17 hours in hell

Yesterday morning, I got up at about 9am to let the dogs out. I came out to the living room, and I couldn't find Bo or Sammi (the Boxer and Shepherd). After a brief moment of confusion, I figured out that they must have gotten out at about 5am (Jim and I were up late). At this point, I was relatively calm. 4 hours isn't too bad, right? So I immediately woke Jim and then got dressed to drive around the neighborhood looking for them. There were a few spots I knew they'd gone when they'd gotten out before, so I checked there first. No puppies. I came back home, picked up Jim, and we drove for about 3 hours searching. I called both the city and county dispatchers to let them know that if they were spotted, to call us. Still nothing.

At noon, we were home, and I was frantic. My dogs had chosen the worst day of the year to take a road trip. We were expecting the most snow since "The Blizzard of 2007" back in February. Soon, the snow began, and I...was not good.

At one point, a couple of friends came over and we split up looking again. About an hour into that, we all came back, sans-puppies. It was about an hour before sunset.

Jim got the show ready to run, and I prayed. I have to say, Jim and I really dug into our faith yesterday. We had to trust God. He was (and is) our only hope. Those of you that are animal lovers, you know what we were feeling. Just the thought of our puppies out in that weather. Even now, it horrifies me to think about it.

We ran the show until midnight, and traffic was surprisingly good for the weather. We had settled down to nap until the show was over, but right before that, I whispered a little prayer to God. I said, "Lord, I trust you to either bring them home, or keep them safe with someone somewhere until we can get them back. But if you bring them home, and there is any sound at all outside that I would need to hear to find them, please let me hear it."

Right after my alarm went off at midnight, I heard a bark outside. I jumped up and looked out the window, at first not seeing anything. And then I saw movement to my left, and it was Sammi, in our neighbor's yard!!! I ran outside, clad in pj's and socks, and wooed Sammi inside. I didn't see Bo at first, but when I ran back outside, he was there!!! I wooed him inside as well. I yelled for Jim to get up, that the puppies were home, and he came with towels to dry them off. Then came about an hour of thanking God and loving on the puppies.

They are both good; no frostbite or anything. Sammi was full of burrs, but I got those out earlier today. Both of them are sore; Bo is a little worse than Sammi. I'm actually venturing out in the weather here in a bit to get him some baby aspirin (the only thing a dog can take, according to the emergency vet).

I cannot tell you how thankful I am to God. He is so good, and that would not be any different had we lost our puppies, but in His grace and mercy He chose to return them to us. For that, I will be ever grateful.

And as soon as possible, all three puppies are getting micro-chipped.