Getting Acquainted ....

Things have settled down some and we've established a new normal. It's always a little tricky ... adding someone new to the mix. Good thing we've done it a few times ...

The people in the house are LOVING having Indy around. The cat and dog ... perhaps are not AS enthusiastic. However, the pack order has been pretty clearly established and Indy (thankfully) is happy with his role and is not lobbying for alpha. As if the cat would give that up anyway.

So.... I mentioned there was a little drama after getting Indy home. Indeed. I'll keep it short but it was a very loooong 36 hours or so. We picked Indy up Sunday afternoon. We had a lovely evening and next morning. We had fallen in love with him already. At about noon, I had to return the crate we had purchased for him and didn't want to just put him in a bathroom and hope for the best. I like my trim too much for that. My neighbor offered to watch him and let him play with their dog in their new, gorgeous fenced in yard. Win win I thought.

I was gone about 40 minutes and returned to find him gone. A frantic search ensued. No luck. About the time the kids came home, I received a call someone had found him. We got the woman's first name and cell phone number and called immediately. I got the machine and left a message. As the hours passed, I started to get a funny feeling. When no response came the next day, I was really getting worried. The kids were sad, but Emma was REALLY down. She wasn't eating or sleeping. She cried and wrote him letters. She just wanted her dog back.

I enlisted the help of the local police, animal control, an attorney, and several friends. No luck. By 9:30 Tuesday night, someone phoned me to report the woman had disconnected her cell phone. Three things went through my head immediately. One - we were never going to see Indy again. Two - I would have to tell Emma that. Three - I wasn't going to do that. This woman was messing with the wrong family.

There is a state police station a few miles away. In a final "Hail Mary" moment, my neighbor and I showed up - unannounced, late at night, and in tears. In His wisdom, God provided exactly what we needed. Officer Brophy was on duty - six foot something, built like a linebacker, Boston import, Irish temper, and lover of both kids and dogs. Only God.

The more we told him about our experience, the madder he became. I'll spare you his verbal response (this is family blog after all), but in a matter of minutes, another officer was being dispatched to this woman's home and we were driving downtown Ft Wayne to meet the officer after he picked up Indy. Shortly before midnight, we were all reunited.

There is more sub-drama in there - but that's for another day. Indy was home, Emma was herself again, and the Indiana State Police restored my faith in humanity. God is so good. Even when people aren't. There are lots of things I've learned (again) since we started to find Indy, but that's another post. Right now, we're still getting acquainted ... and I'm still thinking about how to put it all into words. It's pretty awesome actually. Stay tuned ... because I'm determined to try to do it justice.