March 9, 2023

Never Say Never

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).

Most of us are familiar with this saying, and also with “never say never.” Recently we got a reminder in our own life. Our daughter, Katie, was changing jobs and would begin to work from home. Since Laura is now 8 and Jack 6, they thought this might be a good time to get a dog.

Katie did a lot of research and found a rescue pup about 9 months old. He was crate trained and also knew some basic commands. This sounded like a perfect fit. What they didn’t know was that he was a very timid dog.

They live in a very busy neighborhood with loads of kids coming and going all the time – chaos ensued. Their family came to our house with the pup (whom Laura had named Sprout because his hair stuck up all over the place) the beginning of November to say goodbye to Ben as he left for his year-long mobilization in El Paso, Texas.

It was evident that this adoption was not working – Katie was upset, the dog was upset, but she would have felt terrible if he had to be put back “in the system.” He was such a nice little dog and just needed quiet and some confidence.

Long story short: Dave and I had a talk and told her to leave him with us, and we’d see what we could do. Our dog, Jax, (somewhat reluctantly) approved. The funny thing is, we always said we’d never have 2 dogs, and the next dog we got would definitely not be a terrier. Well, we are now a 2 dog family with a terrier mix.

The good thing is that Scout (had to change his name since Dave couldn’t remember Sprout easily) did not have to go back to a shelter, Katie and her family can still see him and we have an affectionate new member of the family. Even though we try, we cannot predict the course of events, it seems better to leave it in God’s hands – He always makes the best choice.

Sue DeWitt