This week has been quite wacky with spring-like and summer temperatures for a few days, and we now have snow today, all within a few days of each other! Hopefully, it will really be and feel like spring soon! When the weather was so nice earlier this week, we took Jack for his first dinner outing, at Alex’s request, and he did well! He was a little apprehensive at first, but he quickly settled in! There were even a few dogs also sitting on the patio, and he was delighted to greet the other furry friends! Our Jack has been through a lot, but he is so resilient, and he is making good progress adjusting, and we think he feels like he is “home.” We are still adjusting to him getting up incredibly early, no matter what time we go to bed—he seems to require very little rest! We are so grateful for our Jack—he is full of personality, warmth, and love!
At Alex’s school there is a special furry friend named Frankie, a three-legged chihuahua-pug mix rescue dog, that visits the classrooms, whom everyone has fallen in love with!
Steve Springer, the new Head of School, adopted Frankie while living in Los Angeles. Frankie was hit by a car and was subsequently brought to a dog rescue, and veterinarians had to amputate her front leg. However, Frankie’s injury did not impact her sweet and gentle disposition or her mobility.
Mr. Springer started bringing Frankie into school over this past summer, and everyone fell instantly in love. Once school resumed this past fall, the students also quickly fell in love with Frankie! Frankie is a certified therapy dog; she goes to classes and reads with the kids, and she does math with them, too!
Students bring Frankie mail filled with notes and drawings. Frankie even has her own adorable school uniform, and her photograph is proudly displayed by the front office, for all to see!
Frankie was especially helpful to Alex when Victory passed away this fall. We all were heartbroken, and Frankie brought comfort to Alex during this difficult time.
Most of all, Frankie teaches us all about the importance of love, kindness, acceptance, resilience, and the importance of animals.
You can view the video segment here featuring Frankie’s wonderful story with Alex’s class!
It is difficult to believe it has already been nearly four months with our beloved Jack! The time is really flying!
Here are some fun facts we have learned about Jack over the past four months:
He is my shadow, and he follows me everywhere!
He loves going on walks, no matter what the weather is like outside! He loves really long walks! Jack is so happy when we tell him it is time go on a walk, and he comes racing down the stairs with his tail wagging!
He loves other dogs, he is very social, and he has a few special furry friends in the neighborhood!
He loves eating the ice cubes out of his Yeti water bowl each morning, after breakfast, and he proudly chomps on ice cubes, while sitting on a rug in our bedroom! I often am stepping on ice cubes, while getting ready in the mornings, as they somehow are all over our bedroom floor!
He loves the snow! Alex took him out in the snow and he had a ball!
He loves to cuddle with us during any time of the day or night!
He is physically strong, and he loves to play with us, and he can be very animated!
He loves his toys, he loves to chew, and he is acquiring quite the collection of toys, which he has consequently spreads all over our bedroom floor!
He primarily sleeps on his back!
He loves rolling his entire body onto a warm load of laundry after it immediately comes out of the dryer!
He loves breakfast, dinner, treats, and rawhides, of course! He is always nearby when we are eating a meal!
He wakes up very early, which is a bit different than Biscuit and Victory. He now jumps into our bed, very early, and licks our faces until one of us gets up to let him go potty and feed him breakfast.
He tolerates baths, and Alex kindly puts on her swimsuit to help keep Jack in the bathtub, as he is so agile!
He is not a fan of the vacuum—at all! Alex helps by sitting with Jack when we need to vacuum; otherwise, he will chase the vacuum and constantly bark at it!
He also is not a fan of the car, as we have been visiting the vet regularly to catch up on vaccines, and we only have one more shot to go, thankfully! We hope once it gets warmer, we can start taking him out to eat with us, along with going for ice cream, and other type of fun outings. (Thankfully, we now have medicine to help with his anxiety in the car, which is helpful, and we are confident we can overcome this fear.)
He is an overall resilient and kind-hearted love bug, who has previously been through traumatic events. Most of all, his personality is starting to shine through, as he gets more acclimated and comfortable!
We are so grateful for Jack! His presence has been incredibly helpful to our little family, as he has helped mend our hearts, while simultaneously he has melted our hearts.
“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” — Roger Caras
Happy Heart Day! We celebrated Valentine’s Day over the weekend on Valentine’s Day, with Alex and Jack! Alex had a fun Valentine’s Day party at her school, which Doug attended! This was Jack’s first Valentine’s Day with us! We think he was very curious and loved having Alex open his Valentine’s gifts, while he inspected everything! (We learned not to use tissue paper or wrapping paper, for his gifts, because this noise scares him.) Jack is making good progress, and he has now been with us 14 weeks!
Alex loved celebrating Valentine’s Day! She made so many Valentine’s for the people in her life—she is incredibly kind and thoughtful! We all went to dinner at our favorite restaurant on Valentine’s Day! We are so grateful for our little family. A photo of our little loves is shown below, and Jack is sporting his new monogramed Valentine’s sweater, and Alex wore her new Valentine’s dress featuring dogs, of course!
