ROBBED!

Finally! Vacation Time! We were on our way to Canada for our week long family reunion in the luxurious Whistler Resort, I was soooo ready. We packed up and headed up to the border, however we thought we would stop at the outlets to stretch out legs. After walking around for a bit, we all climbed back in the car and drove the last hour to the border. Once we were close to the border Matt told me to get out our folder that contained all our documentation. (green card, birth certificates, and passports) I looked down at my feet to find that there was no black bag. I frantically asked Matt where the black bag was? He said he had never moved it....

We pulled over and started clawing through the car trying to find it only to discover Matt's duffel bag with his clothes were gone, the bag with our wii in it, our sports bag, and of course the black tote with our documentation, camera and video camera. I immediately started to cry. I instantly realized my vacation I longed for had just been taken from me. As I cried, the kids cried....

We then talked to around 5 border patrol men who were very sympathetic but essentially said crossing the border without documentation, no matter what the reason, is not a good idea to say the least. We then had to drive back at (10pm) to Marysville to file the police report. Apparently we were the 5th Chevy van hit that week. The thieves had a special key or remote that would instantly get them in....Dang. After filing the report, the police officer told us that he was sorry and that stinks, gave the kids each a police bear and then gave us the number to customs. We sat in the dark parking lot in Marysville trying to see if we could some how, some way, make it across. They (Canada side) told us they couldn't say for certain, but the best way is to go home and get as much proof and documentation we could. Especially to prove the kids were ours, Jessica's mirror image of mommy wasn't enough apparently. We called the American side, they said they couldn't answer for sure, but if we got through the Canada side by some miracle, we will probably be fined 575 dollars for crossing and trying to come back without documentation. We decided to try...

So at 11pm we drove all the way back home to Wenatchee, arrived at 3:30am...jumped out of the car grabbed everything and anything we could think of, and hopped back in the car....we arrived approx 20 hours later to the border at 7am.

Before we drove up to the gate we decided to say a very important prayer. We knew that if we were going to get in, with nothing but a few files about our lives, would take a miracle. We pulled up, and told the man our story, showed him the police report. We fully expected to be pulled in and interrogated for a time. He simply asked the kids a few questions and then told us to have good trip. Prayers answered! We quickly pulled over and offered up gratitude prayer.

The kids learned that night what the word "violated" was, as I said it over and over.

Getting back into the country...story to follow....