Jeremy and Rachel Smith

Updates

• Update 43

  

  Adopt from Liberia. Day 411. Mother’s Day and Rocky.

  May 14, 2023

  This past week has been hard. Mother’s Day is so weird for me. There is a quote by Jody Landers that resonates with me on a daily basis. The privilege of parenting is not lost on me. Not even one day.

  “Children born to another mother call me “mommy”. The magnitude of that tragedy and the depth of that privilege are not lost on me.” Jody Landers

  I was a “dog mom” before God or anyone else would let me parent a child. We said goodbye to Rocky this week, on my terms and his. This old blog post about Rocky makes me laugh.

  August 2011…

  My husband and I had been married for a little over 2 years and had never really “prevented” pregnancy. We started talking about kids around July of 2010….the normal time to talk about it after a year or so of marriage and realizing we were both 30. So I guess we were “trying” which is such a personal thing to share with people…..so we tried not to.

  I switched jobs in 2011 (I’m an ER physician assistant and credentialing is always lengthy) and I ended up with an 30 days (paid) off consecutively, while waiting for my new job to start.

  Great….this sounds good on the surface, but not to the girl trying to get pregnant for over a year now, a husband who she seems to be failing biologically

  ….with debts looming, especially my student loan debts, and the “clock” ticking on my maternal instincts, what in the world was I going to do at home with no structure, very little money, fears of all of my inadequacies, and the creeping suspicion we could not have biological kids at all and would never be able to afford adoption just looming…..

  ….As I looked around my quiet house on a day off with my husband at work and this 30 days of waiting pending…I saw Lucy, my boxer. When I glanced over at Lucy, lying by my feet as I sat on the couch considering all of my options…I suddenly realized that Lucy looked old….(9 year old boxers are old)…Jeremy is not a dog person…Lucy might be my last dog…and the clock was ticking slowly with no promising leads on any children…….My husband…not raised surrounded always by people and pets…what would it take to convince him I “need” another dog. I need to train a dog now for my kids.

  After 2 weeks of no, we don’t need another boxer. Boxers are crazy and don’t usually hunt…we don’t need another boxer… I found a picture of a dog named “Blackie” on petfinder,…..I showed my husband Rocky’s picture and held my breath….he said “Huh….I kind of like him…..he looks like he could hunt…”and “well we can’t call him ‘Blackie’,….”, so I immediately renamed him “Rocky” and I knew I had 30 days off to acquire and train this dog.

  The first 6-9 months of Rocky’s life is unknown. On a windy, country road in Hazard, Kentucky, Rocky and another dog named “Boxer” was pushed out of a truck and the driver sped away. Luckily, 2 little boys, saw the whole thing unfold and were angry and exasperated at this event. They, of course told their mother and convinced her, as children can do, that these dogs must be brought home with them. The options to take them to the “pound” would result in them being definitely separated and likely euthanized. Rocky is a black dog, and black dogs statistically get adopted last and euthanized first. Something about the pictures online was the reason. Rocky’s foster family advertised both dogs on facebook and petfinder, and did not find the “right family”. For a few months, it almost looked like they could just keep the dogs…then the crisis happened….. the older dog had gotten loose chased a car. She ultimately arrived to find “Boxer” lying in the middle of the road, obviously hit by a car and left to die, and Rocky standing over him, howling…She took “Boxer” to the vet and did everything they could to save him, but he died.

  After that, the search for a permanent family for Rocky was urgent.

  Initially, on petfinder, Rocky appeared to be in Franklin, TN. After a couple of days and emails, I found out he was in Hazard, KY. Franklin was only a 40 minute drive for me round trip. Hazard was 5 hours one-way. I was not swayed. The initial plan was for them to meet me halfway, but when our schedules did not coincide, I said I would drive the whole way. Then I convinced my husband to let me take his F150 “the Red Rocket” to Hazard, KY to to get a dog who was said to be 40-50 pounds, a year old, and a lab/boxer mix, leave at 8am, and hopefully make it back that night.

  I told Jeremy that he would always make fun of me for my unswerving passion about getting Rocky, but one day Rocky would probably save someone’s life, and then he would understand I was right to go get him, instead of any other dog within a 4 hour driving distance one way…

  …..Rocky left Hazard, KY riding shotgun with me in my husband’s perfectly clean truck…and he vomited everywhere 30 minutes into our trip…car sickness is a thing for dogs, apparently.

