The Biggest Scare of My Life

Last night I had the living daylights scared out of me. We had been home all day, and since the weather has been so nice, we had the back door open pretty much all day. For those of you who aren't familiar with our pad, our backyard is fenced in with an over 6ft tall locked wooden fence. My brother came over for dinner around 5:30 and by 8pm we had put the kids to bed. Desi and Jason left around 8:30ish to go downtown to some free art galleries. I got up to close the back door right after they left...called the cat in, and locked the door. I fed Levi and Hope began yelling at me from her bedroom, "can I get a kleenex?" We proceeded to yell back and forth...untill I just went up to see what she needed (we couldn't really hear each other). I left Levi on the living room floor. After about 5 minutes of getting the girls back to bed, I came down, brought Levi to the kitchen, placed him in the bouncy seat on the counter with the intention of doing dishes. I heard a noise coming from the basement and stepped into our back room. The back room is this little room with a small bathroom, a door to the backyard and the stairs down to the basement. As I stepped into the back room (the lights were off) I saw a head rising from the basement stairs. I FREAKED out and had the split-second thought, "I can't believe this is actually happening!" I yelled at him (he was moving very slowly) "what are you doing in my house? GET OUT, GET OUT!" I quickly grabbed the kitchen door (the original back door to the house) and locked it tight. I ran to get my phone, dialed 911 (for the first time ever) and went back for Levi. I looked out the windows in the kitchen door and saw him standing there in the doorway to the backyard. He was trying to communicate with me, but I was talking to the operator and while giving her a description of him, he came back in the house and went down to the basement again. I think he may have gone down to get his shirt or something (he was shirtless). I didn't want to wait in the kitchen, so I grabbed Levi, went to the front door to get my pepper spray and waited for the police. They arrived within 5 minutes (the nice thing about living in the city) and were in to check and clear the whole house and surrounding property. They couldn't find him, but told me it was safe and to call them if I saw or heard anything and they'd be there in a minute. Desi and Jason were home right after the police left and I just sobbed and sobbed (Hope heard me from her room and thought I was laughing...God is good-she has no clue what happened!). Jason took a flashlight and checked the basement again. It looked like the guy had been sleeping in the bed and there was urine in our trash can (thanks for peeing there instead of the carpet or bed!) and an old sock on the ground. Nothing was touched or moved. I truly believe he had no criminal intent and that somehow (under the influence of drugs or alcohol) he had climbed our fence and wandered into our basement undetected by all of us! We were home all day...never heard him, but he must have come in sometime between 11:30am (the last time we were in the basement) to before 8:30pm. Even when I think back to it, I wasn't scared of his face...he was so passive and slow moving...almost like he was asking permission to go back down to get his shirt! I praise God that He kept us safe, untouched, nothing taken, no violence, he didn't even come into the main part of our house! Things could have gone different-he could have woken up in the middle of the night and who knows what...ect... All to say, God had His protective hand on us that night and I am so thankful. If this is something that I needed to go through, to be a little more careful and observant, ect... than so be it. I have learned from this and am Praising God for His protective faithfulness. I didn't sleep last night much at all...the terrifying image of him coming up the stairs playing over and over again in my mind.

Please pray for me that I wouldn't succumb to fear, but trust in God's protection. I am afraid of the dark again, and I don't like going in the back room or basement right now! It has helped to talk about it and pray with two the gals in my small group (I even prayed for the intruder!). I am not overly worried, just don't want to keep thinking about it, you know? Anyhow, I love our house and neighborhood and feel called to be here. Pray for me, as I am getting closer to a few of our neighbors: Tanko & Nafisa with daughter Jayla, Rich & Barb with daughter Isabel, Bobby & Sarah, Pepper and brother John, Bob and large black poodle Otis, and Jean. I want to share the love of God with them in a real way and refuse to let fear cripple me. Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world!
~Thanks, Rose