Tragedy

I'm sure somewhere in the world, there are much worse things that happened today, but here at our house it seemed that tragedy had struck at it's worst and my kids, who I hope are sleeping soundly now, spent the evening in tears and mourning the loss of our family pet.

We loved our bunny, Hailey.  She was a perfect outside pet, easy to care for and it was fun to watch her hop around the yard while Jared worked in the garden or the kids played.  She was the first real pet our kids have had and they loved her with all their hearts.

We let Hailey out most evenings to run around the backyard with the kids.  Unfortunately last night Dad forgot to put her back in the cage.  He feels awful, but says he's glad it was him and not one of them because tragically in the night something got to her and killed her.  We think it was a raccoon, it also ate every fish in our pond.  All our pets gone in one night.

Shortly after the kids left this morning, Austin and I also left for the day so it wasn't until Linsey got home from school and went out to feed the bunny that she discovered our tragic loss.  I wish she hadn't had to be the one ...  I won't go into all the details, but it left her quite traumatized and I found her sobbing hysterically.  It was a rough night for all of our children, but the girls are taking it the hardest.  As they were going to bed tonight, Emma broke down again and through her tears she told me how much she loved our bunny and was so sad that she would never get to see her again.  It hit me that this is my kids very first experience with death and while we have taught them that there is life after death and we know that we will see our loved ones again.. even pets, they have never had to lose anyone that they are close to.  It's hard, really hard and we are really sad, but I am grateful for the opportunity to teach my children about love and hope and the plan of happiness.



.....thinking of getting a dog.
Any suggestions?  It has to be small and cute, no shedding.