Newfie 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July Everyone!

Love and Licks from Katie & Louie

Nesting for Natalie

A robin and her 3 chicks just vacated this nest right outside our back door. This mother's sturdy, sweet nest has been an inspiration to me.

I've spent quite a bit of time this weekend working on child proofing the house. During my breaks I put together a photobook that I will send to Natalie in China as soon as we receive our referral. Usually the nannies at the orphanages or the foster mothers will show pictures of the children's new parents to them. Hopefully when Natalie sees us in person for the first time our faces will be at least a little familiar. I also plan on sending a little stuffed animal with our scents on it. While we are in China with Natalie we will show her pictures of her grandparents, aunts, dogs, etc.

With the Newfs especially, I want to prepare Natalie as much as possible. A good friend of mine had the idea that we show her videos of us playing with Katie and Louie. Natalie will at least be able to see them and hear them a bit before she has the shock of meeting the Giants in person.

Here is Natalie's Family Book in a slideshow format. The music in the background is "This is Home" by Lucy Kaplansky, a wonderful artist and fellow adoptive China mother.

Wow! They Really Are Water Dogs!

During a recent trip to Lake Bennett in Woolly Hollow State Park we discovered that Katie and Louie are real water dogs. Newfoundland dogs are known for their love of water and have a history of water work including saving drowning victims. Katie and Louie had been in the water a couple of times before and didn't seem to be overly excited about it.

Louie's only time to get to retrieve the dumbbell. Katie got it the other 49 times we threw it.

This time though something just clicked and suddenly Katie, a Newf girl who doesn't even like to fetch, was begging us over and over to throw the dumbbell for her to retrieve. If we didn't throw it quickly enough she would start to whine. If we hesitated further we were treated to some very loud and indignant Newfie barks. I think it was the most enthusiasm I've ever seen from her.

Then, like a true Newfoundland hero dog, Louie came to Gary's rescue three times when he was "drowning". Gary decided to go into the lake by himself and told me he was going to pretend like he was having problems just to see what the dogs would do. As you will see in the following video, Louie's water rescue instincts kicked right in without any prior water training. It was absolutely amazing to see how Louie, without hesitation, got to his Daddy as fast as he could and then allowed Gary to gently hold onto his sides as he pulled him into the shore. Once their feet could touch bottom Louie turned to Gary as if to reassure himself that his Daddy was ok and gave Gary sweet kisses.

These dogs never cease to amaze us with their intelligence, loyalty, bravery and sweetness. We are extremely blessed to have them as friends and part of our family.

Katie was completely enamored of her floating dumbbell toy.

Even out of the water she didn't want to let it out of her sight.

The car ride home was a great time for a nap :)

Big and Little Sights In the Backyard

Our Newfoundland dog, Louie, wasn't quite tall enough to see over our 6 foot high privacy fence.

So, he figured out that if he stood up on these bags of stones and then propped one foot up on the water hose hanger he could stretch his neck long enough to check out the activity in the neighbor's yard. Clever boy!




After the excitement next door died down, Katie and Louie supervised Gary and I while we did some weeding in the yard. While I was cutting back some ivy, I found this little turtle.


I named him Terrance before we released him into the wilds of our front yard where he will have yummy hibiscus flowers to eat.


We hope you all are having a great weekend. Love, Charity, Gary, Katie and Louie

Natalie's Room Has Received the Newf Stamp of Approval

Natalie's room is all ready for her...well except for toys to fill her shelves and clothes for her closet.

Katie checked everything out.

She gives the room a big white paw up (since she doesn't have a thumb).

The owls are in honor of Natalie's new Grandmother.

This is where Natalie's toys will be stored.

Louie thinks the new rug is a great snoozing spot.

Katie shows Louie there is room on the new rug for two Newfoundland dogs.

A Very Good Friday/How to Introduce Yourself to a Dog You Don't Know

Louie and Katie spent Good Friday doing what they love best (besides eating): Working!

They took turns teaching a lesson to second graders. The lesson of the day was "How to Introduce Yourself to a Dog You Don't Know."

