It's been awhile....

I haven't blogged in awhile, because it sometimes feels narcissistic. But my original purpose to blog, was for me to keep a few of our life events on file. With that being said, one major thing that happened to us was two fridays ago. Patrick and I had driven separately to the monument store for domino night. We came back to our house after 10pm to find our back garage door and our door to get into our house WIDE open. I sat in the driveway for minute wondering if maybe the wind had blown them open. I looked around and realized that it wasn't windy though. I called Pat right away and told him that the doors were wide open. He pulled in, got out, and sat in my car with me. We have 3 cops that live right around us, so we thought that we would call our neighbor George to come over and check things out with us. He was working, so Patrick just decided to call 911. They told us to stay in our car until the police arrived. A Vassar cop came within a few minutes. A neighbor, who lives at the end of the cul-de-sac, pulled up beside the cop to tell him that her front door was wide open, but she thought that the person walked in and walked out because her daughter was in her bedroom. The cop told us that someone on Margery Ct. (which is the sub right behind ours) had a B&E around 7pm earlier that night. Pat and the officer went inside the house to check things out. I stayed in my car and called my parents. They came right away and my mom sat in with me, while my dad went in with the guys. After taking pictures and checking our house in and out, Pat came out to tell me that yes we had been broken into. The person was after jewelry and cash. He ended up looking through all of our closets, dressers drawers, bathroom vanity, etc. He took Patrick's computer bag, dumped it out on the floor and put all of our jewelry box things into that. Most of my jewelry was not touched because he did not find it...PTL! But, I had just inherited some family jewelry and that was on my dresser in my box and taken. One item my grandma had given to me at Christmas, it was a piece that was given to her by her grandmother. I am pretty bummed about that. Overall, he did not take many things, surprisingly. We just feel pretty violated. We now know to keep lights on to make it seem like someone is always home. Thankfully, we are starting to feel more secure again in our own home. We pray that this person will get caught soon, so that he does not do this to anyone else!

This experience has reminded me of how fast an event like this can happen. We were so unaware and unprepared for this to happen. But, God brought to my attention that this is how the Lord will come back:

Matthew 24:42-44
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

Maybe this was a wake-up call for us to really keep our priorities straight in life! Hmmm...just a little lesson for me I guess :)




And lastly, another comforting reminder of why we face trials in this life. This last year has been full of trials for us, but I am so humbled that God is growing Patrick and I in our faith!!!

James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.