It's March 17, 2013, it's a Sunday morning and we are on our way to Landenberg, PA, close to the University of Delaware to meet our new family member, Noah. He was rescued by Companimals from a farmer's market by the Amish, where he was destined to be used as a breeding dog, and probably spend at least the next 6 years of his life in a way too small crate with not enough food or water, with little to no human contact to be used for his sperm and then discarded. This is the life of a "mill" dog!

Let's go back to March 12, 2013. It was a significant day for me because it was the 10 month anniversary of Pearl's passing. I had recently been asked to join a Facebook Cavalier group and was on that night where I read a post and saw a picture of a Tri-color Cavalier puppy going up for adoption at Companimals within the next few days. The post asked if anyone was interested in this puppy. It didn't take me all of about 1 minute to say .....Yes, Me! I immediately went to the Companimal site to fill out an application and after answering all the questions, I decided to add Pearlyspath website to the application, thinking the rescue might like to read about how much we loved Pearl and hopefully know how much we would love this puppy, named Jameson at the time.

I have to say that right after I pressed "Send"....I had the biggest knot in my stomach, wondering if I had done the right thing. Maybe I wasn't ready to love another dog. I tried to let it go and tell myself that if it was meant to be....it would be, and if not.....then not. I received an email from Companimals letting me know that they had received so many applications to adopt, Jameson, that they were not accepting anymore. I emailed back to see if at least my application had made it in time for the review. It had.

I really didn't think that we would have a chance since there was so much interest plus the fact that we lived over 3 hours away. I had applied to some of the Cavalier Rescues and they always wanted you to live pretty close by.

The night of March 14, I was on my way to bed and decided to just check emails once more and there is was......an email from the Adoption Manager at Companimals saying that they had gotten so many applications but after she read ours, she stopped reading the rest and decided that they wanted us to be Jameson's new family. I have to say that I really was shocked. I just never expected to be chosen, even though, I knew that Jameson, this little tri-cavalier puppy would think he had won the lottery!

That's when the "stomach knots" really went into full swing. I had to go to work the next day and here it was 2:00 am and I was still wide awake with so many reservations. My husband thought this would be good for me to help me move on from grieving Pearl, but as much as I adore the Cavaliers, I wasn't sure if I would ever be possible.

I started thinking of names and had always loved the name, Noah. When I looked up the meaning, which was "peaceful and restful," I knew I would have to name this puppy, Noah. I remember telling, Jameson's foster mom, about my choice and she laughed saying that he wasn't very peaceful or restful...this crazy little active 4 mo. old. I told her that I was hoping, having Noah would bring "me" a peaceful heart and a restful soul.

As I sit here at the computer writing about Noah, who is only going on his second night in his new home...he is snuggled on the couch with my husband having his tummy rubbed. This morning he went to visit our vet. He has ear mites and fleas, nothing too major and survived the shots and rectal thermometor. He is doing great getting potty trained outside..and knows all about the treats when he "gets busy", learning to sit before he gets fed and he has already mastered the kibble filled cube! He slept through the night in his crate without a peep. He really is a "sweetheart!" and we are so happy to have him in our life already.

I have to end this by saying the Lord certainly knows what He is doing. He has put some very special people in my life during this journey to help me heal.