Making Lemonade

We have all heard the saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." These days we are in the midst of making a big batch of lemonade and day by day our gracious heavenly father is giving us more sugar to use in the mix.

Saturday evening we went out to and early dinner to celebrate both Tracey's and my birthdays with our moms (Yes both Tracey's mom and my mom came for a visit last week). We returned home about 7:30 to discover the door leading from the garage to the house was open and almost all of the downstairs lights were on. Telling everyone to stay in the car I grabbed the most manly weapon I could find, Olivia's Barbie Umbrella, and went through the house making sure no uninvited guests were in it. Thankfully no one was in our home, but neither were our home computer, my work computer, our cameras (we had just purchased a new one to replace the old one), the SI safe (fortunately all that was in it was some personal cash, a couple of credit cards, our social security cards, Califonria Driver's licenses, and a box of checks), a dying portable DVD player, my iPod, Tracey's jewelry box (the biggest loss was Tracey's wedding ring ;(, and a few other small items.

So we started knocking on doors to see if the neighbors saw anything and called the Fuerza Publica (police). No one saw anything that we found that night and the police told us that we needed to go and file a complaint with OIJ (the investigative arm of the police). So I went to file the report while Tracey and the Grandmas put the kids to bed. After filing the report I returned home and we waited for the Crime Scene Inspectors to come. They came and by 10:30 or 11:00 they were done going through the house gathering what evidence they could. Needless to say we had enough figurative lemons to make a pretty big batch of lemonade.

There are also several things to be thankful for with this incident. First we were not home. We don't know if they would have broken in not if we had been, but if we had been home or returned to catch them in the act it could have been bad news. Second they could have taken much more than they did. They left an external hard drive which we used to back-up both computers, so we have all the information that was on them. The did not take any of our phones or printers, the TV, the WII, and a DVD player. They also walked by cash boxes with the cash need to facilitate an outreach (our first team of the summer arrived yesterday).

While the chances of recovering any of our things is slim we have been pleased with the attentiveness of the system here. From the fast response times to the thorough conversation we had with two investigators today (they sat with us for about an hour in our living room while the team had devotions upstairs). We have gotten to know a few of our neighbors since living here, but ones we have barely known have gone out of their way to call or come by to offer to do anything they can to help. And in talking with more of them one person saw the couple that robbed us and the car that they used to haul everything away. There have been a couple of other robberies in our neighborhood and we are discussing organizing in a more formal way some sort of neighborhood watch. So there will be a neighborhood meeting soon (most likely at our house).

Our teammates have also responded in a loving and caring way. Letting us borrow computers offering to help us weld added security features on our house, and most importantly simply being a loving presence during a tough time. Throughout the last couple of days we have not felt alone and have felt carried by the love, concern, and prayers of our team, our families, and our many friends. Thank you!

Please keep praying! Pray for God's peace to reign down on our home and for all fear to be washed away. Pray also for the many processes that we are involved in at the moment (the police investigation, canceling all of the stolen cards, getting new social security cards and driver's licenses, placing fraud alerts on our social security numbers, etc). Pray also for discernment in knowing what additional security measures to take, and as we decide what we need to replace and what is the best way to do so. Pray also for the team that arrived yesterday. Pray that we would be able to devote the needed time and energy to them and that God would move in and through them.

So life has given us a good supply of lemons in the last few days. But we are thankful that God has also supplied us with enough sugar to make some lemonade. Hope your thirsty!