not!

Last night, Doug, Carol and I went up the canyon for dinner with Trace and MaryAnn at their trailer. Ann had a wonderful meal prepared when we arrived and, as always, things were perfect!  Ann even had fall tablecloths and decor for camping!  Beautiful!  We had a great dinner, played cards and then sat around a campfire and discussed all sorts of topics and how the gospel affects our lives.  In the course of the conversation, we discussed what a different world we live in today… kids can’t play in their own front yards, we have to watch them all the time, how parents have be overly-cautious.  It was a lovely evening.

We pulled back into our driveway at 9:25.  There was a police car/SUV in front of our house.  The girls, a police officer, Layne and Julie are out on the street. I get out, “What’s happening?!” The officer explains that he's is taking a statement from the girls and Layne.  

Zeej has a new friend, who she'd brought home for us to meet.  She lives a few blocks past our church building, which is just a few blocks from our home.  She’d been here all afternoon hanging out.  The girls made their own dinner, watched a movie, then walked her home because the sun was setting.  Before we left, they asked if they could go do something together.  I had had one of those “feelings” and said, “No, I prefer you just hang out at home tonight.”  So they had.  

As they came back from walking the friend home, they notice this, as Zeej put it, "sketchy" looking guy, wearing a hoodie and baggie pants, standing by the busstop in front of our church. He was staring at them. Zee says, “Grace, let’s cross the street here.”  They were a couple of houses before the bus stop.  They cross the street.  So does he.  In front of them.  He starts walking ahead of them.  They keep walking but slowly behind him.  He keeps turning and looking at them.  They walk slower.  He turned onto OUR street.  They decide to walk across the street on the other side, from the corner. 

The guy is one or two houses ahead of them.  He gets to our home and walks up to the steps of our front door, turns around and stares at the girls.  Not wanting him to know that this is their house, they walk into Layne and Julie's garage and start standing behind Layne's truck, like they are busy.  He looks over at them like, “What are you doing over there?!  You’re supposed to be over here!”  They stay there. He starts getting really agitated and then, he takes off his hoody, then his shirt and starts frantically pacing a crazy 8 shape in our front lawn, just pacing and watching them.  SHIRTLESS! 

So, Zee and Grace could see that this guy is going nowhere, so they, go up to Layne and Julie’s front door and ring their doorbell.  Layne opens the door, sees them, sees that they are scared, sees the guy in our front yard and the second he makes eye contact with the guy, the guy starts bolts, RUNNING up the street towards the mountain.  He bolted! The girls explain to Layne and Julie what was happening.

Layne walks the girls across to our home, and goes through the whole house, looking under every bed and closet.  Then, as he’s going to leave them in the house with the doors locked.  He walks out front and sees the guy down pacing up at the corner to the east of us, under the streetlight.  The guy sees Layne and hides behind the light post, then bolts again!

Julie called 911 and Layne went looking for the guy.  The police came and searched for quite some time but never found the guy.  It was really creepy.  It might have been a coinkydink that the guy walked up to our house, but then, it might have been that he knew exactly what he was doing. What are the chances that he just randomly walked up to our home? We are getting a security system!  SOOOOOO Creepy!

But, the good thing is that the officer doing the report asked the girls, then and asked them again, “What did you do next?”  You crossed the street because he looked sketchy.  GOOD JOB!!! PERFECT!  What next?  You didn’t go home!!!  GOOO JOB!!! PERFECT!!!  He went through their every step over and over and told them that they handled every single bit of it to perfection.  Then, he asked, “I have one more question, what if he had have approached you?  What would you do then?”  Zee said, “Kick him in the balls!”  GOOD JOB!!!! HIGH FIVE!!!  Grace said, “SCREAM LOUD!!!!”  GOOD JOB!!!!! He went on to say that make loud noises and fight hard!  That's the next two steps.

He said that as parents, we could feel very proud that the girls had not made one single mistake and did every single thing that they should have.  They crossed the street, they didn’t go home, they didn’t get too close, they went to a safe place/neighbor. The police circled the block and rode through the neighborhood all night long and will do so for a while. 

It was really really creepy.  The girls were frightened but they were also trying to be calm so that I didn't freak.  I was touched by that.  They were dying that the kitchen wasn't cleaned up from dinner and Layne came through the house.  HA!  That was the least of my concerns! 

When we knelt for family prayer last night,  it was the first time since Quayd left that we didn’t pray for him first.  We were so thankful that the girls were safe and unharmed! Pretty intense, but we were ever so grateful for wise girls, for good neighbors and for tender mercies! The girls were protected!

Oh, this world we live in... where we do have to be so overprotective! I spoke with a detective today and he encouraged us to not allow the girls to be alone at all.  We are always telling them that they have to do everything in pairs and never be alone.  Sometimes, they think that this is over the top, but that's okay.  Last night, they realized that there is merit in our concern!  Again, how thankful we are for their protection.  Hopefully, it was just some guy who was drunk or high and confused.  Hopefully, that's the end of that!  Who knows.  We will always be protective parents... not helicopters but protective.  Because we love them.  And that know it.  And that's all that matters.

Life is good... even when things are not as they should be.