We're Adopting!....and we do NOT mean a dog.

We are 0-2 adopting dogs.

Our first was in 2002 from a posh rescue operation in the heart of San Diego's richest neighborhood - we should've known that Lhasa-Shih Tzu mix was going to be too high maintenance. It could never get enough attention (we were newlyweds, we had priorities), and the night he bit Jenn on the leg and about 2 inches from infant Cameron's resting head, we had to find her a new home.

Our second is still with us, but I don't think all the face-licking in the world could get her out of the doghouse she's built for herself (sorry, couldn't resist). This puggle barks like a beagle and sheds like a pug. We could've just got one of those, and cut our issues in half...but no, apparently we enjoy excess noise AND routine furniture baths.

As bad as Lexi is, our sons Cam and Ty, 4 & 3, love her (that makes 2 of us). I mean LOVE her. Together they cuddle, run, wrestle, and go mouth-to-mouth every night before the lights go out. She is their little baby girl. And while watching this relationship blossom over the past year or two, I have realized - I need a little baby girl. Jenn's been planting the seed for years (who can blame her, waaaaaaay too much testosterone in this house), watering it occasionally, but only recently has it grown roots.

For 2 reasons. The first is that ever since my brother passed away in 2005, my desire to experience new things in life has been increasing exponentially. I've never been super-close to anyone who had a sprouting sister or daughter I could relate to or cared much about. I want that experience in my life. The second is the fact that I am an extremely sub-par human being and, with the exception of a few brilliant moments of average, am a complete moron. I might be the most selfish, materialistic, needy, attention-seeking excuse for a son/husband/dad on the planet. Just ask me. But, I am just just just barely smart enough to know that if I can put a mechanism in my life to remind me 100x a day how good I have it, and how bad off many others are comparatively, I might just be able to make something of this life.

So, we're adopting.

Not sure from where. Not sure when. But we ARE sure that we desire to change the trajectory of a child's life for the better. And while we may not go seek out the most challenging scenario available, I am certain that I want, I need, someone in my life that reminds me how rich we really are, and that it is only by the grace of God that I have anything more than this shirt on my back.