Thankful Thursday

 

Happy Thursday, friends! It's crazy to think that we're down to the last two weeks of the year. I said this last week, but I do plan on posting tomorrow and all of next week. I'll be home, none of us are traveling, so I have the time. Plus, I have ideas for posts next week, some of which are really fun. You should check back everyday! 

I'll jump in with Rebecca Jo and this week's list of things I am thankful for.

I am thankful for our pets! I honestly think we would be miserable people if we didn't have our dogs to keep us entertained. Pictured are Crash (10 years), Chip (5 years) and Oakley (the black one that belongs to my son Graham who is 1 year). Yesterday's post mentioned our German Shephard Callie, who is seven years old. And yes, we have four dogs in our house. Three are ours and Oakley is Graham's. Before all of these dogs was the greatest of all pups, Andy the Wonder Dog. 

Crash

Chip

Oakley

And just for fun, Chip when he was tiny puppy.

I did not grow up with dogs in the house. We had a dog, but he lived outside. I did grow up with cats, both inside and outside of the house. Todd grew up with dogs in his house and was determined that he was going to talk me into agreeing to the same for our own sons. I'll never forget how this came to be—Todd talked me into getting a dog while we were at church on a Wednesday night. Not only did we get "a dog", but a giant dog that weighed in at a whopping 130lbs, give or take a few. Andy was a gentle giant that I nicknamed Andy the Wonder Dog. 

This picture was taken in the summer of 2012. This is our oldest son Graham driving a Jeep on his own with Todd's friend riding shotgun and Andy in the backseat. I would guess that Graham was six or seven in this picture. Todd's friend lived on a farm, so he was driving across open pastures. Well, pastures dotted with cows. 

Andy came to us when he was three years old, the same age that Jonah and Noah were at that time. I'll always remember this because of that fact. He was three and came to us as a perfect dog—already house broken, NOT A PUPPY, mild mannered, gentle, friendly and perfect. 😉 We had him until May of 2012 when he died from something similar to Alzheimer's disease that people have. That's not what they called it for him, but his brain stopped sending signals to his body to tell it to do things like eat and use the bathroom. He was such a good boy! It took me years before I could talk about him without crying. He was our first family dog, and then came Crash. He was already named that when we got him, if that tells you anything...I won't get into it, but if you want to read an old and really funny blog post from those days, you should go read this post that I titled, My Life is a Comedy. 

What I said in that old post became true and Crash finally settled down into an excellent old man of a dog. Just tonight he and I spent some more quality time together driving around to look at Christmas lights. I had to run to my best friend's house to drop off something, so I took that opportunity to ride around with him again. In case you didn't read yesterday's post, we have now done that for two nights in a row.

This is the street we love the most that we've seen so far. I remember hearing they did this last year, but the whole street, which is about a half mile long, strung lights over the road and every single house put out decorations. Isn't that amazing? Last night when I drove down it again, the homeowners were outside dressed up as Christmas movie characters and handing out candy canes. They tried to talk me into stopping to let Crash hang out with them. He probably would have loved that!

So, I said all of this to say one thing—I am thankful we have pets to help us enjoy our life. Now that the boys are grown and our house has grown quiet, we cherish the joy and laughter they bring us. For instance, did you know that dogs know how to tippy toe? Both Crash and Chip tippy toe around the house when they're in trouble. I promise you that this is a true statement and my stepdad Bill can attest to the fact. 

I'm thankful for lots of other things as well, but since I've made this post about #allthedogs, I decided to keep the focus of this on them. They're worth it and deserve the attention. Todd and I often joke that we like dogs way more than most people. 🤣 What about you? What's something you're thankful for this week? I'd love to hear your answer for this! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all!

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