Oh, What a Night ...

I just experienced one of the most scary nights of my life. Not quite as scary as Drew's irregular heartbeat when giving birth (that night will probably top my list forever as there is nothing scarier then your child having life-threatening issues), but scary enough that I never, ever want to live through it again...

The past two weeks, Tim has spent Sunday - Tuesday in Chicago for training for work. Last week, everything was as right as rain (except that we missed him immensely -- you should have seen Drew when I hung up the phone after talking to Tim on Monday night ... he started to cry! It was sad, but really adorable, too!). This week, however, wasn't quite as right. Around 10:45 p.m. on Sunday, I kept hearing this weird noise. It was like someone was kicking a herbie-curby. I looked out of the windows, but I couldn't find anything. I even told Tim about it. We are generally quick to call Public Safety for that kind-of thing, but since I couldn't place what it was, and exactly where it was coming from, I decided to ignore it chalking it up to some kids messing with peoples trash cans. I went to bed. Around 11:30, someone started knocking on our side door and ringing the doorbell. As I got out of bed to figure out what was happening, I called Tim real quick and he told me to dial 911 (of course!). We hung up quickly and I did just that, calmly explaining to the dispatcher that there was someone knocking on my door, that I didn't know who it was and asking if he could please send the police. As I was standing in the bathroom, trying to get a glimpse of who was at the side door, a man walked into my line of view for a few, brief seconds while he was talking back-and-forth with another man that was still at our door. At this point, beginning to panic a bit, I quickly described what I saw to the dispatcher and let him know for sure that I didn't know this man ...

Sir, please send the police right away!

More panic set in when I heard them begin to mess with our side window ...

Sir, they are taking the screen off of the window. Where are the police, sir? I need them here right now. They are trying to get into my house! I have a baby. And my husband is out of town. Around the corner is not here, sir. Please, I need the police here now!

So much was going through my mind. It is hard to process it even still. I was so scared that I was shaking and crying and thanking God that Drew slept peacefully through the whole thing.

Praise God for his protection as the police arrived before they could get into the window (they had the screen off and had thrown it onto our neighbors porch)! With the K-9, they were even able to track one of the perps down. Not gonna' lie ... I love the Kalamazoo Public Safety Department (KPS)! They were quick, efficient and kind -- even letting me know that my husband had called Public Safety (not 911 ... smart guy, that Tim!) to try to see if there were any dispatches to our house and that I needed to call him back. My sister and her husband came over right away and Drew and I relocated to their house for the few days that Tim was out of town.

The aftermath: They do have one guy in custody ... he is just a teenager which makes me very sad. He is most likely going to be charged with a felony break-and-enter (b&e) and an attempted b&e. Oh yeah, that herbie-curby noise ... that was them breaking into the house next door to ours -- which was vacant because our neighbors just moved out last week. (Hindsight = 20/20.) They still haven't caught the second guy. Tim and I have both felt a little sick the past few days. It is so disturbing to think that someone was trying to get into our home to take our things. I know that things are ... well, things, but it such a disruption of privacy and peace. I don't believe that they meant bodily harm (that, I believe, is why they knocked on the door -- to see if anyone would respond. If someone did, they would have gone on there merry way). But is is still scary to think what could have been.

Praise God for His protection. Do not be anxious about anything ... but with prayer and petition, present your requests to God ... and the peace of God -- which transcends all understanding -- will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6 & 7, my paraphrase). Praise God for the swift response of the KPS. Praise God that Drew was not affected by this in the least. Praise God. Period.