Her Name is Lola...

As I mentioned before, our beloved Tank passed away, and pretty much immediately Lilly (and Matt) started asking for another dog.  In February we decided to start looking and so we started praying for the right dog for our family.  That might sound silly but given that a dog is a pretty big, 10-15 year commitment, in addition to the fact that we have small children--we prayed for guidance.  Plus God tells us to bring him ALL of our requests, right?  It was pretty sweet to hear Lilly pray for the perfect dog for us and then tell God how she was really tired of waiting.  (: 

 

Matt and I had thought of our "perfect" dog:  a girl, one year-old, needed to be rescued, potty-trained, sleeps through the night, plays great with our kids, sweet disposition...we were really shooting for the stars. 

 

Then, a girl at Matt's work raises Australian Shepherds and we researched and found that everybody says what GREAT dogs they are...and she just happened to have a pregnant Australian Shepherd.  So we decided we would just wait for one of those.  There we were--we had made a list of what was perfect for our family--and then were completely willing to settle for something completely different.  (Not that the Australian Shepherd wouldn't have been GREAT--I am not saying that at all--I am saying we made a list of what we thought would be all the qualities for the "perfect" dog for our family and were praying for the "perfect" dog for our family...and then disregarded all of that at the first seemingly great opportunity.)

 

Then one day my friend Sarah put this cute face on facebook.

 This sweet little 1-year-old girl dog that was potty-trained and slept through the night had just been rescued by her neighbor.  Unfortunately her neighbor was highly allergic (as in lips swelling, breaking out in a rash, doctor said she couldn't keep the dog-kind of allergic) and couldn't keep her.  She needed a new home.  Now both Matt and I saw her post and thought the very same thing...that is EVERYTHING on our list...except whether or not she was good with kids. 

 We arranged to get together and she was great with the kids.  I am a bit of a commitment-phobe so I wanted to go home and pray to make sure this girl was supposed to be ours.  I don't know why the fact that she was everything on our list wasn't enough for me...but it just wasn't.  So I went home and prayed and honestly wasn't feeling any confirmation either way.  So with about an hour left before I was supposed to let her know I grabbed my bible and just opened it and I was just thinking should we wait for the Australian Shepherd or should we get this dog??  I felt led to read the highlighted passages which were praises like Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and He will direct your path."  And I was like, yes, exactly!  That is what I am here for--path direction!  (:  And the next highlighted passage was this:

Now let me tell you how God used this for my clarification.  "Do not withhold good...when it is in your power to help."  This sweet woman needed somebody to take this dog that she had already grown to love.  We were looking for a dog to love.  "If you can help your neighbor"  This passage stuck out to me because she was literally the neighbor of my friend Sarah and through this process we referred to her several times as Sarah's neighbor.  "now, don't say, 'Come back tomorrow, and I'll help you."  This was God's confirmation to my heart to get THIS dog now and not wait for the other dog.

Matt walked in the door literally 2 minutes after I read this and I asked what he was thinking (without showing him this) and he said, "Oh, I am ready to go pick her up now!"  So we did.  (:  Elizabeth, the girl we got her from, had intended to keep her so she had bought her a kennel, a dog bed, toys, food, etc and she gave it all to us with our sweet dog for free.  Now isn't that just like God to not only provide what you pray for but also everything you need for it, too??  We are so thankful.

 Now Elizabeth had called her "Dutch" but said, "She really doesn't like that name.  You probably want to call her something else."  Ha!  Lilly voted for "Raisin, Slinky, and Ruby (because we were watching Max & Ruby) but we ended up naming her Lola.  Mainly because when we said that name she came running. 

 And she was instantly part of the family.

 She even posed in the grandkid photos with DeDe.  Ha!

 The kids ADORE her and she adores them.  I hear "Lola" no less than 100 times a day.  Seriously. Most days it is cute but some days I have to just put her outside for a little while.  I say, "I'm sorry, Lola.  It's not you, it's them."  ( ; 

 Reid introduces her to people as "our Lola girl." 

 Lilly warns people that "she can be a little jumpy" because she likes to greet you by jumping on you.  We are working on that. 

 We are not sure exactly what kind of dog she is but we are pretty sure she has some lab in her because of her bark and face and tail. 

 She LOVES to chew.  I think she must be the equivalent of dog teething because we go through chew toys constantly!

 She is so sweet and really thinks that she is a lap dog.  One funny thing she has done since we got her is that she ate my contacts...and it was my last pair.  I had to wear my glasses for a week before I could get to the eye doctor and I actually had to say the words, "Ummmm my dog ate my contacts."  Ha! 

And some times she sleeps like this, too, and it cracks us up!  We love Lola so much and are so thankful that God has given us the perfect dog for our family...and I know one little girl is thankful that he answered it so quickly.  ( :