when people steal

wow. what a week. well, really, the past 3 weeks. 3 weeks ago was the car wreck. two weeks ago we got our settlement check. one week ago we found a new van (! which we love, amen). and one week ago i got home from my usual wednesday morning Bible study to discover our house had been robbed for the second time since being in charlotte. we were robbed back in april when they stole many big things. unfortunately, we didn't have renters insurance yet and so nothing was covered. many generous family members ended up replacing the things we had taken. this time, they took every small electronic they could get their hands on and we did have insurance, thank goodness. the first time, they kicked open our back door. this time, they threw a cinder block through jake and i's bedroom window. there was glass everywhere. they went through our room, tearing off our bedding looking for things. they stole my laptop, jake's playstation, all his accessories for that, ALL of jake's camera gear including 3 lenses, a video camera, the camera itself, his bag, etc. they stole a kindle, an android tablet, 2 ipod's, 2 backpacks, credit cards, a big jar of change we have saved since we got married, and more. we had been staying at josh and joy's house since it happened and after church on sunday, jake went home to pack some stuff up and discovered the robbers had come back. this time they broke our bathroom window and went threw all of our stuff. they opened every drawer in our house, threw my clothes all over. it was obvious they spent a lot of time in there. thankfully, jake had cleared out all our valuable things, but i was easily the most disturbed by this break in. i wouldn't do this, but it makes me want to throw all those clothes away just knowing they were thrown around and picked through.

what is it about being robbed that is so disturbing and violating? to me, it's about the fact they came in through our bedroom! they saw pictures all over of us, our babies, and whole families. they know how we decorate. they know our schedule and when a good time to rob us is. they took things that we have saved and worked hard to pay for. things we care about and use. i think the bottom line is, they just came right in and took what they wanted. as if people were not attached to those things. that someone wouldn't be affected by their actions.

the hardest thing for me has really been the fact that we have to move. obviously, we can't live in that house anymore and i wouldn't want to. but i loved that house. i always pictured where i would put baby3's bouncer and swing and clothes and burp cloths. it was our home. and because of other people's choices, we need to move. to keep our babies safe. to not have break-ins be a regular occurrence.
this transition time has been tough on everyone. we are now staying at the wedding business which is a historic home. we are incredibly thankful to have this place in the meantime. it's not the most kid-friendly place and finley calls it the "work house" and always wants to work with daddy and go in the work garage for tools. he asks to go home all the time and is confused about why we can't. jake is working so hard to get all the insurance stuff sorted out, so i've been mainly looking for houses. we are both exhausted and want to be settled again. so blessed to have a realtor from our church who is helping us find a place. he knows so much about the area and is super helpful. we have a couple good leads, so it's just more waiting to see what turns out.

you know, jake and i don't have any idea why the month of january was the way it was. and it doesn't matter why. we are incredibly thankful for the endless blessings the Lord has given us. it hasn't been easy. my back is still very sore from the wreck and i can barely take care of my kids by the end of the day, let alone be much help moving at all. so many people have offered to help and we have people who love and care for us. near and far. i am thankful for the body of Christ and how He designed it. jake and i are weak right now. that's just the darn truth. we are weary. but we are not alone. and we have the love of people and the love of Him keeping us comforted and persevering. and we know these trials are real, but there are people dealing with incredibly difficult things every single day.

"do not grow weary in doing good." He always knows, right :)

love to you.
mer