Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Meet Trot

We have a new family member!  On Saturday we drove to Massachusetts to choose our new puppy.   This was not the same place that we went to look at the other litter of nine chocolates and blacks.  We never heard back from that breeder so I guess those had all been spoken for.  Anyway, we had several choices, the top two were between this chocolate and this yellow.  Shaun and I really wanted the chocolate but both Avery and Amanda were set on the yellow because "he looks like Riley".
Lots of paperwork and money later, we were headed home with our new family member.  In the car we brainstormed names.  We really wanted Amanda to be able to name the dog, since it is officially hers but all her suggestions were made up words.  How 'bout Flimag?  Blela?  After a while of the nonsense words I threw out Trot.

Fall of 2004 was when we found out we were expecting with Avery; it was also the year the Red Sox won the World Series.  We talked about using Trot, as in Trot Nixon, as a nickname for our child.  He was a good player and, more importantly, a really good guy.  When we found out we were having a girl that obviously didn't work.  But, when I brought back "Trot" in the car last Saturday the girls immediately said YES! and so far it has stuck.  

Picking out a puppy's name is a little like picking out the family Christmas tree.  Once you have one that everyone has agreed upon, you don't really want to question it, you just go with it. :)

 For better or worse he is part of our family now.   Its been harder than I thought "replacing" Riley but he's a sweet dog and will undoubtedly grow on me.  This is going to be such a different dog-raising experience than we had with Riley because the kids are involved this time.  It freaked us out more than a little to think of where we will be in our lives if Trot lives as long as Riley did.  In thirteen years we will have a 14, 17 and 18 year old.  Yikes!!

Here's a little of what these first couple days have looked like for Trot.













How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
Ephesians 1:3

8 comments:

  1. The paint brush and the stroller are my favorites. I had to laugh out loud at the stroller one. That is such a picture of a little girl and her new puppy. Lots of fun ahead. Your pics are making it hard for me to continue to say, "I'm not ready." (I think Trot is cute as can be but I am a chocolate girl myself. In more ways than one. Ha

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  2. He's adorable! Looking forward to meeting him :)

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  3. Oh my gosh, what a beautiful puppy! I love labs. When we move to a bigger place, I WILL own a lab...and Vicki, our Chihuahua...because a lab and a Chi just go together, right? LOL.

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  4. Oh my word! I think you could put together a "Yellow Labs" calendar with these adorable photos and sell it at Barnes & Noble! So very precious! Enjoy the cute puppy stage and just keep in mind that in the blink of an eye, that rowdy Lab puppy will be the most loyal (much calmer) family friend! I'll be anxious to see how your Christmas tree survives this year. I know our Lab did a doozie on ours when he was a pup! :) I'm happy for you all!

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  5. Oh my! Makes me want one, too! He's one blessed pup. I see lots of love in his future. ;)

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  6. That stroller one is hysterical! It won't be too much longer that he will be too big to fit.

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  7. oh my word, these pictures are great! But I laughed out loud at the stroller picture!!! Trot looks extremely comfortable in that stroller!!!

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  8. What a precious puppy with precious children - Trot looks like he enjoys every bit of their love.

    I too love the srtoller shot.

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