Monday, November 30, 2009

Being Thankful!!


Hello everyone! We had such an exciting week last week and it was so appropriate that it was all during the Thanksgiving week! First, as always, we are thrilled that paws4people has entered our lives. I think it will be life changing for our daughter Samantha. So, the start of our busy week - was an always welcome and ALWAYS enjoyable visit from Terry Henry and Kyria! Their special guests this trip were CAROLINE and CORINA, the two goldens who they had earmarked for Samantha's Service Dog.


After a nice dinner at our house Monday, Kyria and Terry came back to our house Tuesday with both dogs to do the bump again. We had done this at the prison back in September and both dogs seemed to like Samantha....I had a favorite, but I won't say who it was. Terry and Kyria played a joke on me and took the collars off of the dogs, so I couldn't be bias....but, it was pretty obvious. Both dogs could bring some great attributes into Samantha's life, but my husband and I felt that one of the two could really provide that assistance we were looking for, which in turn, would give Samantha some of the independence a 5 year old would typically have available...


So ta-da.....CORINA showed a very gently, loving way about herself when she was close to Samantha and I guess Terry and Kyria saw the same thing. We love both dogs, but we really really loved CORINA. Someday...when she is ready, she will be the perfect addition to our family!!


So, from the bump, the dogs got to go to the kids school. Each dog was a mystery reader in Samantha's and her brother Grayson's classroom. The 4 and 5 year olds got to ask lots of questions about what the dog will do for Samantha. Then everyone got to pet the dogs.


At 5pm, Terry and Kyria came to our house for an 'Open House', with special guests CORINA and CAROLINE (of course Terry and Kyria as well!!). We had 26 people over to enjoy their company, learn about the organization and enjoy a big pasta dinner!!! We were all just priming our stomachs for Thanksgiving!!


A sad goodbye to our friends and the dogs. We love having them in Atlanta and can't wait for an opportunity to see them in the near future. We are so very thankful to have paws4people support our mission to have Samantha live the best life she can. This new addition will be a huge help and a wonderful addition to the Leiter household!