Answered Prayers

Last night when Chris and I came home from Butte, we noticed Bella missing, she was no where to be found. I was heart broken, because the last time Chris and I took a day trip Gerdie the goat came up missing and never seen again. "How could this happen to me again," is all I could think. Chris and I knocked on all doors on our street and we spent another hour calling her name as we drove up and down without any luck. Chris was calling his family to see if anybody had seen her. John was the last one and he saw her at 2:30. So she could have been gone for up to 4 hours.
I continued calling her name and saying little prayers that I would find her. That is when I heard a little bark. She has never barked before, but I knew it was her. I ran into the house and told Chris that I could hear here. Chris and I both thought she had gone with the other dogs and gotten into the empty Willow Creek and could not get out. So we hoped on to the quad and raced down there. We kept calling her name, and she would not bark. I said another little prayer, that she would start barking again, and she did. I jumped off the quad and ran to the willow creek. It was getting really dark and harder for me to see. So I kept calling her name, and I could just hear whimpering. She was not in the Willow Creek. I climbed up the ravine on the other side and continued to call her name. I could not see her, and then all of a sudden I saw her, she was on the bank of a ditch, 2 wire fences away. I don't know how I saw her, but I did. So I called for her to come to me, but she was not moving. Why? How come she is not coming to me? So I climbed through and under the fences and ran to her. She was caught in a trap. You know the ones, the kind of trap the beaver trappers used over 100 years ago. How could someone have that kind of trap laying out there still? They are so harsh and unnecessary in this day and age, they are so inhumane. I was mad, actually I was pissed (sorry for my harsh word, but that is how I felt and so did Chris) I tried for 5 minutes to open the trap, and Bella whelped every time I put pressure on it. I finally got her paw out of the trap, it was too dark to see if the paw was covered in blood, so I handed her off to Chris and we made our way back to the quad and eventually home.
When we got home, she was covered in mud, and that was it, no blood. Her front left paw was extremely swollen and as I felt it and looked at it, I could not feel broken bones. How lucky we were to find her in the dark and that she was pretty much ok, just a little sore. So I gave her a bath and her dinner. The rest of the night she just slept at her favorite spot, right in front of the couch.
This morning I let her outside and when I called her in, she came running. She was able to put a little more weight on the hurt paw. I am so relieved that she is going to be ok. I am so thankful that my Heavenly Father answered my many prayers. He must have known that I could not handle losing another puppy within a few months of losing Conan. Prayers are answered and last night was just another testament of that. He does answer prayers and I am so grateful for that knowledge.

Bella wrapped in a towel laying in front of the couch,

sleeping with her favorite toy by her side.
This is how I found her this morning.