Happy Birthday, Gabriel!!

Today we're celebrating our little boy's 8th birthday. He is a native Minnesotan, born in Owatonna Minnesota, about 100 miles south of Minneapolis.

It was on a Sunday afternoon at our home in Elk River MN. Debbie and I were relaxing in our living room and I was scanning the Sunday newspaper. Having heard Debbie speak so often of how sweet little Dachsunds can be, I did something I had never done. I looked in the Sunday ads just to see if any Dachsund puppies were listed. I saw a few and mentioned it to Debbie.

Now remember that on many occasions I had seen things in the newspaper and mentioned it to Debbie and she would say, "that's nice", then continue on at whatever she was doing.

Imagine my surprise when I showed her the ads and within minutes she was on the phone calling those who had placed the ads. She only made one call, but within minutes she was asking if we could go for a drive and see the puppies.

100 miles later we were in Owatonna checking out some of the cutest little puppies.

One of them picked out Debbie and began following her around. And a few minutes later I handed the people a check and we took our little 6-week-old boy home. After thinking of a few names, we settled on "Gabriel", named for the Angel Gabriel as the little boy for My Sweet Angel! It was the Angel Gabriel who gave Mary the wonderful news of the baby she would deliver.

Gabriel knew and responded to his name by the next day after he came home with us. He's a creative little boy, coming up with games that he can play. In our Elk River home he would take a ball to the top step, turn it loose, let it roll down the steps and chase it. He has lots of little toys and frequently has one of his 'babies' waiting at each door when we come home. His favorite is "Lambie", who he sleeps with most nights.

He had his rough days when his back was injured, paralizing him when he was 3 years old and having to have back surgery. He's not always been a perfect little boy, sort of like his 2-legged siblings. But he sure is a sweetie and has blessed us so much.

Winters were sort of tough on the little boy in Minnesota, especially after his back surgery, but he sure loved playing in the fresh deep snow. 8" of snow is rough for a little boy with 4" legs.