Wow...

Well, I went from "two blogs, one day" to "two months, no blog"! Thank you Lorren for the friendly reminder that I needed to move on over to blogspot and get to writing. I guess I have quite a bit to update since I have been MIA for the last two months. :-)

Those of you who are on Facebook know that the last two months has held some great news, some great accomplishments, and some really sad news for the Dix family.

We lost our beloved Buster on 8/31 (my birthday) after 12 years of loyal companionship and great memories. He was about 14 years old and he got really sick with cancer and it just broke our hearts. Buster was quite simply the greatest dog there ever was. He was amazing. Buster followed my niece and nephew home from their grandmother's job one day 12 years ago after they fed him pancakes from McDonald's behind her store. He licked off the syrup, buried the pancakes, and the rest was history. My mother-in-law (future MIL at the time) would open the back gate and tell Buster to "shoo!" and he would come right around and sit on the front porch and wait for my future husband to get home and let him back in the backyard. You could set a plate of food on the floor in front of Buster and he would not touch it unless you told him it was okay. Once, when we were living in Bedford, someone tried to break into the house and Buster went INSANE and scared them away before the police could get there. We had our ups and downs with Buster as he had a lot of health problems and had FOUR surgeries while we had him (for a "free" dog, he cost us a LOT of $$$!) in our home. It was right before his first surgery that we found out he had "beebees" stuck in his back where someone had shot him with a beebee gun before he found us. We had already known before but then we really knew, he had suffered terribly before he came into our lives and it was no wonder he was so grateful for our family. He was an amazing dog and a member of our family since before we said "I do". We loved him and will miss him for a long, long time.

I am wrapping up a 3 week vacation right now (praise the LORD for my fabulous boss who allows me the time off to do this- I could not survive without it!) and the time off allowed us to add a new family member, Blake Lee Dix. He is about 1.5 lbs right now, yorkshire terrier, and is a load of fun. I love him already! He already knows his name after only two days and he is pottying where he is supposed to so I really REALLY love him right now. :-) Him and his big sister Bailee are getting along fabulously but I must say it looks like Bailee has doubled in size since Blake got here. I guess that is an optical illusion but I am not totally convinced.

Our weekly visits to WW continue and we are reaping the benefits of healthy living. Troy has lost almost 50 pounds (that jerk, LOL) and I am down 36. No more WOMEN'S sizes for me! Yay! We are feeling and looking great and are really, really proud of our success. I have 68 pounds to go and it feels like it will never get here but if I just moving forward, I know it will be here before I know it. We cleaned out our closet last weekend and I got rid of FOUR sizes of clothing. It is an amazing feeling to step into your old jeans (without even unzipping them or unbuttoning them!) and seeing how they are so huge on you. I felt like I was in a Subway commercial. I should call them and ask for my fee. I have decided that when I get to my goal this time, I will go to work for WW part time on the weekends. Not that I think I have a whole heck of a lot of spare time to actually work a second job (since the one I do have is like working 4 regular, ha) but to work at WW you have to maintain or be within 2 lbs of your goal weight and I am KICKING myself for not doing this the last time. I anticipate that I will be at goal by sometime next summer- so watch out Schlitterbahn- here we come! :-)

I turned 32 since my last blog post (*sigh*) and that was always my "cut-off" for trying to get pregnant. Something about that day actually coming made me reconsider all of the reasons I previously held so strong for why 32 was the "doomsday date". Now, I have said Troy turning 40 will be the cut-off, which means we have a little over 2 years remaining. (Sorry to bring that up Troy in case you hadn't thought of it yet in those terms. ) There are days when I think I have come to terms with the fact that our family might always consist of furry four legged children and other days when it still hurts so much I feel like someone has set me on fire and poured gasoline on the flames. In the end, I know that God has a plan for me and that if my purpose in life was always to give back and help save those children who are in peril with their own families, so be it. Perhaps I have too much to give to those children and there isn't enough left for my own. Whatever the reason may be, it is what it is, and I will continue to pray that the Lord will give me strength, perseverance, and vision where I am lacking all when it comes to this issue.

In the meantime, I have two furry children to love on and who will not need braces or a college education and I have a nephew who I can spoil, who loves me to pieces, and while he might need braces and definitely needs a college education, neither will be on my dime. Luckily, I also have a husband who is the greatest gift God has ever given me and I am so fortunate and so blessed that he has patience and love for his imperfect wife.

Enjoy the picture of my newest (and tiniest) baby and I will be back before 2 months....I promise. On this, the memorial of the greatest tragedy on US soil 8 years ago, I close with God Bless America and God Bless our soldiers who are fighting abroad and who are defending us here at home. God Bless the families of the victims of 9/11 and God Bless our president while he faces challenges most of us could never fathom to keep this country safe from future harm.

Love,

Becca