So this past Thursday, I had a rather eventful evening. It is by far one of the more interesting evenings that I have ever had and ever will have as a husband and dad. I pray this on no one ever. Let me set this up:
I had left with four teenagers on Thursday afternoon to go to Oklahoma Christian University. I took two teens from my youth group and two from my old job at Westbury Christian School. The four of them wanted to check out the school as well as have a fun weekend getaway. As a proud and loyal alum, I was thrilled about their interest.
I was happy to take them, but I also thought I would kill a couple of other birds with this stone. It was also an opportunity to sit down with my new intern and his wife to talk about the upcoming summer. His name is Josh and he is a junior at OC. His wife is also joining and I'm very excited for them and this summer and seeing what God will be doing.
I also have the honor next month of officiating my first wedding ever. My old roommate Jake and his fiance and friend of mine, Kristen, will be married next month and have asked me to officiate. Since I was in town, I thought that it would be a good idea to sit down with both of them and talk about what they had in mind for the ceremony.
So the teens and I got to OC on Thursday night around 9:30pm. I took them to one of the dorms to get them setup for housing with current students. The guys were setup first so I drove them over to where they were staying. I had just gotten off the phone with Ashley after letting her know that we had made it in safe and sound. She had said earlier that the girls both went to sleep kind of early because it had been a long day for both of them. After talking to her for a few minutes, she told me she was going to bed too after a long day. I hung the phone up thinking more about getting my teens and their housing setup so I could go and meet up with a bunch of my friends whom I had agreed to go to Buffalo Wild Wings later that night (an old college tradition of ours).
As I'm about to drop off the guys, I get a call from Ashley. I should preface this. The main times that Ashley calls me is during the day to confirm plans we made or ask about things we might need from the grocery store or things like that. She rarely calls me just to talk. That's my job. We're old fashioned like that and I think we both like it that way. She NEVER calls me late at night after she told me she is going to sleep.
I see that Ashley is calling me again. Something inside of me immediately said "Something is wrong, she needs you." I answer the phone praying that she accidentally redialed me or was looking for something that she couldn't find and needed my help. I hear her speaking softly and her voice trembling and before she even could finish saying what had happened, I knew.
Someone had broken into our house with my girls inside.
She followed this up with telling me that he had already left. She called the police and they were luckily in the area and were at the house in less than a minute. They got a statement from her and took some things for fingerprints. After hearing everything, here's the breakdown of what happened.
Ashley forgot to lock our side door. A young teenage man whom we had never seen in our lives went through my truck outside and then walked into the house. When he walked in, Audrey woke up after hearing him stir around. He was in the living room unplugging some of our electronic devices and packing them in a backpack. Audrey walks into the room and he looked at her. She said hi and then walked back to our bedroom. She woke Ashley and told her what was happening. Ashley then went to the living room and asked him what he was doing (after discussing this with her, she did admit that going in there without a weapon of any kind was a poor decision and God forbid something like that ever happens again, she will be armed in the future). This is where it gets kinda weird. The guy began to extensively apologize for what he was doing and was very non-confrontational towards Ashley. Ashley began telling this guy to put all of our stuff back and to leave........ and that's exactly what he did. I always thought that when intruders get caught by the homeowners, they either attack the owner or they run out of the house. Evidently I was wrong. After he put everything back, she ushered him out of the house and then called the police. After most of the police left (they stationed one car at the house for the remainder of the night), she tried to go back to sleep but couldn't and hung out in the living room pacing back and forth. She kept hearing screeching tires outside and thought that he was still in the neighborhood. Finally, a cop came to the door and notified her that the guy had been caught and was going to jail. They took some of our electronic devices as evidence (my Xbox is there now... it's been a boring week).
To explain a few things that transpired that night, this guy went to more than just our house which is why the police stayed in our area of the neighborhood after they left the house. They found some things in his bag that weren't ours so we know we weren't the only people he had tried to rob. As for him putting everything back after Ashley told him to instead of running, she was about 90% sure that he was very high. That also explains why he went to the next house instead of leaving the neighborhood.
All things are good with the girls now. Addison slept through the entire event and we decided that not telling her was the best way to go so she still has no idea. Audrey seemed to be fine when I saw her and Ashley now wants to upgrade the locks on our doors.
Back to the call. As Ashley tells me this, a few different things come to my head. The first was that I was about to leave OC and drive 6 hours straight back home to be with my family. I wanted to be with them, protect them, hold them. I told Ashley I was coming home and she said that there was no point because a police car was there and that feeling started to subside when I found out that they caught the guy.
The next thought I had was "You gotta be kidding me." I thought this because I wasn't home with the girls to protect them. This was the first time I had left them home alone since late September of last year. When I married my wife, I vowed to love and protect her and I wasn't there to do that.
I was devastated. I felt like I wasn't doing my job. Hearing that my family was in danger and there was nothing I could do about it was the worst feeling ever. I felt scared, helpless, and frustrated. Even after they caught the guy and Ashley was able to fall asleep, I had a hard time doing the same. I hated not being able to go home. I hated not being able to come and protect them and hold them. It was a crippling feeling.
I would not wish this on my worst enemy. I hated that Audrey, a child who has her father, had to be the one who saw him first and realize what was happening. I hated that Ashley, a woman who lost both parents in a tragedy and then her husband several years later had to be the one who ushered him out of the house.
Driving home was quite possibly the longest 6 hours of my life. Seeing the girls asleep and walking back to find my wife waiting for me was an incredibly comforting feeling. I know people say all the time about cherishing loved ones, but I think it becomes a much greater reality and a stronger message when you think about the possibility of losing those who are closest to you.
FYI I plan on upgrading our locks. Maybe getting a state of the art alarm system. Dare I say hire a bodyguard? Aren't Bieber's bodyguards looking for work? (low blow. i'm done).
So that's my weekend in a nutshell. You probably already guessed this, but when I go back to Oklahoma for Jake and Kristen's wedding next month, all of my girls are coming with.
My love for my girls and my life has now intensified and for that I am thankful. I pray it never takes something like that for me to feel this way about them again. Lesson learned.
