Victim

So, I think it's about time to tell this story.

I was the victim of a crime.

Wow, that felt weird to type.  Let's start back at the beginning...

So I work as the secretary at our church.  I'm there every morning.  Our church is pretty great.  Well, we like it.  It drives us crazy sometimes and every so often we get disheartened and think maybe we should just leave and find somewhere else that's going to be more supportive of new ideas and have more children's programs and a more lively young adult ministry to feed all of us better.  And then we remember that if we think there should be more of this or that, then WE should be the ones to fix it, not just abandon ship and leave this family to rot.  And so we stay, and work, and become encouraged again that there is hope for this little congregation.  And one of the things this church does well is open its doors to those in need.  We partner with a local special needs school to provide a place for lifeskills training for their students.  Every Thursday, this group of students comes in and gets hands-on experience with cleaning, interacting with the employees here, and they even go grocery shopping and use our kitchen to cook their own lunch.  They are a fantastic group of kids and teachers that really brighten up the week.  I always miss them over the summer break.  

Unfortunately, we're located fairly downtown in a medium sized town with increasing problems with drugs and homelessness.  There's a great place in town where people can go for assistance, but there are always those who just 'work the system' and come around asking all the churches for money.  Some of them are truly in need and some are just looking for money.  My heart is torn about this issue.  Because everyone who comes around asking for money does have a need that is very real to them.  Whether or not the rest of society sees it as a legitimate need is another thing altogether.  Anyway.  We have a policy of keeping our doors locked at all times.  We have a female pastor and female secretary (that's me!) and elderly custodians that are only there 2 days a week or so.  Basically, none of us want strangers wandering through our building.  And it happens when the doors are unlocked.  A lot.  So if the doors could just stay locked all the time, we'd be good to go.  But a lot of people have keys.  A lot.  And most of them just don't understand either how or why to lock the door behind them, even when they're inside the building.  And despite all the education we've been trying to do, the problem persists.

SO... combine all of these facts into the perfect storm.  A Thursday in May, the group of students was here, and the elderly custodian left the back door unlocked.  Now, we all work in a church.  Where the doors are supposed to be locked.  So I had been a little lax with securing my personal belongings.  Meaning that I left my purse sit on my desk.  I spend most of the working day in my office anyway.  But on this particular Thursday, the pastor called me into her office for a meeting that was only supposed to take 5 minutes.  Because the students were there, and I know that sometimes the teachers need to borrow a post-it or a pen, I left my office door open.  You can see where this is going, can't you?  The closed-door meeting with the pastor lasted 45 minutes instead of 5.  Her door doesn't have a window in it - for privacy.  And by the time we got done, it was time for me to head home.  I hopped in the car and drove straight home, but was starving.  So I stopped at the gas station down the street from my house to grab a snack.  I reached in my purse and - yep - my wallet wasn't there.  I picked up my phone (which WAS in my purse, go figure) and called the pastor and had her look around my office.  No wallet.  So then I told her that I knew for a fact that it was in there when I got to work that morning and reluctantly asked her to call the teacher of the special-needs students, fearing that one of them had taken it.  I hate to admit it, but that was my first thought.  I decided not to call the police or the credit card companies because if one of those kids had it, then they weren't going to do anything with it anyway.

So I go home, without my snack, and sit and wait for the pastor to call me back.  She doesn't.  So I tried calling her and get no response.  I even resorted to calling her cell phone.  Nothing.  Now I'm getting worried.  And then my phone rings.  It's the credit card company fraud alert department.  There's been some questionable activity on my card and they want to know if I can verify it.  Well no, I can't.  I didn't go to that pizza place, or that gas station, OR that spa (of all places).  Cancel the card.  Cancel everything.  My wallet was not lost or taken by mistake, it was stolen.  Along with 2 other items from my purse that looked like they could have held money or other valuables.  So now I'm panicking.  I called Andy to try and let him know that all of our cards are cancelled and can't get ahold of him.  He's out in the field and his cell phone battery is dead.  Now I'm panicking and furious.  And Ellie's awake and screaming and I'm still trying to cancel cards.  So I call my mom and have her come over to entertain Ellie while I try desperately to get all the cards cancelled even though I'm not the primary person on the account and no, I can't get ahold of him, and no I don't know my driver's license number because that was stolen too.  Eventually I have to drive to my actual bank branch to close that card because I can't verify my identity over the phone.  I cried the entire time I was there.  The ladies were really nice.

