And then we were robbed

While we were gone, on top of everything else that happened in our absence, we got robbed. We were skyping with James' youngest brother and he said, "Oh, I've been meaning to get in touch with you. Someone broke into your house." What wonderful news to hear when you're over 5000 miles away from said house. After inspecting some of our high ticket items, he said the only thing that seemed to be missing was James' xbox360. James and I breathed a big sigh of relief and said no biggy. We were just thankful that we weren't there and that the thieves didn't empty our house. He told us that the police said it definitely looked like the robbers went all through the house because there was a bunch of clutter everywhere. Embarrassingly enough, my first thought was, "Well that doesn't sound terribly different from the way I left it. Maybe they just ran in, grabbed the xbox, and left." James' brother told me it was rifled through and lots of stuff was moved around.

We had someone clean our house before we got home so it would look normal again.

We got home. It looked normal, except with no xbox and no xbox games.

A few days later, James called me from work asking me to get his social security card out so he would remember to take it somewhere the next day. That's when we ran into a big problem. My "important papers" place was nearly empty. Our SS cards were missing, along with the title to my car. Ouch. We didn't see that one coming. Fun fact, they left all the children's documents and our marriage license. They also spent the time to weed out all the VeggieTales DVDs from the xbox games that have the same lime green cover. I kinda wish they had taken and watched a few of the VeggieTales!

Now we're in the process of dealing with all that. We're hoping it's not the whole intricate web of identity theft. We got a call from a "Title Loan" place, so we figured that they just took the SS cards to prove they are the owners of the car in order to get quick cash.

Though I don't recommend getting robbed, if you are so unfortunate, I highly suggest having someone straighten your house before you see the mess. I don't feel unsafe or creeped out that anyone was snooping through all my stuff because it's all is in its proper place. Maybe that's just the illusion of security, but hey, whatever works!

After realizing they took important documents, James was a bit miffed that we didn't get to see the house as the robbers left it, but I'm not at all.

On our to get list: 

-rottweiler*

-alarm system

-safety deposit box

*just kidding. Though Good Dog, Carl is one of my favorite children's books, we'd probably end up with a Rottweiler as docile as Carl, who is less ferocious than Sammy!

I just can't help but feel bad for the people who broke in to our house. Maybe they're trapped in some bad addiction where they need fast cash desperately, or maybe they are regular people just looking for a thrill. Maybe they have been in and out of jail, or maybe they are first time offenders. Maybe we're complete strangers, or maybe they read my blog. Maybe they're just like me. Maybe they need to experience Amazing Grace first hand the way I did, do, and will forever. Maybe I should to do something to help.

Ok, here goes: To the people who robbed our house, I forgive you for breaking into our home, going through all of our belongings, and taking some of our things.

My next step: Put them in my prayer journal. "-please help the people who broke into our home to realize their need for Your amazing grace and to find forgiveness and salvation that come only through knowing Your Son Jesus."