My entire life I (Amanda) have always loved animals so much!! When I was a little girl I was all about rescuing them. I would go around my neighborhood and “rescue” every one I saw. That included the neighbors’ cats and dogs too because as a little girl I thought every one that I found needed to be rescued lol. I knew even then that I wanted to grow up to help animals in some way. With the hustle and bustle of life, it’s almost as if we become numb to how bad things actually are at times when it comes to animals and how many are in need of help. After my grandmother fell and broke her leg and had been in and out of the hospital it threw my husband and I into a situation that was draining on us. Besides dealing with the emotional exhaustion, we were traveling to Pikeville, KY every single day since May 31st of last year until the end of August. I was staying at my grandmother’s apartment 98% of the time to be with her little dog, Lucy, since she has horrible separation anxiety. We had been facing situations that we never thought we would face. It was during all of this that God brought us to another dog. Her name was Bella at the time.
She was in a situation where she wasn’t getting the affection she needed. She had not been spayed or had any shots. She was kept outside where the yard was right next to the highway with no fence and she was frequently getting loose from being chained outside. It was only by the grace of God that she did not get ran over or contract a disease or become pregnant. When we first met Bella it only took a few seconds to fall in love with her! She was so sweet and playful! We started searching for a way to help her! Through our friend, Rebecca, we found an amazing lady named Paula who was known for rescuing animals. We made arrangements with Paula to begin Bella’s journey toward a new and better life. Hugging and saying goodbye to Bella was heartbreaking. At the same time though I knew that God’s plan was bigger than mine and it made me happy knowing that Bella could have a better life. So we said our goodbyes and then it was a waiting game.
Video from the day we said goodbye to Bella. She was so happy to be running around and it’s as if she knew she was headed to a better life!
A few days later we learned that Bella had made her way to Anicira animal rescue in Harrisonburg, VA! I waited for a blessing that she would be adopted by an amazing family! And, y’all..it happened!! This beautiful doggie was adopted by an incredible family!! The best part, they are so friendly and allow me to follow along with…Harper. Yes, Harper!! That is her new, gorgeous name!! I just love it!! Doesn’t she look so happy? (these were recent photos of her)
What a challenging few months it was last year. Only with God’s help did we all manage. It’s so hard to find joy in certain situations. When you are stretched to your limits…you just don’t know how much more you can be stretched. I have to smile though because all of that was so worth it and led to our paths crossing with Harper’s! That whole situation made me realize that sometimes we need to go through uncomfortable, difficult trials because there will be something good to come from it. Maybe, just maybe, it’s intended to help in some way and you are right where you need to be. We were so happy to have had the opportunity to help her and are so thankful for such an amazing family that gave Harper her furever home! And many thanks to Rebecca, Paula, and everyone along Harper’s journey to her furever family!! Hopefully, we will be able to help other furbabies like her!
Lots of love and blessings!
