Tony ran away!!

It's true... he did!

Friday we were having my sister's kids (er, just 5 of them) come over to spend the night. Saturday we were going to hold a yard sale. Um... needless to say I was a bit stressed out for time and organization so, just know it was already a frustrating night.

After work on Friday we went home and let Tony out, hung out with him for a bit, then we realized we had much to do before the kids arrived so we cleaned up quick and decided to put Tony on a chain in the backyard under the tree, instead of locking him back up in the kennel that he was in all day already.

Our yard is totally fenced in... but we didn't think to close the gate when we left, cause Tony was chained up...

About an hour later I get a text from my sister who is waiting for us at our house. It said something like this:

"Um, is that your dog running around your yard?"

And then immediately a second text:

"I think your dog just ran away"

I was so confused cause he was chained... My sister was confused cause she hadn't seen Tony yet.

We were less then a block away when I got her texts, so I began looking around anxiously for a runaway dog...

My brother in law TJ had chased after Tony... but with no luck. Rob and TJ then hopped in the jeep and drove around for awhile... with no luck.

Rob hopped on his bike and rode around for awhile... with no luck. I was so upset when he came home that I hopped in the Jeep again and drove around for a while... with no luck.

We gathered the 5 kids and my niece Aimree offered a prayer for Tony, that he'd be safe and we'd find him.

Throughout the night, Many prayers were said for him.

All the while my 5 nieces and nephews are watching a movie and trashing my house :) Because we were too emotionally distraught to keep things organized.

After I got back, Rob and I cried and cried together. We decided that we were NEVER going to have kids... because we couldn't even keep a dog for 3 whole days.

We realized just how much we really loved having Tony. It was amazing to us to see how we fell in love with a grown dog only after a few days. He became our best friend and companion. 

It was a very hard night. We tried to cope, and move on... we still had a yard sale to get together for the morning.. So about 3 hours after Tony was gone, we were ready to move on... Sad... every time I saw his bowl or his ducky that he loves so much my heart ripped apart...

I had a few more errands to run. So I was heading out the door when I heard from my niece Tracee 'Tony's back!'

I didn't believe it at first, cause the kids had been asking about Tony and saying they were gonna go find him all night (Charlie and Nolan were the hero's)... But then I realized he was back!!

It was a true miracle.

We ran outside and he was a bit shook up. After only 3 hours, I think he realized he missed us too!

Since then we have been even closer and only separable for works sake.

We are so lucky, and so blessed to have Tony. He seriously is the very best dog and we love him so very very much.