Our late night intruder...

This week has been quite a week. Usually we are pretty normal people with ordinary lives. However, I must tell you a story of something that happened to us on Tuesday night. And please know that just yesterday I was able to laugh at this happening.

We got home from class pretty late on Tuesday night and went to bed about 11:30 pm. At 2:00 am we woke up to the sound of our home's security alarm loudly ringing throughout the house. Mind you, this is my biggest fear: Someone breaking into our home at night and killing us. (thank you for allowing me to be open and honest with this fear...Pray for me.) So, I was startled awake and FREAK OUT. Patrick tells me that I was screaming horribly and yelling "Save ME! Save me!" Patrick was rather calm and collected at the time. Brinks (our alarm friends) call about 10 seconds after the alarm goes off and puts us through to 911.

We had NO idea what was going on in the rest of our home. For all we knew, someone was walking around trying to figure out how to get our couch out without making too much noise. So, paralyzed with fear (and I most certainly was. I am not being dramatic) we laid in our bed waiting for the cops to come and investigate. After several minutes I asked if we could move to the floor. I was sure someone was in our house. I couldn't move. My teeth were chattering and my body was shaking with fear. Patrick bravely sat over me with gun in hand. (He is wonderfully manly and a very good protector) After 30 minutes of anxiety, the cops were a no show and I was still freaking out. Patrick dialed 911 and replayed our situation and explained that the police should have been to our house by now. The operator told us someone was on the way. ABout 10 minutes later, someone pounds on the door. Can you believe we were in our bedroom for 40 minutes waiting for the cops with every expectation that someone was in our home?! OH my soul. So Patrick confidently walks to answer the door after the man yells, "Police!" and the cop comes in. Whew.

Patrick and the cop (I didn't catch his name, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and it was also very late. And he was not at all kind.) searched the house inside and out for some sign of intrusion. After a minute or so they found the culprit. A balloon. Patrick's birthday party balloon, in fact. I was too lazy to take them down (there were 2) and so I had just left them on top of the hutch to deflate on their own. They apparently decided to move about on this particular night. You see we turned the fan on a bit higher before bed and the extra motion must have caused the balloons to get excited. So after an hour and a half of sheer terror we went back to bed. I didn't sleep much and had the hardest time being home alone until yesterday morning.

This was quite a scare for us, especially me. I was shocked when Patrick told me the next morning, "Listen, I was pretty scared." I said to him, "Thank you for with holding this information until now." I am not sure what I would have done knowing we were both scared enough to pee in out pants. I've learned a lot from this ordeal and while I'm not pleased it happened, I am growing thankful that the LORD was able to show Himself faithful and trustworthy and that I have found a deeper sense of urgency to really love and respect my husband.

Whew! I'm glad this is over, but I hope that I never forget the things I've learned. Also, I am considering getting a "Beware of Dog" sign to hang on the fence. I am also trying to convince Patrick to get a puppy. He is concerned that we travel too much and wouldn't be able to leave him home alone. If anyone is up for dog-sitting in a few months, please let me know. :)

The End.