in which she adds a new member to the family....

Meet Duke!!!! He is my new baby, a Chocolate Lab! He is no baby though, he is 8 years old.

Suri and Duke...

Jonathan with his newest Best Friend....

Yeah, so I look on craigslist for dogs sometimes. Today, I saw this pure-bred lab, with papers. For free. His family had to move out of their big house in the country to an apartment which does not allow dogs. A good family was all they were asking for. I went to meet him, which was probably a big mistake, because we all know that once you meet the dog, it's over. But that's what we did, Kathryn, Jonathan, and I. We drove for many miles, 60 something. We arrived at the apartment, and met Duke and his people. He is kind and good natured, but not exactly perfectly trained. He is good though, know what I mean? Not a mean bone in his body kind of good. Anyway, his people are good too. They did not want to say goodbye to him. They have had him since he was a puppy. I showed them a picture of our family, and assured them that their Duke would be well taken care of. By the time we left with him, Jon was hugging him and calling him, "Best Friend." Duke obviously never learned about Stranger Danger, because he jumped happily into our minivan, just thrilled to be Going For A Ride. His people were tearing up. Now, I don't like to see big people cry. Seeing the mom was bad enough, and the grown daughter, but the grown man...the dad- ouch it hurt to see him in tears to say goodbye to Duke. I texted them some pictures already, and told them Duke is fine.

Although perhaps they would sort of rather had me say that Duke is sad and heartsick, missing them like crazy.

Not so. Dukey boy hit the jackpot. He LOVES Suri. Suri loves him. The kitties - not so much. They have not been in the living room all evening.

Anyway. We now have two labs. They are sleeping, both snoring.

I truly dreaded having to tell Paul what I went and did. I mean, it seemed perfectly logical to take my two homeschoolers for an adventurous ride, a few counties over, to meet this dog. Perfectly logical. And then of course we brought the sweet little guy home with us. We tricked the other kids, who were all home from school, told them to come out and help with the groceries:)

After Duke and Suri got to know each other, and after the kids gave their opinions, Mirielle came in from day two at her new job, and was totally thrilled and surprised to meet Mr. Duke. But I was feeling a bit of buyer's remorse. What had I done? A new pet is a forever decision, and Paul HAD just told me last week that he didn't want to pay for another pet. This dog WAS free, but he will still need to go to the vet, and eat. So he won't be free. What had I done? I thought maybe Aaron would want him, to keep at Emily's house.

Paul called me. It was the first time I had talked to him except for texting, since the night before he went to Germany, so four days. He asked how we were. Fine. What was going on. Well, I said, a chocolate lab is going on.

I told him not to worry, maybe Aaron would take him. He said, "Don't give him away until I get the chance to meet him." I about fell off the side of the bed.

I love my husband. I truly do. I hope he likes Duke, and I hope Duke turns out to be a good dog, and I hope he is happy here in our house.

Duke's old Mom just called to see how he is doing. He comes from a good home, so he will probably be a good dog.