Our Hearts are Seeing Polka Dots

Many of you know that my home is filled with so many pets that I should start charging admission to my "zoo." Yes, I'm a pet lover! Growing up, it was cats. I had a huge heart for cats and my parents nearly strangled me one evening when I came home from a babysitting job with yet another new kitten. I believe the most I ever had at one time was 4 cats, but I can't say for sure. I've also been known to bring home birds, hamsters and fish. The one pet my parents never allowed growing up was a dog, what cruel parents they were! While John and I were dating, my love for cats spilled over on his place and soon I was bringing cats to his bachelor pad. John had no weakness to my sympathetic face and sweet kitten in my arms, but his roommate was a sucker and he took in every cat I brought their way.

John and I got our first pet the day after we arrived back from our honeymoon, a sweet kitten we named Peter. A year later, we purchased our first house together and soon after, Trapper joined our family. He was a Hungarian Vizsla and was the love of our lives, although he had to take a backseat to the girls once they arrived. The pets just continued joining the family over the last 16 years. Until 3 weeks ago, we were standing ground at 3 dogs, 3 cats, 2 fish and a mouse. We decided that was it, no more! But then........Kiley, our oldest, finally found her absolute passion in life and our lives changed....BIG TIME!

Kiley has a love for animals that reaches way beyond her mother! I do believe if we let her, we would have so many pets that we could star in the show "Animal Hoarders!" Her heart is big and she fills it with animals. Unlike her sister, who found her passion for life in swimming at the age of 5, Kiley tried many things, but just couldn't find that one thing she loved. Piano lessons failed to capture her heart, as did soccer, swimming, tennis, gymnastics and many other activities. She often found things she enjoyed, but just didn't bring her to her knees in excitement the way swimming did for Makenna. As all devoted parents do, we continued to pursue new activities for Kiley, but never finding that one thing.

John's brother happens to have beautiful horse property just up the road from us and he boards several horses at his place. Just about every time we visit, the first thing she wants to do is visit the horses. That got me thinking. I spoke to my brother-in-law to see if one of the horse owners might be interested in teaching Kiley some "horse basics" in trade for her helping with the mucking. He introduced her to a 16 year-old girl named Hailey and they formed an instant bond. They worked together twice a week and we started to see tremendous growth in Kiley. She started to develop a strong work ethic, responsibility, confidence.....all the things we pray she'd develop. It wasn't long that she was asking for riding lessons, which we did, and then her own horse. For those of you that don't know, horses are a HUGE responsibility!!! Their stalls must be mucked daily, exercised often, fed huge amounts of food twice daily and I'm not even at the part about them being a giant money pit! BUT, all that seemed to not matter when it came to the "passion" we finally saw bubbling over in Kiley. She wanted a horse and she wanted it bad! So, she set out on a journey to prove she could do it and we made an agreement with her that if she could prove to us that she could handle owning a horse, we would get her one. We made no promise in terms of a timeline, we just said "some day."

That "some day" came three weeks ago when her trainer found the perfect "Kiley horse." His name is Polka Dot and when you see him, you know exactly where he got his name! He is 12 1/2 years old, just like Kiley. With Kiley visiting my parents for a week, we quickly began planning her big surprise, her very own horse. I set out early on a Saturday morning with our trainer and we drove to Palm Springs to pick up the horse and take him to his new home at John's brother's house. We arrived "home" about 11am and got him all set up to meet his new owner. I even attached a blue polka dot bow to his halter. At noon, Kiley arrived at the barn with my parents for what she thought was her riding lesson on Hailey's horse. It was then that we took her to the stall and revealed her gift. Her initial confusion over what was happening quickly turned to excitement. The joy on her face brought tears to my eyes. The moment was captured on video as well as in the minds of all that were present.

Three weeks have gone by since that day and Kiley is building a bond with this horse that will be with her for a lifetime. Together, they are learning how to listen to each other and work together. I couldn't be happier for my first born to finally find her "thing" and I praise God for bringing us Polka Dot, even as I also pray for my sanity as we now have a HUGE responsibility!