Hearts United for Animals – Adding to the Family – Part 1

Hearts United for Animals – helping our furry friends every step of the way.

I’ve been keeping a very big secret under wraps…

We’re adopting!

A dog.  And it’s kind of a big deal.  I’ve introduced Lucy before, she’s our nine year old miniature schnauzer.  She’s our “middle” child but very much the baby.  We love her so much.

Last month I was on the Hearts United for Animals website.  Hearts United for America is a no kill shelter located in the southeast corner of Nebraska and they do some pretty amazing things for animals.  Perhaps the biggest thing they offer aside from the very important medical, food and shelter is love.  These folks absolutely love every single animal that comes their way – and that love is so very apparent just by visiting the website.

From the horribly neglected and abused, to animals relinquished because their owners could no longer care for them…they arne’t biased.  In recent months, HUA has made several big puppy mill rescues.  I found one of those dogs on the HUA site and fell in love – we went through the extensive adoption process and I’m excited to announce, we’re bringing her home May 11th.

Introducing our little pupperoni (not a typo!) –

Known as Kapelle by the folks at HUA, she’s a six year old miniature schnauzer who was rescued from a puppy mill in South Dakota.  She’s itty-bitty, weighing in at 9lbs.  Due to the neglect she endured at the puppy mill, she had 27 teeth pulled because of infection…but she’s as a happy girl.

After nearly completing the adoption process, I’m really, really impressed with the Hearts United for America organization.  It’s extensive.  The folks at HUA are dedicated to finding the right home for the creatures.

First, we filled out an application.  There’s quite a bit to it, from Vet information to questions about potty training.  Once your application is reviewed a staff member will be in contact.  It was during this time we asked a lot of questions about the puppy we were interested in – the folks from HUA thought Kapelle would be a great fit in our family but it was important to me to make sure we were the right family for her.  I got that feeling that we were.

Next up was a house visit.  HUA has volunteers that work with their organization around the country.  They had a contact here in my town and we arranged to have a house visit, she met the family and our Lucy, checked out our house and yard.  She also asked about food we’d feed her, if we were kennel training and I think she just wanted to make sure that Kapelle was getting a good family who would love her.  I’m not going to lie, I was nervous!  Paige, bless her heart, was just as nervous as I was.  During the time when the lady was checking out our yard Paige said “I know we have wood chips in this tree area, but don’t worry.  If wood chips are a problem, my daddy will put something else there.”  I don’t know where that thought came from, except that Paige is super, super excited about Kapelle!

We received an email a few days later stating that we are approved!  It was thrilling!

So, May 10th I’m headed to Omaha and Sunday morning we will trek down to the HUA facility to meet our newest edition.  I’m so excited!

Stay tuned, I’ll post an update when we are home and settled in!

Read Part 2 – our newest addition comes home!