Day One

It has been a lonely day without Chiefy around!

Last night in the middle of the night I would wake up and instinctively I just listened for his breathing....as I've heard every night in the middle of the night for the past 8 years. Yet, it was silent. It saddened me.

It broke my heart this morning when Kaitlyn was leaving for school and she was nervous to cry in front of her friends b.c she was worried they would laugh and she would feel embarrassed at school. It broke my heart when Anderson got out of the shower and ran over the where Chief's bed was and he was looking for Chief....tough morning!

All day I kept waiting to see Chief at the front door when I opened it, or I went to the back French doors to let him in and he was not there....I was not "tripping" over him in the kitchen.

It was a hard first day without our little buddy.

Kaitlyn is still a wreck, but MUCH better tonight than yesterday or even after school. Her class made all of us cards. They are adorable!!! Each of the children wrote a prayer and drew us a picture! The prayers were sweet.

Some of the cards read:

"I'm sorry Chief died, but he is happy in hevin"

"I hope Chief feels better"

"I am sorry four Chief"

The cards are priceless.

One has a picture of a dog lying under a tombstone and the tombstone reads:
"here lis chief"...IE...here lies Chief! So cute!!

It was so nice of Kaitlyn's teacher to take time out of their day to write these for our family. It warmed our hearts. All of the emails and messages have helped us so much.

My friend, Yvonne sent the sweetest message. Yvonne said, "Chief is probably having a good
ol time in Heaven right now. He probably thanked God for sending him
to the M**sc**er (for privacy I'm blocking our last name) house for 8 wonderful years!!!" This brought a BIG smile to Kaitlyn's face this morning!

All of our San Fran friends who remember us getting Chief.....he had a special place in their hearts too....as Mego said, "Chief was everyone's 1st baby!" So true Mego!

I'm sure each day will be easier. Just a hard day getting adjusted to the new M**sc**er house!

15

Ryan: Mommy, when I am 15 I am going to drive a rocket to outerspace.

Me: Sounds great Ryan!

Heaven

Ryan: Mommy, what does it feel like when you go to heaven?

Me: I don't know Ryan.

Ryan: I think it is easy, I think magic comes down and just "Zaps" you up to heaven really fast!

I will always remember.......

when you would stay in bed waiting for E*A*C*H one of us to get out of bed before you got out of your bed....

when you would sleep at the top of the stairs waiting for Charlie when he was out of town..protecting us and waiting for your "Chief" to walk thru the door...

when you would sit in the baby's nursery with me while I nursed them to sleep...

when you would "dance" around when you needed to go out to the bathroom...

when I would get so frustrated b/c you would shake your head and slobber would spray all of the walls...

when you would get so excited if you heard us say "park" or "walk"...

when you brought the deer antlers into the house when we lived in San Francisco...

when you got sprayed by a skunk....oh, twice might I add!...

when you chased 2 raccoons out of our house in San Francisco...

how you looked at each of those babies when we brought them home..by the time it was Anna, you just sighed and looked at her as if to say, "not again!"

how you HAD to be in each room that we were in as family...whether we were putting kids to bed or in the bath or in the kitchen...you were RIGHT with us!

how you and Princess eventually became friends...after 6+ years of trying :)

how you protected us and how proctected I felt b/c of you...

when we would take you on off leash walks in San Fran and you chased a ball...

when you were a sweet puppy who sat in my lap, and you continued to think you could sit in my lap...even when you were 75+ lbs!

when you would drink out of a water bottle! (seriously people!)

when you would look at me when Anderson jumped on you, as if to say..."mom, help me!"

There are SOO many things we will miss about you....there are SOOO many things we loved about you! You were the most amazing dog....as sweet as they come....as GOOD as them come! So well behaved!

Thanks for all the memories Chief!! We will miss you!

Your memories will forever live in our hearts!

God Bless you sweet boy!

Chief

I am sad to report that Chief passed away today VERY unexpectedly.

We woke up and were hanging out in our bedroom. The kids were jumping on us, playing around...and Chief was "asleep" in his bed (as usual).

Anderson jumped out of bed and patted Chief, as usual.

Chief did not move....weird....

I watched his stomach, it did not seem to be moving, he was not taking any breaths.

I turned to Char with my eyes bulging...I said, what's wrong?

Char looked over and noticed he was not moving.

Chief was in his "favorite" position on his bed.

We rushed the kids out of the bedroom.

Charlie went back upstairs....

I heard Charlie close the door and lock it. I knew then...

I went upstairs, and Charlie told me he was dead. I was devasted.

The kids were downstairs, had to pull it together to tell them.

We went downstairs and told the kids we had bad news. Kaitlyn was devastated, simply a mess. Felt so so so bad for her. Ryan was sad too. Anderson did not quite understand....Kaitlyn and Ryan did not understand "why" God would let this happen. Kaitlyn was mad. Why does God allow people and pets to die? Why she asked me.

(side note: remember our cat, Princess died in May...this has been a hard hard year for the kids and their pets!)

We took the kids upstairs to say "Goodbye" to Chief and blow him kisses (we gave them a choice and they wanted to see him 1 last time). It was so hard. We said a prayer over Chief and left the room.

Charlie took Chief to the veterinary hospital where they took care of him. That was really hard for Charlie.

It was very difficult to find our sweet dog dead in our bedroom this morning. But, we were thankful he passed in his sleep peacefully.

Chief lived 8 years. We did not know he was sick, it was quite a shock this happened.

We have 8 wonderful years of memories of Chief. He was terrific, simply terrific!

HAPPY HAPPY 7th Birthday Kaitlyn

Today is a special day. Our dear, sweet, special little girl was born.....7 years ago.

Kaitlyn, we love you and so very proud of you!!!

HAPPY 10th Babe!

Today is our 10th anniversary!!

It is hard to believe 10 years has passed us by....so quickly.

We have accomplished so much, and learned even more.

It has been an amazing 10 years....and can't wait for the next 50 more!

Charlie took the day off and we went to Anderson's therapy together and had a cup of coffee. We dropped Anderson off with the sitter and we went to lunch together. Perfect lunch. Then, went for a walk by the water and talked.

Then...we got home and prepared for Kaitlyn's birthday party at our house...yes, on our 10th anniversary!

18 girls, 9 spending the night! HANNA MONTANA party! What fun!!

Pics and stories to follow!!

Happy Anniversary!!!