The adoption process was complete, we brought her home to introduce her to Willow and we named her Grace. We felt blessed at the time we adopted her, but we didn’t realize just how blessed we actually were. There wasn’t a person Grace didn’t like or a person that didn’t like Grace. Grace brought happiness wherever she was and just loved life. Neighbors, delivery drivers, mail carriers, friends, family, no matter who crossed paths with her, they never forgot her and most wanted to take her home with them. Of course, even though Grace liked everyone, Grace could not be too far away from her Dad. The bond between Grace and her Dad was something so beautiful to watch and something I pray for every dog. After a couple years Willow passed away and Grace was now our only dog. She wasn’t alone since we had a lot of rescue cats/kittens in the house. Grace loved the cats and made it her mission to know what each of them were doing all of the time. Grace would greet each kitten as they are let out of their cages each morning for playtime and challenge them at a game of hide and seek. She, of course, couldn’t get enough of them and they just adored her as well. They would do everything together, sleep, eat, play and she would even comfort them when they were sick. When a new cat or kittens arrived and had to be placed in quarantine, Grace would lay waiting outside their cages so she would be there when the door finally opens for them to come out. If they rejected her at first, which sometimes they did, it would make her sad but she didn’t give up and always won them over in the end. I think she would actually wag her tail while lying on the floor just so the kittens could chase after it because she loved having them around. She also didn’t mind sharing her food with them, although she tried to eat fast in order to keep more for herself.

Grace loved to play, she loved to run and she loved swimming in the pool. It took her awhile to gain confidence in jumping off the side of the pool so she would always run to the steps to get in, but after time she learned that it was okay to jump in. She wasn’t crazy about a bath, but if Dad made it fun with the hose than it was great! She loved riding in the car and just loved being around people and other animals she met. The love and joy that filled our home after we adopted Grace was boundless. We knew that God was going to reclaim her one day and keep her until it was our time to be called upon. Steve and I had been caring for community cats, rescuing/adopting and TNVR for more than 25 years and decided in 2019 to organize our own 501c3 animal rescue. We weren’t sure of the name yet, but we both knew that it had to include Grace. The name we chose was inspired by the this beautiful creature that blessed our lives with unconditional love and endless spirit. We knew that we wanted her name to live on forever even though we knew that she wouldn’t. This was one of the ways in which we felt we could honor Grace for giving us so much of herself to making us so happy.

In April of 2023 Grace suddenly became very sick and was rushed to the emergency hospital. The following morning she was transported to our vet down south for tests and treatment which in the end the vet determined was pancreatic cancer. Devastated doesn’t even come close to how we felt. We felt like the sun went down and would never rise again, it happened so fast. She was what we both woke up to in the morning and what we went to bed with at night. Now that our anchor was gone we had to figure out how to live without her.

We have been so blessed in our lives to have had so many wonderful and loving dogs and cats that we have added to our family and have lost through the years. Grace was different in many ways. I will always love, remember and keep in my heart the memories all of our beloved four legged family members, but we honor Grace each and every day we exist as a rescue in our name “For the Love of Grace Animal Rescue”.