so we did it... we are officially the best parents! We adopted a puppy- not just any puppy -but a Bernese Mountain Dog-puppy...Her official name is Pepper Mint Bark "pepper" and we are in love...but i am tired as i forgot what house training a puppy is really like. Our last pups were adopted when Allen & I were first married (no kids) so its TOTALLY different. Its bringing me back to hundreds or thousands of sleepless nights caring for infants...sigh but its all worth it.

It all started when we decided to make the big move to Colorado from Mississippi where we called "home" for 9 years. We sat the kids down and Allen told them "kids we've decided to move to Boulder...(shocked and scared faces from our babies) aaaaannnnddddd we are getting a puppy.... (screaming, shouting, confusion, joy, happiness, laughter and me looking at him like WHAT?)

So that was that- a promise from a good daddy. We officially moved in December, lived with a kind and gracious family (more on that at another time) and bought our home in February 2017- so the search for a dog began late Spring and alot of begging turned into nagging from the kiddos.

I wanted to adopt a mutt lab mix (because i grew up with labs and its responsible and cool to adopt) but Allen saw a Bernese Mountain Dog while camping in Leadville this past summer and we were in love. The problem was after he spoke to several breeders they were so $$$$$ and the waiting lists were sometimes years long. Yikes we needed a puppy NOW or our kids would stage a rebellion!

So we prayed and asked Jesus to provide our puppy- our kids praying "Jesus you know our puppy and help us find her"

One Sunday morning Allen had a thought to look on "Puppy Finder.com" and we discovered "hobby breeders" which are families like us who have registered dogs and want puppies and will sell them... plus they were 1/3 of the price! So after talking to several hobby breeders we settled on Pepper from a family in Missouri.

We were planning on surprising the kids with a "road trip" and pick up our pup- but they insisted on nagging us to painful levels so we told them a few weeks before we were to pick her up.

The moment I saw our little/big Pepper I was in love, there are no words to describe the first "family" pet that all the longings, and whining and prayers and dreams materialized into this fluffy, lovable- Pepper aka cutest dog ever.