I did the elementary school mom volunteer thing - Picture Person for seven years, holiday parties, that kind of thing. Chaperoned field trips. I've stuffed plastic bags of food for children in Africa. It was time for something new in the volunteer area. Something I could really pour myself into. But what to do?

Then, while sitting in my booth at an art fair, two women walked by with dogs wearing blue vests. Hmm, I thought....maybe... our dogs, Tillie the golden retriever and Moxie the springer spaniel cross were gone - and I was happy not to be vacuuming dog hair on a constant basis. But to train a dog for a disabled person - the ability to give someone a helper and best friend, all wrapped into one. I loved the puppy stage with our dogs - especially the training part. So, I filled out the paper work. We met with a representative - Molly. She talked to us about the commitment, the joy, the hard work. And then we got a letter saying we had been approved. The wait for puppies began.

We first heard that Faith the dog was pregnant. Then we heard Cheers was. Happy day! It was looking more and more promising that we would be training a dog - SOON! But I didn't want to get my hopes up too much.

Then, the puppies were born. Faith had an astonishing 11 puppies! Cheers followed quickly with 10 of her own. The prospects were looking REALLY good now!

I was thrilled when I got the confirming email - it was a go! May 1st, I'll be attending an orientation. Then, Class on the 5th. May 14th, if all goes as planned, we will be picking up a bundle of fluff that will someday be a disabled person's right "paw"!

And so, the journey begins!