What a Day!

That's a 16 on the radio...

And I thought it was going to be dull!

First, we talked to Daddy for almost an hour on Skype, yay!  Then, after lunch, I decided to pack us up in the van to go to work to pick up my beautiful roses my wonderful husband had sent to me at work for my birthday (and I stupidly forgot to mention yesterday).  Of course, this turned out to be the very worst part of the day's storms.  After getting what I considered pretty wet, we were on our way.

As I pulled into the road that takes us out of our neighborhood, I caught a spooky glimpse of a face sitting patiently under a tree staring at me.  I backed up, but couldn't find the creature.  I opened the door to search a little and found a sweet dog right at my door, begging to come in.  I let him in the back of the van, and then I wasn't sure what to do.  He had a collar and a flee collar, but no tags.  I drove to the vet across the street and asked them for advice.  They gave me the address and number for animal control.  I was going to go there, but it was bugging me to think that someone very near owned him, and I was going to take him so far away just because I didn't know who it was.  (Skip to **** to get past the long version of the dog story - I'm going ahead and writing it all out mostly for Brandon's sake.)

So I asked a guy in the neighborhood that I know has dogs (Billy) if he'd seen anyone walk this one before.  He had no clue, but told me about someone in the neighborhood that might take him in for me.  That person wasn't home.  So I was thinking of people to call, partly to give me the directions to the Human Society - someone told me they are no-kill now.

I called Brianna and told her the situation and she really wanted the doggie.  We decided I'd take him home and leave him on the patio, since the rain had finally let up some, and she would find out if they'd be able to take him.  So a neighbor lady (Linda) helped me get him back there, and she went to buy him some food.  Oh, and by the time we were all inside to stay, every layer of my clothing was soaked through.  ALL OF IT.

He was such a good dog!  He knows commands, obeyed everything I told him, even watching me to wait for the next command.  He shook my hand and laid down for me to rub his belly.  He seemed pretty healthy too.  He was desperate to get out of the scary weather, so I let him in.  He wouldn't let me bathe him, so I had to keep him corraled between the bottom of our stairs and the bathroom upstairs, with all other doors shut.  He was really scared of the storm, but didn't make a peep at anyone or anything, except when the neighbor knocked on the door.  Then he made one small sound, not loud at all.  And he was great with the kids the whole time he was stuck in the van with them.  He was obviously a great pet at some point.  The concensus of opinions though is that he was dumped off.

Anyway, Brianna had to do a lot of research on whether they'd be able to take him in, and in the meantime, the neighbor decided to take the dog for me, and then take him to animal control in the morning if we didn't find him a home.

*** Brianna and Chris decided to leave him alone, even though she really really wants him.  So he'll be going away in the morning.  The neighbor will go back to the shelter after her vacation to keep him if he's still there.  She's also planning on putting up posters around to let anyone looking know where he went.

I wish I could have kept him until we found someone to keep him, but not with three small kids, and I couldn't even leave him on the patio with all the rain today and upcoming days.  I'm sure he'll be fine - he's a great dog and will have no problem finding a new family, if not his old one.

So the kids were so patient driving around our neighborhood for a long time this afternoon, trying to figure out what to do with this doggie.

And what a day for potty training!  I am being very safe in my estimate in saying I helped with at least 24 individual peepee or poopie trips.  They let me know everytime they had any feeling to go.  And they went everytime!  I don't know where they got it all!  And they barely went in their pullups all day.  So eventually they'll get back into only going every few hours, but for now we're pretty busy.  I'm very proud of them.

Amongst all this craziness, Jen and Brianna and I were coordinating meeting for dinner tonight.  That worked out really well.  All the kids had a great time and behaved very well overall.  Then we came to our house for birthday cupcakes Jen made.  They were delicious, and the kids all went nuts.  Mr. Caleb walked all around, having a blast!

The gang's all here!

Cool firefighter dudes

Caleb shared so well...

Uncle Chris brought a few moments of quiet with a story

Despite all this NONSTOP insanity ALL DAY, I felt great!  God provided so much grace, I felt so level.  It was exhausting, and frustrating at times, but I never got that feeling of loss of control of my emotions.  He is so good to me!  And my kids, because they didn't have to deal with any of my insanity.

I really love all of our family, and never forget how blessed we are to have each of them.  Thank you guys for a wonderful evening!

No, I didn't get my roses yet.  I'm going to do it tomorrow for sure.  (Insert french accent there.)