Adoption of the Canine

Let me introduce you to....

BLUE and if she had a middle name it'd be BELL ;)

She is an 8 week old Catahoula Leopard/Australian Shepherd mix
She has pretty blue eyes and has what they call the blue merle coloring. The eyes still may change but it is probable that they will not. So, with the two blue elements in her physical appearance, blue being the favorite color of both Faith and Hope, Blue Bell being...well great, the fact that Love can pronounce it, and we all 6 agreed on the name..."Blue" it is!
She is sweet and I have heard Hunter say more than once how much he loves her. He is on cloud nine. He has wanted a dog for so long now. We were going to wait until his birthday in November but we went ahead and adopted this little cutie.

There were many factors in why we would not have a dog. First, I have a really hard time feeding a dog when there are starving people in the world. I could probably sponsor at least one well, probably two children through Compassion for the price to maintain a dog. Go ahead and tell me how awful I am...I just rank people above dogs...sorry. I am not big on the aroma of dog poop. It just turns my stomach and changes my mood. I tend to be the full time care giver because I am the mom and home all day. In fact, who was up last night at 1am and 4am? Who cleaned up the 5...yes, 5 tee tee accidents already? Who cleaned out her crate after she had a rather nasty incident and spread it all over? Yep, that is right...me. I apparently am in some need of some humbling. There is nothing more humbling than cleaning up after someonelses messes. Oh and last but not least, we may have neighbors that no longer like us. She may be little but girlfriend is LOUD and WHINY.

But, there are advantages too. I love witnessing the nurturing side in all 4 of my children with her. I love that they will learn compassion. I think it is good for them to understand by adopting a dog we agreed she is family...period. I love that they want to please someone else with no expectation of her returning the favor. I think the responsibility will be good for them...and I will follow through with them helping while they are at home. There are studies out that say caring for a dog and even petting an animal can reduce your stress level...Bonus! Truth be told, I kinda like this little girl.