Louie was such a patient boy and listened intently to my lecture.

I tried to make the lesson very simple in hopes that the kids might remember it the next time they meet a stranger dog. We used one hand to keep track of the five rules.

#1 Be quiet! (I told the students to be quiet and calm around dogs they don't know.)

#2 Do not stare into the dog’s eyes. (I explained a little bit about canine body language and how they perceive this as a threat.)

#3 Ask your parent!
Ask the dog owner!
Ask the dog!

(If the dog is backing away from you and acting reluctant don't try to pet it even if the adults told you it was ok. Let the dog come to you.)

#4 Hold out your fist for the dog to sniff.

#5 Pet the dog under the chin. (Don't reach over the top of their heads and don't come up behind them.)

After we reviewed the rules each child got to come practice on Louie. They had all met him back in November for reading day, so he worked out well for a first practice attempt.

Next Katie, a true stranger dog, came in the room. All the kids practiced again with her and everyone did a fantastic job! We had so much fun with this group of awesome students. It was a great way to spend our Good Friday.

A Touch of China While We Wait

Even though we have been very quiet at the Happy Haus about our upcoming adoption...

We are still thinking everyday about our precious daughter in China

Over 6 years of waiting haven't diminished our love and longing for a little girl we haven't met yet

The stork has been elusive

But finally we can see an end to our journey

It seems like forever since we have mentioned anything about our adoption, but there really hasn't been much to tell. We still don't have any concrete news, but it seems likely that our daughter will be home by the end of this year. After waiting for over 6 years to bring Natalie home, it's hard to believe that we are finally nearing the end of this journey.

Recently, in order to update our adoption paperwork, we had to get fingerprinted for the third time by the Department of Homeland Security in Memphis. The staff there was very efficient this trip, so we ended up having extra time which we used to visit the Memphis Zoo.

Our main agenda was to see the Pandas which perfectly fit the theme of the day.

This lovely lady had buried herself in bamboo and was enthusiastically chowing down the whole time we were there.

She looked so happy eating her 'nummy bamboo. I didn't realize that Pandas have to eat 40 pounds of bamboo every day and that it takes them almost all day to consume that amount.

Appropriately, our last stop at the zoo was to view examples of the iconic symbol of Natalie's future country.

For now we're going back to our hibernation mode on this subject until we have more news to share. 再见

Marathon Time

KATIE: Oh my gosh Louie...what's going on out here??

LOUIE: Cool! It's Marathon time again. It's always fun to hear lots of silly humans yell "look at those bears" as they run away as fast as they can.

KATIE: They weren't scared Louie-Lou; they were racing. You know, like we always do during our recall practice.

LOUIE: Oh yeah, you mean those races that I always win. Those are always fun too.

KATIE: Well, even better than the bear comments are the hundreds of "gorgeous dogs" comments. This year people are loving my girly bling. Seeing us seems to give their tired legs a little extra boost. We are therapy dogs so of course we like to help out whenever we can. Lifting spirits is our speciality.

LOUIE: I love it when people stop running the marathon just to pet us. I think all those kisses we give them really cheer them up.

Love and kisses to the thousands of runners who participated in this year's Marathon,

Katie and Louie

"Snow Newfs" the Movie

In Central Arkansas we are lucky to get an inch of snow once or twice a year. This year we hit the snow jackpot with two decent sized snows and then one big snow which totaled 7"!

Katie, Gary and Louie during the Big Snow of 2011.

This movie may not quite live up to the hype of the trailer we posted a few weeks ago, but you are not likely to find two happier Newfoundland dogs captured on film. Katie and Louie's elation during their playtime in the snow was such a treat for Gary and I to experience. Of course, we've seen them in snow before but their joy seemed greater than usual to match this deeper than normal snowfall. My favorite part is the second half of the movie when they really start playing chase and wrestling.

Our Snowy Hiking Trail

Wild eyed Newf

Handsome Snow Newf

"Stop taking pictures and come pull these sticks off of me!"

Back at the Happy Haus after our walk with the snow still coming down hard.