Sorry for the posting delay, y'all! A lot has been goin on in our home the past few months and we have finally found the time to officially fill you in on one of our most exciting adventures yet.
"Ciao Brittany. I wanted to tell you that I actually decided to keep the dog. In three years you will go away and I don't want her to go away from me. I'm very sorry." This is the text that broke our hearts back in December and was the first time I truly felt like we were outsiders living in a foreign country.
So, after moving to Italy, William and I decided that getting a puppy was the next best step for our family. William wanted a fluffy, adventurous family companion and I wanted a snuggly, fierce family protector. We agreed to be patient during the rescue process to find the perfect breed and our search began. We heard a lot of negative feedback from both Americans and Italians about adopting in Italy. Everyone told us that Italians don't typically like to send puppies to military households because of the inevitability of us moving, and the fear of the dogs being mistreated or left behind. It bothered me at first, but honestly it makes total sense that they are picky due to our unpredictable lifestyles.
But regardless, we were still committed to adopting instead of shopping because of the terrible problem of abandoned dogs here. And after searching for months, we finally found a precious pup that looked like the perfect fit for us. We spent all of November and December going back and forth with an Italian volunteer who was very kind and responsive. She sent photos and videos multiple times a week and even asked what we were going to name the lil babes. Another volunteer came out to our house and approved our home for the adoption and all of our paperwork was completed. And then, as we finally started to let our guard down as we prepared for her arrival... I woke up to that dreaded text. At the time, I was frustrated that she wasted all of our time and angry that she inhibited us from starting over to search for another puppy sooner. But in hindsight, God always has a bigger plan and He had to make sure the timing was just right for us to find our sweet Moonie Moobear.
After receiving the bad news, we pumped the brakes on searching and decided to wait until after Christmas. On December 27 I decided to just browse the adoption pages again to see what puppies were still available after the holidays. I really didn't expect to send any messages, but there she was. Our sweet little girl with her nose stuck through the kennel just aching to get out. And I fell in love immediately.
If you have read our blog on How We Met, you know the (sort of ridiculous) story of how I believe that my heart told me that William was my husband before I even met him just after seeing his photo. I had a similar experience with this little smush where a voice inside me was like "this is your puppy!" Despite the fact that the volunteer that I was communicating with spoke absolutely no english and I was passed to 5 other volunteers to translate/get more information, we both had hope that this precious girl would soon come home with us.
After a few weeks of back and forth, a lot of paperwork and even more patience, we finally had a time and place to meet to pickup our new little addition. We were having trouble picking a name that felt just right, but for some reason, in the meantime, I kept referring to this ball of fluff as "Moo." I'm not sure why, but Moo is what popped into my mind when I first saw her lol. William joked that we couldn't name our puppy after a cow, but I'm all about weird pup nicknames, so I planned to call her that just for dog-mom fun no matter what we decided. The night before we went to pick our sweet girlie up, we did some more official name brainstorming and after hours of back and forth, William said "What if we name her Moonie and call her Moo for short?" anddddd we fell in love!
For the first time in our puppy search, things really felt real as we drove towards Bologna to get our Moonie from the pickup point. We both had butterflies as we realized how much our lives were about to change and of course I cried happy tears as I finally let myself get fully excited after overcoming months of challenges to adopt in Italy. We got to the parking lot early, and goodness did that wait for the doggie van feel like an eternity. After what seemed like hours, a big silver van turned the corner and a lump formed in my throat because THIS WAS REALLY HAPPENING!
We immediately jumped out of our truck and started walking towards the van anxious to see our Moonie Moo in person. The kind Italian man parked, hopped out and opened the back doors where there were about 15 dogs stacked in cages. And then I saw her. I know this might sound cheesy but I feel like after I locked eyes with Moonie, my whole world changed in an instant. I said "Hi baby girl!" and her timid, nervous demeanor changed to immediate curiosity and I'm PRETTY SURE we fell in love lol.
When the volunteer opened her kennel and gave her to us, Moonie was ecstatic. I'm not sure what I expected, but I thought it would take some time for her personality to shine through after what she had been through. But girlie was full of gratitude and spunk as she realized she was out of her horrific conditions. Covered in mess, she celebrated in the sunshine discovering grass for the first time. After letting her soak in the bliss for a bit, we scooped her up and headed straight for her first bath!
Moonie was just the sweetest the whole ride home, alternating between puppy snoozes and grateful smooches. When we got home, we carried her into the tub and she just stared at us while we tag-teamed scrubbing her kennel mess away, blinking slowly because she was so sleepy. This girl has so much soul in her precious eyes and is so expressive when she's feeling something. After she was all cleaned up, we noticed that she had a dark circle on her back and we were like wait NO WAY... She has a MOON on her?! With even more clarity that this adoption was meant to be, we introduced her to our bed (which was the first bed she's ever seen obviously) and she celebrated for all of five minutes. And thennnnnn she slept for 5+ hours and didn't budge!
Since bringing Moonie into our home, life has been a blur of wet kisses, endless snuggles, puppy training, a little chaos and a wholeeee lotta love. We are now the parents of two beautiful girlies, one human and one canine, and we couldn't be more proud to call them ours. We are so thankful for the love in our life and for the honor of reliving these memories with y'all as we share them with you. Thanks for joining us on this ride during the best times and the hardest. We are so lucky to have your support while we navigate this whole life thing!
Love, Britt + Will, Mila & Moonie
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