My God, a dog & me

Once upon a time, in a house with 4 young kids, the mom decided it would be fun to have a dog. The mom was wrong. Way wrong. And the day she found herself with a dog snout in her mouth, she told herself there would never be another dog in the family. Never, as in never, ever, never, forever, never. As long as the mom had breath to breathe, it would not be shared with a dog. End of story.

Or so I thought. This post could also be entitled, "God's Mysterious Ways." The story continues and picks up about six weeks ago, when I started thinking maybe I should give in and get the kids a dog. Then my friend, Vicki got a new inside dog, a Lab, and I gave her all kinds of grief. I think I even suggested she was crazy as a loon. Or something equally sweet.

But the thought of the dog would not leave my mind - so I went to a site called Dogtime.com and took a little quiz on if I was really ready to get a dog or not. My results read -- and this is a direct quote, "A goldfish is more your style." Not exactly confidence inspiring on my dog getting aspirations, yet I couldn't get the dog thing out of my mind.

About 4 weeks ago, I told Vicki I was thinking of getting my own carpet destroyer and she about fell out of her chair. She got the thermometer, checked my temperature and then spent awhile laughing at me. I sat there while she composed herself and explained that I just couldn't shake the feeling that a dog was coming my way and I was warming up to the idea.

About 3 weeks ago, I wrote a letter to an on-line homeschool group I have been in for years, asking these ladies their opinions on what would be the best dog for our family. I took their answers into my decision making and went on about my secret task.

About 2 weeks ago as Billski was walking by the computer, he caught me on my new secret favorite site - the dogtime.com one. As he walked by he asked, "Are you thinking of getting a dog?" and of course I laughed heartily as I denied any such thing would ever happen. But about 20 minutes later, I fessed up and told him, I was in fact, thinking maybe we should get the kids a dog.

I immediately had his interest, since he has been wanting a dog for years and I was the one who was not going to have any part of a dog in this house. I told him I had been doing a lot of research on what would be the best dog for our family - minimal slobbering, mouthing, friendly with all ages, easily trained, easy to groom, playfulness, good with babies and a few other qualities. Plus, it had to NOT be a puppy, but have a long life expectancy.

I had narrowed it down to three based on hours of research. A spaniel, a bassett hound and an Australian Shepherd. I didn't want to go into this without knowing somewhat what we were getting ourselves into. I had pretty much eliminated the bassett because it didn't fit my idea of a fun dog to play with in the park.

I was going to spend some more time looking into the dog when everything happened with my dad last week and the dog was put into the back of my mind.

As I drove my dad away from his home last Monday, I had no idea at the time that he would never be going back there - but it doesn't look like he will. My dad made only one request since we uprooted him from his house -- to please find a good home for his dog. A 3 year old dog with a life expectancy of 15 years. An Australian Shepherd.

His dog, Atticus, will become our dog on Tuesday. He will spend Monday at the vet, getting his shots, a bath, his nails trimmed and a short hair cut.

If someone had told me six weeks ago I would be welcoming a dog into my home I would have had no problem telling them they were crazy. I have no doubt that God has been working on my heart and come Tuesday afternoon, there will be another mouth to feed and no doubt things will be crazier than normal, but I'm alright with that.

Atticus will be right where he needs to be and my dad will feel better knowing he will be taken care of. God made sure of that through a slow and steady process. His timing is perfect.