Fate?

I'm not really sure what to call it... so I am going with fate.

The day after we had to put Isis down, I was speaking with a parent at e's school... which I guess I never told you how we solved our dilemma. OK, quick sidetrack...

We found a part-day private Kindergarten for e. It's at one of the church's here and is from 9-12 everyday. It's perfect. She gets to go for the morning, learn something and hang out with friends and then in the afternoon, her and I get to hang out while KK sleeps. In the fall, we are going to re-start her in Kindergarten, either at the school in our backyard, or the charter school. Not sure about that one yet, but we have plenty of time to decide.

Alright, back to fate...

I was speaking with a parent at e's school and told her that we had to put Isis down. The next day, she told me that she had heard from a friend of a friend, that a man was moving to England and had a 2 year old lab that he was looking for a family for and wanted to tell me about it first because of our situation.

I mentioned it to E, but neither of us thought much of it at the time. Then we started talking more, and you all know what happens when we start talking and thinking...

So, we decided to email the guy and just get a feel for him and the dog. We emailed back and forth and he told us that she was a really sweet dog, was house and invisible fence trained. He told us that he works 10-12 hours a day and it's not fair to her to be left alone. He also might be moving back to England where there is a 6 month pet quarantine. And he sent us this picture...
Obviously, a puppy picture, but look at that face.

After more emails and questions, we were informed that it would be an adoption, not a sale, and she would come with everything. Oh yeah, she's spayed too. Now, with our history of all things strange, we didn't think twice. 'Cuz why start now??

We arranged to drive 2 hours north of us to meet them. They were outside waiting for us. We talked outside for awhile and then proceeded inside... first to the garage where all of her supplies were waiting (toys, food, bowls, etc.) and he told us that he didn't remember the name of the food because his girlfriend buys it. We then went inside, he put the dog downstairs and we went into the family room where we were introduced to two girls, older than ours, and told one was upstairs. His girlfriend also poked her head down at one point to say, 'Hi.'

Hmmm, OK, so I was sort of under the impression that this guy was single. But while sitting on the couch in a really awkward conversation, I looked around at the pictures where there was one with him and his girlfriend and the three girls. Back to this in a minute.

So, we decided that she was the one and we were going to become dog owners once again, much sooner than expected.

Meet Sophie
a 2 year old, REALLY black lab, in need of a couple of work-outs but has the cutest face ever.

When loading her into the car, the guy was tearing up because it is SO extremely hard to let a pet go. But no one else came out of the house, no one else said good-bye. This is one part of the whole thing that I cannot wrap my brain around and I don't think I ever will, no matter how much I obsess about it. I mean, is the dog always alone at home? What about the kids and the girlfriend? Did they recently become involved? I will never know.

Anyway... she LOVES to play tug of war, and her and e have become fast friends. Sophie will drag e all around the house with e laughing the whole time.

She does have some bad habits, not her fault, so we will be doing some re-training over the next... well however long it takes to undo and redo. It should be a fun challenge.

And she also came with this on her collar. Fate or something else??