Exceedingly Abundantly Beyond

Look who's home!   And look who's excited about it!   She's been here less than a day, but I can tell she's glad to be back!  She hardly left my side yesterday.  And been very obedient!  When she did get out, instead of making us chase her for half an hour, she just did a couple of laps and then came back in the house.  Really!? That's all ya got?  Well, all right, then... This is still a struggle for me.  It's no secret that I don't like dogs.  But she is rather endearing on her good days.  She is more like a child than I ever expected a dog to be.  She knows how to get on my good side, so that on the bad days, I don't totally wanna kill her!   I don't expect the extreme obedience to last forever.  But it was sure nice yesterday.  Especially when she went back in the house on her own!  It like when your child says, "I'm sorry mom! Whatever I did, I won't do it again! I'll be good, I promise!"  And then they...

So, do you wanna know what my biggest source of struggles is during this deployment?  Well, if you read they title, you can probably guess that its the newest addition to our family, Lizzy the dog.  The trouble is not that she is a bad dog, not that she's mean, not even that she's ugly.  She's a boxer.  So on the contrary, she's a very sweet, smart, beautiful dog.  And for the most part, she loves ME.  The problem is that I don't love her back.  I feel almost un-American for saying such a thing.   I am not a dog person.   Really, in all honesty, I'm not a pet person.  I grew up around a farm, where animals belong outside. The thing is, my husband loves her.  And I love my husband.  Sometimes, I think that taking care of his dog is one of the most sacrifical ways I can love him right now.   Here's my dilemma... I don't know what to do with her.   Just when I think she's potty trained, she poops and pees in the house....