By the time we got home I was dehydrated and everyone was ready for a nap. As we walked in Elijah said, "Mom? Why didn't you close the door?" I have extremely delayed reactions, so we all kept walking inside. As I rounded the corner, I saw a disaster of a house. I mean, it was crazy. Things had been ripped off the walls, closets were totally emptied, and lots of furniture was overturned. I quickly herded the kids outside and back into the van while calling 911. {"Out! Out! Go NOW!"}
Two policemen arrived about ten minutes later and Eric finally got home about an hour after our initial discovery. He took the kids over to the Jackson's while I got on the phone and cancelled credit cards and closed bank accounts. Eric flipped the furniture back into an upright position while also making phone calls. It was nutso, but I was OK. I didn't feel violated or angry; I just kept thanking God that we were all OK.
As we plugged away trying to avoid financial disaster, Eric said "I'm just sad that they stole all our pictures." "What?" We had just purchased a new laptop. Eric had just backed up all the files onto our external hard drive and transferred them to my new laptop. The robbers stole both laptops as well as the external hard drive. They really had taken all my pictures. And all my videos. Everything. I locked myself in the bathroom and cried and cried and cried. Sobbed, really. It was/is so sad. Eric came in a few minutes later. "Sorry. I thought you already knew about the pictures."
Now I was upset. The stolen items didn't bother me. The hours and days and weeks I would spend trying to sort out all the repairs were really only an inconvenience. But the pictures of my kids? I would have paid the robbers to leave those. I would have paid them a lot.
We finally made it over to our friend's house a few hours later. Pastor Ben said, "All your greatest treasures are right here, in this house." One of the two best quotes of 2012; I have repeated it to myself many, many times. {I also talk to myself about the centuries before cameras existed, about all the people in Africa who never have a picture of their children....}
We really do have so much for which to be thankful! Chiefly - a God who works all things for our good! Thank you, kind friends, who have sent me pictures of my children! These pictures are now treasures! Thank you to everyone who has not asked me about the pictures; because - still - I cry everytime I think about what has been lost.
And, if you happen to have be the thief, I'm still praying that you'll drop off that hard drive on my front porch. Really.
6.15.2012
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