I am donating a portion of my royalties, earned from the sales of this book, to the SPCA International, helping dogs in need around the globe. You can read more here and here.
Today is the 14-year Blogiversary of the blog! I cannot believe it! It is extremely difficult to believe that 14 years has already passed by so quickly! Time moves so quickly, these days. Many things have changed, but some things remain the same, fortunately. I am grateful for this little space here.
If it were not for our beloved Biscuit, I am not sure I would have ever started blogging and I know that I would not have started my long-term photography project turned into a published book: ABANDONED: Chronicling the Journeys of Once-Forsaken Dogs, for which Biscuit and Victory were my inspiration. Biscuit and Victory were such blessings and gifts to us. Biscuit and Victory permanently changed our lives in so many positive ways, and Victory recently sent us our precious little rescue sheltie, Jack, who we adore and love, shown below! In honor of Victory, Alex made the number 14 with angel wings, commemorating 14 years of blogging, shown below.
Thank you for reading this blog for however long or short you have been visiting! I truly enjoy creating content for the blog to share with all of you, and I hope that you continue to enjoy visiting and reading the blog
We all miss Victory terribly. We have all experienced such a tremendous loss, that is difficult to articulate. Victory has forever left a positive imprint on our hearts. We know that Victory’s body is free of sickness and pain; and we know her spirit is always with us. I think of all the wonderful gifts Victory gave to us, which we continue to receive. Victory opened our hearts and taught us so much more about ourselves, including how to be better humans. We cannot thank Victory enough for her unconditional love, joy, light, and loyal companionship she brought to our lives. We know in our hearts that Victory would want us to adopt another sheltie rescue like her, so another sheltie rescue can have a second chance to have a wonderful life like Victory and Biscuit. We have always believed that Victory would send us the ‘right’ sheltie at the ‘right’ time.
This past fall, we let the Michigan Sheltie Rescue and its Director, Carol Strotheide, know about Victory’s passing. To our surprise, Victory worked fast; within a month of her passing, she sent us another rescue sheltie named Jack in need of a forever home. Jack is now a one-year old sable sheltie who we recently welcomed to our family in early November 2025. Notably, he came from the same rescue organization, the Michigan Sheltie Rescue, and he was cared for by the same foster mom that saved Victory 12 years ago. It was providence. Jack comes to us from a suspected backyard breeder, where he lived the first months of his life in horrifying conditions—in a filthy, dark barn, where he did not receive proper care. Jack was subsequently purchased, where he lived a short time, including enduring a broken leg, which required orthopedic surgery, for which Jack fully recovered. Jack was then relinquished to the Michigan Sheltie Rescue during the summer of 2025. We truly believe Victory identified Jack to be a member of our family to help heal our hearts, especially Alex’s heart. Alex is delighted to be a “big sister,” and she is excited to have a front-row seat to witness Jack’s transformation.
In early November 2025, we all traveled to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to adopt Jack, a 24 hour trip, round trip! We were excited to meet him in person after his foster mom, Karen, sent us a few photos of Jack. Karen did such a wonderful job over the three months she worked with Jack and cared for him. We will never forget meeting Jack in person for the first time—he was such a handsome little guy who was very nervous, as he had lived in various placements in a short period of time. Jack is precious—his coloring is reminiscent of Victory’s fur coat, he is a bigger build, and he is such a kind little guy. We often say, he does not have a mean bone in his body. Jack has now been with our family for 11 weeks, as I write this post during the snowstorm, hitting the D.C. area pretty hard. When we first brought him home, after a long drive back to Maryland, he was on the move constantly, not really able to settle himself; and any noise really scared and alarmed him. After 11 weeks together, Jack is doing really well. His anxiety has lessened; noises still startle him, and he dislikes the vacuum and the hair dryer, but he is feeling more comfortable overall, we believe. We gave him his first bath, and Alex was such a good sport—she put on her swimsuit, and got in the bathtub with Jack, as it took all three of us to keep Jack in the tub, but we got him bathed! Jack is not a fan of the car, as we have been going to the vet to catch up on his vaccinations, after his initial vet visit this past fall, where he received a clean bill of health, thankfully. We hope when the weather gets warmer, this spring, we will be able to associate the car with positive experiences like going out to dinner, to ice cream, more fun type outings! Presently, we have been working with our vet on implementing a plan to mitigate his anxiety in the car. We are certain with more time, Jack will feel even more confident, and more of his personality will continue to shine through.
