My Family

My Family

Monday, October 23, 2006

Vacation Day 3

We spent Saturday night in a KOA cabin in Santa Fe.
It was very pretty, and quite chilly.
We cooked out over a campfire, and spent the evening with our good friends.

As the next day was Sunday, we planned on going to the local ward there in Santa Fe.
We got up, got ready, checked out of our cabin, and headed to the church.
I tucked my purse into a little nook, and didn't think about it again.

Fast forward 3 hours, when we finished church (typically we would have not stayed for all three hours as visitors in a ward, but I knew it was my last time to attend Relief Society as I was being sustained as the Primary 1st Counselor in my home ward on this same Sunday, so I pushed to stay).
We gathered our children and headed out to the parking lot, debated who was going to drive back to Albuquerque, and Pat handed me the keys so that he could nap for an hour.
When I got to the driver's side, I saw that the lock had been ripped open, and then, realized that someone had broken into our van WHILE WE WERE AT CHURCH!!
It took a minute for the reality to sink in that we had been robbed.
My purse was gone, and we quickly went down the list of the other valuables we had in our van.
The work laptop?
The travel DVD player?
The digital camera?
All there.
It seemed the thief had just wanted quick cash (which they got...we were on vacation...which is about the only time I carry cash).

I headed back inside the church to call the police...and then we proceeded to wait 2 1/2 hours for an officer to respond to take a report.
The report taking took about 3 minutes.
But it makes it so that my insurance can cover the repair that has to happen to the driver's side door on the van.

We decided quickly that we had numerous reasons to be grateful, in spite of the robbery.
Our van was still intact and they had not taken anything else.
We had really budgeted for this trip, so when our credit card had to be cancelled, we didn't have to head home, we could access our money via my husband's debit cards (did you know they only cancel the stolen debit card? Not so with a credit card...both get cancelled.).
We had spent almost half of our cash already, so our loss, while big to us, was less than we could have lost.
We were all safe.

It was a good chance for us to talk to our kids about bad things happening and how we can act instead of react.
We really did not let this ruin the rest of our vacation.

It has been a bit of a pain changing everything and waiting for new information to come, but hey, if it keeps my information safe down the road, I'll do it.

Some things I learned:
*Don't carry your SS cards in your wallet (I had taken mine and my SIX kid's cards out about 3 months ago...whew!!) In the future I won't even put their initials in front of their SS # on an index card like I had this time, I'll just number the numbers.
*The debit card thing from above. We thought we wouldn't be able to access any money...but not so.
*When you are traveling, it's a smart idea to separate your assets. It would have been nice if I had taken out my checkbook and kept it somewhere else...I wasn't planning on using it!
*Take out any cards you are not planning on using and leave them at home.

I hope you never have the need for these, but they will help minimize the loss if you have theft.

Overall, we had a very good day...and I am glad we are all ok.

6 comments:

Sarah said...

I'm so sorry you got robbed! And the fact that they broke the lock on your car to get it! Good tips about the SS cards. Also another good tip is to photo copy the front and back sides of all the cards in your wallet so you have a quick reference for if/when they get stolen (which reminds me, we need to update our files!)

I am so glad that despite it all at the end of your post you "had a very good day!" Go optimism!

Papa J said...

My faith in human nature wasn't hurt at all by this because for the selfish act of these people we were rewarded by the sincere generosity of two more people who stayed with us and waited while there was no need to do so. Two and a half hours willingly given to ensure that our family was comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. Thank you to the bishopric of the Santa Fe ward. Espescially John Martinez.

SalGal said...

There's a special place in hell for those that steal from you wile you're at church. ;)

What an amazing attitude you have about the whole thing! My diamond, crown and all, broke off my wedding ring one time while we were on a trip to visit my grandma. I didn't realize it until hours after it had happened and we were many miles away. Luckily, I had been prepared for it. I had a feeling before we went on the trip that something "bad" would happen but that everything would be ok. So when it did happen, I thought "Whew! I'm glad that's the worst of it!".

Anonymous said...

Oh man! I'm so sorry that happened to you! You really do have an amazing attitude and thank you for the tips!!

Karla said...

I'm sorry that this had to happen to you! What a great example for your kids though. It's so hard to take a moment to pause and reflect when you've been dealt a hard blow - but it is such an important skill to have!

If it makes you feel any better, a young couple in one of my old wards had there whole car stolen while they were at church! At least you could drive home!

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry that happened Aunt Kris! I'm glad that it wasn't too bad though. I agree with salgal. There should be a special place for people who steal from faithful members while in church.