God Whispered...

Two of my close friends lost their dogs this past week-- and both girls passed away at only 6-7 yrs old.
My friends are heartbroken :( It is so hard to watch people I love go through something so painful. We will miss you, Riley and Zuzu.

Riley Paneri

Zuzu Raines

I found this poem and wanted to post it in honor of Tubbs, Riley, and Zuzu ...

God Whispered

God saw that you were
getting tired
and a cure was not to be...
So He put His arms around you
and whispered, "Come with Me."

With aching hearts,
we watched you suffer
and saw you fade away.
Although we loved you dearly,
we could not help you stay.

A Loving Heart stopped beating,
A special friend put to rest.
God broke our hearts to prove to us
He only takes the best.

- Author Unknown

Our Week...

Our week has been pretty exciting....from dogs to day trips to dog-sitting to Scotch! :) Here are some pics from our busy week...


Last week ended with our first trip as a family of 5 to the baseball field! Pumpkin used to stay home with Tubbie while we took Maggie and Gamer to go run on the field... so this was Pumpkin's first time there. We were kind of worried since she was rescued from this area (the cemetary directly across from the field!)...but she did great! We kept her on the leash to be safe (even though it's 100% fenced) but eventually let go of the leash, letting it drag behind her--and she had so much fun :)




Then the next day (Saturday), we woke up really early to catch the first flight from Orlando to Nashville on Saturday morning! We landed in Nashville, where my parents picked us up and drove us to get my FAVORITE lunch in the world (California Pizza Kitchen :)), and then we met Anne and Bobby and their new puppy, GUS (a rescue peke-a-chon from St. Louis). We then transferred ownership of Anne's old car that we bought from her (4Runner) and headed back to Daytona.... And 10 hours later, at a little passed midnight, we returned to Daytona Beach! We LOVE the new car! Not only do we save the car payment on the Seqouia each month, but we also get an awesome car that doesn't mind getting a little dirty driving on the beach, fishing with Taylor, and driving all kinds of rescue dogs with me! It's perfect :)
Then we spent Easter Sunday relaxing...and went out that night so Taylor could have his first beer in 40 days! He gave up beer, and I gave up sweets for Lent..... My breakfast consisted of ice cream, Oreos, and a bunch of other sweet things I won't list, so I don't sound crazy...but he waited until dinner to have buffalo wings and beer at one of our favorite restaurants (Daytona Ale House).

Then on Tuesday, I received my very own lemon tree in honor of Tubbs from American Lab Rescue :) It was SUCH a sweet gesture---and my neighbors- Pam, Stu, Kathy, and Charlie- came over to help me plant it (after I texted them frantically--not knowing WHAT to do with my adorable new baby lemon tree :)) How cute is it!?!

Then... I got the CUTEST pics of Catie in the mail from my mom... and here's my favorite... how adorable is my niece!?!

Taylor's been working really long hours this week, so I found an easy way to make my hubby smile after his super long week :)

Ok-- so the hair is getting super long...so, I asked him to get it as wild as he could... and then he started posing for "mug shots" (turning from side to side)! Since I always have my camera at arms length, I had to get a few pictures. Look how long and curly it is!!

And finally-- for the next week, we are babysitting this little munchkin :) SCOOTER! He is so sweet--and such a trouble-maker. I love it :) I accidentally called him "Tubbs" like 5 times today--all 5 times, he was getting into trouble...so that kept me laughing all day ;) Our girls never do anything to get into trouble--but the boy dogs are always up to something--so it's been fun having a boy around again :)

Showing Off

Gamer is our little princess--she is so smart, it's actually kind of scary. She has these human eyes that take in far more than any dog should be able to. She can sit, lie down, shake, "take a bow," etc... so here's a clip of her showing off all these fantastic tricks for her mom's blog friends... ;)

Serves me right for trying to show off my little girl's superior intelligence...haha ;)

Old Dogs :)

One of the many times my mom was listening to my cry into the phone over how much I missed my Tubbie bear, she suggested I think of all the good things he did for me and Taylor--and how he inspired me to always look out for older dogs in shelters.... And the next day, out of the blue, I got an email from a family who had adopted an older dog from me almost 2 years ago! And I have to credit Tubbie with this rescue :) I know he's up there, running around, loving life, and whispering in God's ear when he thinks I need a little reminder that everything's going to be ok. Sometimes timing is just too perfect to be coincidental...

