The Boogie Man

So many of you have asked for it, so here is the story of what happened this week. Monday morning, I was catching up on a little TiVo while the kids were at school. Around 11 am, I heard the sound of a trash bin being moved outside, but it did not grab my attention since I hear the neighbors move their bins all the time and the next day was trash day.

At 11:30, I got in the car to go pick up Matt from school. As I pulled out of the garage, I noticed that the side gate to the backyard was wide open. I immediately knew that someone had been in the yard since James and I are meticulous about keeping the gate closed for safety reasons. I got out of the car and, against better judgment, went running into the backyard to see what was up. I immediately noticed that the largest of our trash bins had been carefully positioned directly under the guest bathroom window along the side of our house, and the lid was caved in. Clearly someone had stood on the lid in an attempt to get into the bathroom window. Directly above that was Matt's bedroom window. Whomever it was had tried to pry off the screen to Matt's room with some sort of a tool, probably a screwdriver, and bent the screen's metal frame.

Apparently, the noice I had heard was the sound of my own trash bin being positioned by the would-be thief, and I guess the sound of my laughter (at 17 Kids and Counting) scared them away. Either that or they saw me through the window. (Shiver up my spine)

I called the police who promptly came out to take a report. Unfortunately, there's not much they can do. Perhaps the criminals saw the police at my house and will not try again. However, the cop said that since they didn't get in this time, they will likely try again later. Nice, huh?

To answer the question I'm sure most of you have, YES, we do have an alarm, but it was not armed since I was home. Had I been upstairs where they couldn't see/hear me, I would never have known they were in the house unti they surprised me inside.

God really protected me and I am thankful for that. Surprisingly, I am not scared, just ticked off. James said he pities the guy who breaks into our house with me inside!!!

Thanks for all your encouragement and support! A little prayer for our continued safety would be greatly appreciated!

On a side note, the police said that I really lucked out because there is a new trend with criminals in that they have begun to seek out homes with stay-at-home moms and children inside. The theives have discovered that a woman trying to protect her children is usually very compliant and will willingly show the criminals where the valuables are. This saves time for the thieves and is much simpler than ransacking a home and looking for hiding places. This is VERY scary. For all my stay-at-home-mom friends, please take this under advisment!