Ezelle Party of 7: June 2010

Well, I feel like I am starting over in a way when it comes to pictures. I went to see what new pictures I could blog about and I only had a handful. It really stinks that all my pictures from mid April through mid June are gone. It could be worse I know. I am still healing from that I guess. Pictures of our family are really special to me :-)

Oh, by the way, if it takes me a while between blogs it is because we are without internet at home right now and are having to go to town to use the internet. As a friend of mine often says, "Good times!"

Anyway, for the sake of keeping up with my blog and posting some fresh pictures, here are some cute ones I have taken of Levi recently. He is such a joy to our family! I hope these pictures make you smile as you catch a little glimpse of his personality in them. I think they capture him well :-)

A lot has happened since my last post while we were on our family vacation. I am so glad I was able to post how wonderful our trip was going and to share some pictures with you. I am thankful for those pictures and the wonderful moments we had together as a family. I am thankful for many things as I write this.

As some of you may know, just about a day after posting how wonderful our vacation was going, something we never would have expected happened to our family. Sunday night as our family slept soundly in our beds, an intruder found an unlocked window, cut the screen, quietly lifted the window and entered the beach house. Cohen and I and our 4 sweet children never knew someone was walking among us as we slept. I heard some noises in the night, but nothing that made me feel as though I should get up or wake Cohen up. I never could have imagined that someone was in our presence.

We didn't even know anything had happened until we woke in the morning to find that Cohen's backpack with our two new laptop computers was gone along with some cash that he had on the nightstand. We were very confused because we knew the door was locked and "thought" that all the windows were locked too. And beside that, how could someone have come in while we were sleeping and steal our things? We just couldn't believe what was happening. It didn't make any sense. I then noticed, as I was opening the curtains to let some light in, that someone had cut the screen on one of the windows in the kitchen. My heart sank as I called Cohen to come see what I had just found.

My first reaction was, "Someone was walking around in here while we were all sleeping!" I felt so violated; I just felt sick to my stomach and started to tear up. The thought of someone creeping among us was just a horrible feeling. Thank the Lord they didn't harm us. Thank the Lord, they found something to take and just left. Thank the Lord one of our children didn't wake up when they were in the house. Thank the Lord I didn't get up when I heard those noises. Thank the Lord, we didn't wake up to one of the children being gone. I could go on and on.

I had an uneasy stomach all day long. Cohen and I both couldn't get over the reality of what happened. The kids, thank the Lord, were hardly effected by it at all. Samuel really seemed to be the only one that understood what happened. But even he was ready to go jump in the pool after breakfast :-) Cohen and I on the other hand were feeling it all a little differently. But, how thankful we were that the kids were "still" on vacation. Cohen and I sat down with them and prayed thanking the Lord for protecting us. And, we decided to not let the thief continue to steel from us. We were going to finish out our last day and a half of our family vacation even though all of this happened.

Every now and then as I sat and started to think about what all had taken place the night before, I would get teary, but then would remind myself of all that I had to be thankful for. It does hurt that our computers were taken. We have never each had a computer of our own until recently. Cohen bought a new computer to replace our old one that most of the time runs like a dinosaur. And, he wanted to do something special for me by surprising me with my very own computer as well. I had so many pictures from the past 2 1/2 months saved on there. Pictures from Samuel's 6th birthday, pictures from Levi's 3rd birthday and pictures from Nathanael's 1st birthday, pictures of Nathanael's little milestones, not to mention all the pictures from our vacation, etc. Cohen had been working on a video of our 1st year of ministry here and also a video of our family vacation. All those memories were lost to someone who doesn't even care about them. These are just things though and I have accepted that. The most important thing is that we are all safe.

The Lord has been a great help through all of this and it is so comforting to know that even as the thief was walking among us as we slept, the Lord was also walking among us! He protected us and allowed us to sleep peacefully through it all. And, He continued to hold us and comfort us when we realized what happened. As His children, he is always with us. He allowed this to happen for some reason, but at the same time held us through it all. We may not always understand the way the Lord works, but we know we can always trust Him.

It does make me angry, but I feel sorry for the person or persons who did this. What they did says a lot about who they are and the life they are living. It is sad really. I know they will have to stand before the judgment seat of God one day and account for all the things they have done. I pray that just as the Lord was gracious with me and pulled me out of the darkness, that He would do the same with them. May their sin be brought into the light and may their lives be forever changed never to creep in the darkness again.

Even though Satan was at work, the trip was still a good one. It would have been perfect had all this not happened. We had a lot of fun together and it was a much needed time away for all of us. One thing is for sure, no one can steal our joy because . . . God is bigger!

On a side note, we have changed our email addresses since this has happened and have lost some as well. If you are reading this and we haven't sent you our new email addresses, then it could be because we lost yours. You can send a comment through this blog with your email address and I will send you our new ones. I will be sure to not post your comment on this blog so that your email will not be public. Thank you so much for your prayers and love for us!

Here are some pictures taken after the fact. We are thankful our camera wasn't taken too :-)