The sad part

An unexpected disadvantage to moving is that we had to return Mercedes to the animal shelter we had adopted her from 4 1/2 years ago. We searched and searched for an affordable, safe neighborhood to rent in that would allow dogs, and they either don't exist, or had a weight limit of anywhere from 25-40 pounds.

When we bought our mobile home, we thought we had found the solution. Unfortunately, the neighborhood has pet rules too, and they include a 40 pound weight limit for pets. :(  We all agreed that a safe neighborhood for our family was the most important thing, and so we sadly returned Mercedes on April 11th. It's a no-kill shelter, so that is a HUGE sigh of relief for us. Plus, it was in the original adoption contract that if at any time we couldn't keep her, we had to return her to them; we couldn't find her a new home on our own.

I thought the kids would be more disappointed than they were, especially JA, who just last fall used her birthday money to pay for Mercedes' vet visit, nearly $100. The benefit of having a home of our own, and the excitement of a new baby sister, soon to arrive, has helped ease the sadness. JMC has asked where Mercedes is a few times, and even accused her of eating his snack once (something which had been a common occurrence.)

The day we took her back to the shelter