Our Family Has Grown...

We've said for years that the next dog we get would be for Craig. He's always giving us all the joy of choosing and claiming our critters, we wanted him to have a turn. This weekend, his turn finally came:)

About a week after we lost our Brody Boy, one of my dearest friends messaged me about her sweet golden. She has had him since he was 5 months old but due to circumstances out of her control, she wondered if we would consider becoming his forever family. I approached Craig with this and then stepped back as he thought it over from all sides. Of course I showed him tons of pictures and videos of this sweet boy to help sweeten the deal;). Friday night (Craig's 54th birthday) he looked at me and said "Let's do it!  Can you be ready to go at 6am?"  Being the morning owl that I am (NOT) I got a twinkle in my eyes and said ABSOLUTELY!  Since I'd said not one peep to the girls about this, I had to figure out a way to get around them so they could be surprised. I enlisted Tess's help. The girls spent the night with her and Saturday gracie would hang out with her while Hannah headed to a special birthday celebration with her BFF. Craig and I got up at 3:45am to get ready and hit the road at 5am (an hour earlier than planned). We had a near 400 miles to go to get our sweet boy. 

It was such a fun journey and it was the first time in years that we'd gotten away by ourselves. We were cracking up at the names of some of the towns along the way. One in particular really took the cake....

Craig thinks I should transfer my banking to this bank 😂😂😂

We arrived in southern Missouri just in time to enjoy lunch with my dear friend and her daughters. It was so awesome to see them and hug them since it's been way too long since the last time. After lunch and catching up, we headed black to her home to meet CJ. It was love at first sight!!!!

We didn't get to stay near as long as we would have like because we needed to make the almost 400 mile drive back home. But we do promise to go soon:). 

We loaded up, settled CJ in the back seat, and headed home. About two hours of our trip was tons of hills and curves...poor little boy got car sick. Once we were on flat land again, he did awesome. Perfect little traveler!!!  

Now, we had two issues at hand: 1- since the girls were kinda spread out and we weren't getting home till 8:30, how to spring the surprise and 2- sarah had actually totally guessed what was up and we wanted to keep her off her game. We ran across a barn/shed dealer on the way so we stopped to take some pictures. I sent her a few and said we ordered a cottage. It was being delivered to the farm in 15 days (we wish!). Ok so yeah...there are times it's kinda ok to lie to your children😉

I sent her pictures to show her proof;). She bought it, albeit reservedly. 

We settled CJ at home, made arrangements for Gracie to stay with Tess again, then headed to the barn for what's turning into our weekly grill out with our barn family. We celebrated Shatara's 12th birthday, enjoyed Anne's specialty of Pinchos, and even tyedyed birthday cake:). Everyone was there except Hannah, who was living high on the hog at her BFF's birthday celebration.  

This morning, Craig let me sleep in while he got up and spent 2 hours playing outside with his boy❤️.  I can honestly say that those two ADORE each other. After that, we decided to enjoy the morning together. We went to the farmers market and Whole Foods. By noon we were finally ready to introduce the girls to CJ...

Welcome to the ark CJ, aka Captain Jaxon Samuel. Jaxon means God has been gracious; has shown favor. Samuel means God has heard. This was the name my sweet friend had given him when he was a pup. It's perfect in every way!  We chose to keep it and add Captain to it because he is Craig's little sidekick😍. We truly believe that God brought him to us through my friend and her dear family. He is loved beyond measure!