"Are you insane?!"

A few weeks ago a little pup, white with black spots, showed up on Mom and Dad's back porch. He had no tags and was extremely friendly. Mom and Dad took him in and he started living in the basement. They took him to the vet to see if he had a chip and for an overall health check. They kept checking for signs to be posted around the neighborhood as I checked the all the major lost dog websites. The vet said he was a healthy little pup around 6 months old and probably a mix between Jack Russell and Beagle. Well, where have we heard this before.....

Flash back to the end of August 2009. We were having a really bad storm. The rain and wind were so fierce it was coming down in sheets sideways with major flash flooding. You could not see to drive most of the time. Shawn needed to head to the airport but needed to make a quick stop at the office first to pick up some CAD Drawings for his trip. We thankfully hit a lull in the weather. We pulled into the work parking lot and Shawn ran in to get what he needed while I stayed in the car. I was seven months pregnant at the time. While sitting in the car waiting on Shawn I saw a white flash out of the corner of my eye. Then I heard the sound that would melt any heart, well, especially mine. I heard whimpering and crying. I turned to see where it was coming from and underneath one of the work vans was a white pup with black spots. I didn't think, I just got out of the car and went over to the van. The puppy ran out from under the van and jumped up on me. I immediately scooped her up and she nuzzled her head in my neck. I dropped Shawn at the airport for his week long business trip and headed back home with the pup. I made all of the proper phone calls, took her to a vet to have her checked out, she had no chip and she came with no collar or tag. The vet thought she was about 11 weeks and a mix of Jack Russell and Beagle. So, I had this puppy, I was 7 months pregnant and most people just wanted to know "are you insane?!" when I thought about keeping her. After a week of searching and looking for posters, the vet said "look she has probably been dumped and was very lucky you were in the parking lot to find her" I agreed and thought I had been sent a special little blessing to care for. We named her Fleur De Lis Anne Harmon. She goes by De Lis.

Back to February. I had just left Mom and Dad's after a visit when I got a phone call asking if I was sure De Lis was with me. I told Mom and Dad I was staring at her playing with her toys and asked why. Mom said " well, there is a De Lis look alike on my back porch" I asked her to send a picture. Dad went out to see if he had tags so he could take him back home. No tags. They took him to the vet to see if he had a chip. No chip. Surely, lighting was not striking twice?????

In 2007 we had significant losses in our family. One of them was our beloved Bailey's Thunder Mountain, our Chesapeake Bay Retriever (He will get his own post later). It was like losing a child. He was our child. We were devastated.

We always said that when we were ready again we would get two dogs. We liked the idea of them having the company of each other and not just us. I think Shawn was probably ready a year ago to get them but my heart was still too broken. I guess you could say that God does work in mysterious ways.

So now De Lis has a little brother. We named him Francois Da Vinci Brees Harmon. They get along great. We now have 9 month old De Lis, 6 month old Da Vinci and 4 month old Giada. I guess if I were going to answer the question "Are you insane?!" honestly, I would say..............Yes, I am, but someone else planned this happy little insanity for me and I wouldn't change a thing!!!!

until next time,
xoxo