Eventually Andy got home and everything was finished being cancelled.  After they emptied out my personal checking account that I use solely for managing the finances for the music studio.  They went to an ATM.  Which means they had my PIN.  No, it wasn't written on my card and no, it wasn't something that was easy to guess.  Then I had to file the police report.  The officer was super nice.  A blessing, actually.  Christian man, very encouraging, and very empathetic to the situation.  And then we had to pick up all the pieces.  

I ended up writing a bunch of bad checks the week after the incident because the bank told me that the ATM charge didn't 'post', but then it did and wasn't fixed so my account was empty and I wrote checks without knowing that.  So when I got my new card in the mail, I figured I'd check my online account balance before activating it.  It was negative over $300.  I nearly threw up.  It took weeks of careful monitoring and visits to the bank, but I think it's all straightened out now.  I had to buy a new license and still haven't replaced the cute purple 31 wristlet that matched my diaper bag.  

But I'm pretty much over it.  

It's been over two months and everything's totally cool now.  People at church have finally stopped asking me if I've 'found' my wallet (um no, I didn't lose it) and they've been better about the door locking policy.  Life is pretty much back to normal.

Then this past Friday I got a letter in the mail from the District Attorney.  I nearly threw up.  Evidently, they got the guy.  And he's been charged.  Identity theft.  Theft by unlawful taking.  Credit Card fraud.  Well, great.  Right?  I mean, that's what he did, so it's great that he's being charged with it.  Good job, Mr. Policeman.  You got him.

But now I have to be involved.  I have to fill out all this paperwork for the D.A. and the judge to review before sentencing.  I have to list all of my losses.  Ok, that's not too hard.  I have to fill out a paper stating whether or not I agree that he could be granted probation instead of jail time.  Ok, I think I can figure that out.  But then I have to fill out a Victim Statement.

A Victim Statement.  

I guess that means I'm a victim.  The letter even starts with "We're very sorry that you were the victim of a crime."  I never identified myself as that before.  I never even thought of it as a crime.  How stupid is that?  I've just been calling it "the incident" or "that time my wallet was stolen," but never a crime.  It just didn't seem like that big of a deal.  But now I have to write this statement telling all about how the crime has impacted me and how I go about my daily life.  And the worst part?  They're going to read it.  And it will actually matter.  

So what do I say??  

I have no idea.  I mean, yeah it sucked.  But it's not like I was injured or have been harassed or physically threatened.  I'm fine.  Yes, I'm more careful about where I put my purse in my office.  Yes, I shut my (always locked) office door whenever I step out.  Yes, I jump a little every time I hear someone walking through the building and I know I should be alone.  But none of those things are a big deal.  I'm just getting on with life. 

So what do I say??

Dear Judge, 

I'm fine.  Do whatever you want to the guy.  

Love, Heather.

Dear Judge, 

Life sucked for a little bit there.  And 31 retired that print.  Can I have $30 to buy a new wallet?  And the new license cost me $27.50.  And I had a $25 Kohls gift card in there that was a birthday gift that I never got to use.  And a $5 Panera gift card that I was saving for one of those days when you just really need a giant cinnamon roll (which, ironically, was the very day my wallet was stolen).  And $5 cash.   

Love, Heather.

Dear Judge,

I lost sleep just trying to figure out how to fill out this paperwork.  Figure out how much that's worth and then give me that.

Love, Heather.

Dear Judge,

I'm a Christian and Jesus said to forgive those who wrong you.  So I don't want anything from the guy.

Love, Heather

Dear Judge,

My whole church family has been impacted by this crime.  We're all victims.  We're all shocked and unnerved that someone would walk into a place of worship and take something that they would have been given if they had only asked.  Help this man with whatever problem he has and please tell him that church starts at 10 am on Sunday.  

Love, Heather

Seriously.  What do I say??  I only have 28 days left to figure it out.  I wonder if lost sleep accrues interest?

All of June

So I know it's literally the middle of July, but summer has been really busy for us this year.  So here's what we did for the entire month of June...

