In early March of this year, AHFK Foster Momma Donna Williams contacted us and asked if we had room for a little, 5.5# Yorkie mix; a Morkie, if you will. If we didn’t at this time, Donna offered to foster until we had an opening. Noija, as she was called, was a picky eater, nothing Donna fed her, in the way of canine food, appealed to her palate. She then purchased the food that we use at Rescue and Noija took to it. It was suspected that all she was fed for her previous 9.5 years of table scraps. Despite that fact, or assumption, she was relatively healthy, except for her teeth. Her sore mouth restricted her from a lot of foods and her breath was atrocious. She would not allow anyone to touch her face. That all changed once she arrived at Almost Home Foster & Rescue in Minnesota and received a much needed dental.
Because of her Senior age status, I reached out to Roberta and Jim Johnson and asked if they had room for another AHFK Senior. They already had two AHFK Alumnis, Opal and Mayci, plus Bella, their resident lab mix. “Let us talk, I will get back to you shortly,” was Roberta’s response. Of course the answer was “Yes,” and they began to prepare for their new arrival. But, life throws us curves and we can swing away, or step out of the box and regroup. Jim came down with a debilitating case of pneumonia and was hospitalized in Intensive Care for 12 days. There were times that his condition was so bleak, there were doubts that he would come home.
He facetimed with Mayci and talked of the day Noija, now called Nola (No Longer Available) could come home. These thoughts kept the fight in Jim alive and last Friday, Jim was healthy enough for Nola to finally come home.
She was a firecracker from the get-go. She met all of the resident dogs, made instant friends with Opal, and AHFK Alumni, and found her daddy’s lap. She figured out that the stair to the couch was just her height and the backyard and porch is like stepping into heaven.
Jim and Roberta, once again, thank you for giving Nola, Opal, and Mayci a place to call home. Thank you for being family. We are tremendously and furever grateful.