Rattle Snake

 Josh happened to look out our dining room window and see this. Brenden was at church, I was at friends house. Tayler and Joshua were inside playing! Thank you God!I have seen one a bit bigger at our neighbors house last year. This is our first rattler and I would have to say the biggest snake we have had on our property.

  This is minus the head in measuring. Josh had been taught always take the head off of a poisonous snake.

 Nothing scares this girl! She said it was very heavy! No we did not skin it or eat it. We left that to nature.

Meet Stormy

 Stormy

Our very first foster. She was found in an abandoned house locked in a crate, paralyzed and pregnant. Though Stormy had a rough start her guardian angel brought her through. At this point before we brought her home she had regained most function of her back legs. She needed exercise and to gain weight. We were amazed at how well Stormy behaved and fit right in. As you can see she loved the children and was ever so grateful for any and all attention! I am happy to say this wonderful girl is in her furever home now.

Her favorite was getting a belly rub!

Jessie

Meet Jessie

Early one morning getting ready to fix my coffee, what do I see out the dining room window? This guy and he has a bead on my chickens. I dropped everything ran out the door in my pjs yelling no, stop! Poor guy dropped to the ground and didn't move. I called the kids to grab a leash and we got him into a crate. There was no way I was going to take him to the shelter. All this after deciding that we as a family were not going to take in fosters. He was very timid around "big" people. He loved Joshua to death. They had the best time playing! I did not have him long when a friend offered to foster him. She had a shady fenced in back yard, and several dogs for him to play with. The day of our first adoption drive she brought Jessie by on her way to take him to his furever home! He went to a lady that wanted an inside dog and that loves him dearly.

Adoption Drive August

T, R, and B on the back of our truck holding signs.

Our First Drive We had amazing support, so grateful to all that showed up to help!

Everyone of these sweethearts were adopted!

 Tayler and Joshua doing their favorite thing at our drives, loving on the puppies.

                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                        Not hard to believe they wore the little ones out!

 We had a very nice lady offer us a pig, she was hoping we could sale it and keep the money as a donation for our program. To bad you can't have a pig in city limits. You can bet the kids tried to talk their daddy into it. :)

Rose

 This sweetheart here we nicknamed Beauty! She was my very first shelter love! There are those that you meet as a volunteer and fall in love with at first site, your pick as we call them. The ones that you want to make extra sure get really good homes! Not to mention the ones that you really wish you could swing having as your own!

 Here is Beauty with a very good friend of ours. We love you R!

                  Isn't she gorgeous!
At our first adoption the most amazing thing happened! The perfect family, a family from our church came to help us out thanks to Brenden spreading the word about our volunteering. They were actually wanting to adopt a new dog. Their mom A, went to shelter to look at a Basset Hound he wasn't quite what they were hoping for. M and J were concerned about how in the world they would chose, their awesome mom A told them they would know "The Dog" when it sang to their heart! How sweet is that! They have named her Rose. Turns out she is a English Shepard , and more than likely full blooded at that! Even their dad that isn't really into dogs has let her into his room where no dogs are aloud and loves her as well. And wait that is not all the Basset Hound that they previously looked at well Js' girlfriend adopted him! My face is beaming as I write this! This is why the kids and I put so much time and effort onto our volunteering! These stories and animals make it so worthwhile! Not only did Rose and her friend get wonderful homes, the Jones family gained new friends and volunteers as well! We love you guys!(HUGS)

Just a Few of Gods Many Blessings

Even though we purchased a brand new John Deere Zero turn lawnmower last year, I could still not keep up with the yard! I cut the grass every 5 days, and still it was so tall all the clippings would pile up leaving the grass to grow yet faster underneath! Not to mention how frustrating it is to spend the time to cut having clumps everywhere, it certainly does not make for an attractive yard! Our neighbor mentioned a lawn sweeper, hmm first time I had heard of this. She claimed that it made the grass more manageable by keeping the grass from being so thick, preventing it from growing as fast. It was well worth the try! I am happy to say that our grass is under control again!

We sold our Camry also known as The Crash Me, or Cramry. Poor car was so good to us. Josh hit a deer and backed into the tractor. I backed into a fence post at horse riding lessons. The transmission was in need of being replaced along with quite a few other things. It wasn't worth it for us to put that much money into it with so many miles 268,000. So I am back to driving what I call a gas guzzler. In the end with insurance being cheaper without it the monthly cost is about the same. It doesn't end there in all my bizzyness(yep made that one up :)I made our House Payment for our Truck Payment. I pay them online, both of which are to Wells Fargo. Not good! It just so happened that with the money we had in savings and the money we made from the sale of the car totaled our missing house payment that was due!! Thank you God!

I noticed what appeared to be dirt on our gas water heater(I am a neat freak when it comes to cleaning appliances), after walking over to it I realized it was not dirt but soot! There was a fire inside. I am not talking about a pilot light fire, but an actual fire! Somehow the burner had been plugged up letting carbon build up causing this fire. Josh was able to take it to our local gas company, where they blew it out and we are good as new. We are praising God that #1 the fire did not spread, and #2 that Josh was home to take care if it!

Jake A.K.A. Sampson

Meet Jake from the moment I saw him he had my heart. I tried to talk myself out of it(a previous foster made us feel fosters were not a good idea!), as you can see he wasn't going to let that happen! He would cry and whine when I would pet and talk to the other dogs! He could not have made himself anymore noticeable. And when taken out of this awful pen he was beyond grateful! I cried when Josh agreed to let me bring him home until we could find the perfect home. One that would love, respect, and appreciate his potential!

Here he thanks Bren with love!

And a smile, for me!

Proud Boy and has every reason to be!

Heres' to looking at you babe!(with his wink)

He stole Taylers undies at least it was from the CLEAN laundry basket!

Giving Aroara Kisses! As you can see she isn't to sure. 

 After about a week of having Jake whom we named Sampson at our home, I noticed a post on Face Book that read "I believe this is my cousins dog Jake""Please contact him"! My heart sank, I wasn't completely convinced I wanted to find his home. Every day I was more and more amazed at his willingness to learn and please, enjoying each minute we spent together. He brought back so many memories of growing up with our beloved Zeus, German Shepard my mom rescued while I was growing up. Reluctantly I called the number and explained our situation. As the man and I talked and he described his missing dog I looked at "Sampson" and saw his Jake! I wanted to be extra positive and asked for pictures. Sure enough he had pictures of Jake in his living room. We agreed to meet that very night at our house(Josh was in town). As soon as T walked in the door Jake told us this was his owner, they were so happy to be reunited! I am proud we could help, and happy that we can check in from time to time to see how he is doing!