Puppy Love

The story began in early February when the Lord put in on Greg and I's heart that it was time for our family to get our first pet. What can only be explained by God, a sweet friend of mine alerted me of some Shih Tzu puppies that were up for adoption on Facebook. (This is a veeeery rare situation as full bred Shih Tzu's are highly sought after and go for very high prices)

(Can I hear a shout out for FB!! woot woot!)

We had been looking at a breeder over 2 hours away, but did not feel peace about it. I had just told my Mom a few days prior to my friend e-mailing me, that I was going to be it in the Lord's hand. My prayer was that He would make it clear which path we were to take. But my heart's desire was to adopt (knowing if we adopted, the dog would likely be older and some sort of mix breed).

After being blessed with this amazing news, I called the 1st thing the next morning to find out if any of the puppies were still available! To our great fortune, the notice had JUST been released and I was the 1st one to call!

What that meant for us, was we got first dibs on whichever one we felt was the right fit for our family. So...Daddy and I headed over to the Adoption house the minute he got home from work!

I instinctly felt attracted to the blonde one, "Tofu." But, once we got to the house and met all four, it was heart wrenching to pick just one. Greg initially felt drawn to "Satay" the one below on the left.

Here's all four lil' rascals 

(Satay, Szechuan, Bok Choy and Tofu dog piling their sweet Momma, "Ginseng"; their sweet Dad "Sesame" had already been adopted out)

Greg with Momma and our future baby girl

Needless to say, after a night's sleep and another visit, our hearts were made up. The runt of the family, Miss Blondie was to be our youngest Ruley. ;-)

Due to Will being gone during Spring Break, the week we knew we would be getting her, I snuck him over one night and surprise him with the news!

It was sooo cute watching them get to know one another.

Love at first sight...

The puppies were getting so big that poor Momma was exhausted with nursing!

It felt so good to get our *Big Secret* (that we had been keeping for 3 weeks), off our chest...at least to one of the four. :-)

Thursday, March 21st, 2013

The BIG DAY arrived at long last. Miss Blondie finally reached 7.5 weeks old and was big enough and mature enough to leave her "nest." Amy, our sweet Adoption Mom, dolled her all up for our big "reveal"!

Daddy swung by and picked up our new addition and drove her home.

We told the kids he was coming home to surprise them with a fun afternoon activity - I hinted to them it would be a movie. ;-)

Miss R was definitely at a loss to what was going down...

Thanks to Miss Blondie being so very tiny, we were able to place her in a Nordstrom's box I found

with a gift tag to all four nino's from Mom and Dad

I grabbed the camera and then called them down...all the while, my heart raced with excitement!!!

The kids must have been bewildered when they saw a random box sitting on the floor and Daddy holding the video camera

Abby was the only one brave enough to come open it...

TADA!!!!!!!

Introducing.....

*~*~Miss Romey Ireland Ruley~*~*

There are now words to describe this moment

(We wanted to name her "Ireland" after our most favorite vacation, but it's hard to call out due to 3 syllables...so we went with "Romey" after our trip to Rome. She represents our newest adventure.)

Momma and Papa

My favorite pic...so telling

Happiness = Getting surprised with a Puppy

A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul.

Proverbs 13:19

Our lil' Ewok

Cousin Zoe (along with Uncle Brad and Boys) stops by that night to meet Miss R

Romey's 1st morning...I catch Owen up early inside her playpen snuggling her

And this girl...well, let's just say her new nickname is "Dog Hog"

Funniest moment of 2nd day ~ Abby deciding Romey needed more cushion in her crate...thus, she takes Ella's beloved leopard blanket and puts in in there for Miss R to sleep in. One girl was in heaven, the other one dismayed! Guess which one was which?? :-)

Oma stops by to meet her newest grand-dog

This last pic pretty much sums up what's goin' over here at the Ruley house...

a whole lotta LOVE!