A Shattered Window Made My New Years Better
Let me set the scene.
It's New Years Eve. We had just finished taking family pictures. We were all chatting about the good food we had waiting for us at home. Emily and I carrying our heels as we made the trek across the park and then up the hill back to where the cars parked. Watching the rest of our family, including the dog, making their way up the hill. The sun going down and creating a beautiful pink and orange sunset. And finally reaching the parking lot to find my family gathered around my parents' car.
And this is what we found.
Someone had broken into our car. They had stolen my moms purse, and they had left without anyone seeing them. And to make it worse, it happened within an hour. Within an hour someone had managed to pull up next to our car, realize her purse was there, break our window, get inside, get the purse, and leave all without someone seeing them.
It's not like we were in the middle of nowhere. The park is close to my house, surrounded by houses and busy streets. There was a fireworks stand just on the other side of the parking lot. There were other families there also taking pictures. We even talked to a park ranger when we first arrived. We had no clue this was going to happen. My mom NEVER leaves her purse in the car. But this time she did. She put a blanket on top of it when we arrived, but that did not stop someone from breaking in and taking it.
Her whole purse had vanished.
Her wallet with cash, all her cards, her license, and gift cards were gone. A bag of the most delicious Dove chocolates, missing. A set of keys to the car and the house were now in the possession of some stranger.
Happy New Years to us right?!?
I had never seen this kind of situation firsthand, and honestly, my stomach felt like it dropped down to the floor. Several of us, especially my mom felt incredibly violated.
What can you really do in the situation?
We called the cops. She canceled all her cards immediately. We checked everyone else's cars to make sure no one else had anything stolen. We talked to people around who may have seen something, but no one saw anything. The cop took statements, pictures, got the information, and then we all got in our cars and drove home. There was nothing else we could really do.
I think that was the hardest part. We had no control. Her belongings aren't going to just show up at our door. We aren't going to wake up and have the window magically fixed. It happened. And it was pretty terrifying actually.
This person felt the need to break into someone else's car and steal their belongings. They had a set of keys to our house now and our address. What if they decided to come to our house?
I don't know why they took her purse. Maybe they were just hoping for cash. Maybe they were hoping to use her cards (well sucks to be them because she had them all reported stolen within 30 minutes of us finding the car). I don't know why they decided to put such a damper on our holiday, but it happened.
Later, when we finally got home it took us a minute to kind of let everything settle and get back into the swing of things. After all, there was really nothing left for us to do.
When we finally started our celebrating, it was time to offer a blessing on all the food. As we gathered as a family to pray, my brother thanked the Lord that even though this happened to our family, we were all safe. Nothing had happened to us.
The spirit hit me so hard in that moment.
We were all safe.
We are what matters.
Not the cash or the cards. It's just money,
Not the gift cards that my mom has had for years and still hasn't used.
Not the keys that no longer work because we changed all of our locks already.
Not the shattered window. That can be fixed.
Not even the bag of sweet sweet heaven called Dove chocolates.
We are what matters.
There were so many other ways we were blessed just at that park alone. My sister had unknowingly left her laptop in her car which was parked across from ours. Just a couple cars down my brother had left his wallet in his basketball bag in his car. There were other families vehicles around, but no one else had been broken into. It happened to us but that was it.
What a blessing!
Kind of bizarre to call it that but it was!
We spent most of the night editing our family pictures and just hanging out. And let me tell you that was the best thing. Yes, something terrible and scary had happened to us, but we were all together and safe. Being reminded of that during the prayer truly turned the situation around for us.
It definitely turned it around for me.
You see, I have been trying to figure out for a while now what I wanted my New Years Resolution to be. What am I going to do in 2018 to better my life? How am I going to change?
Well after everything that happened last night, I think I found my answer.
I am going to count my blessings more. I am not going to stress the little things as much. I am going to cherish the moments that I have with those that I love. I am going to thank my Heavenly Father for even the littlest blessings in my life. I am going to hold my family tighter. I am going to laugh with them more. I am going to talk to them more often.
So I say that a shattered window made my New Years better. This happening to us really put my focus back into perspective. I would not wish it upon anyone else, but it ended up being more of a blessing in disguise for me at least. I had recently watched a friends video on YouTube called Count Your Blessings and once again I was reminded of what my goal is. Things may not go as planned. Sometimes it is out of our control. Sometimes everything is going great! And other times it seems like nothing is going right. But let us all count our blessings. No matter how big, or how small.