First we celebrated our 5th Anniversary!  Here's a picture taken on the day of our first date...

We were so cute, even before our first 'official' date!

A little back story... We were both working at a summer camp up in the mountains and the week beforehand, it rained like crazy.  Really crazy.  And the creek was really really high.  So a few of us got this crazy idea to take an old mattress and raft down the creek.  We did get permission to do it, but had to wait until the weekend, when there were no campers around.  Well by then the creek had gone down significantly and the rafting didn't really work.  On our way past the maintenance building, we saw this old kayak just sitting around, so we grabbed it for some more creek fun.  Andy and his college buddy turned camp counselor Micah were the ones rafting and good friend Jackie and I were walking along laughing at them the whole time.  This was Saturday afternoon and our date was schedule for supper time, so I was avoiding getting wet/creek-y so that I could just change clothes and be ready to go.  Well somehow Mr. Andy convinced me to climb in the kayak to float around the water hole.  That's when Jackie snapped that adorable picture (THANKS, JACKIE!!).  And then, he flipped it.  See the arm back behind me?  Yep, he just pulled and flipped it right over.  I barely had time to hold my breath.  And I was soaked head to toe.  So I had to go straight back to my room and completely shower, re-dress, re-do my hair and everything.  Which made me about an hour late for our date.  But it was HIS fault.  I just wanted to clear all that up.  So that was 8 years ago.  

And then 5 years ago we did this...

This was right after Pastor John introduced us as 'Mr. & Mrs. McDonald'

Awww, how sweet, right?  And to celebrate 5 years of marriage bliss and 8 years of dating, I finally climbed back in a kayak with Mr. Andy.  I was understandably nervous.  But we paddled around for an hour and stayed in the kayak the whole time.  I won't say we stayed dry, because it's surprising how wet you get just from paddle splashes, but he did NOT flip me this time.  So here are some pictures from our anniversary trip to the lake...

Got in without flipping - that's a good start!

Photobomb Tree

Dude that tree is almost falling over! 

Pretty lake, even though it was cloudy and cool all day.

Mandatory feet in kayak photo.

Big rocks - Photobomb Andy's paddle

A sailboat!

On our way back to the dock and we're still dry!  

Back on land and still [mostly] dry!  Yay us!

Then we had a nice little picnic.

And went for a nice little hike.

And stopped here for ice cream on the way home.

Haven't had one of these in years!  It was just as good as I remember!

Best ice cream ever!  And a wonderful way to celebrate 5 fabulous years!

So then, the next day, we celebrated Father's Day with both of our dads at the same time.  If you couldn't tell from our luxury anniversary celebration, we're not really rolling in the dough right now.  So for Father's Day we had both dads over for a cookout and pool party.  And my mom came too because why would we make her stay home alone?!  That's terrible!  So here's our fun pictures from that...

Playing Ball with Pappy

My new favorite picture

Happy Daddy's Day!

Warming up with Gramma

Hanging out with Grampy

And then it was time for VBS to consume my life for the rest of the month.  Literally.  It only lasted 3 days, but was a super awesome time that was worth all the work.  And it ended like this...

We only had 16 kids instead of the 30 I was hoping for, but they ALL came for church on Sunday and stayed for lunch afterward just so that they could hit me in the face with almost 20 pies. 

Totally worth it.

Springtime & Mother's Day

Springtime has been just lovely around here.  I realize how sarcastic that may have sounded, but I was being completely serious.  It's been a gorgeous spring.  Check out some of the fun things we've done so far...

WAY back in April, we celebrated the homecoming of one of Andy's good friends from college.  He recently got back from Afghanistan, so the whole gang got together to hang out and catch up...

Babies: Elijah, Ellie, Audrey, Mariah (this is the best one I got)

Dads (plus Micah): Micah, Matt, Andy, Alex, Jared

I thought it was too cute how, with the exception of Micah (who isn't a dad), the dad's sat in the same order as their babies.  Awww.  Oh, and apparently the McD's can't keep their hands off the Bailey's (the people, not the Irish Cream).  Hmm.  We'll have to keep an eye on that.

Ellie took walks and played in the park with various parents & grandparents...

Saw a few more critters...

Duck in a BIG puddle in the park. 

Tree Frogs on our deck.

And learned a little about flower gardening...

"Oooo piddy!" (Oh, pretty!)

"Dish?" (This?)

And helped her dad clean and rearrange furniture in the living room...

And established her 'office' in our 'dining' room...

(Sorry that picture is so grainy - the lighting wasn't great and by the time I got the camera adjusted properly she caught me taking pictures and started to cry until I left.  She's serious about her office space.  She will often take books over there and sit and read.  In this picture, she's got the baby monitor (which she answers like a phone, "hi!"), her water cup, and her bedtime prayer book.  And yes, that shelf is firmly anchored to the wall.)

And discovered bubbles.  Oh the bubbles.  

Hey, those are kinda funny little things...

Ahhh!  It touched me!  And it TICKLES!

Run away!  Run away!

Ahh, it's much safer behind the bubbles!

Then came Mother's Day.  And let me tell you what, she made me work for this one.  It started on Friday, when Andy and Ellie were going downstairs to play and he slid down some of the steps.  Nothing too terrible - just a foot slipped and he went down a few, but he kept her safe and sound and just wound up with a bruised shin and big toe knuckle.  Evidently his toe hurt REALLY BAD because he was still complaining about it over a week later.  It wasn't bad enough to actually go to the doctor, though.

Saturday, Ellie and I went shopping with Gramma and had a super fun time.  In the evening, we were all down in the basement watching Jeopardy together (because we're cool like that) and Ellie was playing with her stuffed animals right next to where I was sitting on the floor.  Then, all of a sudden, she starts choking.  Like, gasping for air, can barely cough, eyes watering, choking.  On what???  Anyway, she was still coughing as she crawled up in my lap, so I calmly encouraged her to keep coughing and then felt inside her mouth to see if there was something big I could pull out.  Well, I gagged her and she threw up dinner (hot dogs and mac 'n cheese again) all over me, but the object came out too and she could breathe, so it was all good.  Andy threw a towel on me and we went up to change clothes.  Evidently, there was a chunk of plastic that she tried to swallow.  I have never seen anything like that anywhere in my house.  And we vacuum that room twice a week, so the floor is actually really clean!  We cannot figure out where it came from or at what point she put it in her mouth.  Like I said, she was right next to me the whole time!  Anyway, I was really shaking and freaking out for most of the rest of the night.

Sunday started out pretty normal, except Ellie decided morning started at 5 instead of 7 like usual.  She got fussy right in the middle of the sermon at church, so Andy took her to the back so she could run a little bit.  Right at the end, he put her up on his shoulders, which he's done many times before.  Well, her favorite youth came walking back and she threw herself at him and off of Andy's shoulders.  Thankfully, he caught her, but it was by the arm.  So she was screaming and mad, but calmed down when I got to her, so we figured she was just scared by the whole ordeal.  We went out for lunch at a local pizza place with some friends and that's when I realized that she wasn't using her right arm.  That's the one he grabbed.  Yeah.  Not a good sign.  So after we all had full bellies, we headed off to the ER to get checked out.  JUST what I want to be doing on Mother's Day!  It turned out the be the fastest ER visit in the entire history of hospitals.  We were in and out in 35 minutes.  It helped that we were the only people there at the time.  So we got all checked in and told the story to three different nurses and the Nurse Practitioner came in and started checking over her arm and POP it was fixed.  Her elbow had been dislocated.  Apparently it's a very common injury in kids her age.  They run out in traffic or something and you grab their hand to stop them and their elbow just pops out.  So they wanted to give her some tylenol and observe her for a few minutes to see if she started using it to determine if they needed to do an x-ray.  Well no sooner was it back in than she wanted to be down and twirling around and digging in my purse.  She was totally fine.  We all got a pretty good kick out of it.  So we all went home and took super long naps and then had a normal rest of the day.  It was pretty crazy.

I was pretty scared to drop her off at the babysitter's on Monday morning, but everything settled back down after that really eventful weekend.  So anyway, for Mother's day Andy gave me the gift of knowing that I will never be the first person to cause our child to have to go to the emergency room.  How thoughtful.

Watching The Mummy in the ER waiting room.

Now what can I get him for Father's Day that will top that??