Late Christmas Gifts & Looking Ahead

We received a Christmas gift from our next door neighbors the day after Christmas that I'm pretty sure will be life changing around here. He's 4 months old, his name is Fritz and the cat definately likes him! She's bigger than him too.

I've lived in this house since 1992, my neighbors and I have been through children (little ones to teen agers), pets, good times and bad. Our relationship as neighbors is still intact. At times I've wondered how and thanked God that we keep moving forward.

They go away in the summer time to South Dakota, this year when they came home they had a litter of Dashound puppies with them. I greeted them in their yard shortly after they pulled in this fall and helped unload the puppies and everything that goes with them.

Almost immediately he started talking to me about buying one of their puppies for my kids. I politely declined with the reasoning that I couldn't afford to "buy" a puppie let alone keep one and have the year round resources to support it along with my family.

My kids visited as often as they could and started Pet Sitting for our neighbor when they had to run to the store or just wanted a break. One by one the puppies were adopted out and the kids had to learn to say goodbye.

All that was left was one pup and his Mom for quite some time and my neighbor mentioned several times that he sure would like to see this last pup grow up close by so they could enjoy him too. He dropped his asking price and we talked again about my finances and how I didn't think I could afford to squeeze a dog into it even as small as he was.

It wasn't too long before the pup was offered for sale for five dollars and I declined because I know how much more there is to it than just the initial cost.

On returning home Christmas Eve I found packages at the front door outside and a flyer about the puppies with all the for sale parts crossed out and smiled but didn't respond. I was starting to cave on the puppy front but hadn't said much to anyone.

The day after Christmas my neighbor came over with the pup in his arms and offered him to us as a Christmas gift and a package deal to go along with him. Shots, neutering (if I'd like), bed, toys, and an occasional bag of dog food. As you can see I accepted his offer.

Fritz will be spending a large part of the day today with his "grandparents" my neighbors, they're going to get his last puppy shots. My kids are with their grandparents in Wickenburg and one of my girl friends invited me to go shopping in Lake Havasu with her. Fritz & Miss Kitty

My card today is a Valentine for a class I'm planning in January. I used a sketch challenge from Splitcoaststampers that I really like with my MFT digital paper.

Supply List: Stamps - Eureka, Paper - White, Red Light, MFT digital paper, Ink - Real Red, Accessories - Foam tape.

My post seems quite long today so I'll leave it at that.