Our sweet Shi Shi

Today was tough. The hardest day since being here by far. Shi Shi was 18. She was an amazing dog. When people would talk about not being dog lovers I would think, 'you just need one like Shi'. I will never forget the day that Andrew and I went to get her. We rescued her and to this day, that was the best $75 I've ever spent. She was our first baby. We watched as she aged, she was never a big barker, but she hadn't barked at all in years. She was always at my feet. She was my girl. The kids loved her although she was already quite old by they time they took too much interest in her so we have always taught them to be careful around her. Brynlee just got to the point of toting her around like a "designer" dog. Shi let her do it even though she wasn't fond of it at all. She would have rather been laying on a pile of blankets. The end of last week I started noticing changes in her. She became less active to basically completely immobile. She stopped eating, she looked miserable, sad, I was pretty confident the end was coming, BUT life without her seemed so foreign that I couldn't think about it. And now, my fear is my reality. I took her in at 10 this morning and by 10:45 I knew she was in severe kidney failure. So bad that her BUN couldn't even be read, all we know is that it was over 180. I brought her home and we spent her final 2 hours loving her before we had to take her back and let her go. Brynlee chose to go with us. It was hard. Watching your little girl say goodbye to something she's known her entire life. She kept petting her, telling her she loved her and she was no longer in pain. She was such an incredible pup, and will be missed so so much! We couldn't be more thankful to have had her for so long! The kids and I go back to IL tomorrow, so we are looking forward to the distraction! Please pray for the kids' hearts and also our trip. I am so so thankful for Aunt Jessica, who will be flying back with us!

 A dear friend asked me to do this on Friday and I couldn't be more thankful for this picture now! It's the only picture we have of ALL of us!

Also, I've started a post about Andrew's classes and what "his" life looks like, but it seems like every time I have a moment to write, something else pops up. So I promise that will come soon.