A Good Laugh

Y'all know I love animals.  And y'all know I love Jesus.  So, this will make sense.

We--myself and Shawn--were deeply in need of a good laugh by the time we got home this evening.  It's been a long, emotionally charged day.  Pulling into our neighborhood, we'd reached the exhausted stage of goofy laughter, when everything and anything is funny, and our kids are looking at us as though we've got three eyes.

Sometimes, Jesus knows just how much you need a good laugh over a really good cry.  Tonight, He gave us that good laugh in the form of a sweet old yellow lab.

Quick backstory: There are a few yellow labs who occasionally wander the neighborhood.  We don't know their names, so we lovingly refer to them as "Traffic," because they're really all we see for traffic out here.  In the past, I've loaded them in my car (they really prefer the taste of my toddler), and delivered them home.  I've never actually met their people.

Okay, back on track.

Standing in the middle of the road was one of our neighborhood labs--except it wasn't Traffic 1 or Traffic 2.  We made a split second decision that Shawn would walk with him through the neighborhood, hoping the dog would show him where he lives (and keeping the dog safe from cars), and I would take the boys home--getting out of the car to switch places, the dog jumped in!  He quickly settled himself into the passenger seat and seemed to charge me, "Home, James!"

The neighbor in the car behind us shouted, "Looks like you just adopted yourselves a new dog!"

We laughed, shook our heads and headed off--Shawn walking home, and me with the dog, and the boys, looking for anyone who looked as though they might be looking for a dog.  I've never had a dog who loves car rides, so I laughed hysterically as this dog settled his huge bum first in the passenger seat next to me, drooling everywhere, then climbed into the back to settle next to Avery, then between Noah and Ezra, leaving drool EVERYWHERE.

After talking with several people but coming up empty, I turned our car toward home, with a bowl of water and a fenced in back yard (and our own very unhappy dog yapping up a storm inside HER HOUSE). 

Shortly after, a very distraught looking woman in a mini van pulled into our driveway--yep, Hoosier's mommy.

Hoosier, I hope you know that we needed the good laugh you gave us tonight.  The way you very comfortably settled into our car, and our hearts, was priceless.  I will be cleaning your drool off my windows and out of the crevices of my seats for days to come, but you're welcome to hang out in my car anytime.