Toby

 I adopted Toby from the Oregon Humane Society about two weeks ago.  He came from a Medford breeder who kept him in a cage 99% of his life.  Human interaction was foreign to him, and he still tends to be easily startled.  After two weeks though he has made leaps and bounds.  He's acclimating really well.  Better than they expected.

He's an adventurer, but still tends to be scared of everything.  Apparently feeling a little bold last night he discovered an escape route through my fence.  So he climbed under my fence when I wasn't looking.  I let him out in the yard right before I was ready to leave for a New Years Eve thing, and when I came to put him back in the house he was gone.

I frantically searched the yard and kept calling his name.  I won't go into too many details, but after two and a half hours of searching I found him in a shed on the other side of the alley, in the far back corner under a chair.  Terrified.  (P.S. It's not very helpful to have a flashlight if the batteries are dead...)

It was an agonizing two hours of crying, praying, and calling people I knew.  I canvassed the entire neighborhood, most of it twice.  I knocked on a neighbors door to enlist some extra help.  I did everything I could think of.

I'm sure it's not a coincidence that last night I felt like God was trying to teach me to trust Him and rely on Him.  Oh my life the comedy.

Regardless, my two-hour walk around the neighborhood shook me (in a good way).  I cried out for help.  My prayers were answered (although definitely not on my schedule).  God needed me to trust Him, so He gave me an opportunity to do so.  Albeit difficult, I think I made it through.