Some of you know after swearing we wouldn't get another dog, that I (of all people) started looking on Petfinder, ahh...just to look at pictures of dogs--not 'cause we were interested.

Well, little Carmen caught our eye (http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=14225133). In fact, she was the only dog of all those poor animals that appealed to us. After a day or two of very serious thought, Jill filled out an extensive application to Carmen's Ohio shelter / foster family. A few days later, we heard that Carmen had already been adopted. We figured it was not meant to be and closed the door on our distanced curiosity about dog 'ownership'.

A week and a half later, Jill nearly passed out one night when she got an email saying Carmen's new family had returned her. I won't even get into their issues, other than to say their decision suddenly created another chance for us to consider adopting her. We (I) had to give it a lot of thought. The loss of Ted has been difficult for us, and is, even now. I wasn't sure I was ready for this move, for Carmen, and for me. (Though Jill felt similarly about Ted, she was ready to drive to Ohio that night!) We had some questions for her foster people and waited for them to give us the one wrong answer. There were none. After another day or two, we agreed we needed to do this.

Today, we drove to Akron OH and picked up Carmen. We were warned about all her insecurities, but after taking her to a local park and enjoying a nice wet walk with her, and once she got used to Ted's car, after about a 3-hour drive, we made it home. She has settled right in! She is a young, happy, healthy little dog. She is tiny--she makes Ted look like a giant! She is sweet, smart, and apparently, feels right at home! Here's a few pics of Carmen moving in. I'm sure she'll be joining in for MINI events--she seems to very much enjoy Ted's car (though we don't have pictures of her in it yet). Here she is--here's Carmen!