Have you ever bought something and within minutes or less... had buyers remorse? Well, you can't call us the smartest parents in the bunch. We are weak at times, though I am attributing our weakness to an answered prayer on our daughters part. Last week, Mark heard a puppy crying in the corn field. Puppy?? That is all my daughter needed to hear. She has wanted a small puppy for years. She has begged and begged and begged us, but we are very firm parents! No is NO!!!, especially when it comes to another animal around our house. Mark and I have had enough of puppies and dogs and cats to last us our children's lifetime. Well, after searching long and hard, we found out that the crying was of a beagle puppy. Emily had praying that God would help find that puppy and that Daddy would change his mind about letting her have one. She prayed all afternoon. And.. despite the pain she was in and the medication she was on... she searched and searched and prayed and prayed. To her dismay, God chose not to allow her to find that puppy. And so, a week goes by without another word about puppies.

Then we went to Johnstown to the Swappers Market. It is a very big deal for Johnstown and a lot of fun to go. The boys, the little ones, and Mark and I went. Emily had gone to work. We had fun checking out everything. Elizabeth and Ri found the puppies and loved looking at them. It was easy to just look because we had no desire for a puppy AND they cost almost $400.00. Easy to say no! Then the boys went a little further and found more pups. They had fun checking them all out, knowing that we would not go home with one. Then Sam found beagle puppies at a very good price. Somehow.. I have no clue how, before I knew it, Mark was saying that was fine with him. I think it caught him off guard too. Sam has been earning his own money lately and very eagerly asked, expecting the answer to be no, if he could buy the puppy. Before we knew it, he was on the phone to Emily asking her to go in on the puppy too. Jacob volunteered his money too. Soon, they all had agreed to take care of this puppy. It was a very strange feeling. Despite my not wanting this, I never found myself saying "no", but rooting them on. What is even funnier is that we were both having "buyers remorse" even before the money was handed over. So... that is why I am attributing this little puppy to the prayers of our daughter, Emily.

Here she is: