Gracie

Playing with Gracie for the First Time

Gracie is quite the dog as you will learn! She is pretty much Marley from the movie and the books. She has done some crazy things and like John Grogan said, "She not a regular dog."

Thanksgiving 2008

When your Dad was deployed, she was at Papa Teddy's and I drove up to get her. I found her tangled in a screen off their house. She looked at me like, "what? I didn't do it!"

I came home once to find her in the bathroom of our apartment. There was poop all over the place, toilet paper was everywhere and the hairdryer was running! How she managed that one is beyond me.

When she was staying at the apartment with my parents we used to find smudges on the mirror behind the couch in the living room. Later, we found out who was doing that! Gracie was jumping up there and looking at herself in the mirror. Mom said she would say, "Mirror, Mirror on the wall whose the prettiest dog of all. Oh! That's me, Gracie!"

The "Chunk It"

She will fetch anything! Water bottles, paper, twigs, bones, even snowballs! Just about anything you will throw, she'll go get it!! When you play fetch with her, you have to be real careful because she will bring you trees to throw. But her most favorite thing to fetch is a tennis ball. She will chase them for hours. You can throw them in the lake all day and she will fetch them. It's her mission in life to save that tennis ball! Whoever invented the "Chunk It" was brilliant! No more hands dirty and drooly from the ball, and when you have a hyper dog like Gracie, the further the better!

She is an amazing jumper. She jumps into the back of your Dad's truck with the tailgate up! She jumped off our 9 foot back porch after a dove, and off the dock a thousand times chasing the ball. She'd jump out  our 4 foot fence just to go lay on the front porch.

April 2005

Gracie is an escape artist. From the time was the puppy, she wanted her freedom. Daddy tried to keep her pinned up at the Downey's but it never worked. She always got free and she taught her friends the same. You never got to meet Bubbles, but she was Nanny's bulldog and Papa Teddy kept her pinned up. They planned together how to free her. Bubbles pulled the fence with her strong jaw and Gracie dug the hole for her to come out through. No matter what Papa Teddy did to keep Bubbles in.. Gracie freed her! We had a 125 pound Golden Retriever named Mason, and Gracie escaped with him and got him hit by a car.

Dock Dogs Competition 2008
Gracie jumped 21 Feet!

She's been the mom to 22, yes I said 22, puppies. She had two litters of 11 puppies. After 2 weeks she didn't want to feed them anymore. We had to water down puppy chow and feed them twice a day. Once we came home and it was raining really hard. We just let Gracie and the puppies run free in the backyard. We had a over hang on our shed out back with a jetski under it. Gracie did not want anything to do with the puppies. When we came home we went to let her in the house and found her sitting on top of the jetski to get away from the puppies. It was hilarious!! She couldn't get to the back door fast enough.

Fall 2006

Gracie truly is man's best friend and she has been that for our family! Your dad deployed twice when we were together and Gracie was always there for me! On his first deployment, she kept us laughing with her all her crazy stunts, and she kept me busy training her for your Dad. I taught her three things sit, stay and come. (She does all three quite well)

On his second deployment, she was simply my company and my security. We had a house at this time and I didn't want David to think I didn't feel safe in the home he had bought for me so I stayed there alone. Gracie was someone for me to talk to, to cry on when I missed your Dad, and to keep your Dad's side of the bed warm. I love her so much! When I was all alone, she was always there.

Deployment 2 "Hanging with Pops"

When your Dad came home from that deployment he asked me to bring Gracie with me to pick him up. I brought her in the truck and left the back window in the truck cracked for her to get air. When she saw your Dad, she pushed the window open with her nose and jumped over the tailgate out of the truck to see your Dad. Unconditional Love!!

The day after your Dad deployed!
6 weeks old

Even when you were born, Abigail, she would stay up late into the night with us.  She is always there!

I guess your wondering why and how we ended up with Gracie. Your Dad proposed with Gracie and she has been crazy since the beginning. Dad had his parents come put Gracie in the back of his truck while we went into the Walmart. I was supposed to just get into the truck and not notice her but remember she is an escape artist and she got out of the box and was walking around in the back. I picked her up and I just thought she was a gift from Dad to help me through the deployments but she was much more than that. We took her to Flat Rock to play with her and while I was playing with her your Dad called my name. I turned around and there he was on one knee asking me to marry him.

Gracie was suppose to have the ring on her neck but things didn't work out quite like Dad wanted but it was so perfect!

Your first meeting!

Gracie got her name that night as well. We were talking about what to name her and of course your Dad didn't care. We decided on Gracie because we always wanted to look at Gracie and have the reminder that we were God's gift of Grace to each other. And so the name took and to this day when times get tough, I always look at our crazy animal and remember God's grace!

Abigail, Gracie is a picture of Jesus and His Love in my life. He is always there. He always has an open ear. He is always excited to see and talk to you no matter how bad things were that day. He keeps no record of wrong and forgives us for anything that we do to make Him unhappy. He seeks after what is lost and does not stop until he finds it! It's hard to believe an animal can show us so much about Jesus!

Relaxing on the Boat

When you look at Gracie, play with her, and begin to love her in the years to come, I pray you are reminded of God's grace as well. God gave you something you did not deserve!! He gave you eternal life. A gift that cannot be taken away! Your Dad and I's prayer is that you receive this gift and share it with so many more.

Oh, and, you don't have to worry about Gracie going to Heaven, she's very holy! She ate an entire Bible!!

Dock Dogs Competition! My favorite picture of our family before you!