Harger Chihuahuas

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Our Family

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Here are a few candid shots of the most important and precious men in my life. My husband Brent & our sons, Zach & Justin.

Our story began when Brent & I met 26 years ago at a St Patrick Day wedding of a mutual friend and it was love at first site for the both of us. I knew he was the one when just one look, a bolt of electricity passed between us, and Cupids arrow had hit its mark....

As the years have passed, we have grown to know and understand the deep complexities that make us who we are as individuals and as one. There have been ups and downs as with any marriage, but the ups have far outweighed the downs and we have grown so close now, that we complete each others sentences. Our relationship has aged like fine wine. It has only gotten better. I look forward to every day with my husband and to what lays ahead for both of us. We have been truly blessed and things are getting exciting indeed!

After three years of marriage we decided it was time to start our family and so Zachary Harger came into our lives, on Christmas Eve in 1985. He was such a quiet and well mannered little baby that we decided to give him a sibling and welcomed Justin Harger into the fold in May 1988.

Now Justin was like night and day to his older brother Zach. Where one was quiet and contemplative, the other was outgoing and active! We brought them up to know and love the Lord and they have never departed from that. They are gentle and protective of the dogs, their friends and especially of each other. Brent and I realize just how blessed we both are to have them.

We have followed and believed in a very Special prophesy that we received from Pastor Michael Ratliff in 1992 at a Womans Aglow meeting in Reno. And because of the very words in this prophesy, I was led to get into the showing & breeding of Chihuahuas. The following week the Lords words were finalized through the ministry of Ray and Jackie Brooks who completed in us the word the Lord had given to our hearts. God has brought very special people into our lives and has given us some very beautiful and special Chihuahua's as well.

My life changed dramatically last year when I was diagnosed with a rare and incurable bone disease called Fibrous Dysplasia. In April of 2005 they operated and removed a large tumor that filled the end of my right femur bone. After a bone graft was taken from my lower back and a steel plate was positioned to give me support, they informed me that my chances of having this disease over cancer was in my case, what had saved my life. A tumor of the size and magnitude of what I had, most certainly is looked upon as a malignancy which they thoroughly expected. I wasn't clued in, until after we got things operated on and finalized. I am adjusting to this disease and working at bringing awareness of the plight of the people afflicted with it. To my knowledge it was something I was born with. It is not hereditary. Many children suffer with the poly form of it with stress fractures and deformity's from childhood. I have the mono form of it. Meaning just the one tumor. Sadly my prognosis is that it will grow back in the same place as they took it from before. At what speed it takes to reabsorb the good bone they replaced the tumor with, is anybody's guess. I saw my Ortho surgeon for a check up the other day. He told me he had thought of me when he saw another tumor in a patient similar in size and placement to mine. He thought of how lucky I had been that it wasn't cancer.... his other patient was not so lucky ...

FD is an extremely painful disease when a tumor is disturbed and operated on later in life. I am having to adjust to each day of coping with that. It has literally changed my life forever. But I am one of the lucky ones. I only found out its existence in 2005 having led an active sports life as a child with no symptoms up until then. I am a fatalist. I just don't believe that things don't happen for reasons. With everything that life throws at you, you can live with it and learn from it, good or bad, or allow it to swallow you up and ultimately destroy you. I choose to take the lessons from the good and the bad in life and grow from them. I appreciate my life more than I ever realized before. I'm learning who I am through all of this and finding reserves deep down within myself that have sustained me and helped me to find strength through this whole process. The saying that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, is so true. I know how very lucky I am to have escaped a death sentence and I know that I have been Blessed! You can learn more about this disease at the Fibrous Dysplasia Org.