Well, Labor Day 2006 will go down in history for the Tiede family as memorable. Let’s look at the good news first…

1. Ben taught himself to ride his 2-wheeler! That was very exciting for all of us!!

2. Friends came over and helped us play Paul Bunyan. Together we tackled (okay, we didn’t really tackle it, we used a chain saw) the dead tree at the front of our house. We’ve already cleared it away and it looks great.

3. I made a quick trip to Sam’s Club, where I discovered I didn’t have check blanks. (Thank you, Jesus, for Discover!)

4. We introduced our tree-chopping-friends to letterboxing. We successfully found the only Rochester letterbox and had a grand time…until we returned to the car…

Now for the bad news…
Someone (Let’s call him the Bad Guy) broke out the passenger side front window and stole my purse which was under the driver’s seat. (Yes, I have learned a valuable lesson. Don’t even start with me. :)) The Bad Guy apparently was only interested in the purse as he/she left Caleb’s Game Boy which was sitting 3 inches from the purse.

Bad News for the Bad Guy:
I only had $1 in my purse, no check blanks for our primary account, and everything else (including the cell phone) was closed/canceled within an hour of the theft. Ha ha! I’m most sad that he got away with my daughter’s 2 baby teeth. (She lost them in church and I had them stored in my coin purse.) Okay, so it’s no big deal about the teeth, but I still feel badly.

Good News for the Bad Guy:
I also had my ministry business cards in my purse. So, he/she could be reading this now. Consequently, the rest of this message is for the Bad Guy:

Dear Mr. or Ms. Bad Guy:
Thank you for teaching me a valuable lessons about leaving my purse in the car. I will be telling everyone I know not to follow my example, even if they are in a safe neighborhood with lots of people around. I hope you spent the $1 wisely. I would appreciate it if you’d mail me the photos, lipsticks, and baby teeth. You can keep the cards for scraping your windshield, they aren’t good for much else anymore. Please know that I forgive you, and if you ask Him, Jesus will too. I hope you will think twice before committing any more crimes, the next guy might not take it so well. I pray God leads you to a new profession and that you find peace in knowing Jesus.

Blessings to you~ Vicki (Whose identity is in Christ)