One brain lapse and the family gets bigger......

When Benay and I got married, the man who married us gave us a puppy for a wedding present. Actually he and his wife gave the dog to us. They bred schnauzers and gave one to us. In the brief time they had her they named her "Trouble", but we named her "Sugar". She was our first baby. At times we thought about changing her name back to "Trouble".

Sugar really was a great dog. We had her for 11 years. We went to Florida for a vacation one year and left her with someone. While this person came to let Sugar out, she took off and was killed by a car. It actually ended up being a blessing because I don't think the kids (or me and Benay) could have handled seeing that.

A while later we got a border collie. One of my good friends in physical therapy school had a border collie named Oreo and she was one of the best dogs I had ever seen. So, we got one. We named her Macy. Macy was WILD. Big and wild. She was fast and strong. She used to run as fast as she could and jump past me. As she jumped, her back would hit me in the top of my shoulders or sometimes in the back of the head. I was standing up when she played this game. She almost knocked me over. Not a great dog to have with one year old Carys around. Although Carys didn't show fear, we knew Macy could literally kill her if she ever knocked her down with the same force she played with me. Soon after, Macy went away to live a great, we assume, life on a farm just outside the city we lived in. A nice farmer took her in for us.

We decided no dogs for a while.

Then God led us to Brasil.

Somehow the conversation started with Bronwyn and Ansley, that after we moved to Brasil we would get a dog. About 6 months after we moved here we got a beautiful boxer. We named her Patch. Wild, wild, wild would be the way we would describe her. One example, Benay made an apple pie one time in a pyrex glass dish. She set it on the stove to cool. Patch smelled it and went into the kitchen to try a piece. We were in another room and heard the crash. By the time I got in, she was bleeding from her mouth because of the little pieces of glass that were now covering the apple pie. Didn't stop her. She and I had a little heated discussion on why it wasn't a good idea to continue. I won......barely. We had a Brasilian sister who used to joke with us that for the first year she knew Patch she thought her name was "NO PATCH!" Funny, and not far from the truth.

About 6 months after we got Patch we found out that Benay was pregnant with Anderson. We really hadn't planned on having two babies in the house. About six months after Anderson was born we decided that one baby had to go. We decided to keep Anderson. A nice hospice nurse (who at that time was taking care of one of our neighbors who was dying) found out we were looking for a new home for Patch. One day her boyfriend taxi driver pulled up in his taxi and they all took Patch to her new home. Not a tear was shed by our family. Bronwyn and Ansley were happy to not have the dog responsibility anymore. It was a win-win for everyone.

Since then we have been pretty adamant about no more dogs until the little guys grow up. Having Giovanni extended our "No" answers when the kids got the urge to get a dog.

You might remember Carys and Sam. Unfortunately Carys grew tired of Sam. "Boring" she said he was. So Ansley began to help take care of him. That didn't really work either. So right before our furlough Sam was donated to a place in the city that takes in turtles. I'm not making that up. Ansley and her friend took Sam and he jumped right in a big tank with lots of other turtles. He was very happy.

After we got back from the states Ansley and Carys and Garrett have been asking, and asking, and asking, when were we going to get a dog. The answer has been a firm no.

A few weeks ago I saw a bumper sticker about a place in town where you can adopt pets.  My downfall was sharing this site with the kids.  A brain lapse that I can't explain.  The site showed pictures of around 1,500 dogs and cats that they had for adoption.  I knew I didn't want to pay a bunch of money for another pet, but free adoptions peaked my interest a little if we were ever going to get a dog again.  The kids hit the site hard, and within hours had a list of dogs they wanted to see.  You can read more about my downfall on a post that Benay did on her blog. Go here to check that out.

On Tuesday we went to check out 3 dogs. We came back with two. (We never actually made it to visit the third dog - thank goodness.)  Like our neighbors told us yesterday, we don't do anything small. Six kids - and when most families want one dog, we go and get two.

We didn't intend to come back with two but it just happened.

We first met Rex.

He is one month old.

Rex was a street dog that was taken in by someone who works for the site where we researched dogs. This organization takes in all kinds of strays and cleans them up, neuters them, and then puts them up for adoption. This organization has kept the city from killing thousands of strays. Everyone who works there (from the vets on down) does so on a volunteer basis.

The kids immediately wanted Rex. Once they touched him I knew it was all over.

I wanted to wait to see one of the other dogs before committing. It was a Fox Terrier.   I actually told the kids that we weren't going to get a dog on Tuesday. Yeah, that went well.

We then met Lucky.

He is 3 months old.

Lucky was born in a poor part of the city.  Another street dog.   He was born with some kind of neurological problem which caused him to fall down while he was walking.   A woman took him in (along with at least 10 other dogs in a place barely big enough for her) and began giving him medicine that the organization provided for her. Lucky doesn't fall down anymore. Her neighbors wanted to kill Lucky because of his problems but she wouldn't allow it.

The kids loved the story, and the heart of this woman. She had nothing, but gave what she had to save this dog. The kids decided to give Lucky his name because of his good fortune in being taken in by her.  We wanted to take a picture of this woman but she was too embarrassed and didn't allow us to do it.

After much discussion of the responsibilities that the three kids would have to take with these dogs (paying for food, shots, etc. and clean up poo and pee) we somehow ended up driving home with 2 dogs instead of 1.

The woman in the dress is named Beatriz. She is a volunteer at the organization and was very kind and helpful in taking us to see these dogs. She even told me that if it doesn't work out with our kids and the dogs, for whatever reason, to let her know and she would find them another home.

Lucky was covered in fleas. I have never seen a dog covered in more fleas than Lucky was. We went straight to the vet. On the way there we had Lucky and Rex in a box together in the car. Lucky apparently doesn't like car travel. He puked three times. The kids had the dogs in the back seat of the car. They said he was throwing up beans and rice. The woman who took him in was sharing her meals with Lucky to keep him alive. She couldn't even afford dog food.

Back to the trip to the vet.

While we were on our trip to the states a vet opened up on our street.

We went to check it out and the kids loved the women who worked there.

So Lucky and Rex got their first baths, de-fleaing, de-ticking and then were ready to come home.

They are fitting right in. And like most babies, they like to take naps.

Lucky is an instigator. He's very playful. Rex is a little guy but holds his own as best he can.

Giovanni sure is enjoying his new buddies.

So far so good. Benay and I are hoping that this new maturity and responsibility with the three new dog owners will be the norm and not just a "we want a new dog phase".

I would say our family is now officially done growing, but like I tell Benay, "Only God knows." I don't know why but she really doesn't care for that answer.