Puggie Love

This is me and my Casey pug. She has a sister named Ava who has also snorted her way right into our hearts. The two of them are a constant reminder to me of God's providence. They are constantly under foot, they snore really loud, they incessantly lick each other, but are just so cute and we love them so much.

Last summer about this time, we were quickly losing our Molly dog to liver cancer. Every afternoon after VBS we were heading back and forth to the vet. There was lots of lab work to pay for and yet still a lot of hope. We didn't know she had cancer until after she had passed. She had just stopped eating. She was the sweetest most loving dog and wagged her tail until the very end. We cried and cried when she was gone. We still heard her collar jingle and saw her running through the yard. We were heartbroken and missed her so very much.

I had always wanted a pug and so when Molly was gone, it seemed like the right time to start looking at breeders. After much research on the breed, I contacted a breeder. We met Vallarie and her 12 pugs at Peachtree Pugs in late July. She truly loves her dogs and loves the breed. She was set to breed one of her females that summer and we were hopeful of a beautiful baby girl by Christmas. As it turned out, her female had 2 puppies and only one female. It seemed all hope was lost and we would not have a pug for Christmas. At that point, I turned to God and opened my heart to the grief of losing Molly and how I longed for another canine member of the household.

Vallarie emailed me late summer and asked if we would take an older pug, about 18 months. I was thrilled and so she put me in contact with the breeder. Turns out, it wasn't 1 pug, it was 2 pugs that were 18 months old and she wanted to know if we wanted them both. Well if one pug is great, two is even better. Their brothers had died of PDE (pug dog encephalitis) and she was just trying to find them a home. Ava and Casey did have a certain amount of risk involved as they are unsure of the nature of PDE. Researchers are not sure if it is genetic and are working on finding a genetic marker. We knew at 2 the risk went down significantly and is practically gone by age 3. We celebrated their 2nd birthday on March 2. I truly believe it was God's work that we got such beautiful pets. They fit into our family so perfectly.

What's for dinner tonight? Grilled salmon, roasted carrots, brown rice, salad, and bread. Here's my roasted carrot recipe that my family just LOVES.

Roasted Carrots:
Peel and slice into chunks enough carrots for your family. Toss with olive oil, salt, and thyme. Place on a baking sheet (I use a stoneware pan) and bake at 400 deg. F for about 30 minutes. Stirring once or twice so they don't get burned on one side.