bella.

"For the soul of every living thing is in the hand of God." Job 12:10

My mother is a wonderful teacher and care taker. When Wilson was born, she came and stayed with us for three weeks. She did every stitch of laundry in our house, rearranged and organized the kitchen, cooked and grocery shopped. She also showed us how to wash bottles and how to prepare them. She helped with Wilson's first bath. Many things she taught us, we still do. I know we would have learned how to do them on our own, but having her there to help us made those first few weeks a little less scary.  

When I was in high school we got a Sheltie puppy named Abby. Mom did an amazing job with Abby and  she was such a good dog. Abby would put her head down for you to attach her leash. She stopped at each corner before crossing the street when taking a walk, and she even knew how to wipe her feet on the mat before coming in from outside. She was amazing. Just after I graduated from college, Abby was diagnosed with lymphoma. Mom did everything she should to help Abby. Abby was on medication to keep her comfortable for quite a while until one day we just knew it was time to let her go.

After we lost Abby, I thought my mom and little sister (who was still in high school at the time) needed another dog around.  That was when I found Bella. Bella was nothing like Abby. She was a wire fox terrier with a lot of spunk. She had a rocky start and would dart from an open door and down the street and you never thought you'd see her again. But she amazingly always came back. Bella loved her toys and would pull them out of her basket one by one and place them in a line. She would bring you one and toss it in the air herself so you knew she wanted to play. And sometimes she just played that way on her own. When Mom married Jeff he came along with a wonderful cat named Sam (samkitty). "Bellie" and Sam got along so amazingly well for a cat and a dog. They were great friends and snuggled together and would play chase through the house.

  Over the last few months Bella had appeared to get slower and calmer and even was a little sick over the summer. Last week my mother sent my sister and I an email to let us know that Bella didn't seem to be doing very well and they just were not sure what was wrong.  They took her to the vet where many tests were run and she was placed on medication for an intestinal infection.  After several days of medication her appetite should have returned, but it did not.  

Yesterday they discovered that Bella had a tumor. She did not seem to be in pain but she was not well and there really wasn't anything that could be done.

My amazing step father prepared a place for her near the "workshop" and he and my mother laid her to rest at about 5pm.

Bella, we will miss your spunk and sweet nature. I hope you and Abby are having a wonderful time together.