Robbed

I'm sure most of you know by now from Facebook or word of mouth that our home was robbed on Tuesday. It happened sometime after 12:30 when our realtor was showing the house and 4:45 when Bryan came home. He had seen a couple loose items scattered about the driveway and instantly knew what had happened. We don't think the potential buyer had anything to do with it, especially since he's still interested in buying it. I think it's just a coincidence. From the evidence, it doesn't appear to be anyone who has ever been inside the house, but who's to say they didn't tell their friends. I'm sure we'll never find out.

They took everything electronic - TVs, DVD players (with all our DVDs), computers and all the back-up drives, my digital camera, Bryan's tools, chainsaw, electric weedwacker (left the gas powered one), my jewelry box (with no jewelry of value), my wedding memory box (with Grandma's wedding band inside and other mementos from our wedding such as the our Unity candle, a copy of our invitation, the jewelry I wore, stuff that's only important to me), Bryan's guns, and other misc. items. They definitely knew what to look for and where to look for it. The only room they left alone (except the bathrooms) was Madison's room. They did take one of the TVs and the DVD player that was in there. The room wasn't trashed like the others and they even left her piggy bank. The also left a tiny TV with a built in VCR and left all our VHS tapes.

We spent half the day yesterday cleaning up and trying to figure out all what was stolen. The other half of the day was spent at the bank getting our accounts closed and transferred to new accounts and at our insurance agent's office to pick up the claim forms and figure out all what we need to do.

We have to write down model numbers, serial numbers (if known), when & where the items were purchased, and their approximate value. We also have to provide proof of ownership in the terms of receipts, bank/credit card statements, owner's manuals, boxes, photos, etc.

I'm handling the situation a lot better now. That first day I was completely hysterical. I couldn't think straight. I felt completely sick. I praise God for Madison. She is completely oblivious to the whole situation. Yesterday she just broke out to singing the "Pokie Hokie", and you just can't help but smile and laugh. I actually did start to cry, but it was a good thing. First I was upset at all the pictures I lost that were on the computer. But through various CDs, Shutterfly, the ones I copied for my mother-in-law for Christmas, and pictures I downloaded on my work computer, I think I may have recovered most of them - at least the good & important ones.

Now it's just the tedious part of dealing with the insurance company and the proof of ownership stuff. Who know how quickly we can get everything resolved. Hopefully it won't take too long so we can have some sort of normalcy in our lives.