Restored

Our house was robbed of $8000 worth of stuff nearly nine months ago. The thief is still anonymous and likely still suffering guilt. The most painful feelings from this have subsided mostly, though everytime someone else we know get robbed, the wound reopens a bit.

There has been an incredible miracle that followed the theft however. I wrote in our latest newsletter about how nearly all the items that were stolen had been restored. Well, now all of them, save some DVDs, have been replaced. We can only attribute this to God's faithfulness to us. I've learned to trust Him more and release a lot of the anxiety that followed the theft. Here's a detailed list of what was stolen and how it was replaced:

STOLEN	REPLACED WITH	BY WHOM
300 DVDs	138 DVDs	friends mostly
3.1 MP digital Camera	5.0 MP digial camera
iPod 40GB	iPod 80 GB	tax refund money
DV Camcorder	new DV Camcorder
Nikon F65 SLR	Nikon F65 SLR	gift from François
Diaper Bag	Diaper Bag	gift from Aunt Gaylene
Backpack	Backpack	b-day gift
Men's Dress Shoes	more comfortable shoes
Men's Sandals	more comfortable sandals
Women's old runners	new runners
Women's new flip flops	new flip flops
$200 cash	$825	gifts from Tols, Roths, Wiebes
Power Adapter for phone	new adapter
Pocket Bible (NASB)	new same Bible
Swiss Army Knife (camping)	Swiss Army Knife (biggest one)	my b-day gift to myself
Belt	new belt
Confidence in people	More Confidence in people	prayers, cards, emails, phone calls

A realization that I had after the theft was that there were three ways to live in the face of the threat of theft:

A) Live simply with nothing so that nothing can be stolen.
B) Live boldly and richly without attachment to material things
C) A good combination of A and B