i like Daisy better but when i was in 4th grade my name was Jeni because i was so much better than Jenny.)

today, i welcomed home a new member of our family.
a five year old Chiweenie from an animal shelter.

and i am happy.

ps.  this was my FAVORITE moment of the day.
months ago leah was filling out an "all about me" packet for preschool.
she was supposed to show "her pet", but i had convinced her she could do the pet she wished she had.
she picked a chihuahua.
we printed off a picture from the internet and she colored it red.
for her birthday this year she also asked for a chihuahua.
i NEVER for one second even halfway considered that she would EVER get a chihuahua.
ever.
she happened upon the picture she colored of the red chihuahua this morning while we were waiting for the shelter to open.
she held up her picture and shouted to me, "See Mom!  I knew it!  DREAMS DO COME TRUE!"
sweet, sweet girl.

i have a DOG?!!