Home for Christmas

We have been blessed to foster our most recent Basenji fur-child for the past nine months. Nine months is a long time to foster a BRAT.... and yes, before you ask, we did fall in love with her. We would gladly have kept her too, if it had become apparent that no forever family could be found. First, let me tell you a little about Kayley who you see here waiting at the window while my husband, whom she adored (reciprocal), swept snow from our car during a recent trip to Pendleton Oregon....

Kayley was surrendered to BRAT at nine years of age by her only family. Their circumstances had changed and they wanted a better quality of life for Kayley. When she came to live with us, she was dull-coated, over weight and desperately needed dental care. Over the first few weeks we took care of some of her immediate health needs and started work on upgrading her family interaction skills, that had gone rusty, as she was religated to the laundry room and the back yard. It didn't take us long to realize that although she had become a little tarnished around the edges during recent years, Kayley was a true gem of a Basenji with a wonderful personality and very few bad characteristic or habits. Like most Basenjis she had some personality traits that were quirky and took a little adjusting on our part, but she was so sweet and lovable that we just knew she needed to bless someone's family. There was never a question of her suitablity to place, only of finding the family to appreciate her.

We looked and looked for just the right family for this spunky senior princess. Finally that golden applicant came along looking for a companion for their older male Basenji, seven months after Kayley came into foster care. They didn't want someone too young, but they wanted a girl that would be active enough to keep their boy engaged. Kayley seemed like a good fit. A home visit was organized and the preliminaries were accomplished.

On Thanksgiving Day, we (Kayley's foster parents) called to do the final interview with the prospective adoptive family. We asked questions and presented scenarios to try to get a feel for their routines and how Kayley might fit into their lives. Or perhaps more accurately how well they could adjust to suit Kayley's needs in a family! Finally after over an hour of intensive quizing we told them we would contact their area coordinator who would let them know our decision. When we hung up, we spent the next two hours discussing the pros and cons of this family and how they were suited for Kayley. Part of our problem was that we had fallen in love with this special little girl and we wanted to make sure she would get a home that was as close to what she deserved as we thought was humanly possible. Finally we made the decision to proceed and notified Sharron Hurlbut that we would like her help. You see, in the past, I have always acted as coordinator on all of our fosters, except for our very first, nearly ten years ago. For Kayley we felt too close, too tied by our heartstrings to be objective.

Sharon, thank heavens, took care of the rest of the adoption essentials and left us with only one last step. We had to arrange to meet Kayley's new family somewhere between Boise Idaho and Everett Washington. Of course by now it was into December and the season's first winter storm was well underway. We made it through moderate snow packed roads to Pendleton Oregon, but Kayley's new family was delayed by road closures and heavy snow and barely made it through.

We took this final picture of Kayley in the parking lot of WalMart while we waited for her new family. Kayley was a real trooper, playing in the snow and posing for pictures while we tried not to cry thinking about how much we were going to miss her and all the sweet things she did that we had come to appreciate. The yodels when we came home from work; the avid squirrel chasing that was her passion; the daedos on the carpet by the front door at the prospect of a walk in the early morning chill, when really the rest of us would much rather be still abed. I would especially miss the determined under-cover foot warmer who never moved a muscle all night long and was never grouchy about the occasional foot nudge in the middle of the night.

When her new family arrived Kayley, of course, growled at them, especially her new brother. I warned them that it might take a couple of days (hopefully not longer) for her to warm up. Three days later, they sent me this picture, which they titled "Best Friends" and they tell me that everything has gone much better than anticipated and that Kayley already acts as if she has lived with them all her life and had not hesitated at all to make herself completely "At Home!"

Kayley, now ten years beautiful, it seems is "Home for Christmas"...