Sunday ~ The adventure continues.

On Sunday morning as we are getting ready for church, I said (really loud as Kalie was in the other room) to Katie and Kasie, “Well, what do you think? Have we found the right dog? Should we keep her?” In their loud, overly done voice, they answered; “Yeah, I guess we should keep her.” Kalie screamed and started crying and laughing, the dog went crazy. Kalie was hugging her so hard that I was afraid she might break a rib. She kept saying, “Izzie you are part of the family now. You get to be my dog forever. We are going to be best friends. We can adopt you! I love you so much!” It was a good 10 minutes before she came out of the room to tell us “Thank You”

Kalie did not want to leave her when we went to church. I had to set some ground rules very fast. LOL! Izzie is not a reason to miss commitments and responsibilities! Walking into church, I started towards our usual spot; right behind the Dyches’ and Mark & Mer, but Kalie had other plans. She wanted to sit by Jonathan. I was very surprised! She has made so much progress with her anxiety lately. Eighteen months ago I could barely get her to church, twelve months ago it was a struggle to get her to Sunday School, six months ago I could barely get her to go to community group without tears and having to leave early and today ... we sat by someone new (well not really new, he is in our community group but we have never sat by him before) and she walked almost all of the way to Sunday School by herself. HUGE progress! I am so pleased and happy!

After church we made our usual stop at Wal-Mart for our paper and Sunday treat. While we were there we stopped at the craft/fabric department. I needed a pioneer dress pattern (yes we are really into this unit study) and … we had to get a doggie coat/bed pattern. Kasie and Kalie picked out coordinating fabric to make 3 coats. We will pick out fabric to make the cover for her crate later in the week. Kasie is very excited that Izzie is a girl/dog who likes to wear clothes.

The older girls went to work for the afternoon. Kalie and I came home to CLEAN (our house was trashed). We worked for about 3 hours doing laundry (we had about 6 loads to fold) and picking up. It was so cute where ever Kalie went Izzie followed. We folded the laundry on my bed. I would hand Kalie a stack of folded laundry to put away, she would walk out of the room, and Izzie would jump off the bed to follow her. They would return. Izzie would jump on the bed, lie down and look as if she was sleeping. As soon as Kalie would start to walk away from the bed to put something else away, Izzie would perk up, jump off the bed and follow her.

I think that Izabel will be the perfect best friend for Kalie. The only concern I have is … will Izzie want to be homeschooled. I do not need any more uncooperative students. We have had problems with Oliver, Stanley and Ralphy (the cats) and their participation. LOL! You think I am crazy, but Kalie has spent many an afternoon locked in the bathroom trying to teach the cats’ math. I also think that Izzie will also help to get Kalie more active and trim her up/down. I say this because she took the poor dog for 6 walks from 12:00 until 5:15. LOL! Poor dog.

We met Paige at around 4:30 to get Izzie’s crate and toys. I know that she was sad to see Izzie go to a new family, but happy to see that she will be loved, pampered and spoiled. We will meet Paige early next week to get Izzie’s shot record and papers. We will register her, but will not breed her. In fact I will make an appointment to get her fixed very soon. I am going to check into a class for Kalie and Izzie. I thought it might be another way to help Kalie with her anxiety about new people and places if Kalie and Izzie did dog shows together. Nothing serious or stressful, just maybe a local show.

Kalie did not want to go to community group for church. I had to reinforce the laws that had been stated in the morning before church. We had a wonderful supper with great fellowship! I am very blessed and fortunate to have “the Best community group” ever. After the meal we had a short sermon discussion and broke into prayer groups (men and women separate). Well sometime the miracles pour out all at one time. Kalie joined us for prayer time. I was so amazed. She has never joined us for prayer before. She has always played (sometimes quietly and sometimes not so quietly) in the background. She is still young (7 ½) so I just pushed being respectful and quiet during prayer time not requiring her to participate. Well she did participate and very well at that! I was so very proud and pleased with her! God is so good! He is slowly changing Kalie into his chosen daughter. I am very blessed!

Katie dropped Kasie off at community group after work. Katie had to go back to AU. Kasie did not have to go back to NGU because she is home for the week. Yea! Spring Break! Kalie is happy to have her sister home! The rest of the night went very well. Izzie slept in Kasie’s bed with her.