Wheeler Number 7 and Our Saturday...

Can you guess why I'm smiling?

The Wheelers have lots of reasons to smile lately...
~our good friend Jeremiah's wedding is in less than a month, 
~we recently have gotten news that two of our best-friend couples are pregnant (but it's still a secret), 
~my kindred spirit Sara just recently adopted a son and had her first baby girl,
~our precious friends the Peery's are soon having their first baby, 
~my BFF Kimberlee and hubby Antuan are celebrating 5 years of marriage (and yes, I take a lot of credit for their hook-up!)
~my sweet friend Mandy is having a BOY to add to their 4-girl household, 
~our "forever" friends (the Blackley's) just had a little boy, 
~our friends the Brocious's are soon going to Ethiopia to pick up their new daughter Zema
~our missionary friends, the Lowe's, just adopted two sons from Ethiopia...

Everyones families are growing!  And the Wheelers LOVE to hear about families growing...But still, that's not the reason for the smile above...

I'm smiling because OUR family is growing!

Yep, the Wheelers have another family member!  Before anyone jumps to conclusions (*wink*) let me tell you...we're not pregnant...but we did get a dog!!!

"Charlie" came to us on Friday afternoon.  A family (from my husbands school) was driving along Highway 169 and saw a sweet puppy wandering on the side of the road, getting a little too comfortable with the cars whizzing by at 70mph.  So, they picked him up and brought him to the school.

Immediately Ryan fell in love.  You see, we are suckers for a sweet puppy and even more for a free one!  In fact, we've had 3 other puppies since Ryan and I have been married, but none of them last longer than 4 months...(((so pray for Charlie!)))

"Piper" was our first dog.  We had him before we had any kids and I loved him, but we quickly discovered that he was psychotic (literally).  We took him to two different vets for help, but they both said the same thing: he needed a monthly prescription for "puppy Prozac".  We couldn't afford it, so we took him to the animal shelter where they deemed him "unadoptable" and they put him to sleep :(

"Dora" was next.  She was Trusten, Brahm and Samuel's first dog.  She was sweet, calm and loved the boys. But one unfortunate afternoon, she got hung up on a random pole in our yard and...well, she went to doggy heaven.  We're still not quite sure how she got herself in that predicament, but we now fully understand why you should never tie your dog up or leave their collar on unattended...no matter how "safe" you think it is.

So we decided to wait on being Doggie Parents, until we got a fence.

Once we had a fence, we went looking again for a dog to call our own.  That's when we found "Rocket" at the shelter.  But we only had him two days.  He was very large, afraid of the boys, and easy spooked...so with many tears, we took him back so they could find him a better home (specifically, a non-kid home).

We decided not to try again until the boys were older.  So technically (just for the record) let's make it clear that we didn't go looking for a dog this time...he came looking for us (cue corny music)!

Ryan called me in the afternoon to tell me about him.  He was wet (he had been out in a thunderstorm), scared and hungry.  We happened to still have puppy chow on hand, so I said, "Bring him home!".

The boys loved him right away and he loved them too.

Friday after work, we took him to the vet and got him checked out.  We also alerted local animal hospitals about him, just in case someone is looking for him.  But in Chanute, when a 10 week old puppy is found wandering on the side of the road, it usually means that someone couldn't afford the liter, didn't want to hassle with finding homes, and just let them loose...

So for now, we're calling him ours.  Trusten actually starting calling him "Var".  And that was his name for about 2 hours before Mom and Dad vetoed it!  Then we settled on an old, reliable family name, "Charlie".  Trusten (our animal lover) showed him around and made him more sure of his new home...

Then Ryan and I spent Saturday afternoon adding interior slates to our fence so that the neighbor dogs wouldn't harass Charlie too much...

When I say I helped, I mean that I handed Ryan the screws and occasionally held the level...

And so far Charlie hasn't had ONE SINGLE accident!!!  He seems too good to be true...I guess time will tell!!!

Some more pictures from our weekend: