Sunday, August 03, 2008

A Parents Worst Nightmare!

We had quite the scare earlier this month. I had some errands to run and Conner and Brayden were acrossed the street playing with some friends. I called them home to get ready to go and told Brayden to go in the backyard and get his shoes. I got the other kids ready, put Kadi in her carseat and went out to get in the truck. I called for Brayden but he didn't answer. Conner said that he probably snuck back over to their friends house. I drove over there to pick him up on my way out, but they said he wasn't there. I drove back home and started calling for him. I walked through the whole house looking anywhere that he could have fallen asleep or gotten hurt and couldn't hear me. I couldn't find him anywhere. I went back acrossed the street and asked the neighbors if Brayden may have snuck into their backyard. I went and looked, but no Brayden. I called Lance in a panick and started crying when I told him that I couldn't find Brayden. He got in his truck and headed for home. I went to another neighbors house to see if he was playing with their kids in the house, no Brayden. I went back home and called my best friend to have her come over to watch my other kids and be at my house in case Brayden came home. While I was waiting for her I again searched the whole yard, the whole house, the whole garage. I looked in the dryer, storage totes, under shelves, behind doors, anywhere. Lance called me every 5 minutes worried and feeling helpless because he was on his way home, but stuck in traffic. About 35-40 minutes had gone by so far and I was beginning to panic. I went over to another neighbor's house that the kids play at sometimes to see if they had an extra kid, but no luck. The mother said she would start driving around looking for him. The father of some of their other friends started walking around the neighborhood looking for him. I went home to check in again...nothing. Another neighbor came out to help and said I should probably drive to the street behind us because there was a registered sex offender that lived back there. Scared to death by now I drove over there as this neighbor also started walking the neighborhood looking for Brayden. I drove on the street behind us and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I decided to drive over to our church and look at the park that is behind it. As I am driving through the parking lot Lance asks me if I had checked in the back of the truck. I told him that I hadn't, but that I would as soon as I got home. (I was only a few block from home). I told Lance that if he wasn't there I was going to call the cops. As I pulled into our circle two more people from my ward pulled in to help look and then a police officer pulled into the circle. I got out and walked to the back of the truck and as I started to look over the edge of the truck bed Brayden sticks his head up with a I-just-woke-up-from-a-deep-sleep look on his face. I about fainted. I grabbed Brayden and hugged him so tight and told him that I had been looking all over for him. All he did was smile. I walked over to the police officer and told him that I wasn't sure who called him but that I was glad he had come, but that we had found him. I was so relieved. I felt so blessed that Brayden was only in the back of the truck. I also found out what kind of a neighborhood we have moved into. Everyone was so willing to help. We have told Brayden that if he gets tired to get on his bed or the couch from now on.

2 comments:

The Steele family said...

I would have been scared to death. I want you to know when I was reading this I was crying.

g.c. said...

That was scary!!! I'm glad it turned out alright, but I wouldn't want to go thru that. That's awesome that you have such great neighbors!