  I laughed…hopefully Jeremy would not be too mad…..Nothing like vomit to bond you to a new family member.

  I emailed Rocky’s foster mom to let her and her kids know how he was doing and that the vet guessed him at 6-8 months old. Then she told me the bear story….

  From Rocky’s foster mom August 2011:

  So the vet thinks he is only about 6-8 months old. WOW! He is going to be huge..

  I forgot to tell you I have only seen him in aggressive mode one time and its hard to believe he would be this brave so young. My house sits in front of a small mountain. On any given day up behind my house You can see deer, foxes, rabbits, coyotes, and turkeys. I was in my house and I heard my other dogs barking. So I ran and looked out my kitchen to see a large black object run out of the mountain. I didn’t have my eyeglasses on so I at first I thought it was Rocky then I noticed it was running different so I ran out the back door thinking something was wrong with Rocky he was hurt! When I got to the door it was running across the field it was a black bear! Rocky at that time ran by me in full pursuit, his hair on his back raised ears up and him barking and showing his teeth. He was after the bear. I kept yelling for him finally he came back. So if you go camping, Rocky isn’t afraid of Bears. I just wish I would have captured it on video !

  5/14/2023 (older Rachel, waiting for travel dates to Africa)

  Rocky = Bear chaser, elephant heart.

  Rocky did save lives, as I predicted he would. In a complicated way that only Rocky could do, and he did it more than once, in different ways. He stood between things and sat beside things and ran towards things, and walked beside things that moved us all to better places.

  As I move through another Mother’s Day with grief for the days lost for my daughters’ first 5 and 7 years of life, and apprehension and excitement for what comes next, I hope this day passes quickly.

  I don’t like Mother’s Day that much. But, I love the privilege of parenting more than anything else I’ve ever had a shot at doing.

  Ready to be done with this fundraising. Grateful to take all the help you can give.

• Update 42

  Day 407. Adopt From Liberia. How much is 10,000 lbs worth?

  May 10, 2023

  Update!!! https://youtu.be/eWd0ntTkYzw

• Update 41

  

  Day 404. Adopt from Liberia. Update on Calendar Progress!

  May 7, 2023

  Update on calendar and progress!

  We have 18 days left available!

  As of today, in this moment, we also only need 16,731.98.

  To quantify my excitement better, on 4/29/23, I posted that we need $17,249.18.

  4/29/23 was 8 days ago. $517.20 is what we have received in 8 days.

  That’s not counting Noonday purchases in the last 4 days or the mountain of clothing and textiles in my garage we will turn in this week!

  Many of you might not know the total cost… it’s in the summary… and it’s over $80k.

  I try to only do these email updates when something big is happening or has happened, and $517.20 in 8 days is $64.65/day.

  Keep… Going!

  Thanks for those for joining us today. Thanks for those who threw in all you had in the beginning and helped us find the rest.

  People are good.

  Happy Birthday to River, who as of today is our 7 year old Liberian Daughter! (We have 2 7 year olds total). :)

  *************

  We are inviting everyone to “purchase” a day in the Calendar of May to help with these efforts. Your donation can be anonymous or with your name mentioned in the comments on which day you are purchasing. You can purchase the day for a minimum of what the date is. You are welcome to donate more than the date that you choose. The minimum value of May is $496, once all days are purchased. You can always give more and still claim a day. As we cross off until we can travel to Liberia. You can help by donating between $1-$31 until all days are gone. You can give to us personally as well!:)

  Thanks for getting us to the “home stretch”. We are excited to hear when we get to pack to go! Stay tuned….

• Update 40

  

  Day 403 part B

  May 6, 2023

  19 days left!

  Here are the dates still available in May to “purchase” as a donation to our kids adopt together fund.

  Thanks so much!!!

  Keep…. ….going!

• Update 39

  

  Day 403. Adopt from Liberia. Calendar of May Fundraiser.

  May 6, 2023

  Tomorrow is River’s birthday! She will be 7, on May 7th. We have 20 days left for you to “buy a day” to honor something important to you in the month of May! We are so grateful to our community of support that it has been 6 days so far for this fundraiser, and 11 days are already gone!

  Happy Birthday to our Liberian daughter. Hopefully some day soon she will get to meet those that continue to fight with us for her homecoming!!

  Keep…. ….going.

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