New Family Additions

"We are never getting another dog!"  "Okay, maybe we'll get another dog, but we will never get another puppy!"  Have you ever heard the saying, never say never?  Well, here we go.  A while back, maybe three weeks now, Jim and I started looking at dogs.  Erin has been wanting another dog, and of course she really wanted puppy.  Jim had found a couple of dogs on Craigs List and he inquired of them.  We did not hear back right away and when we went back to find them again, the ad was gone also.  I had seen a dog on line and inquired of it.  It seems to fit all our requirements: adult, female, housetrained.  I received a response and was told that the dog had been adopted that weekend.  We decided to go to the Humane Society and look with the kids.  While there, we saw two dogs we were interested in.  The first one didn't seem to fit our family well, but the second one seemed like a good match, to us at least.  We decided to adopt her and proceeded to fill out the necessary paper work.  We were getting very excited and when they called us to let us know that our new dog was ready to take home, we got a different story.  We were told that our family would not be a good match for this dog. You see, even though we have older children in our house, we have younger grandchildren and the dog was labeled as adult only house or house with older children.  I guess the grandchildren coming over every now and then was a problem.  Erin was devastated.  She was crying and we were all very unhappy.  As we were standing there, my cell phone rang.  It was the people that had the dogs from Craigs List. We made arrangements to meet them.  We all loved the dogs and we decided to add them to our family.  Okay, remember the never having any more dogs?  Now, do you remember the never having any more puppies?  Well, so much for no puppies, our new dogs are 4-1/2 months old and 6 months old.  They are mostly housetrained and have done quite well.  They are very friendly and the did great meeting the grandchildren today.  This was a huge thing because some of the grandkids have been afraid of dogs.  We were able to work through on time when Princess barked and lunged toward Preston.  I held her harness and called him over.  I made sure Preston knew that I was holding Princess.  He did come over and allow Princess to smell him and it went very well.  We did not intend to get two dogs but I guess with the way everything turned out, it was just meant to be. 

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So, here are Cinnamon (4-1/2 months) and Princess (6 Months).  They are Lhasa Apsos.

Princess lives up to her name.  She loves to be pampered and have her hair combed.

Cinnamon looks like a cute stuffed animal when she's not moving.

Brooklyn (4) had a good time brushing Cinnamon.

And of course, I can't go over to see the grandkids and not take pictures of them too. 

They are growing up so fast. 

Terrel (8)

Dylan (almost 6)

Baby Samuel (4 months)

Apparently I didn't get pictures of Preston or Victory.  Although my heart was filled with joy when Kristen called just after I left saying the Victory woke up and was asking about Grandma.  He's been slower than the other kids to warm up to me.  I guess he knows who I am now.

Back to Normal or Something Like That

Life is beginning to get back to normal or something like that.  We finished moving into our new house and Jim began working again last week in San Jose.  He went back to work for Adrian who he had worked for for twenty-nine years prior to moving to Mexico.  He is enjoying being back to work after two months off.  He certainly kept himself busy during those two months with painting, yard work, and other assorted things.  But it is nice to know that he will be bringing home a paycheck.  God is good!

School is also back to a normal pace except for Erin being sick this week.  It seems that the kids are getting reaquainted to all the germs they missed out on while being out of the country for 15 months.  This is about the third time Erin has been sick since returning home.  Jonathan has been sick once or twice also. Please be praying that we are not catching all these bugs all winter. 

I have been attending Ministry Training Institute (MTI) at our church since the beginning of September.  It is a class that is held every Tuesday night.  It is meant to prepare a person for minstry and we have a practicum time where we practice in small groups what we learn in class.  It is a huge commitment but from everything I hear, it is well worth it.

We are also having fun with our grandchildren.  Last weekend, I was able to have five of them overnight.  Samuel stayed with his mama since he is just a few months old.   My hat goes off to my daughter for the hard work she does with six children.  I think back to having four children but there was 8-1/2 years between James and Jonathan.  We are very proud of Kristen and Taylor as they raise their children for the Lord.  They are such great children. 

Well, there you have it, an update on life in the Carlson home.