We've Been Robbed

Well, Monday started out very interesting. We noticed when we woke up this morning that there was a lot of commotion our at our neighbor Noon's house. John was trying to get out the door to go pick up the car we had just purchased (95 Nissan Sunny). He was doing his classic, "Babe, where's my...". This time he was looking for his flip flops. I answered with my typical "Well, where did you leave them?" Pretty normal Monday morning so far.

As he was about to leave, Noon was outside our gate telling us that last night someone stole her motorcycle while she was sleeping. They managed to get inside her home, took the key, locked back up (?) and took her bike. She also said that John our other neighbor had his Mac Notebook taken. Noon's husband is often away on business and she stays home alone with her 2 children. I felt so bad for her, thinking how scary that would be knowing that someone was in your home as you slept and your husband was gone.

John was just about to leave but wanted to grab his Ipod first. He went in and looked everywhere but couldn't find it. But John not finding something at first attempt is nothing to be concerned about. :) He looked over by his desk and noticed that his video camera was also gone. We also had been robbed and where just finding out. I went to get my phone out of my purse, but it was not there. Also, my Ipod was gone as well a some cash and our two bank cards. The bank cards were our immediate concern. They are our lifeline here. By the time we cancelled them, the forensic police were here to dust for prints. They hung out on our street for most of the morning.

This is my first experience being robbed. It's a yucky feeling. Yeah, it sucks that we lost things and cash but to me the worst feeling was knowing that someone was in my home while me and my family were sleeping. We have the air conditioning units running in the bedrooms at night so with the hum, we don't hear much. The cash that was taken from my purse was still in an envelope. It was given to us as an offering from the Hawaii missions team. I hate that. But really anything or any money stolen is offerings from others. The video camera can be replaced but the video tape inside the camera had precious footage of new believers being baptized. I hate that so much.

So now the dust has settled (literally) and I have a lot of cleaning up to do from the forensic team. I am calming down a very upset 6 year old who also feels unsettled that our house was broken into. I had to laugh today when Brayden looked at his ceramic spiderman piggy bank and said, "Whew, I am so glad they didn't take that!" I am so grateful that they didn't take our computers. We have got wireless internet but it doesn't work. It only works when we are plugged in upstairs in the bedroom. So both laptops where sleeping on our nightstands safe and sound. If we had a wireless connection that worked, both would have been at the desk next to the video camera and stolen as well. So Praise God our internet connection hasn't worked well.

It's hard not to let the events and the emotions of the day overshadow the happiness and excitement that we have a car now. But we are excited, a little subdued in our expression but still excited. As of today, we have a home and a car of our own! That's a big deal.

P.S. Forgot to mention that those flip plops John was going crazy looking for...they were also stolen. Brown leather Gap flip flops are either impossible to find here or outrageously expensive in Bangkok. Sorry John, I thought you just misplaced something again...turns out they were taken too!