and just like that...

... she's gone :(

A week ago, Paz came into heat. We were able to keep her here with us this week, as today was her regularly scheduled pick up time for another training session at Lackland. On Tuesday, we learned that Paz would have to stay at the TSA puppy center for a few weeks, until she was out of heat. Because of the timing, and the logistics of driving the puppies back and forth from San Antonio, it was decided that Paz would not return to us. We were so sad, but not entirely surprised, by the news. Lately, Paz seemed so grown up and ready to go. Kate was particularly sad because she wouldn't be able to get home from college to tell Paz goodbye.

We've known from the very beginning that Paz was only "visiting" us until it was time for her to go to school, and then on to work protecting our country. She's been like a treasured friend, who moved in temporarily, so we could enjoy her company and spoil her a little bit. Still, we were expecting her to be hanging out with us til April; after all, we wanted her to be here to celebrate her 1st birthday!

So it was extra hard to get her ready for the drop off today. Packing ALL of her stuff up in a box, taking her crate apart, and loading it all in the car seemed so final- and it was. Even though Phil and I shed a few tears, Paz was excited to hop in the car and head off for another adventure! She seemed very happy to see the other puppies and TSA staff- in fact she was so excited it was hard to get her into the truck! Her tail was still wagging when we drove off, a good way for things to be.

We have so many great memories of the Paz over the last 9 months! Being a part of her growth and developent was such a treat! Even though she's gone, there are reminders of her all over the house: a few tooth marks on the remote, the towels she turned into tug-of-war ropes, frayed edges on a rug or two, my eyeglasses that have one earpiece that is shorter than the other... I know whenever I come across those things in the next few days and months, that they will make me smile. We are going to miss her terribly, but in a good way. She definitely left her paw prints all over our hearts.

Fun in the Snow!

It's snowing here today! Nothing outrageous, and it probably won't stick around for long, but Paz has been having a great time! She's chased snowballs I've been throwing all around the yard; when she found them she ate them. When I wasn't looking, she stole one of my gloves and ran all around the yard, shaking it to death. She was pretty proud of herself after that. Here are a few pictures of Paz enjoying the snow!

Happiness is...

We are blessed that Paz is such a sweet natured dog! I'm not sure how that will play into her future role as a bomb sniffer, but it has certainly made fostering her a joy! If your about my age, you might remember a Charles Schultz book called Happiness Is a Warm Puppy. Too true! Having Paz around has certainly made us happy!

Paz is just naturally happy. For her, life itself seems to be a wonderful adventure to be savored and enjoyed. Today was another awesome day full of new things that Paz seemed to love! In honor of that spirit, this post will be all about things that make Paz happy. So here goes: Happiness is...

A REALLY muddy culvert to be explored!

Winning Tug of War

with the towel

after playing in the

muddy, wet culvert!

Hanging out with Dad, Ding and Jed!

Plastic Bottles!

Going to School!

Paz really enjoys going up to the high school where I teach. She explores the hallways, climbs the stairs, and visits classes. Today, Paz attended Canine Science classes. The students were learning about the major muscle groups in dogs, and Paz became a living model! She happily allowed the students to tape the names of the muscles in the correct location all over her. At one point, she had 13 name cards on various parts of her body. Hats off to the teacher for developing such a great, hands on lesson!

It's pretty obvious that fostering Paz has brought our family lots of happiness!

A Busy New Year!

The last 2 months have flown by in a blur- a blur of yellow fur as Paz zooms by us again! Even though things have been fast paced, these last few months have been awesome!

We were barely over the comfortable warm feelings and fullness Thanksgiving brought when Christmas arrived. The break brought Paz's beloved Kate home for the holidays. Kate spent much of that time catching up on some much needed sleep, and as you can tell from the picture, Paz and Jed (snoozing down on the rug) were happy to keep her company :)

Paz enjoyed all of the festivities and some of the decorations a little too much. We realized pretty fast that our usual Christmas tree in its usual location just wasn't going to work well with Paz around. After watching her carefully take one ornament after another off of a friend's tree (much to the friend's amusement!) Phil and I figured we didn't want to spend the entire holiday policing Paz and the tree! Many discussions later, we decided a very small tabletop tree was in order, along with our stocking and a few strategically placed decorations. I'm very pleased to report that everything but one small (but highly cherished for the memory attached to it) decoration made it through without any trouble. Paz did manage to take a couple of our stockings down and parade around with them; I'm still not sure how she did it without knocking the stocking weights down too. What a clever girl!

Christmas also brought our family a big scare! Our senior dog, Jed (14.5 years) became very ill right before Christmas. He has a whopper of a heart murmur and it went from bad to almost lethal overnight. He spent a few days in ICU at Texas A&M's wonderful Vet School hospital and came home much healthier and happier. His prognosis isn't great- we'll probably only get to enjoy him for 6-12 more months- but right now his new meds have made a huge difference and he has lots more energy than before. Paz and Ding were a little lost without him here; Ding was especially upset! Everyone was much happier when Jed came back home! A great Christmas gift for us all!

Paz really enjoyed trips to the mall and Petsmart for Christmas shopping. She paid no attention to anyone but the mall Santa- something about his outfit grabbed her attention! Paz still dislikes walking close to our Hollister store; the only reason I can think of is the horribly strong perfume that pours out of that place.

On Christmas day, Paz loved the tug of war rope and heavy duty Nylabones that Santa left for her. She literally picked the tug of war rope out herself at Petsmart a few days before Christmas so that one wasn't a big surprise!!! She also had fun running around the house with yards of wrapping paper trailing behind her. She wasn't a big help when it came to cleaning up!

The weather this winter has been exceptionally cold, so we spent much of the week after Christmas inside drinking hot chocolate and watching Paz play outside in the rain and mud. She absolutely LOVED it! Obviously genetics play a huge part in all of this, because she truly had a blast getting filthy dirty in the coldest water she could find. It didn't even phase her! Boy did we get cold and wet cleaning her up!

New Year's was pretty low key- a great meal with friends and family, lots of football games and a few fireworks. We're not big into New Year's resolutions; instead we talked a lot about all of the highs and lows of the past year and things we learned. Here's a short list:

• Having your family close by is awesome
• Being healthy is such a blessing!
• Being employed is a blessing and gift that you have to work hard for
• Planning a wedding is FUN!
• Fostering Paz has been a blast!
• Risking your heart, even when you know it's going to hurt later, is worth it
• You make your own destiny by following your dreams
• We need to take a lot more pictures of Paz before she leaves
• I am not much of a blogger...

And the next day, Paz was gone! Back to Lackland for training and evaluation. Each time she goes, it gets a little harder knowing that in a few more months, she will stay there and start her "real" job. Her evaluation was good! She was comfortable in all of the exercises they put her through, and her toy drive has improved also! This is really good news, even though it also means she'll be leaving us soon.

Now that the holiday rush is over, hopefully I'll be better about posting info and pictures!