I'm sure everyone wants to hear the story of Steffi's rescue and it really is quite amazing. I think the Lord just said today was the day because everything just fell into place.

Here is the sequence of events.

About 12:00pm today, Jimmy Curtis called us and said he was out grading a road with his tractor and out pops Steffi out of the trees and starts trotting down the road right in front of him. He followed her for a while and then she darted in this grove of trees on his property. This was just East of the Nursing home and North of the Church. Mark and I had not left the house yet.

We quickly got packed and headed down. Jimmy took us to the exact spot where she had darted into the trees but we did not see anything.

We proceeded to go to the church where we were to meet up with Dr. Mike, Tim, and the rescue group from Grapevine (there were 4 of them). We met up, and Tim gave Lawrence the dart with the transmitter in it. Dr. Mike, Cathy, Mark, Myself, Jimmy and Joyce proceeded up to the grove of trees. Had Jimmy not spotted her we would have been in the wrong place to do our stake out. We would have been way south of that spot. We no more than got to the grove of trees and Steffi started coming right for my car. Cathy spotted her and told us she was headed our way. (Everyone had radios) which we could not have done this without them. Suddenly Steffi turned and took off at a dead run East towards the Wall-mart. Jimmy was in his truck and he and Joyce took off and got ahead of her and cut her off so she couldn't make it to the creek.

We all spread out to make sure we could see her if she popped out. By that time the Grapevine folks joined us. I also called Nancy Bidwell and told her we needed help ASAP so we could completely surround this grove of trees. She was great! and within 15 minutes we had several people there and we were able to surround the trees. Jimmy then got on his tractor and started moving through the brush to try and flush her out so we could dart her. Mark, Grant and Teresa started walking in from the North East Side. It was starting to get dark now. Then she popped out on the North side of the trees. One of the Grapevine rescue staff was on a dirt bike and was able to just follow and keep up with Steffi. The chase went on for about 20 minutes. Some of us were in cars and some on foot but we kept her surrounded.

She finally just got so exhausted she simply sat down under a tree and we all surrounded her. Mark and I were able to go right up to her and get a leash on. The leash was actually Tim's belt. He took it off and handed to us. Cathy and Dr. Mike got there and scooped her up, put her in the back of a pickup and drove her to the Nursing home where Mike had his mobile unit parked. Her temp was up to 107 which was quite alarming but Mike was able to get fluids started right away and we packed her in ice. Within 2 hours, her temp was down to 102 and she was completely relaxed. She ate some food drank some water and settled down to sleep.

She has lost about 10 pounds and has some cuts and is covered in ticks and burrs but other than that she looks very good for having been lost for 20 days.

We got back to Mike's clinic and there was a whole group of people already there. We combed a lot of the burrs out but most will have to be cut out. Steffi was very happy to see us. She just licked and licked and was very calm. She will stay at Dr. Mike's tonight but he said after they clean her up, get the ticks off, get her coat cleaned up, that she can come home. They made a big bed for her and Mark right in the middle of the clinic floor so Mark will sleep there with her tonight so she did not have to go into a kennel.

Mike made us all Hawaiian drinks and we had pizza. What a CELEBRATION we had. This will be the best night's sleep we've had in three weeks. Mike uploaded some pictures right after we got her in the van.

We are going to send the 1000.00 reward to the Grapevine Animal Control office as we could not have done this without them. Their jeep was damaged during the chase so they will need the money to repair the jeep. We will send the darts back that we ordered so we won't have that expense.

We will never ever be able to repay people for the countless hours spent in coordinating and helping with this rescue. It is hard to believe that it is actually over. I have to go back to Hillsboro and pick up all the stuff we left there but that will be a nice trip. We need to notify Channel 25 and Channel 8 that Steffi has been found. We would also like to put up the Billboard and put that Steffi has been found since we've already paid for it. Can we do that Judy? Everyone there thought that would be a great idea since so many people there have been looking for her.

I have a lot of stuff that I need to get returned to people and I would also like to get a list of expenses that people have incurred so that we can re-imburse you with the money that has been donated. So please let me know about how much we owe you.

Thanks so much for everything and for hanging in there with us these past 3 weeks. We could not have done this without each and every one of you. God Bless you all! I'm going to bed now as I'm totally wiped out. Steffi will be home tomorrow. It is hard to believe.

Praise God for sending her home.

God Bless you all.

Love to all

Nancy