Further, Jack absolutely loves his walks, and he is very strong with a ton of energy! He also loves the snow—perhaps he is a Midwest boy at heart! He would walk all day if he could! He already has made friends with many of the other dogs in the neighborhood, and he loves the ladies! He is extremely social! He gets so excited when we say, “Do you want to go for a walk!?” His tail goes up and wags, immediately, and he lets out a few barks! He has found his vocal cords as well! He loves treats and vanilla ice cream (on occasion)! Most of all, he loves being with us. He is my shadow—he follows me everywhere! He loves his toys, which he loves to chew. Jack is an early riser, and we are working on his sleeping in a little on the weekends! Each morning, he jumps into our bed and licks us profusely, wanting to get his day started! Right now, he likes to sleep in his soft crate in our bedroom, but he is spending more and more time in our bed, as he feels more comfortable. He is a smart little sheltie, too—he immediately figured out how to unzip his soft crate (from the interior) right away, so he just roams in and out as he wants, but he is only sleeping in his soft crate, and he likes to be by our side otherwise. We are grateful for Jack, and we look forward to many adventures together with Jack—he is truly a gift to our little family!
Pictured below is a photo of Jack from his foster mom that she sent to us; and a few photos of Jack, including a video since joining our family!
Here is a photo of Jack from his foster mom while he was in the care of the Michigan Sheltie Rescue.
Here is Jack and Alex together on his adoption day!
Here is a more recent photo of Jack!
Here are a few photos of Jack and Alex together since he arrived home.
Here is a recent short video of Jack and Alex! We highly recommend this body leash, Alex loves it!
Here is a photo of our loves, during the recent snow storm!
I hope you had a nice Holiday! We we had some down time together, and we all got some sleep and rest, which was so nice. And, I cannot believe our little girl turned seven-and-a-half-years-old this week! She is growing in every way and she loves learning, she is incredibly creative, she has the best ideas, and she is curious about everything, which I hope never ceases!
It is a new year, which means there has been much talk about fresh beginnings. For me, I keep things simple and I select a word, an intention, for the year, and I try to really embrace the word for the year, which feels like a theme or mantra for the year.
I have reflected on my mantra for this year: thrive. Last year, I had a mantra; the word wild in 2024; the word the word joy in 2023; the word present in 2022; the word grace in 2021; the word bliss in 2020; the word embrace in 2019; the word peace in 2028; the word relax in 2017; the word present in 2026; the word flow in 2015; the word trust in 2014; and the word create in 2013. The idea of picking an intention has worked well over the past few years, and this is my fourteenth year doing this one little word/mantra intention.
2025 was a challenging year on many fronts, including the great loss of our beloved Victory. We miss her dearly. There is so much going on in our world presently. Thus, I picked the word “thrive,” this year to really try and thrive versus just simply survive.
I have found that resolutions do not always work too well, but keeping a word, a mantra, an intention, in mind is simple way to shape my year.
“The world would be a nicer place if everyone had the ability to love as unconditionally as a dog.” —M.K. Clinton
Happy Pawlidays! I wanted to thank you so very much for checking in over the past year—I am very grateful.
Below is the front of our Pawliday card (the back of our card containing text is not pictured), along with our matching envelopes using little photo seals of our beautiful girls. We are heartbroken with the loss of our beautiful, beloved Victory, who will always remain in our hearts. We have been blessed with new furry family member, a rescue sheltie, named Jack, whom we believe Victory swiftly sent to us. He has a unique story, and I will introduce him properly here, soon. We are still getting to know him, he is full of warmth and love; he follows me everywhere; and he has been helping us all heal from our great loss. Alex is especially missing Victory, it is her first Christmas without Victory by her side in matching pajamas. Also, custom stamps are still no longer permitted by the Post Office, so I used the Love stamps this year. (You can view our previous Pawliday cards: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). Sending our Pawliday card is one of my favorite parts of the Holiday season! This is my way of sharing our Pawliday card with you. Thank you for reading this blog for however long or short you have been reading. I sincerely enjoy creating content for the blog to share with you.
Additionally, Alex and Jack recently visited Santa together, which was Jack’s second outing, since his adoption, and he did quite well; most of all, he was so happy to return home!
Alex and Jack also made hand print and paw print ornaments together, shown below. Jack was a trooper, it was his very first outing away from our home, and he very much cooperated, and he was thrilled come back home! (We started making these ornaments with Alex and Victory several years ago.)
Alex also had her school Christmas concert, recently, which was fantastic, as always! A short video is shown below.
I will be taking a break from the blog to enjoy some down time with family, and I plan to be back to the blog sometime early next year. We are looking forward to celebrating Jack’s first Christmas; making eggnog sugar cookies, buckeyes, and creating a Christmas gingerbread house; seeing a Christmas light display; Alex and Doug plan to build an Erector set, make Lego creations, and make Rainbow Loom animals together; and, most of all, we are looking forward to a break from our non-stop, busy schedule and doing some fun things together! Also, here is a great podcast if you want to reflect on this past year and look forward to 2026. Meanwhile, if you are in a blog-reading mood, you are warmly invited to visit the archives—the links are shown below. Warmest wishes to you for a safe and Happy Holidays!
“Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.“ —Rainer Maria Rilke
Additionally, I am donating a portion of my royalties, earned from the sales of this book, to the SPCA International, helping dogs in need around the globe. You can read more here and here. Happy Holidays!
biscuit's space | The blog of photographer Katherine Carver 