Pathways of Grace: Happy Birthday Henry!

Last Monday, November 16, was my baby's estimated birthday. I actually got him on December 21, 2008, but my best friend (who adopted his sister) and I estimated that our pups' birthday was the 16th. So there you go.

It's been a neat experience to raise a puppy; it was much harder than I thought it would be, but it's also very rewarding to know that you trained your dog from the start. The last time I had a puppy was when I was 11 years old and my family adopted a beagle puppy, but of course my parents did the brunt of training him and cleaning up his messes. Then when I was 18 my family adopted a full-grown lab mutt from the pound, so we didn't really have to train her much.

Henry was my first dog. He's all mine and I remember every moment of house training. He's really grown into such a sweet dog, he really is a gentleman and a so handsome too. And since he's a pitt bull mutt I really feel like I have a watch dog (I never meant to get a pitt bull). Not to mention the "in" that I have with my 3rd ward students.

So here's how it happened: Last November my best friend and I had moved from student housing to a duplex with a full sized, fenced in backyard. We knew that one of the first things we wanted to do after Christmas break was adopt dogs from the Fort Worth animal shelter. We both LOVE dogs.

Well, on December 21, my dad's side of the family was celebrating Christmas when my uncle Barry casually mentioned that his neighbors had a litter of puppies that had been abandoned and they were trying to find homes for them. Of course that caught my attention and I decided to just go "look" at the puppies. (I knew in my head that if they were at all cute...I was going to take one home). Meanwhile my best friend was in South Carolina celebrating Christmas with her family. So, I called her, told her I was going to go "look" at some puppies, and asked her if she trusted me to pick one out for her. When we got there, the first puppy I saw was a black and white speckled - which is exactly the kind of dog my best friend had been wanting. I was already sold. Now I just needed to pick one out for myself. Henry was the only male out of the litter and I had kind of been wanting a boy, so it was a deal! I went home with 2 puppies!

Here is what the past year looked like: