Promise

 

We have a new member of our family!  Here she is…

Promise!

She is a 2 1/2 month old German Shepherd/Mastiff mix.

Sweet as can be.

She’s here primarily as a result of Alix’s many years of faithful, and fervent, prayers for a dog. All of the kids are in love with her and during her 1 week as a part of our family, she has received as much love and attention as any puppy could hope for.

The story of how God brought her to us is a reminder of God’s faithfulness and perfect timing.  For in the same way that the Proverbs say the king’s heart is like streams of water in the LORD’s hand – that He turns it wherever He pleases, God turned the heart of the puppy’s previous owner to find favor with us.

 

We originally bought her almost 3 weeks ago.  But after 3 hours, just enough time for the kids to fall in love with her, her owner called to say she hadn’t realized we were going to keep Promise outside.  She was very fearful about coyotes getting her and about Promise being neglected by the kids since she wouldn’t be inside the house every day.  She also told us that because of Promise’s Mastiff lines, her short hair wouldn’t keep her warm enough in the winter if she was outside at night.  

And although Alix was heartbroken when I told her, she looked at me with tears trickling down her cheeks, caressing the puppy in her lap, and said, “This is one of those trials that we’ve talked about, that God is giving to us to strengthen our faith.  We don’t understand it right now, but we trust Him, right Mom?”

  

So we gave her back. 

And truly, there was much weeping in our home that day.

 

We spent the next 2 weeks looking for puppies.  And both times we found one, the shelters changed their minds within 24 hours, and we had no puppy after all.

Then last Monday, Glenn asked me what I would think of calling Promise’s owner.  He had kept a correspondence with her because she wanted to help us find another puppy, one that was 6 months old or older, and could protect itself against a coyote.  She runs a dog rescue shelter in her home and is on several lists of dogs in urgent situations, and had emailed us a few times to try to match one for us.

Glenn suggested to me that we keep Promise crated in our mudroom at night, and then take her outside each day, until she was old enough to protect herself against the coyotes.  (She will certainly be big enough!)

  Then if our barn/garage isn’t ready by next winter, we could make a heated dog house for her in our cobhouse. I thought it was a great idea. But I had doubts the owner would change her mind.

 

But God moved her heart like a stream of water. He directed it where He chose.

And this sweet puppy is home. 

 

Loved and adored by all of us.

 

Well maybe not quite all of us yet.   Ahem…

But they are making progress…