Happy First Gotcha Day Addy!

One year ago Monday (6/29), Patty and I jumped in our truck and headed to Flagstaff AZ to meet with Karen and Tony to pick up the little girl we'd been waiting for. I had checked on the Col. Potter site every day for 2 months, looking at pictures, reading updates, hoping I'd see "The One". Well one day I looked, and there was Addy (Adair in AZ). Did I fall in love with a picture? You bet I did - the soulful eyes begging me to adopt her.

The staunch process for adoption almost did us in though. Patty didn't want to let a stranger in our home for the inspection. If I knew then what I know now......Sister Bubbles was the Carol setting up our home safety visit. We live in a remote area, and as fate (?!) would have it, Carol has a friend just "down the way" from us. OK, can you get much more safe than the friend of a former nun coming to your home? A couple of the kindest people we'd ever met, and therein lies the beginning of meeting my Col. Potter family.

We next met Karen and Tony, and Karen is so much more than Addy's foster mom. She has become a friend. In the past year, I've started volunteering on the Post Adoption and Updates teams, went to a Cactus Cairn Roundup in Phoenix to meet other Cairns and their people, adopted another CP Cairn (Zelda), and we're having internal negotiations (me and Patty) about fostering. Since Addy's adoption, I've felt that kinship with the Col. Potter family, and I hope to meet many more of you over the years. Thanks for being there!

It's been baby steps for Addy. She was in a mill for the first 5 years of her life. She's made a lot of progress in the last year, and she's doing great. We love her so much!! Here are some of her tremendous accomplishments:

Learned to play with toys.
Learned to play with dogs, and I mean PLAY!
Loves to go for walks, and is starting to walk out in front.
Will come for scritches.
Goes up and down the stairs (in the past month).
Every night she'll put herself in her crate, and when I reach in to pet her, she licks my hand.

Here are some pictures of our girl Addy's first year in her new life:
http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=622d3c6855ff9e3a2a944dfefaeb216b&sid=0CaOHLVyzZsnfQ

Sherry W
Show Low, AZ