We Interrupt this Anniversary Getaway...

 ...because we have some news that I don't want to wait any longer to tell. I'll just cut straight to it, since no one likes being forced to read through a long story, and then I'll go ahead and give you the long story. LOL!!

We are getting a puppy!

This story has been so long in the making, and one thing I have learned along the way is that sometimes people have super strong opinions about choices like these, so I'm just asking you to please trust that we have thought, prayed, and researched, and we feel confident in our string of choices. It's okay if you want to go about becoming dog parents in a different way, but this works for us! 

I had puppies as a little girl, but my parents gave up puppies after a really hard loss when I was just a first grader. That was when we all became a cat family, and of course I still do love cats. Ryan and I both still love cats. But as I became an adult, I never lost the longing for a dog. When Ryan and I were first married, our double commuting life made it impossible to have a dog, and then we ended up becoming Phoebe's full-time sitters, and that at least tended to the yearning to have a dog. At least we had partial custody of one!

Then we came here, and I think the biggest request our tenants make (some have flat out begged) has been for a dog. When we had Phoebe for six weeks this past fall, they fell in love with her, and we began to see that having a "building mascot" dog might actually be a really great thing. (Some of our tenants are still genuinely mourning Phoebe's return home, all these weeks later.) 

What they did not know was that shortly after we returned home from our trip this summer, we made the decision to get a puppy! After doing a ton of research on pairing a dog with an aging cat, plus bringing a dog into a community area, we decided that starting out with a small puppy that we can train from the very start is best. We also chose a hypo-allergenic breed, because Phoebe is hypo-allergenic, and everyone did really well with her. 

I have a friend who is a reputable breeder, whose practices we felt comfortable with, so we got on a waiting list!

And two days after my dog bite, our little girl was born. I saw a picture and knew she was in there somewhere, but I had no idea which one she was.

(Never has a litter of pups been more prayed over than this one, I assure you!)

So last week, in the middle of all the hard decisions we had to make, we had to make a hard GOOD decision of choosing which one was our girl. We drove to our friends' home and met all the pups in contention. We tried to employ the suggestions we'd learned for picking the best fit and in not too long a time, we agreed on the one.

Would you like to meet her?

We are excited to introduce Miss Lexi Grae Shaffer!

It took us like two weeks to choose a first name and proved if we'd had to name children, we probably never would have landed on anything. The Grae is a nod to Grabill, where we live, and the spelling is intended to coordinate with Braeya and her older brother (some of you might remember him!), Kaegan.

We fell hard and fast for Lexi and did not want to leave her.

She is a miniature Bernedoodle with Blue Merle markings. 

She won't come to live with us until January. We'll go visit her again before then, of course. We get pictures of her fairly often. And we are so excited to have her and share her. The tenants are beside themselves with joy. We feel good about the ideas we are getting to help Braeya adjust. (Though she and Phoebe are not really friends, Braeya did do just fine with Deuce - another dog we sat a few times. So we know it's possible.) 

I've been itching to tell you, but I wanted to wait until I had a face to put with the name. And we think she's an awfully cute face!!

Welcome to our family, Lexi Grae!