kennel

Fall has been exciting for us so far. Colter started kindergarten, Ellis started preschool, and Ben went to dog school in Harrison, MI, about 2 hours north of us. He got the best graduation present...a dog. Named Emil. He's from Slovakia and doesn't speak English. But he does bark. And he's trained to sniff out drugs and bite (hopefully only) bad guys. He's also not welcomed in our home, so Ben spent the summer building him a nice kennel in the garage. Thankfully we had some time to prepare for Emil's arrival. Ben found out in May that he was selected to be the next K9 handler at HDPS which was a dream come true for him. All we knew at that point was that he would need to go to a four week school “sometime this fall” and until then life would be status quo. We finished up a few other projects around the house and as soon as we got back from vacation in July Ben went to work on the kennel. When we put the addition on the house we did so with the eventual plan of adding a dog kennel. Ben hoped it would be for a K9 someday but regardless, we wanted one for our yellow lab and first love, Belle. We asked that the garage be extra deep to accommodate an indoor kennel. What we ended up with is a two sided indoor/outdoor kennel; one side for Belle and one for Emil. Each inside section has an enclosed “house” and open area to the garage and a doggy door to an enclosed, two sided outdoor kennel. The outdoor sections each have a patch of bark for the dogs to do their business in if needed. Project Ben put so much thought into this thing and it has so far served our purpose very well. They have figured out the doggy doors, which took some training with cut up hot dogs and a child or two showing them how to do it.

While we were on vacation in July, Ben got the official word that dog school would be September 5-29. That meant we finally had a line in the sand of when we needed to have a place for Emil to live, and Project Ben got right to work. The first Monday back from vacation he enlisted some guys from work, his brother-in-law Mike, and my dad to help him pour the cement pads for the outside portion of the kennel. Mondays are always a daycare day for the boys and I work all day, so Ben planned on having that entire day with no distractions to run around gathering supplies for the cement pouring and then pouring said cement. What happened in actuality was Colter threw up at daycare and Ben was out of commission doing his thing, so I had to leave work to pick him up and take him home. I worked from home that afternoon taking some calls, but I ended up being around to supervise (a little) which is always Ben's worst case scenario. He won't deny it, either. Additionally, my dad picked Ellis up from daycare early so he could watch the excitement, Colt snapped out of whatever funk he was in and ended up outside, and a few of the other guys' ladies and kids stopped by. So what was supposed to be a productive "guys day" turned into all those guys plus four kids and three supervisory women. To quote my mom, "blessed are the flexible, for they will not be bent out of shape." 

After cement day, Ben chipped away at the kennel on his own timeline, requesting my help once in a while when he needed an extra set of hands, but for the most part this was his baby. Result is pretty cool! Nice work, Project Ben.

shopping for a new pillow for Belle's dog house

He's trapped inside. Belle's trapped outside. Irony.

one family of five trip to the Restore for a few supplies...rookie mistake forgetting to take the stroller out before we left.

bark day for the kennels...also bark day for our front landscaping! equally as exciting.

finished interior

finished exterior

We survived the four weeks of dog school. Ben did great at school and made some friends while he was up there. I can't really speak to his day to day activities, because I was somewhat drowning in my own, with Colter starting kindergarten, filling in daycare gaps when Ben would normally be home with the boys, and finishing up my busy season at work. I had a lot of help from family and friends, watching the boys, bringing dinner, etc. which was awesome, but definitely made me miss having Ben around. Mostly things went pretty well, except for week two. Monday Colter got hit in the head with a log in the woods at school and ended up in the principal's office with an ice pack treatment. Tuesday a) Colter threw up on the merry go round at recess and ended up in the principal's office b) my dad helped me bring my Acadia away for brake, strut and shock work which left me to drive the small Fusion with three kids the rest of the week. Wednesday a) Colter started to really miss his dad, had a small meltdown at school and ended up in the principal's office b) our well sprung a leak and we were left without running water after Ben's dad came to turn off the breaker. He came back later with jugs of water from their house, which was a lifesaver. Thursday a) I brought Ellis and Jay to my sister-in-law Melissa's for the day and when I tried to leave I had a dead battery in the Fusion, which Melissa's neighbor had to come jump for me b) the well people came right away to fix it but couldn't do anything until MISS DIG came and marked utilities, so we were still without water. As such, I ended up taking the boys to my friend Jennifer's for baths while she was still at work, and she came over later when my boys and her girls were asleep so I could go back to her house to shower. Friday was much better, as the well was fixed and Ben was home from school by the time I got home from work. Hallelujah.

Emil destroyed his bark area the first weekend he was home, so the following Monday the boys and Chris swept up the mess after he and Julie brought us dinner.

Wednesday of week three the boys and I met Ben for dinner in a little town called Lakeview, halfway between home and school.

she'd be the worst.

Ben always came home with treats from a shop called Cops and Doughnuts

It's really amazing to look back over the years and be able to see the pieces come together. As I mentioned this K9 spot has been a dream of Ben's for as long as I've known him, and likely much longer. And this was not the first dog he tried to get. Three times in the past several years he's had an opportunity to interview and test for a dog. The first came when he wasn't technically qualified for the position yet, needing a little bit more time on the road. They let him test anyways which was a good experience for him to go through. The second opportunity he passed up as the timing was not right. The four week dog school would have been when Colter, our first baby, was just a few weeks old. He made the tough call to hold out for the next one, putting my needs ahead of his career goals. The third opportunity stung (for Ben). This came when our two boys were 2 and 8 months and we were living in our perfectly lovely home in Zeeland. Ben told me his plan to test for the new K9 handler spot and I panicked. I felt completely maxed out caring for two small children and working full time and couldn't imagine one more thing needing our attention. I couldn't picture where we would put the dog if we got one. Our garage was already cramped and the neighbor's house was only 20 feet away. I had visions of my kids getting bit, not being able to separate our lovable lab from a trained killer (I'm exaggerating, calm down Ben). I tried to keep my feelings in check and outwardly encouraged Ben, but deep down I was relieved when another well deserving officer was chosen. There was just something in my gut that knew the time wasn't right. Fast forward three years and here we are, in this house with room to spare, a garage with space for a kennel, and two acres of country land where Emil can run and play fetch and bark his fool head off without an entire city block or two trying to call the cops on us. Our big kids understand they need to respect Emil while at the same time know it's okay to use Belle as a pillow and she won't so much as flinch at them. The baby will know nothing different as he grows up and he'll take his cues from his responsible(ish) big brothers. Ask me how my God works and I will tell you this story of his faithfulness. He knew we (I) needed time to trust his plan and his timing. There were times when I thought buying this house was nuts and had more than one moment of regret. But seeing how things have come together full circle...it's just really special. I sure am one proud wife, and thank God each day (especially after week two of dog school) for Ben, and pray for his and Emil's continued safety on the streets.