Josh and I are excited to be co-teaching a series at church on Wednesday nights called "Love and Respect". If you haven't taken this series by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, I highly recommend you do!!! We've been through it a few times and it is just packed with awesome truths and realistic help on improving your relationship with your spouse. We were so honored to get the opportunity to assist with this semester's class alongside a couple my parents have been friends with since high school, so we're really looking forward to learning from them and getting to share a bit about what God has done in our marriage over the past nine years (I CANNOT believe we have been married nine years...holy cow I am getting old!!! Just kidding I got married when I was a teeny tiny baby).
When we met with the couple we will be doing this series with, we talked a bit about how when you are following God's leading to share His truths and beginning on a new path (such as teaching this class), it is always inevitable for Satan to do his thing and try his best to distract you, frustrate you, and build barriers between you and your spouse and you and the Lord. They told us to be on the lookout for such things, and to be extra vigilant in praying for each other and staying close to the Lord.
Well what do you know, yesterday we had a major distraction and roadblock! I came home from dropping the kids off at school (and let it be known, I decided to just wear my pajamas since I wouldn't be getting out of the car anyway and who would really see me? Big mistake moms! Never do this!!!), when I drove back up to the house to see my garage door wide open. I am really, really paranoid about making sure it closes when I leave and always checking it in my rearview as I drive away, so I knew something was off.
I parked in the driveway and with the car still running, texted Josh the following...
"So I definitely for sure closed the garage leaving today but when I came home it was open. Hopefully I don't die by a robber."
I felt this would at least alert him to something possibly being wrong if I didn't send a follow up text in a minute or so. I decided the garage probably just popped open on its own after I left because maybe a leaf or something blew into the sensor (it has been knowing to happen). I got out of the car and with cell phone in hand (I don't know what I thought I would do, throw it at them?), cautiously walked up to the door. I noticed something in my path that I knew hadn't been there when I left, so then I really felt something was up. I opened the door about two inches and peered inside to see my dog sitting quietly on the living room floor...and my living room TV missing.
I immediately ran back to my car, got in, drove down the street, and called 911. I told the operator what I had seen and she promised to send out some police right away. She then asked me if we normally lock the door from the house to the garage, and I said no, and she went on to tell me, "You should really think about doing that."
Wow. Thank you so much for that advice.
When I hung up with her, I suddenly became keenly aware of what I was wearing. Just so you can get a good illustration in your head, I was wearing brown ugg type house slipper boots, pink and grey animal print pajama pants, a non-matching hot hot hot pink sleep shirt, and a blue jacket. I had not brushed my hair, just thrown it into a ponytail, and my face was in its glorious 7 a.m. splendor, no make up to be seen. I quickly thanked the Lord that Eisley had demanded I at least put a bra on to drive them to school, because otherwise I may have felt it necessary to risk my safety running back into the house to put one on before the police showed up.
Anyways, when they got there, they searched the house (in a very from the movies, guns out, shouting to "come out with your hands up" way), and let me back in to look over the damage. Surprisingly, the only thing I noticed missing was our TV (I later noticed Josh's air compressor from the garage was also stolen). This was an absolute miracle because we had cash on the counter I was planning to deposit that day, and a number of other things just sitting out in the open, including our cameras, ipods, and video game systems that were left completely untouched. The robber even went so far as to carefully and nicely pull the cords out of the TV instead of cutting them, which was so thoughtful of him.
The worst thing the intruders seemed to steal yesterday was our sense of safety. We feel so crazy blessed that God protected the rest of our belongings and especially that no one walked in on them (in her pajamas, with nothing but a pink sparkly cell phone to protect her). God was good to us and really spared us from a load of heartache and headache, so we are feeling pretty lucky.
I would like to take a second to tell you how they got in, because apparently it is a very common practice and had we known, we could have easily protected ourselves and avoided it, so maybe ya'll should too. What they do now is drill a precise hole in your garage door and open a flap big enough to stick a crow bar or tool like it through the hole to pull the red hanging rope that hangs from your garage door opener. This disables the opener and allows you to manually pull the garage open easily. It is meant as a back up for when your opener motor goes out, but we had no idea burglars use it for that purpose. The cops told me we should immediately remove the rope, which we did, but you all should go do the same! And of course, take extra precaution to lock the door leading to your house, which we now will do religiously, along with adding a dead bolt and alarm system.
We are also using this as an opportunity to better secure our house, which we have been meaning to do for awhile now. We're thankful it didn't take something worse to give us that push to add an alarm and security doors, but this was definitely enough for us to do so!!!
The hardest part of all of it was telling the kids. Eisley especially has already been struggling so much with fear ever since the school shooting at Sandy Hook. She is a very, very inquisitive little girl and wants to know every detail of everything. We protect her from things she doesn't need to know, but we also don't lie to her. Lies beget lies that just beget more lies, that is a lesson we have learned the hard way in our marriage, and have promised never to lie to our kids. They have a way of finding out the truth, and if they then feel they cannot trust us, we have lost something incredibly important in our relationship with them.
So, even though I was terrified to do so, I told the kids on the way home from school what had happened. I did my very best (praying the whole time God would show me what to say!) and gave the information in the least threatening way I could. I talked about how those robbers did not want to hurt anyone, which is why they came when no one was home, they just wanted to steal stuff. I told them God protected our family and a lot of our things and we were really blessed. I told them mommy and daddy were going to change a lot around the house to make it safer, like getting an alarm and installing some new doors and windows. I told them it would probably feel creepy for awhile knowing someone was in our house, but that all we could do is better prepare ourselves and pray that God would take away our fears. I told them it would probably take some time to feel normal in the house again, but that eventually we would.
They seemed to take it pretty well. Jake said those guys were jerks, and Eisley was glad they didn't steal her baby dolls. We had some issues later with them feeling scared and her "not feeling safe anymore". But, we knew that was coming. We're taking it a day at a time! And we are trying to praise God in this mini storm! We are so thankful He protected us like He did and did not allow it to be much worse. But like Eisley said, it still feels creepy. ;)
In lighter news, we got to see baby again today!!! It was my 28 week growth scan, and baby is doing great! Everything looks right on track, and this little one is weighing in at a hefty 2 pounds, 9 ounces! I brought my mom and sister with me today, so they got to peek in on baby which was fun. He/she was asleep so didn't entertain us too much, but we got a few nice pictures! Here is one I will share. That's my baby's precious lips and nose, and that there is his or her elbow up by his or her face (I am so ready to know if it is a his or her elbow!). Apparently it is trying to see if it can, indeed, touch its nose to its elbow. Good luck sweety!
And as an added bonus, here is a picture from the outside! Mommy and baby at 28 weeks. Yay for the third and final trimester!!!
We are in the home stretch!!! Only 10-12 weeks left with this little one inside me. We absolutely cannot wait to meet you baby! But we also want you to cook as long as you need to, so don't rush now!!! :)
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