Saturday, July 26, 2008

Finally a girl in the Braisted Clan

Nope. I'm not pregnant. But I am a new mother of two new puppies. Sisters.

We've been praying about and looking for a new puppy to give us some added security and a play friend for Landon. Plus, Mike and I love dogs. Ever since we had to give our dog, Simba, away when we moved down here...we've been thinking about having one again.

Well, we were working on one of our churches in Brisas de Ocampo and I spotted these black puppies that looked SO cute from far away. There were three large dogs chained up in a garage and the two puppies were asleep. Every day for about two weeks, I passed the garage and wanted to jump out and ask if I could take one. It wouldn't have been a good idea. Mike and I had two stipulations about a puppy. We didn't want to pay for one and we wanted it to be a rescue situation. Because the puppies actually had owners and the mama dog was around I figured it wasn't really a rescue. So I didn't think it would happen.

Well, Mike told our friend Luis about how I was in love with the puppies (from far away) and Thursday Luis went right in and asked for them. Mike surprised me as I was having coffee with my friend Yajaira. I was MORE than ecstatic. Well we didn't have to pay for it at least...it wasn't a rescue though. Or so we thought.

When Mike showed me the little girl there were some awful news. He lifted her ear up and inside each ear were MORE THAN 100 ticks! In between her toes, on her neck, under her arms, her stomach...just everywhere. It was the most horrific thing I had ever seen. The moment I saw her, I knew she was ours and we weren't going to let her be miserable like that. So we jumped in a car and drove to the vet.

The vet removed all of the huge ticks and treated her for ticks/fleas, gave her a vaccination, and anti-parasite meds. We were happy that it didn't cost very much as it would have been a FORTUNE in the states. So her recovery began.

The other puppy was left in our "almacen" or area where they store vehicles and equipment. I thought about her all night just wondering if she was getting something to eat or if she was cold. Then Michael said something I never thought I'd hear..."I think if no one wants her we should just take her too." I about died! But was so excited.

So the next morning, I went looking for her. She wasn't there. OH NO. Someone wanted her. But long story short...I found her. We took her to the vet too. We reunited the sisters and they slept through the entire night until 6:30 this morning. (well, with a couple presents on our bedroom floor...oh well, they'll learn!) The two puppy thing is still on a trial basis. If it gets in the way of our jobs or is too much to handle, we will find a home for one of them.

Landon's not sure what to think. Sometimes he laughs hysterically. Sometimes he tugs on their ears or hits them in the face.

So here they are...our little girls, Frankie and Finley.

Sisters

Finley

Frankie

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

We figured it out....

We've been trying to figure out (now that Landon is older) who he looks like. Then today, Mike was scrolling through some of Landon's birth pictures and we found this one of his mom, Debbie, holding Landon the day after he was born. I knew where I had seen that face before. And then we found the matching photograph. If she were crinkling her nose they could be Irish twins :) Pretty amazing, huh?

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Mid-Summer Fun

Sorry it's been several weeks since I posted anything about Lando but we have been on the go quite a bit lately.  Some of our favorite times is with Lando and his bucket baths and this time was no exception. Man do we love this little boy!  Enjoy!













Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Our Very Own Neil Armstrong

That's right...he just up and decided that today was the day he was going to be a walking fool. He's a little wabbly but our lives are definitely going to be a bit more busy. One small step for Landon...one giant leap forward from life as we know it.