Puppy Love...

A long time ago, when Faith was probably about 8-9 months old, I took her along when I went to a thrift store one day to look for something. About 5 seconds after I carried her through the door, she was pointing at a stuffed dog and saying ‘Doggy! Doggy!’ which was one of her first words which she had been saying a lot lately at that age. I let her hold this doggy and she hugged it so lovingly. For such a small price, I wasn’t going to pass it up. I didn’t find the thing I was looking for at the store, so that dog was the only thing I bought there that day. She has slept with ‘Doggy’ ever since and she carries it around all over!

~The REAL thing~
Faith also loves real dogs of course… Short story: One day not too long ago, Matt took Faith to a pet store after running errands in another town and he called to tell me Faith absolutely adored a puppy that was there, and asked if it might be alright with me if they brought it home. I didn’t feel like the time was right for a puppy because we don’t even have a fence and I would probably end up having to do most of the work. (It's kinda like taking care of another kid! Although, I do hope to get a dog someday after we can afford a fence and a dog door.) A little while later, Matt was sending me pictures over the phone of Faith with this little puppy. (GUILT TRIP!) ...A couple days later, we saw our next door neighbors outside with a new puppy on a leash… I looked at the pictures from the phone and asked them where they got the dog and sure enough it was the very same puppy! I thought it must have been meant to be!

We go over several times a week to the neighbors' to let their dogs out while they are gone at work all day, so Faith gets to play with that puppy right next door! It worked out just right! His name is Peyton.


And, since we can’t get our own REAL dog yet, the other day we bought this huge stuffed dog for $2.50, brand new with tags at another thrift store. (In case some of you don’t know by now, I am a longtime fan of thrift stores!) It's that really soft, squishy, huggable kind of stuffed animal, and they love it!