Chloe's First Night Home

So I can still remember Chloe's first night. Why? Because like a baby, she cried pretty much all through it!!

I remember John saying, "I didn't know that all this would be involved in having a puppy!"

However, he was very gracious and I marvelled at how he took charge and looked after starting that night!

She came home with just a blanket and some kibble & bits, and we weren't quite sure where to put her until we could get out the next day and find a crate. So, for the night a fairly deep box with a blanket would do. Or would it? Somehow, she figured out how to climb right out of it, and onto our bed!!

Then, we decided to put in a 3 foot tall laundry basket thinking, 'Surely, she can't get out of this, it's about 7 times her size in height!' And somehow, her fear I suppose gave her the courage or smarts, to figure out that she could claw and climb her way right out of it! And continue crying till we came for her!

At last, we discovered that anything lined in fabric would be too easy for her to work with, and we ended up taping up the flaps of the box to create higher walls to contain her for the night. And she was then forced to sleep alone. It sounds cruel to have left her all alone on her first night. It felt worse to have to listen to her cry all through it, but it had to be done so that she would learn to be stronger and get over her fear.

The reality was, there really was nothing around her that could hurt her, and we were very close still protecting her and loving her.

I thought of all the times that I, and others have shared of times we've all felt that we were going through some kind of pain alone. And how often God had seemed so quiet -  I thought He was far away.

And then I realize that He was always there, loving and patiently waiting for us to grow up :)