Bummer

Our trip is still going great - I can't believe that we're flying back to California tomorrow - it's gone by sooo fast! We had a great weekend in Gatlinburg, TN which is a really cute tourist town up by the Smoky Mountains National Park. It was gorgeous and we had a great time. I'm working at getting those pictures ready...

On Thursday I got a call from poor Taraleigh who has been so sweet to water my plants and check my mail for me while we've been gone. She told me that our house had been broken into and that it was completely trashed. It definitely came as a huge surprise and also a big time bummer... I don't think I've ever been robbed before. I still don't know everything that they took, but it sounds like they took quite a bit.

I've been thinking about it a lot lately and two things about this situation have come to my mind that I thought I'd share: 1. I am so grateful that prayers are answered. The kids and I weren't there - and how grateful I am for that! Soooo completely grateful. Every day I pray for safety and I feel that those prayers have been answered. Sometimes we don't know how our prayers will be answered, but I do know that they are. And 2. stuff is really just that - stuff. Yes, things are important, but when it really comes down to it - it's the simplist of things that are the most important and nothing else really matters. So what if all my jewlrey is gone, I never wore it anyway!

Luckily Josh's Dad was able to come down and help out with everything and Trent and Taraleigh helped out a ton too. Thanks you guys - so much... I feel terrible that I'm not even there to deal with all this, but in a way, grateful too. Everything will work out just fine, as it always does - but don't you hate when life throws you a curve ball?

I should be back around the 26th. We're staying up at my parents house for Memorial Day weekend and my Dad's birthday, which will be fun. We've missed everyone while we've been away and are looking forward to seeing you soon!!

Car Stolen

Were you wondering about the random poll question regarding stolen vehicles? I was just curious if anyone else had experienced the same surprise we had last week when we opened our garage door to find that our car was gone! We did (accidentally) leave the garage open and the keys inside the car, but still - we never thought that would happen! The police found the car and it was just fine aside from a couple little dings and the fact that the thiefs stole almost everything out of it including our keys and garage door opener. So that meant that we had to have our entire house re-keyed and the garage door re-programed.
The car is still in the process of getting re-keyed also, so at the moment I'm driving a Ford Focus rental car which I thought would be one of my worst nightmares (no offense Ford lovers). Turns out it's actually a pretty neat little car. Don't get me wrong - I can't wait to have my Accord back, but for the time being, it's not too shabby. My favorite feature: it has a little spot that I can plug my ipod right into which is awesome!
It was a big bummer, but I'm just glad we'll be able to have our car back and hopefully soon. We'll definitely be much more careful in the future! Make sure you close your garages and keep your keys in your house!!
From your poll votes - 33% have had a car stolen, 55% have not, and 11% have stolen a car themselves...