Home Insecurity

We must have made quite the picture. Armed with baseball bat and bed rail as we snuck cautiously down the stairs inch by creaking inch. Who - or what - was in the house?

It started out as a peaceful, quiet evening. Isaac was spending the night with friends, Dwayne and Anna-Rose were fast asleep. The last one up, I had gone to bed around midnight, leaving doors and windows secure and lights off. Lying in bed reading, as is customary for me, I suddenly heard the jangle of the bell we keep hanging on the back door. What? Was Isaac back home for some reason? I scrambled out of bed and hurried to the head of the stairs calling his name. No response. Going down a few steps more, I shouted, "Isaac???" Nothing. Okaaaay......time to wake Dwayne up.

"Dwayne, I heard the back door!" Dwayne gets up, dresses quickly, and asks in hushed tones what we can use as a weapon. Uhhh....nothing? No, wait....there's a short metal bed rail in the attic. Armed with this less than deadly piece of weaponry, we both creep quietly down the staircase, pausing every few seconds in our descent. Isaac's room is off the hallway by the porch door, and Dwayne leaves me holding the bed rail while he sneaks into the bedroom and grabs an aluminum bat. Back in the hallway, he motions me to follow him into the living room. Step by step we move and pause, move and pause in the dark as we tiptoe toward the kitchen. Silence. (What happens if someone attacks Dwayne? Knocks him out? Shoots him? What am I going to do with a bad back and a bed rail? These thoughts race through my mind as my heart pounds.) Adrenaline is at an all-time high, and I learn what it means to literally have knocking knees!

Oh, the value of memorizing Scripture. The Lord envelopes me with His words, "You will not fear the terror of night......" Dwayne picks up a shoe and throws it into the kitchen hoping to startle someone into movement. Nothing. Again we move stealthily forward until we are in the kitchen doorway. Dwayne tosses his other workboot towards the dining room. All is still. Finally we are in the kitchen and he flips the light on and moves to investigate all over the downstairs and basement. It is vacant and silent except for the sounds of our heavy breathing and nervous chuckling. I have been known to make jokes in extreme circumstances, even while in transition during childbirth, and once again my humor rises to the occasion as I wryly inquire, "I have only one question.......12 gauge or 20?"

Beneath my frail attempt at humor lay fear, helplessness, and anger. We had no way of protecting ourselves and our home. No phone upstairs. No form of defense. No dog to bark and warn us. In our laxity and foolishness we hadn't even changed the locks since moving in. Which brings me to the point of this post. That night we had a lesson in preparedness, or rather, the lack thereof. This has been a popular topic on many blogs from time to time, and generally has addressed the methods of providing for ones family in the event of being cut off from the technology on which we are so dependent. Home security and defense is another area of preparedness - one in which we have personally been negligent up until this week.

We still don't know what happened that night......did I scare someone off? Could I have imagined the sound? All I know is that I never again want to experience those same feelings of defenselessness and violation.The next day Dwayne went out and bought new lock sets for the doors. The day after that he and Isaac drove up to Maine to a trading post that sells a wide variety of firearms. They came home with a Remington .20 gauge pump action shotgun which has been placed in an easily accessible but safe location in our bedroom. I'm breathing a little easier now although Isaac is still a bit nervous, perhaps because his bedroom is downstairs. I'm interested in hearing from other bloggers on this topic. Please share similar stories and advice on what you do to keep your homes the safe havens they should be.