Our rescue gets hundreds of emails a week with dogs to rescue, and as awful as it it to admit, we can't take them all. I have had to stop looking at pictures and deleting emails before reading them if I know we can't help. BUT, my rescue buddy Courtney P and I have a thing for the seniors-- and we always do what we can to pull the older guys from shelters... A couple years ago, someone called us about an 11 year old purebred black lab named Boomer who was a retired police dog that was no longer needed :( ! The shelter said he was virtually unadoptable at his age...We got him out of the shelter, and long story short.... he won the hearts of a wonderful family up in the Northeast. They took him as a foster the same way I took in Tubbs---just until he found his new home--and decided they could never let him go :) I got an email a couple days ago from his mom, and she was saying he was slowing down a bit but was still the love of their lives. How cool is this too-- in addition to letting the little girls dress him up with bows, he uses his police training to open doors AND unzip the kids' backpacks with his teeth to get what he wants out of them. :) In honor of all the senior dogs bringing love and all kinds of trouble into homes out there, here's Boomer! I love this boy!

As I was writing this, I realized my mom may have been referring to herself too--haha...my parents have had to take in soooo many dogs because of Megan and me ;) ... Last spring, we rescued two purebred 10 year old labs from TN who were dropped at a shelter after their owner (a lab breeder) could no longer use them as breeding dogs... Their names were Tucker and Chesney, and both were heartworm positive and severely underweight... Tucker became very sick with a fungal infection, and the vet called me, saying that he had done everything possible and needed permission to euthanize. I had to fax a signed letter saying I would allow this to happen (UGH- not the fun part of dog rescue). It was recommended that I euthanize Chesney too becuase he didn't have much of a chance with heartworms at 10 years old and in his condition. I called the vet back before sending the fax, and his technician answered. I told her I understood both dogs were sick... and I knew Tucker was suffering--but I asked her to walk over to Chesney and tell me what his eyes looked like and if his tail wagged... She laughed and said, "Typical lab... wagging his tail and wiggling for attention." That was it... I called my parents (in tears, of course), and told them what was going on.... And he became a Curb on the spot :) They treated him for heartworms, and against all odds, he made it! He now lives in Nashville on 20 acres of fenced in grassy hills-- and he is actually considerably overweight...and LOVING life! I wish I had a picture of him... he is in doggy heaven! Old dogs are the BEST-- even if they do break our hearts when they leave...After writing all this, I'm smiling... so I guess my mom knew what she was talking about ;)

Yikes-- this blog is becoming more of a journal...sorry for all the rambling! ;)

"Family" Therapy

Taylor and I are feeling as though the dark cloud is lifting... we still miss our Tubbie every minute of every day, but focusing on the happy times is so helpful--anything to put that last day out of our minds. I know it was a peaceful way for him to go, but I can't stand the image of a lifeless Tubbs...it was so not his temperment...and it hurts to think of him that way :(

SO... moving forward with life... Suzanne came into town on Wednesday, and it was the BEST thing that could have happened. We really needed family around, and who better than Suzanne :) It was the best therapy we could have asked for. Suzanne and I spent our mornings (from 9am to NOON!) sitting with our coffee and talking about life in general. Work was somewhat slow on Thursday, and I worked off my laptop most of Friday, so we could still hang out. We went to one of Taylor's baseball games, went to all the beachside restaurants we could find, and walked up and down the beach (dipping our toes in the water a couple of times). I miss her already :( She was so much fun, and she kept us smiling the whole time. And she even let me set her up on Facebook!

I feel so blessed to have my 3 healthy little ones right now, and although we are still sick with grief over the hole Tubbie has left in our home and our hearts, we have to focus on how lucky we are to have our girls! To be honest, I think they are a bit tired of being hugged and loved on--but seriously, what else am I supposed to do with all this extra love?? ;)

Here are some pics from Suzanne's visit:

Trying to convince Pumpkin to snuggle...

Loving Pumpkin :)
It is impossible to be this close to Pumpkin and not want to hug her--she is just too cute!

Pumpkin- TOTALLY stiff...

Starting to realize that her grandma isn't so scary after all :)

Maggie with her new "baby" (around her neck)

Typical Gamer :)

Our 3 girls

Ugh, MOM, not another picture!

Ok seriously, let go of me...

Suzanne and Taylor

Best friends :) If only she loved us as much as she loves Maggie...

Me with 2 of my girls-- and yes, I KNOW my hair is absolutely out of control ;)

Notice how thrilled Gamer looks to be part of this picture...

Family of 5 ... again, Gamer's face is priceless....just so happy to be part of this photo shoot :)

Lunch at The Shores (Daytona Beach)

Our view at lunch :)

And finally...here is my boy's final resting place (unless I get to a point where I can spread his ashes, but I'm nowhere near letting him go that way yet). For now, he's here at my computer desk, in his favorite room (my office :)). His ashes are in the wooden dog house, and that's his paw print in the frame. The pics of Tubbie haven't been put in yet-- I'm having trouble sorting through all my pictures and choosing the perfect ones. So many memories of my big guy--how could I possibly just choose 2... I'll get there. For now, I feel at peace, knowing he is home with us again.

THANK YOU for all the kind notes about our boy from the last post--you have no idea how much our friends' support has meant to us this last week. Lots of love to all the four-legged family members of people reading this blog :)