Riley and me. |
God has so blessed our family! I have
been wanting a dog for what seems like forever. At the end of last
month, we got a dog. We don't know exactly what breed or mix of
breeds he is but he is an awesome dog. I've known him longer than
anyone else in our family has known him and from the start I knew he
was meant for us. His name is Riley.
He showed up, as a stray, in Lockwood
one day and a friend took him in temporarily. She had Riley for a
while before giving him to our neighbor. Does that sound like God or
what? Often, Riley would come down to visit us. Then, our neighbor
moved about 4 months after getting Riley. Our neighbor returned Riley
to our friend and left. However, what I think is the most crazy part
is that in the 16 going-on-17 years that my mom and dad have lived here, they have never been
offered a bag of dog food. Well, when we were at a friend's house, as
we were leaving our friend asked us if we had a dog. Mom looked at
Dad and said, “We might have one in about a week.” (Because we
had been offered Riley and we were considering.) :) So, you can guess
what happened, he gave us a LARGE bag of dog food. By now we are
thinking that God is making it pretty clear to us “GET THAT DOG!”
So when we returned from the homeschool convention we unloaded and,
the same day, went to pick up our (big) puppy.
My family giving Riley a bath. |
The first thing we did when we arrived
home was to walk him around, but other than that, “Bath time!”.
That night was a rough night because he was restless and the only one
who slept well was my sister. The rest of us hardly slept at all.
That night he also ripped our screen door. By morning, neither my mom
nor dad were sure we could keep him but we had thought that God had
brought him to us, I mean, we prayed, the whole dog food thing, our
neighbor getting Riley, we just thought God had wanted us to have
him. :( It didn't make sense. Finally, after much prayer, Dad said
that we would give him another try. Phew! Our next step was to set
aside an area where we attached a cable to two poles and then made
him a leash out of cord as well. This way Riley can run but not have
complete access to our yard. We call it a runner or “zip line”.
We put a large tarp over half the area so that he has lots of shade.
That completed, my sister and I played with Riley for the greater
part of the day. That night, he was WONDERFUL! Thank you, Lord!
Yesterday, we (my sister and I) played with him again and trained him
and had a blast! He is a very good companion. Riley is smart and
powerful. Last night, again he was a charm! Today, I spent some time
with Riley and I am convinced that Riley was meant to be our dog.
What's wrong with this picture? |
Thank you Riley family for letting us
keep his name “Riley”! Thank you EVERYONE who played a part in us
getting Riley! Especially, I want to thank, with all my heart, you
Lord! It is because of you that we have Riley. :)
Congratulations on getting a dog!!! Aren't they awesome??? That totally sounds like a work of God, don't you love it when He does things for you just for your enjoyment??? Isn't God is so incredible!!! Enjoy having Riley around :)
ReplyDeleteHe's ADORABLE!!! I am SO happy for you!!!! :) CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His dog house is cute but why are you two in it???!! ;)
ReplyDeleteThat is an amazing story! God indeed blessed your family and Riley!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Leann! God bless you too!
DeleteI'll never forget his name :) Jessica
ReplyDeleteThanks again for letting us keep his name!
DeleteDogs always seem to settle down at night if you play and work with them during the day. They get tired then and are ready to rest and they feel fulfilled. Dogs like to feel that they have a job to do too even if it's just fetching a ball. I know the whole family will enjoy his companionship for many years to come.
ReplyDeleteThank you Carolyn! Sounds like your advice is coming from experience. I know we will enjoy him. God bless you and Rich.
DeleteOk! I did it! I read 'em all!!!! :)
ReplyDeleteBethany, your blog is so cool. Riley is adorable. I hope you have fun with Riley.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sophia. Glad to hear you are reading it!
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