Good-bye to Piper

One morning we woke up to find that Piper and Peter had dug their way under the gate and chicken wire! I thought they must be gone for good and then noticed Peter hiding in a corner on the side of the house. Sounds funny but my first thought was he looked scared. Him and Piper are always together so I just thought it was weird they weren't and wondered in maybe something had happened to Piper. We looked all up and down the street, but had to get Brinley ready for school. We set out apples in hopes they would draw her back in. Then we said a prayer together, and Brinley said it. She prayed that we would find Piper... I felt like there was a 99% chance we would never see her again but hoped that for Brinley's sake we would find her.

 I kept checking outside all day and hoped I would see her, but no luck. With a running bunny I thought she could be anywhere... off in the close by desert landscapes, in someone's back yard, run over.... but after school when I picked up Brinley I felt like we should give it a try and go search the neighborhood. We drove very slowly up and down every street with the kids yelling out the windows for Piper :) Finally on the street before ours we spotted her laying by a push near someones front porch! I seriously couldn't believe it! Brinley ran out and grabbed her! She was so excited and I was so happy hear prayer had been answered. Our own little miracle.

Brinley and Piper. When we found Piper I asked Brinley if it was really her cause she looked different. As I looked closer at her you could tell her left cheek was swollen. It was weird cause her fur wasn't messed up, not blood or anything, but the left side of her face was definitely bigger. You can see it poking out in this picture. Piper just laid in their hutch but didn't move. I could tell she was hurt, but we couldn't take her to the vet that night, so we were going to see how she was doing in the morning. In the morning I was nervous she could have died in the night so I went out and checked on her, and was so sad to find she had passed in the night. I made sure Brinley didn't go out there and rushed her off to school. I know it would be too hard for her having to go to school if she knew what had happened. Brinley was telling everyone she saw how we had found her bunny... broke my heart :( 

When she came home I had to tell her what had happened. Casen and I had made a nice little bed in a shoe box for Piper. I knew Brinley would want to see her one last time but didn't was her just laying in the hutch. She was so sad. I remember loosing my pets and having it be so hard as a child and so I really just felt for her. Ryan was so sweet and came home early from work to be there.

We decided to bury her right away and although we gave other suggestions, Brinley insisted on burying her in the back yard. We all worked together to dig the hole. Marlee just chilled in her panties the whole time :)

 We covered it up so well, can't even tell anything was buried there!

Brinley was supposed to go to dance that night but we decided going to Yogurtland as a family would be a better end to a hard day.

That night after the younger kids went to bed Brinley made this heart for Piper, she said blue was he favorite color :)