Duke Is Back!
Our baby is back! Our Dukie boy is with us again and we are SO happy! I never thought I’d be writing this blog post, but this is a story of God’s faithfulness and restoration in action and I know that by the end of reading this, you’ll agree with me – God works all things together for our good, and God understands the bond between humans and animals.
Rewind: 2014 to 2017
Some of you might remember Duke, our first dog that we adopted in 2014. He came to us at 2 years old, having been attacked by other dogs (a huge hole in his thigh) and with separation anxiety. From the moment we got him, he became our fur baby and we absolutely loved him. We were living in Coimbatore at the time and then we moved to Chennai and took him with us. He became a part of not just our lives but the lives of our parents, siblings, nephews and colleagues (because we lived on the campus we worked at). Everyone loved him! Here are some old photographs from an Instagram account that I had started back then and will be re-starting again soon.
Then in 2017, we decided to move to Switzerland, and had to make the horrifying decision of giving him up. We felt that given his anxiety, past trauma and general mental health, it would be in his best interest to give him to another family rather than make him endure the trauma of air travel to Europe and adjusting to a new environment. It was one of the most difficult things we had to go through– very much like losing a family member. What’s worse, all those years we lived in Switzerland, we never forgot him and often talked about him. we missed him because he’d won us over with his sweetness.
I still remember the day he was being picked up by the other family. I didn’t think my heart could break into a million pieces, but there it was, shattered. I remember making a post about it on Instagram and a friend saying that it was the saddest post they had ever read!
Present Day: 2021
I must say, when God does something, He does it to perfection and it truly is what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard and what no mind has thought up!
When we returned to India at the end of January this year, one of the things at the back of our mind, and that we had talked about a couple of times was, how nice it would be to have our Duke back with us. We hadn’t received any updates about him since he had left, and we had always wondered how he was doing over the last 4 years. Being back in India brought all the memories back.
Two weeks ago, we were visiting my parents and out of the blue, my dad wanted to know if we would be interested in having Duke back! Wait, what?! Imagine our surprise and disbelief! It took about 3 hours between us saying a resounding yes and having Duke come through the gate at our home. My dad had been in secret conversation with the other family and they had agreed to give Duke back because they got another new dog.
Our reunion was emotional, but looking back over the past 2 weeks, it seems like we were never apart. The emotions of being torn apart have miraculously healed and were forgotten in an instant for both of us and I’m sure Duke .
To be honest, I can’t fully describe what’s happened, but it is wonderfully amazing and we are very grateful to God and my dad.
I hope this story encourages you to know that God sees our hearts and knows our thoughts, hopes and dreams. How He works it out for our good is up to Him, but rest assured it will be amazing and exactly what we need.
Shalomie
Thank you Aunty. Yes, God is good and we are so so grateful!
Johshy
God cares for the animals and our love to the animals.
I am so grateful to God’s loving kindness and tender mercies.
We rejoice with you, knowing how much you loved Duke and that he is back.