We finally did it!

Anyone who knows Ray and I really well, know that we are not really animal people. We both had pets as children, but never really desired to have pets as adults. And so we didn't. Unfortunately, we were blessed with two out of three children who are VERY much animal people. Stella and Kyle love animals. Kyle seems to be kindred spirits with any dog/horse that's around. So, we have known for a couple years now that at some point a family pet would be in inevitable. Our old saying during the baby years was that if it ate and pooped it had better be a child. More recently I had been pushing for a dog. With Cambria now in school with Stella it just leaves Kyle at home. He has Grandma Candee most days and of course me, but he loves to be outside just running around. I could always picture him with a man's best friend. Ray was not easily sold to the committment of having a dog. He finally relented and said recently that we could go ahead and try to find a dog. I searched the internet and found different ways of getting a dog and then life just got busy and we never did anymore about it.
Well...Friday afternoon I got home from a playdate at the park for Kyle and there was a sweet dog hanging around. Now, again, I'm not really an animal person. I have NEVER, really never, even thought once about giving a stray anything. However, immediately with this dog I thought it looked thirsty. So, I found a bowl, filled it with water and put it out for her to drink. She came and drank and then layed down in the driveway to rest. She was sooo sweet. I decided to go inside and look to see what I could feed her and when I came out she was headed down the street. So, I just pretty much thought she had moved on.
Several hours later, my neighbor girl came by with the dog and proceeded to try to convince me to keep this dog. She said it had been following her home from the bus stop every day for about 2 weeks and she couldn't keep it. I told her it sounded like a great idea but I would need to convince my husband. LOL! I called Ray and he was not at first excited about taking in a stray since he felt we wouldn't know what we were getting. Long story short, he came home, checked her out, saw how stella and her bonded immediately and welll.....we have a new dog!
Her name is Casey (Stella named her) and the vet thinks she is a lab-sheppard mix but could possible have some chow in her since her tongue is purple. They estimated her to be about 14 months old.
She is wonderful with the kids and is very sweet and loving. She seems very pleased to have a place to call home. We had her shots and everything done on Saturday and tomorrow will have her spayed. She is our newest member of the Yanda family and we are truly smitten with her. :)