Who Rescued Who One Year Ago Today?

Today marks one year to the day we adopted Angel! One thing that sticks out in my mind was how hesitant I was to get another dog after losing our Sophie. I swore I wouldn't want to get close to her. That lasted about 3 minutes- the moment I saw her face walk through the door I changed my mind. I thought I was going to cry when I touched her, but I didn't. For one thing, she wouldn't let me touch her! Maybe it was a God thing....he helped the transition by giving us both the time we needed.  She was scared to death of us and I was scared of getting close to her, but she needed me. I had no choice. I had to pick her up, comfort her and speak sweet words to her. Sophie was the last one I had done that for. I didn't think I could do it again.  Who knew that it was exactly what I needed to heal my own broken heart. God is so good.

I cleaned out my file cabinet today and found the vet records for Sophie. I tearfully went through them, kept a few memorable pieces and hesitated just a moment before letting the rest slip into the trash. I can't believe I can still cry so easily just thinking of her. I took one last look at Sophie's name printed on the folder, then replaced it with Angel's name. I looked over Angel's paperwork from the last two shelters and wanted to cry again!  Her file is now in the family file cabinet where it belongs! And Sophie is still where she belongs...firmly in my heart.

These years, however many we may get with Angel, will go fast. I can't stress enough that because it goes so fast, these animals in shelters need families now. And believe it or not, a part of us needs them even more....

Angel Makes a "Friend"

Angel loves living in the woods, and now with Spring sort of here, she has a lot of wildlife to watch! She is most excited by rabbits and chipmunks, but today she met someone new...

I'm not sure who surprised me more...the deer staring but not running away, or Angel simply quietly studying her without one flinch! They were eye to eye for a few moments, then the deer went back to snacking without a care.

Angel loves to hear new words. She tilts her head so cute when you say something she's never heard. Today I wanted to get a cute picture of her, so I took this one....

And then I said some words she hasn't heard before...."Do you want some pizza?" And she gave me this cute little look...

And now you can see why our home revolves around Angel! Could you say no to that face?

Adoption Anniversary

This is the sad little Angel face we first saw on the screen when we went looking for a dog on Petfinder a year ago. Is it any wonder that I couldn't stop thinking about that face? Steve would show me other dogs and I just couldn't stop thinking of Angel.  As they say in the movies, it was "love at first sight".

Of course, by the time we met her, she looked like this....

She was just a baby herself when she had that little cutie behind her. That's Yofi, now known as "Marley", and that was Angel's adoption day.She wasn't so sure about us then.

She's looking even a little better now....

She's definitely fatter! Her hair is a bit longer, and though she's not "smiling" in this picture, she "smiles" all the time now! She is quite happy. As I said to Natalie this morning, "that dog has not had one bad day in almost a whole year. Pretty good for a shelter dog!" She agreed that life would not be the same without our Angel and it has been a blessing to love her. Angel has become a "daddy's girl"as well, climbing right over me to get to her daddy each morning! Such a change from the first 6 weeks she spent being afraid and hiding from him!

We will be hugging her extra tight on April 26th, the anniversary of  her adoption day! We can't believe a whole year has gone by already. I actually found a picture of Angel on Pinterest, but could not get it to load here. It was a petfinder ad for the adoption of her puppies. Angel looked like a puppy herself. Natalie has also put a picture of Angel on Pinterest, so if you're out there, look her up sometime! (as if you need to see more pictures!)

Thanks again, Angel followers and "aunties". It's been nice to share these times with you!

Angel Bunny

Is it the Easter bunny? The Easter Beagle? Close...it's the Easter Maltese mix, giving out kisses instead of eggs! Angel takes every opportunity to love on her "sissies"!

Diggin' Our Dog

 Last week Angel found a tiny hole in the yard. She kept sticking her nose in it and looking like she could see something in there. I didn't think about the small hole when I put her on her tie out later that day, and this is what Natalie found when she went to check on her!

I think she's actually smiling here!

Hello? Mr. Chipmunk? Can you come out and play?

She had gotten a pretty good size hole dug out, so her feet were all black and she had a black muzzle to match! The girls immediately took her to the tub for a bath. Angel is not a fan of baths...I think she regretted her digging pretty quickly!

She hasn't gone back to finish off the hole so far, so hopefully she got it out of her system!  Well, at least for now....