Tess

 So I'm still a little baffled by how this happened.  We are getting a dog.  A cute little golden retriever puppy.  How I went from not wanting a dog at all, to all of a sudden telling Rob that he could get a dog is beyond me.  It was literally beyond me.  I did not come to this decision on my own.  Here's the story.  For the past couple of months I was considering having another baby.  I feel like my lupus is always hanging over my head- even though I am in remission and still doing just fine, the doctors have told me that it could come back at any time and it could come back worse than I had it before.  Which would mean stronger and worse drugs, some of which cause infertility.  Because I've been in remission for so long, I really don't think that would happen, but it's always there in the back of my mind, making me wonder how soon I should get pregnant again.  I couldn't get a set answer on what I should do- I had been going back and forth for months- "yes have a baby", "No, you're crazy!  Four kids age 5 and under?  No way!"  Anyway, I couldn't decide.  Then, I threw out my back.  I was completely bed-ridden for about 2 days.  Needless to say, I had a lot of alone time to think.  And then, it happened.  The thought came to me that it was not the right time to have a baby, and it WAS the right time to get a dog.  WHAT?!!  I tried to push the thought out of my head, but it was there, clear as day.  So, I sucked it up and told Rob.  He was so excited.  We looked for Golden Retriever litters in the area for over a month, but there were none.  We were starting to wonder if we would have to drive down to Utah to get a puppy and were getting kind of frustrated.  I talked with one of our friends/neighbors about our plan to get a puppy.  I told her to keep her eyes and ears open for any puppy litters.  She reminded me of a family that had moved out of our ward a couple of months previous and that they had a Golden Retriever that they had bred before.  I knew it was a long shot, but I thought we could call and just see if they were ever going to breed her again, and if it was going to be anytime soon.  We called Terri (the mom of the family) and told her we were ready for a puppy and were wondering if they were planning on ever breeding their dog again, and if it would be in the near future.  She said, "I can't believe you are calling me right now.  We have nine puppies in our garage right now!  They are a week old."  I was totally in shock.  For some reason that I still don't know, our family is meant to have a dog right now.  The way it happened was all so weird.  So we drove to Star Valley Wyoming last Friday and picked out our puppy.  Her name will be Tess and we are getting her Friday, May 11.  Wish me luck! 

She is pretty cute.