Good morning! It’s Valentine week! I decided to set up a little table for two in front of our little faux fireplace. It’s a nice cozy place to have a special dinner.

Since this is Valentine’s week, I thought I would share a sweet story with you.

A couple of summers ago, my daughter and I were driving home on a very hot summer day, when we spotted a dog running loose in a church yard. Well, being the dog lovers we are, we turned around to go back. There was no way we were going to leave it out there.

After we turned around, we saw another dog running loose in the church yard too. I called my husband, who was just getting home from work, to bring some leashes and some water for the dogs.

My daughter and I walked over to where we saw the dogs, and started calling for them. The road next to the church is very busy, so we wanted to be very careful and not scare the dogs into the street.

One of the dogs came right up to my daughter, and when he walked up, another dog popped out of the bushes. Now there were three!

We were able to catch the two dogs pretty easily and placed them in the air-conditioned truck with water. The third dog was a little more difficult to catch, but she was just scared and finally decided she wanted to be with her other friends and allowed us to catch her.

We brought them all home and found the home for one of the dogs immediately, but the other two we ended up taking to our local animal shelter. They had no micro-chips and so we left them there for the required days until we could take them to our friends’ no-kill shelter. Both dogs were really sweet and we know they would be adopted quickly.

Once they were at the shelter, I was able to visit them quite often. The little girl dog went into heat and was put into the infirmary until she could be fixed.

I would go into the infirmary when I visited, take my girl out of the kennel, and just hold her in my lap. She was so sweet! She would sit with her head on my shoulder for at least 45 minutes and not even try to get down or run around.

Needless to say, I was falling in love.

I talked it over with my husband, but he was concerned about how our older dog would react to bringing another dog home. We already had our 12 year old and two 2 year olds. Do we really want another one?

I knew my husband was right and so whenever I went to the shelter, I tried to stay away from the little girls’ kennel. It was so hard! She would bark and whine at me every time she saw me!

I was trying to be so strong and tell myself she would find the perfect furever home. The first weekend in August, my daughter and I went to visit my sister for a couple of nights. On the last day, it was my anniversary.

Around noon, I got a text from my husband with a picture of a leash and collar at the shelter and my husband saying Happy Anniversary! I did ask, just to be clear, is there a dog attached to that? The answer, yes! My husband knew how much I loved that little girl, and had gone and adopted her for me.

Here is my sweet Magnolia Grace! Her first name is the name of the street we live on and Grace is the name of the church we found her at. She is still the sweetest girl and loves to cuddle. Just look at this sweetie!

Maggie is so full of love! She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body. She has been the perfect addition to our home. Happy Valentine’s Day!