The First of Many

Yesterday was the day. It was the beginning of many hard goodbye's for our family.
Because of the move, we have had to try to find a home for Chamonix. We prayed and prayed to find the perfect home....and we did.

The family has 6 kids, all home-schooled, so they are home all day to play with him. They live on 40 acres, so he can run and play all day.
He sleeps in their garage, which has a doggy door hooked to a dog run, so he will be safe at night.
They are a sweet family, and they love animals.
It is the perfect scenerio for our dog, and we were so glad to find such an awesome home for him. But still...

It was a hard goodbye. Much harder than expected. In fact, my heart is still very, very heavy today. It kills me to look out at the empty dog house.

I had a lump in my throat the whole way out to their house. It almost killed me to take of his tag that declared his name and our address. All of the memories with him were flooding my mind. Hiking, running, camping, playing, ect. It is funny how you only remember the best of times, when you are about to let something or someone go. The past few months with him have been rough, and he will be better off with his new family, but still...

When we got there, it was comforting to see him blast out of the car and run all over the wide open space. The kids in his new family surrounded him and gave him loves before we even left the house. We know he will be very, very happy. But still...

When we pulled out, the last thing we saw was Chamonix looking at us. His ears were up and his head was cocked to the side. It is the look I love and the look that melted our hearts. It was not easy to pull away, not easy at all. Ben and I were both a little shocked with how hard we were taking it. The kids were just fine, and that was a big blessing, but still...

We drove home with tears in our eyes and holes in our hearts. Animals have a way of becoming more than just animals. Especially when you have so many fun memories with them. He was a lot more than just a dog to us.

He will be the first of many goodbyes we will be facing in the next few months, as a result of our move. And his was supposed to be one of the easier ones. We were wrong. It will all be for the better in the long run, but still...