Friday night at about 9:00 my grandma's doorbell rang, five times. She lives alone, so she went to peek out a window and see who was there. No one. She was puzzled and went back to what she was doing. She caught sight of a car that belongs to some, ah, less than desirable neighbors who live close to her, driving down the road. About fifteen minutes later, her doorbell rang five times again. She went to the window; this time, it was that aforementioned less-than-desirable neighbor, who had parked her car in front of my grandma's house. My grandma didn't answer the door (obviously) but she was rather frightened, thinking that perhaps mischief was up.

At 10:40 she went into her bedroom, and had closed the door and was brushing her teeth, when her house alarm went off.

Her alarm is programmed to call our house with a message, "A possible robbery is in progress at (her address). Please press zero to listen in." I heard the phone ring and woke up. When I heard the alarm message on our message machine, I knew I should do something about it. My parents were half-asleep and didn't answer the phone. Until someone presses one to listen in, her alarm keeps dialing different numbers for us ( i.e. my dad's cell, mom's cell). I heard my dad's cell ring, and he answered it, "Hello?" but then hung up. I knew that I should do something. J So I jumped up out of bed, and heard that my mom's cell had been ringing, and that she had answered it. She sounded panicked. "I'm listening in! I can hear her talking to someone!"

I came barreling into the room. "Should I call 911?" I ran for my cell phone. My mom wasn't saying anything (just listening in). Just as I was about to dial the police, she said, "I can hear her talking to the police." So at least she had called them. Mom hung up and dialed grandma's phone. It rang, and grandma picked up.

My dad was, meanwhile, throwing his shoes on to go down there (she lives about ¾ mile away from us, on our street). Grandma thought someone was definitely in her house. My dad was hurrying.

I went to wake up Jay. He was disoriented, to put it mildly. He thought I was waking him up in the morning so that he could go to his Fire Duty (more on that later). Finally, when I conveyed the message, he got up. My mom handed them a baseball bat (I know, some weapon! Thankfully, my grandma was armed). Off they went.

We were crying out before the Lord. I was surprised at the depth of feeling with which we all prayed (my mom, Emily, and I, left behind at home). I wanted to be in the action, and I was afraid for my grandma, for my dad, and for Jay. My grandma is not a Christian, and we pled with God for her salvation!

The phone rang. It was the alarm message again. I pressed to listen in. I could hear my grandma talking, in the distance. I thought I heard dad or Jay talking, too. That meant she had left her bedroom. I felt a little more relaxed.

When Jay and Dad had arrived at Grandma's house, they'd seen the car out front. Both of them were scared, and my dad told Jay, "Aim for the head." Jay waited, poised, with the baseball bat while dad circled the car with a flashlight. Nobody was in the car. Dad told Jay, "If we hear Grandma screaming, kick down the front door." My dad called my grandma, and told them they were outside. She said that she was coming to the door. As she opened the door, the police arrived. Grandma was in a surprisingly good mood (she told me the next day that she'd always wondered what she would do if someone broke into her house, but that, when faced with the situation, she felt surprisingly safe—due in most part to the fact that she was armed). She told Jay, "Tell the policeman that he may come in, but whatever he does, don't let him sit on the couch. There's a G-U-N under the pillow."

Yes, it had been an alarm malfunction. The first time her alarm has ever done that. What a night for that to happen! We were all quite traumatized afterwards, but praised God that nothing serious had happened!

The next morning Jay had to be at the Fire Station bright and early. He was working his first shift as a Fire Explorer. They taught him a few things, and then the first call came, and from there on out he was one of only three people to ride Box 1! (In emergency services, the "box" is the ambulance). They had quite a day. They had to transport four people to the Emergency Room, and they had one airlift. They treated Jay like he had been doing the stuff all his life instead of only for one morning. He was responsible for checking the vitals, taking oxygen level, blood pressure, and pulse stats, hooking up the heart monitor leads, and getting people on gurneys, etc. He enjoyed himself a lot, but it was quite an experience! He got along with the firefighters and medics really well. He also took four trips to the Emergency Room and said that it was surprising to be in an ER room as a medical representative. The people on the Box were treated just like nurses, Jay said! They had a variety of folks….one guy with pneumonia, two fall victims, one very belligerent lady (who was doing such things as demanding Diet Pepsi's while she was being transported!) and a lady who had been in an accident where a horse fell on top of her (yes, she was airlifted).

Sunday morning we went to Church. I love my church!!! I love the people at church!!!! J We had a great picnic-type lunch after church service, with hot dogs, chili, lots of watermelon and fruit salads, a great taco casserole that Mrs. Ambrose made, and lots of good desserts, including Krispy Kreme donuts! Ahh! I love my church! (Wait, I'm repeating myself).

We had to leave at 2:30 L to go prepare for our evening's activities. We were supposed to be leading a group at the Child Evangelism Fellowship booth for the S.Bdo. County Fair. We'd never done anything of the sort before, so I was a little nervous. The one job I didn't envy was the one to attract the kids, since I am so shy around strangers. Well, God obviously has a sense of humor, because that's the job that I got….and absolutely loved. I felt the Lord working all throughout that day! It was great! We spoke to a total of 56 adults and children. I overcame so many obstacles in my faith as I was the one standing out front to call out, "Hi! How are you doing today?" to everybody, including scary, and really scary, people! J

Our pastor's family came to the Fair to see us! It was really fun! We had a great time together. We go again on Saturday for another four-hour shift.

It was a very crazy, very great weekend!