Surprise!

I never saw this coming.

We have a new puppy, and her name is Lexi.

Lexi and her two sisters.  Lexi was "pick of the litter."

After Katie died, I contacted the breeder where we had gotten Katie almost 12 years ago.  I let her know that Katie was such a blessing to our family and will be dearly missed.  I told her we might be ready for a puppy come spring and we weren't sure if we'd want a boy or a girl.

Lexi makes the cut.

 Susan (the breeder) told me she'd certainly let me know about upcoming puppies, but if we were interested in fostering a female for her, she was trying to find one a home.  I was cautiously optimistic.  Perhaps this was all in God's timing.  

Susan & Lexi

Susan sent me an e-mail with information about being a foster for one of her dogs.  I made a list of about 40 more questions and Derek and I met secretly with her to meet the puppies and talk with Susan.  We didn't want to tell anybody in case it didn't work out.  Once we got our questions answered and talked to a few other families that foster Susan's goldens, we thought this arrangement could work for our family.

Granddaddy Bob holds Lexi for the ride home.

 We picked Lexi up yesterday.  She is eight weeks old and she is ADORABLE!!  Chandler was still not feeling the best and Jamison had thrown up earlier that morning (as had Maverick) so we decided Derek would stay at home with C & J, while I would take B & M along with my parents to go pick out Lexi.  

All the boys meet Lexi when she got home.

Now technically, Lexi is not "our" dog.  We don't have the papers on her and won't until she retires from the breeding program (around age 5-6).  We just get to love on her and make her part of our family and Susan covers all her vet bills.  We will miss Lexi when she is old enough to have puppies and lives with Susan during that time, but we can visit anytime and I know the boys will enjoy seeing Lexi as a mommy.  Since purebred dogs are very expensive and the vet bills are too, it was an offer we couldn't refuse.

Daddy meets Lexi

 Lexi is adjusting well to life in our crazy, busy, loud household.  She cried a little last night, but not too bad.  We are working on crate training/house training her.  She is such a sweetie.  

We are so blessed to have Lexi join our family.