Break in

The beginning of April we had someone break into our home. It was and has been quite the experience for me. Gratefully, I wasn't home when it occurred (of course it might not have occurred if I were home) and Phil was the one who discovered it. All the items they took can be "replaced" except for the all the pictures of James beginning at 1 week and older that were saved to our laptop but not our external hard drive. That is what I get for not keeping my external hard drive updated. Luckily, we had not deleted all of the pictures off of our camera so we didn't lose the whole first 9 months of James life completely (Thank goodness!).
The worst part about this whole experience has been our peace of mind. The first 24-48 hours after the break in, I was a complete wreck. I was scared out of my mind and have never been so scared in my entire life. I was terrified to stay home but at the same time was terrified to leave because I would have to come back. All the wierd sounds of my home that I had finally sort of grown accustomed to made my heart start to thump (What was that?). I had to have all the blinds open and all bedroom doors open throughout all the house to make sure I could see everything just in case there was someone lurking in our home. At one point I felt like I needed to be up against a wall so I could see all around me and that nothing was sneaking up behind me. I know...ridiculous! But I didn't know how to stop the feelings. I was pretty concerned with myself and wondered if this was the beginning of a mental problem (anxiety, paranoia, etc). I have slowly gotten over it with a lot of prayer and help from phil, but not completely. I still get paranoid every once in awhile and at night, I sometimes have a hard time getting to sleep. I never thought such a minor crime could have such an effect!
Our renter's insurance (thank goodness we had that) was quite generous. However, even though some of the items are replaceable, they aren't "replaceable". For example, my violin was taken. My violin wasn't all that expensive and I can get another one some day . But I had that thing since middle school and have played on it for years. There is some sentimentality with its loss.
Gift cards-all of the gift cards we own were taken (except for 2 that were in my wallet). From what we can recall, this amounted to at least around $400. Although we didn't have enough coverage on our insurance to cover for its cost, gift cards are hard to replace. I don't feel as guilty spending on giftcards because I'm going to have to spend the money eventually since it isn't cash and must be used. They were also used as our date night "money" that wasn't incorporated into a budget. Big bummer.
And our laptop-this has turned into a bigger struggle than I had orignally anticipated. Not counting the loss of the pictures, I didn't think that it was a huge deal. Don't get me wrong...I was devastated it was taken. But the screen was completely broken and we had to have it connected to a monitor to use it. It was actually kind of funny that they took it because of this (and the fact that they didn't take the charger). However, the loss of the laptop has meant that I no longer have access to the internet during the day. I thought I'd be okay (which, really, I am) but it has been really hard. When phil comes home, I'm able to use his school computer to check email, blogs, pay bills, look up recipes, and do everything that I use the internet for. The problem? Phil is home and the last thing I want to be doing with the precious time I have with him is being on the computer.
All in all, we are so grateful. We are safe and it could have been so much worse. We've learned a lot from it. And a last tip to you...if you haven't backed up your files from your computer in the last month, do it NOW. Oh the good intentions I had...