A NEW DAY and A NEW ARRIVAL with Lily

Lily the new member of our family

In my last blog, I shared with you my saddest and void in my life of losing our 12-year-old Boston Terrier – Princess.  I also shard my frustration of trying to find another Boston Terrier and trying to reach out to rescue shelters hoping to find a young Boston Terrier (but not a puppy) only to not be selected due to the demands for that breed of dog and so many requests for a Boston Terrier.  Then on one of the Dog Shelter’s Facebook pages, a lady had posted a poem Crossing over The Rainbow Bridge. (If you missed it, you can find it in my last blog).  In that poem it starts out “HI Mom, Now that I’ve been across The Rainbow Bridge for a couple weeks, they said I should write a letter home.“    In that letter I felt our little Princess was talking to me and my husband through God and this Crossing over the Rainbow Bridge poem was telling us she loved us and was our Guardian angel watching over us.  She also said in the poem…she was sending us another special earth angel for us to share our love with.

It was just a short time later, My daughter from Indiana called and said, mom… would you be interested in a 12-month-old Boston Terrier as a lady had reach out to her when she saw her Facebook page telling everyone her mom and dad were looking for a young Boston Terrier.  My first words, “find out more, yes we are interested”.  After talking to the lady (Deb), we learned this little Terrier named Lily was high spirited and liked to go out and run around the ponies getting under their feet.  Lily was on a farm so there were no fences that could keep her in and they were looking for someone with a fenced in yard who would love her and protect her. 

Deb and I contacted each other and found out there were even more to the story. Deb had purchased the dog a few months earlier from a special needs family who had gotten the dog for their child.  The problem, each time the child opened the door the dog would bolt and run outside. The family would have to take time trying to get the dog back in the house plus there was the fear of dog getting hit by a car. They just could not take care of the dog and so they put the dog up for sale.

So, this meant Lily would be coming to a 3^rd home with her already… many unsafe habits. In talking to my husband, we decided, yes, we wanted the dog and be both agreed, this was what our little Princess was trying to tell us when she said she was sending us someone for us to love, like we had given her.  

             I’ll send you another Earth Angel so you won’t be alone.

          Give them your whole heart, like you gave it to me.

          I’ll check in every so often to make sure they treasure your love ~ I always did!

Our tears were now happy tears and not sad tears.

The day came.  We were to meet Deb & her husband half way to pick up Lily as they were in the Northern part of Indiana, and we were in central Illinois which met we both would be driving 3 hours one way rather than us having to drive 6 hours one way to get Lily. We met in the parking lot of a major chain department stores to get her. As we were approached, I was the first one out of the car. Lilly ran to me pulling on her leash to come to me and giving me hundreds of kisses. She did the same when my husband approached her.  Deb said she was very loving and loved to give everyone kisses.  She was still working on her walking with a leash, and was almost house broke. She also explained when they first got her, she would wince every time, her husband went to pet her as if she may have been hit by a man, or possible the child, and it had taken time for Lily to trust him. She also said they had taken Lily on their camping trips and did very well.  But she did get off the leash one time and it took them over an hour with several people trying to catch her… so cautioned us to be careful with open doors.

Lily in Doggy Car Seat

I had to laugh as we were getting Lily and supplies into our car. It was like getting a new baby… car set, harness, doctors reports, shot reports, the teeth cleaning & treats she liked, and her favorite toy.  I had to laugh, in all my excitement to get on the road initially to get Lily, forgot a leash.  Thankfully, Deb had a leash we could have and helped us to get Lily into the car seat.  Could tell, Deb really did not want to give up Lily, but realize the danger Lily was in to keep her on the farm with all of the animals. Deb had another Boston terrier that was about a week from having pups.  When asked if she was going to raised Boston Terriers, she said they were going to try.  But…she said she had not gotten Lily for breeding as she was not built for breeding and wanted her more as her pet.  Deb told us she had concerns about Lily when she first heard about Lily and the problems the family was having with the dog and the special needs child.  

We agreed to keep in touch and started our long journey home. Lily would look all around and did go to sleep for part of the trip back home.  One could tell, she was wondering what was happening, why am I going with these people?  As we were getting near home, we were wondering, can our love overcome any fears Lily might have, will she be able to adapt to a home with a small fenced in back yard after being able to run about a large farm, and is she the one our little Princess was sending to us that needed our love? 

Next; Our first weeks with Lily!