Meet Indiana

You guys! Meet Indiana! The most precious, sweet angel you will ever meet! Things have been so crazy lately with work and this guy that I literally have not been able to post. But anyways. Let me tell you the story of the greatest birthday present I have ever and will ever receive.

I have always loved dogs. Seriously, if there is a dog at a party, restaurant, or any public space you can find me beelining to pet and love on them. 90% of my clothes are covered in dog hair and I couldn’t care less. I have two sweet angel girls (Bella and Bacon) who live with my parents and I steal them every chance I get. But I always have wanted a puppy of my own. A fact I told Jérémie every chance that I could. Obviously, I needed to get my point across. I always knew we would get a pup eventually and felt like it would happen in a couple of years and I would just have to be patient. J played along and kept saying “no” every time I even looked at him with my puppy eyes when we saw a cute bub on the street. If I even showed him a cute dog I saw on IG or one of the many puppy finder apps, he would shoot me down and say “nooooooope”. Little did I know that this was all part of his plan. He was on his own little mission to get me the ultimate birthday present that would forever outshine every other gift ever given to me.

Three months ago (well before my birthday) he started his search. He downloaded all of the puppy apps that I had and every single time I showed him a dog on an app, he would look it up, contact the shelter, and schedule a visit over the weekend after work. Almost every weekend he told me he had to work late and would sneak off for puppy cuddles in his search for the perfect baby. His search ended when he stopped by East Lake Pet Orphanage. A super sweet pregnant lab was brought to the shelter and had just given birth to eight perfect little puppies. From the second he saw them, he knew I would be in LOVE. Not only were they lab mixes, they were also named after all of my favorite musicians. It could not have been a more perfect sign. The orphanage wasn’t putting them up for adoption for a few more weeks which allowed J to file the paperwork and get approved without fighting the clock (or other potential adopters). A few weeks after Jérémie was approved for adopting, the Orphanage put the litter on their website for adoption (I still had NO idea about his master plan) and he went right to work. He texted everyone in our family asking which one he should pick out of the eight. Ultimately, my mom and his mom told him that it should be my choice since it was a gift for me. He quickly agreed and no sooner had I walked in the door from running an errand, J told me to turn back around and head out the door. We had a place to be.

The entire car ride, I was completely, 100% anxious. I had NO clue where we were going. He would not tell me where we were going and would not show me the GPS to even follow directions. An agonizing 15 minutes later we arrived at an orange building with a high sign out front that read EAST LAKE PET ORPHANAGE. My eyes got big and full of tears and I screamed “WE’RE GETTING A PUPPY?!”. And two minutes later, I was holding our soon-to-be baby Indiana (he was named Hendrix at the shelter). We came back to visit him every other day and were finally able to take him home about three weeks ago. It’s been heaven since! I love our little bubs and can’t imagine life without him. And I have the best husband ever for getting me the one gift I wanted more than anything else in the world.

If you are interested in adopting a pet (which I highly recommend), please look up East Lake Pet Orphanage. It was such an amazing experience working with their team and I could not be happier that we picked up our sweet pup from such a loving place. There are so many cuties to choose from and the adoption process is so easy and affordable. Click here for the list for available dogs and here is the list for available cats. Even if you aren’t in a place to get a pet and just want to help out, consider volunteering or donating. All of the donations go straight to taking care of the animals living at the shelter to ensure they have a better life!