Happiness Is...

Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands,but let it go,and you learn at once how big and precious it is !
(Author Unknown)

I'm a little behind...this was written 3/16/11 ! Still wanted to post it though, I think you'll understand.
9 weeks ago on January 12, 2011 our beautiful liver and white Brittany "Treasure" whelped 8 healthy and equally beautiful 8 new Brittany puppies.  4 boys and 4 girls arrived in the middle of a Nor'easter, a real blizzard here in Southern Maine.  We've been so happy to share with our blog readers all about their growth and development, post many photographs and videos so that everyone can enjoy this journey.  Along the way it's been fun to be in touch with so many of our ATB family and to meet new people as well. 

It's pretty humbling to realize that what is shared here on this blog has been enjoyed all across the country by people with a wide range and variety of interests.  There are two common denominators here though which we've identified; always the love of the dog and quite frequently, the love of God.  Throughout our entire blog archives the thread of love and friendship is woven and it is my intention to somehow cross the miles and reach out and share, teach, uplift, encourage and yes sometimes get stuff of my chest.  I have loved the increasing amount of comments here and on Facebook.  I love to write and herein lies the perfect vehicle to do so, short of writing a book. Something I hope to do someday.

Even so, it is not my intention for the ATB Blog, Facebook page, or the Maine Brittany Site to serve as a way to sell Brittany pups or commercially promote our breeding program.  We are who we are and what you see is what you get.  We love God.  We love our family.  We love our friends. We love our dogs.  I love weaving the thread of these expressions of our life into a written garment that many can enjoy.  And I am blessed with the reality of knowing just how many of you do enjoy it. We're laid back, do not take ourselves too seriously, but the things we do take seriously - we work hard at. 

This journey may seem to have come to an end as Treasure's pups are now with their new owners.  But the  journey for Nova, Avon, Wilson (North), Clay (WhiteOut), Brittany (Ruby), Gibson (Storm), Moxie (Jan), and Colt (Bud) has only just begun.  It started on the first day of the rest of their lives, sometime in the past week.  Already the postive updates and cute photographs are arriving with glowing reports of their first few days.  And it is good. I will share them as I have time to do so.  But their life with their new families is like a blank page, and it will be their story to tell - not mine although we will write about them all from time to time of course!  Several new puppy families have already connected with each other on FB which is always fun for me.

Winter comes to an end this weekend and we welcome springtime with joy and anticipation.  Our calendars are already full for the rest of this year. Do you remember the show "Bewitched"?  Samantha could blink her eyes and life around her was transformed in some way.  Well, I feel like I've been blinked from the beginning of winter directly to the end!  I will forever literally treasure the past few months and the joy of sharing it all with our readers and ATB family.

As the morning sun rises we can see a clear, new, horizon - not only for the new season but especially here for All Things Brittany.  Piper will be back in Maine the first weekend in April.  We will finish several of our dogs as Junior Hunters and begin training for Seniors.  We are working closely with Birch Spring Brittanys on an exciting adventure.  I am preparing for the New England Sporting Group Association shows this weekend.  There's some great projects going on for pointing dog owners via several of the dog clubs we're a part of. Johns looking forward to getting our dogs all out in the field this summer.  We have specific breeding plans for the rest of 2011 and are proud of our well filled waiting list for 2012.  It's likely that a couple of exciting announcements will be made in the next month. (I see your big smile there!) We've been told there is a new NAVHDA chapter in our area which will make training clinics a reality.  And if all goes well, 4 out of 8 pups from Treasures litter will be NAVHDA tested in 2011 as we transistion into members of that organization. It's not all about the dogs that are here at ATB - it's about those of you who have come into our lives, believed in what what we're doing, stayed in touch through good times and bad, and the many ways you show your support. You know who you are, and we thank God for each of you. Take care and God Bless you always, John, Ann and ATB.