And this is what we found.
Someone had broken into our car. They had stolen my moms purse, and they had left without anyone seeing them. And to make it worse, it happened within an hour. Within an hour someone had managed to pull up next to our car, realize her purse was there, break our window, get inside, get the purse, and leave all without someone seeing them.
It's not like we were in the middle of nowhere. The park is close to my house, surrounded by houses and busy streets. There was a fireworks stand just on the other side of the parking lot. There were other families there also taking pictures. We even talked to a park ranger when we first arrived. We had no clue this was going to happen. My mom NEVER leaves her purse in the car. But this time she did. She put a blanket on top of it when we arrived, but that did not stop someone from breaking in and taking it.
Her whole purse had vanished.
Her wallet with cash, all her cards, her license, and gift cards were gone. A bag of the most delicious Dove chocolates, missing. A set of keys to the car and the house were now in the possession of some stranger.
Happy New Years to us right?!?
I had never seen this kind of situation firsthand, and honestly, my stomach felt like it dropped down to the floor. Several of us, especially my mom felt incredibly violated.
What can you really do in the situation?
We called the cops. She canceled all her cards immediately. We checked everyone else's cars to make sure no one else had anything stolen. We talked to people around who may have seen something, but no one saw anything. The cop took statements, pictures, got the information, and then we all got in our cars and drove home. There was nothing else we could really do.
I think that was the hardest part. We had no control. Her belongings aren't going to just show up at our door. We aren't going to wake up and have the window magically fixed. It happened. And it was pretty terrifying actually.
This person felt the need to break into someone else's car and steal their belongings. They had a set of keys to our house now and our address. What if they decided to come to our house?
I don't know why they took her purse. Maybe they were just hoping for cash. Maybe they were hoping to use her cards (well sucks to be them because she had them all reported stolen within 30 minutes of us finding the car). I don't know why they decided to put such a damper on our holiday, but it happened.
Later, when we finally got home it took us a minute to kind of let everything settle and get back into the swing of things. After all, there was really nothing left for us to do.
When we finally started our celebrating, it was time to offer a blessing on all the food. As we gathered as a family to pray, my brother thanked the Lord that even though this happened to our family, we were all safe. Nothing had happened to us.
The spirit hit me so hard in that moment.
We were all safe.
We are what matters.
Not the cash or the cards. It's just money,
Not the gift cards that my mom has had for years and still hasn't used.
Not the keys that no longer work because we changed all of our locks already.
Not the shattered window. That can be fixed.
Not even the bag of sweet sweet heaven called Dove chocolates.
We are what matters.
There were so many other ways we were blessed just at that park alone. My sister had unknowingly left her laptop in her car which was parked across from ours. Just a couple cars down my brother had left his wallet in his basketball bag in his car. There were other families vehicles around, but no one else had been broken into. It happened to us but that was it.
What a blessing!
Kind of bizarre to call it that but it was!
We spent most of the night editing our family pictures and just hanging out. And let me tell you that was the best thing. Yes, something terrible and scary had happened to us, but we were all together and safe. Being reminded of that during the prayer truly turned the situation around for us.
It definitely turned it around for me.
You see, I have been trying to figure out for a while now what I wanted my New Years Resolution to be. What am I going to do in 2018 to better my life? How am I going to change?
Well after everything that happened last night, I think I found my answer.
I am going to count my blessings more. I am not going to stress the little things as much. I am going to cherish the moments that I have with those that I love. I am going to thank my Heavenly Father for even the littlest blessings in my life. I am going to hold my family tighter. I am going to laugh with them more. I am going to talk to them more often.
So I say that a shattered window made my New Years better. This happening to us really put my focus back into perspective. I would not wish it upon anyone else, but it ended up being more of a blessing in disguise for me at least. I had recently watched a friends video on YouTube called Count Your Blessings and once again I was reminded of what my goal is. Things may not go as planned. Sometimes it is out of our control. Sometimes everything is going great! And other times it seems like nothing is going right. But let us all count our blessings. No matter how big, or how small.
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