Our Boys

Today you get to meet two of my good buddies…and two very important members of our family.

It amazes me that I’ve blogged almost two months straight without talking much about these boys.

They are a big part of our lives and have been through a lot with us.

Our first boy is Andre.

Andre joined our family, when he was five months old, in September of 2003. The decision to adopt him was pretty spur-of-the-moment.

We had talked for awhile, but not seriously, about getting a dog. Then we literally woke up one morning, decided that was the day, and had him home with us by 5 p.m. Andre is the most tenderhearted, sweet animal you will ever meet. He loves people and will do just about anything for attention, including stealing socks (WHILE we’re trying to put them on) and dancing around. He has quite the butt wiggle and always has…it still makes us laugh. Andre made t he journey to Indonesia with us, and we are so glad

he did. He was a constant in life when things were very up in the air, difficult, and at times, just plain confusing and frustrating. Now at almost eight years old, he is still all puppy, which we are so incredibly thankful for. We aren’t sure where time went, but we absolutely love our boy and couldn’t imagine our family without him and all the love he brings to it. (Yeah, my hair is craaaaaazy in this pic. I know.) 😀

Enter Andre’s opposite, Sammy. (Samson) Sammy’s coming home story is much different.

When Andre was 2 1/2, we began talking about another dog.

Since we were living overseas and sometimes gone for big chunks of time, we thought it might be good for Andre to have a friend. One night we went to a loc

al mall to get some work done at Starbucks and ended the night by walking through

the new pet store.

Bad idea…I fell in love.

Our eyes connected, and there was no turning back.

Three month old Sammy became ours ten minutes later. We paid an exorbitant fee to take him home in a taxi…and our lives have never been the same since. Sammy took one look at his new brother…and tried to jump on him. He spent the next several hours (until well after midnight) sprinting back and forth in our yard, making us wonder if we had made a huge mistake.

Five years later, I can tell you that it was no mistake.

Sammy has added life, energy, craziness, and completely unconditional love to our family. He has put us through a lot, too, including a heart-wrenching six days without him, which you can read about here. And here and here, too. But we wouldn’t trade him for anything and can’t imagine our lives without him.

Perhaps our dogs are more important to us than they would have normally been because we went so many years without having kids. During that time of waiting, in a sense, they became our kids.

While some people disagree with that, we’re ok with it. They are special to us, and while having Maelie has definitely diminished the amount of attention they receive, they are still very loved.

And still very much a part of our family.

And we wouldn’t have it any other way.