The announcement

I had so many things that I wanted to say, but as I sit here in front of my keyboard, the words seem to elude me. The months that followed Rocky's passing have been extremely difficult and emotional, to say the least, and even when we think about him these days -- even when we talked about him today -- the tears still roll freely. But that's part of life and death -- of life and love. For the rest of our lives, we will continue to miss him -- that's no question -- but in the past few weeks, we finally decided that it was time, and that we wanted to give someone else a home.

Two weeks ago, I came across Jin's blog via Jean (thanks Jean!), and after much consideration and discussion with our families, a flurry of long e-mails, and a couple of meet-ups, Amy moved into our home this morning.



Say hello to Amy! :) There she is, from top to bottom, left to right: Missing Jin and family, curiously inspecting the spoilt sink with Dad, begging Mom for food, and um, just... Amy.

Just when I thought we'd rid the house of the ubiquitous dog hair, we're doing this all over again. Maybe we're crazy, I don't know. But it's been good so far; she's been fed and walked. (The other dogs in the neighbourhood have gone absolutely berserk at this new member of the community.) Every now and then, though, she rushes to the front gate and stares out with heartbreaking wistfulness. We'd watch her for a bit, our hearts tinged with wondering just what she must be feeling. But they are a resilient species, and as soon as she hears her name being called, she'd jolt back to reality and come running, tail a-wagging and all. We're all going to have to make some (re-)adjustments, but I have a feeling that we'll be okay. :)

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Just as this blog became an accidental platform for friends and family to track Rocky's progress in the past, I'll probably be posting updates about Amy to keep Jin and her family in the loop.

Thank you -- Jin and Ming -- for entrusting us with Amy. It mustn't have been easy, but it will work out; as much as it seems like she's the one who needed a new home, I think it many ways, we needed this too. Before this journey began, we'd only hoped for a new addition to the family. But because God is that wonderful, we not only have that, but we have also gained a new friendship. Thank you for that. It's been a wonderful blessing getting to know you and your family.