12-30-12
I am not letting another year go by without writing in the Starfish Journal. This journal means a lot to me, and there are numerous times that I've come here to look up past fosters to remember when we had them, or for how long, or what fosters we had together.
It's an important part of our lives, and I don't want the memories lost. These dogs make a big impact on our lives, and they deserve to be remembered.
I knew when I logged on in September and saw that I hadn't posted anything for a whole year, that it was going to be impossible to 'catch up'. I think that's one of the reasons why I kept getting further and further behind... I was waiting for time to catch up. Well, that wasn't going to happen.
Even after my resolve to start afresh, I made that post in September and then that was it. Even though we had several fosters at the time.
But now I find myself in a new year, with only one foster, so I figured now is as good a time as any to get the Starfish Journal back on it's feet. I can't promise to be as on top of it as I was in the beginning, I just don't have the spare time that I had back then, but I'm going to give it my best shot. :)
So, how is it that we find ourselves with only one foster dog at the moment? The last couple months have been a bit hectic in the Freitas household. But we were striving towards a goal: no fosters by Christmas, so that we could leave for a week to fly to Chicago and attend our daughter's Navy boot camp graduation.
Thanks to the Super Adoption event on Dec 7-8 EVERY SINGLE ONE of our fosters was adopted (19 H.A.R.T. dogs adopted in 2 days!!!) and we were able to accomplish that goal.
Of course, even though we tried to remain foster free, fate always has other ideas, and we ended up with 3 more fosters before too long. But they were all taken into other foster homes shortly before (and in one case, ON) Christmas Day.
We were then able to enjoy a short (VERY COLD) vacation to Chicago.
They day we got home, miss Kyla came to us. She was Lorraine's foster, but they were leaving for New Years, so we got to have this perky puppy stay with us.
This little 12 week old girl is FULL of personality. Smart as a whip, playful, and with more confidence than should be allowed in a package this small.
We don't know what her breed mix is. We're thinking there is some Pointer in there, mixed with a bigger breed like Lab, Boxer, or Pit. She's got a gorgeous brindle on her legs.
She had already learned how to use a dog door at Lorraine's house, so after only a day or so, she was using the dog door here like a pro, and was completely housebroken, even overnight. We don't crate her at night, she has been so good with no accidents.
Kyla has been good for my heart this past week. Puppies have a healing quality about them, their ability to soothe an aching heart is a special gift from God. Kyla came to us while one one of our other fosters was losing his battle with Parvo. Her happy puppy antics could bring a smile to my tear-stained face, she could make me laugh even as my heart was breaking. Holding her in my arms, feeling her little beating heart, gave me the strength to endure the agonizing pain of watching another special heart stop beating.
We think, as foster parents, that these orphans need us.
More times than we realize, it is we who need them.
Update 1-12-13
Kyla is ADOPTED. She has a new big BIG s mastiff sister to play with, and a great new family.
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