4 Paws For Mia: Graduation Day!!!

Friday was Graduation Day!!

Friday was a full and exciting day for us! We woke up and packed everything up so we could check out of our hotel before test time at 11:30. There was a winter storm coming through that night so we decided to head home after the graduation ceremony.

We checked out and the staff at the Residence Inn were wonderful. They wished us the best and we were off to the mall for our public access test. For the first part of the test we needed to sit in the food court for a half hour with Epic in the "under" command while the trainers walked around and checking in to see how we were doing. Epic rocked it:) He took a nap!

Lunch time! :)

Nap time for Epic... great job buddy! :)

After the restaurant part of the test, Justin did the public access part of the test. Only one of us needed to do the test. Mia was very tired and wanted mommy so we headed over to the train ride in the mall during test time. Mimi came along and we had a lot of fun:)

Getting ready for second part of test

Window shopping:)

Another fun train ride with Mimi! :)

After Justin and Epic finished up the public access part of the test we headed over to 4Paws to sign our official paperwork for Epic to be Mia's service dog. Yeah!! And then we had the graduation ceremony. A lot of people came out for the event. There were foster families and staff that were a part of taking care of our dogs through their training process. We are so thankful to each and every one of them!! :)

During the ceremony, we had a chance to pass the microphone around one last time(each day of class we would pass the mic around to ask questions) to share with the group who our child/service dog team are and if we wanted to share. I swore to myself I wouldn't cry... but I was overcome by emotion. Jeremy introduced many of the staff and of course Karen Shirk the amazing founder of 4 Paws:) And then we were given our certificates and it was picture time!! And the hardest part... saying our good-byes.

The journey of getting Mia her new best friend and being a part of these past two weeks of training with the wonderful trainers and families in our class was just indescribable. We are so thankful and blessed for this amazing gift of a new chapter of HOPE for our family. Epic is amazing and a perfect match for Mia:)

Way to go Epic!! :)

Family Shot:)

Mia and Jeremy with Epic! :)

We got home just before 2am on Saturday morning. We're all pretty beat!! But, doing great. Epic is doing awesome. He's enjoyed playing ball in the backyard. And going for walks through the neighborhood. He got to meet Justin's parents and LOVES them:)
We've been working on commands with Epic and getting him used to his new surroundings.

Today will be a low key relaxing day before our busy week ahead. Epic will be meeting lots of people and experiencing some fun Christmas festivities:) We couldn't ask for a better Christmas gift!!

Here are some pictures since we've been home: