Meet Maisey – the healing pup we didn’t know we needed. We had planned on getting another dog in the fall, after our hearts had healed a bit and our summer trips were over, but had heard breeders had long wait lists that you needed to get on asap. So, in my search for breeders, I stumbled upon one that had a fresh litter born April 1… Bentley’s parting day… which just seemed the sweetest way to make the saddest day happy again! My parents had mentioned they didn’t mind watching a puppy this summer and allofasudden I found myself emailing them and asking if they had any left because it just seemed so perfect! Until I got home that night and realized those sweet puppies were only 2 weeks old and needed to be with their momma for another 6 weeks and we’d be leaving my parents with a puppy that had only been with us for 2 weeks by the time we could go get her. Anyways, I guess with puppies now on the mind, I somehow stumbled upon this sweet family with 12 week old puppies and then found myself asking if I could come get one, well, that day… What? I don’t know. What? WHO KNOWS what goes on in my head. Mom keeps saying she was sent from God and I’m starting to believe her cause I think I blanked out a little bit there! Ugh that Bentley dog left the most giant hole. We hated coming home to an empty house… everything seemed deafeningly quiet… all the things that drove me crazy about him now felt like huge holes of hurt that I now missed so much – he wasn’t there anymore to obnoxiously lick all the dishes when I put them in the dishwasher… when the door blew open, as it does so often, I didn’t have to run around asking if anyone has seen the dog or if he’s run away again… I no longer had to step over a giant animal when getting out of bed… I no longer had to brace visitors for the tremendous amount of loving coming their way as he scampered around the corner to meet them. Everything made me miss him. And yet, as I was driving the long drive to pick up this sweet girl, wondering what the heck I was doing, I could feel my sad little heart filling right on up with joy all over again. It’s been such fun seeing the kids get to experience a puppy for the first time. I was so happy bringing her home and yet while the kids played, I still found myself wandering over to Belly dog’s little brick and having a good cry :) cause he was a really good dog and it still hurts sometimes. It’s been a perplexing week of emotions :) Yet, I was just sitting out in the sun and this little girl wanders over and lays down by my feet and I thought how each day my heart feels a little more at peace. She’s starting to fit right into our little family. She’s so mellow and sweet and certainly has her puppy moments but she’s brought us so much joy and laughter and healing and I am thankful. So dear little Maisey Mae, we sure weren’t expecting you but welcome to our crazy family. We sure love you <3