Meet Lacey Lou

Meet our new puppy, Lacey!  We're still waiting on the snow in Memphis to melt, but here's a picture from us playing in the snow.  She is a six year old Shetland Sheepdog who came to us from the same people that Skip, my parent's dog, came to us from--Ozark Crest Shelties. While she grew up with the Hannah's at Ozark Crest in Nixa, Missouri, Lacey was bred at a kennel named Laureate in Canada.  Yes, that's right.  As David says, we have a Canadian Sheltie, aye?  Her official name is Laureate L'Audace.  Which I assumed was French and looked it up.  Apparently, it means "the audacity."  And I don't know why I shared that with you, but I felt like you should know!  Since she came to us at age six, we figure, why change the name?  So she'll remain Lacey.  Or as I like to call her Lace, Lacey Lace, and Lacey Lou.  Or Sweet Girl.  It just kind of depends on what I'm feeling!

 

The Hannah's (owners of Ozark Crest) show Shelties.  Thomas is their current star.  If you've ever been around me when a dog show comes on TV, you know I stop what I'm doing to watch the herding category.  Thomas has been known to be there and frequently wins it all.  He's won a ton of shows and awards.  He also is Skip's daddy. These are the breeders that show him.  Skip came to my family when he was six months old.  That meant he was potty trained already.  My parents agreed they never wanted to get a puppy ever again.  Skip was too easy.  I emailed around Christmastime to ask if they had any dogs.  Forgive me for being the most homesick person on the face of the earth who desperately needs a friend in Memphis.  Not that I don't like Memphis, I'm just home working on a master's degree and really need a companion in the house.  So I emailed to see if they had any dogs.   So when the opportunity presented itself to adopt a six year old, while we had to think about it a little bit, we were game. 

So on their way from Dallas, TX to Florida on Monday, the Hannah's stopped in Jackson, MS to let us get Lacey.  However, there was a threatening ice/snow/sleet/BLIZZARD storm approaching Mississippi.  So for fear that I wouldn't be able to get to my puppy on Monday, I traveled home on Saturday.  Good decision.  All day Sunday we waited on the power to go out with dad hard at work trying to make sure it didn't go out!  And guess what, it didn't!  Monday, we met the Hannah's a little later than expected in the same Wal Mart parking lot in Richland that we got Skip from three years ago. 

Skip and Lacey.  They are now cousins, siblings, in laws?  I don't know.  I guess technically Skip is Lacey's uncle.  But really, they are dogs. Does it matter?  Skip isn't too sure what to think of Lacey.  He has been an only dog too long.  When David called to ask me how Lacey was doing and if she was in shock, I answered...not as much as Skip is in shock.  He literally HID behind my mom!  

It's amazing how two Shelties can look so much alike and yet so much different.  Skip has a small face and a lot of hair!  Lacey just lost her coat because she's coming out of season.  The Hannah's told us she'd get it back.  However, she looks perfect to me.  It doesn't bother me at all!

She loves the kitchen.  Any time anyone gets up, she runs to see what they are doing.  She doesn't beg.  In fact, we've yet to hear her whine or bark.  (which doesn't bother me AT ALL!)  I would like for her to be able to "talk" to us at some point, but it will just take some time.  She helps me in the kitchen frequently.  Except she's scared of the oven.  When I open it, she runs.  Which is a good thing in my opinion because it means she won't come near it when it's open.  Which means she won't get burned!

Lacey is such a fun addition to the Adams family!  She is a social girl who loves attention and loves to be in the same room as you.  She is super affectionate already and hasn't shown her stress in ways that I thought she would.  The first night, she went from room to room to room.  But we simply followed her and petted her a bunch.  She loves to lick hands that have been holding any kind of food and will give her mommy and daddy kisses in the face if allowed.  

My mom bought her a big pillow when she took over Skip's in Jackson.  Gotta give it to her grandma (which by the way is a terrible name for her!).  She bought a huge one!  Plus Lacey is little.  But she absolutely LOVES it!  Currently, she's relaxing like this! 

Gotta give it to her...at least she's comfortable. 

For this homesick girl, this dog is amazing!  Yesterday, I got a little...um....emotional.  (for those of you who remember me in Sessums or McKee...emotional probably isn't the right word).  I just held her and she licked tears away from my cheeks.  I told her that she and I would make great homesick companions.  As we were sitting in the floor of our living room, I was complaining to Lacey about how I would never find friends like I had in Starkville.  Basically my own little pity party.  (I do know God has friends for me here, by the way...I just forgot at that moment).  I looked up to find a scrapbook that my bridesmaids gave me.  It's on the bottom level of the bookcase with all of my other scrapbooks.  They gave it to me on my bachelorette trip, and while I read it all then, I had forgotten how special every note is to me.  Yes, I have a lot of friends who read this that weren't in my bridal party.  But there's just something about your bridesmaids.  If you've had the opportunity to have bridesmaids, you know what I mean.  They are the ones who know you inside and out.  They are the ones who, even when you haven't talked to them in a really long time, pick right back up where you left off.  Marriage causes less time to keep up with each other, but we still manage.  I asked Lacey if she wanted to meet my best friends.  They each took the opportunity to write me a letter and put some photos with it.  I flipped to the first page and had her attention for a minute.  I read the letter.  I dabbed tears.  I flipped the page.  She looked.  I read the letter. I dabbed tears.  I flipped the page.  She smelled it. She walked away to lay on her pillow.  I read the letter.  I brushed flowing tears away.  Repeat, repeat, repeat.  You know the cool thing about books like these?  You can read them on one day of your life and hear something you needed, then read them on a complete different day and get something completely different that you needed.  On one of the pages, my friend had typed a bible verse. It said...

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."  -Joshua 1:9

It was exactly what I needed.  I know that's super personal and all, but I learned a long time ago to just quit worrying about what people thought when you get homesick.  I've been homesick and crying hysterically in the dorm room, in the library, on the drill field, at Wal Mart, in the middle of a test, the list could go on and on.  I hope someone needed reminding of that as much as I did.  And thanks to one of my friends for writing it!  Lacey walked over about that time and started licking tears.  She probably just wanted to lick, but at least it felt like she was getting rid of them.  

I laughed and we went back to work.  I know this dog is going to be so much comfort.

Oh and in case you were wondering....YES, David likes her too!  He comes in from work and lays in the floor to let her lick him and to pet her.  I think it helps because she acts mildly intimidated by his stature.  Haha!  I think she'll have his heart in no time!

Get ready for many more adventures of Lacey Lou!