Our quest to find a puppy related to Twinkie was underway. Research had been successfully completed and a letter to the breeder was en route to Oklahoma.
The wait began. “Will today be the day we receive news from the breeder?”
I wondered every time I opened the mailbox, listened to phone messages, and
checked email.

Days, then weeks, passed and soon we were well into the festive month of December.
Although we were still anxious to hear from the breeder, our thoughts were also
preoccupied on an upcoming vacation. Back in the summer, Bob and I had planned a
trip to Ft. Lauderdale for the holidays to avoid being home for our first Christmas
without Twinkie. We were excited about getting away and looking forward to enjoying
some well deserved time at the beach.

While in Florida, I regularly checked my email only to be disappointed and hoped
that there would be news waiting for us at home. Returning from our trip with just
a couple of days left in December, we learned that no news had arrived in our absence.
By this point in time, over a month had passed since we mailed the letter to the
breeder. The puppy search was no longer an all-consuming thought as I went through
mail and messages.

On New Year’s Day I was checking my email and noticed a sender who was not familiar.
The subject line read Miniature Pinscher! Could this finally be the news we had been waiting for? Opening the email, I read the message once and quickly read it a second
time. I could not believe what I was reading! Bob was in another room and heard me shrieking with delight. I yelled for him to come and listen to the amazing news. I excitedly filled him in and read the message to him several times. Rather than tell
you the wonderful news you can read it for yourself:

Hello Lori, Robert Capaccio,This letter needs some introducing. I am Shad Busby, Ms. Tussinger’s cousin. She wanted me to get in touch with you. We have her dog Fireball’s boy. Right at the moment, he has three girls and is expecting some in February. We also have some of his relatives. That has a special sweetness! The girls will be 8 wks on February 10th. If you’d like I could email you some pictures of them. I’d be glad to help you find one of Twinkie’s family that you’d like. We had Fireball’s daughter, Rosie. We lost her to old age. She was the first min-pin we ever had. So this is the reason we have min-pins. They are extra special to us. Thank you, Shad Busby

Bob and I were overjoyed that our dream had become a reality. The search was over.
We had found our puppy!