puppy love

 Elijah fell in love with this little puppy yesterday, and it's the first time I've ever seen him like this. I'm not sure what happened to him, because he's pretty much been scared (terrified) of animals for as long as I can remember. But this little guy, Elijah just scooped him right up and gave him hugs.

 Eva was brave, but not quite to the same level as Elijah. Eva's holding this pup with her hands, and trying to be brave. Elijah on the other hand had happiness all over his face. I've always said that we would not get a dog over here. But now, I guess I'm thinking about it a tiny bit. Just a tiny bit. I think we'd start with a different animal though. A goat might be a good start. They're so cute, especially the kids, and putting up a little pen in the yard would be pretty easy. Just thinkin' out loud here.

These kids get their fear of animals from me, as I was terrified of pretty much all animals when I was young. These days, it's not so much a fear as it is that I'm just not an animal lover. And I really don't like barking dogs charging after me. Eva and Elijah, though, these two have really turned a corner lately, much to my joy, because being afraid of animals is a pretty unpleasant deal most of the time. These days, they're out catching butterflies with their hands and actually carrying them inside for me. They're holding snakes too, once Nathan's killed them. Elijah actually held snakes at the zoo last time we were there. They shoo wandering dogs out of the yard for me now and have started making little houses for the beetles they find. They even took on their biggest fear (cows and there's a story) and now team up to run the cows out of the yard. All of this is WAY passed where I was at their age.

There's definitely something powerful about gaining victory over fear, and I'm proud of these two cuties (my kids, not the pups) for pushing through their fears. And from the look on Elijah's face yesterday, I can see that a puppy is most likely somewhere in our future. Good thing I got over that fear a L O N G time ago. Yup, good thing.