Tillie ...

"Our family is all about adoption.  When we moved to Kentucky ten years ago, two cats 'came with' the purchase of our home. Several years later we adopted a cat from a neighbor whose daughter had brought it home as a stray. 

"Our dog Tillie was adopted from the Meade County Animal Shelter in May 2001. Dog warden Harry Jones found her trotting down the street with another stray dog and picked her up.

"Just a few months later, we adopted our daughter Nadia, then 34 months old, from an orphanage in Ukraine. 

"Tillie is a Terrier-Poodle mix and was probably about a year and a half old at the time of adoption. We knew adopting her only a few months before traveling to Ukraine was not the smartest move we ever made, but Tillie was just the friendliest and sweetest dog who deserved a second chance at a home. It was obvious she didn't have a mean bone in her body and would be great with kids. Tillie was well received by our personality-plus cat, Inky, who really needed a playmate. The two of them are great buddies who spend the day playfully tormenting each other and then sleep together on the end of our bed most nights. 

"Tillie and Nadia are great friends, too, and Tillie has more or less become a 'sibling' for our only child. The Ukrainian word for dog is 'sabaka,' which is what Nadia first called Tillie when she couldn't pronounce her name. This was later shortened to 'baka' and now Tillie's other name is 'Dogka.' She answers to both! 

"It goes without saying that we think adoption is a great thing. So much love and laughter has filled our home as a result of these four wonderful adoptions. We wouldn't have life any other way."