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Thursday, August 16, 2007

Shots Fired

What a morning!! Yesterday our puppy got our under the gate while Joe and I were at language school and went for an adventure. We didn't realize she was gone until we were home for an hour or so and by then some one had likely picked her up and taken her home either to keep as a pet or to sell at the stadium on Sunday. That's a common occurrence here in Coch. Just the other day we saw someone downtown stop a taxi and pick up a whole litter of puppies on the street...most likely to sell. Ours was a very energetic and friendly puppy so she would've gone to anyone. It was a sad night around our house. Joe and I were just commenting yesterday morning what a great puppy she was. So this morning Joe took Faith and Hope to hang up signs with the puppy's picture offering a reward for her return. As they were hanging the first sign on a pole on the corner they heard a car zooming around the corner with tires squealing one block up. Joe said he thought "Come on, dude, this is a neighborhood!!" and he reached out and took the girls' hands to pull them away from the street. Just then three guys rounded the corner where the car came from and were yelling after the driver of car. When the car got right beside Joe and the girls one of the three angry yelling guys pulled a gun out of his pocket and shot towards the car which also happened to be right by MY HUSBAND AND GIRLS!!!! They were right in the line of fire. Joe yelled "RUN!" at Faith and she ran down a side street perpendicular to the incident toward our house. Meanwhile he picked up Hope and started running behind Faith. They ran the couple of blocks home as people were coming out of their houses to see what the excitement was. Even though today is one of the myriad of holidays in Cochabamba and there were lots of fireworks and fiestas last night and this morning I guess the Cochabambinos can tell the difference between real gunfire and the loud fireworks. We don't yet have this skill. Often they use dynamite in the blockades here as a deterrent for people going through. So it's kind of a joke between me and Joe that whenever we heard loud bangs we say, "I hope that's dynamite!" because that would be better than the alternative of gun fire. When Joe and the girls got home and blurted out the story to the rest of us, we prayed and thanked God for keeping them safe. I suppose it hasn't traumatized them too badly as Hope's assessment of the situation is "It was AWESOME!". She's had quite the last few hours, first her puppy ran away, then last night there was a very loud fiesta next door until the wee hours of the morning, and at 3:40 a.m. she fell out of her top bunk. Now you all know that Joe and I are very laid back and don't often get overly concerned with accidents, bumps, and falls. However, Hope has the dubious honor of having the largest goose egg on her forehead that we have ever seen in 40 some-odd years of life and over 18 years of parenting. She also had a scraped face and bloody nose. We seriously considered taking her to whatever equivalent of the ER that they have here, but decided against it after we checked her for coherency and eye dilation and those appeared fine. We put ice on her head and had her sleep in our bed. Today she has a bit of a headache and still a rather large goose egg, but is doing fine. Good enough to run from gunfire in fact.

Post Script to this story: YEAH!!!!! We got our puppy back. Our security guard went looking for her and found her in someone's yard. We gave both the guard and the person who brought her back a reward. Of course they were rewarded by 12 happy faces as well.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my!!! Thanks be to God that they are all safe...I am so inspired by what your family is doing!

Sunshine said...

Wow! What a doozy of a day! I am so glad you guys are ok - and so sad about your puppy! I will continue to pray and thank you for blogging so we can follow your story! Sunshine

Anonymous said...

Wow! Life is always an adventure! So glad Joe and the girls are safe and that you got your puppy back. Praying for all 12... er 13 (including the puppy) of you. :)

Anonymous said...

He looks after us in even the things that seem small, I am so glad the puppy is back. I can imagine how thrilled the kids were.

Becky said...

This blog is more exciting than curling up with a book. So glad everyone is safe. This just serves to remind me how important prayer cover is.

Love you guys and gals,
The Porters

TIMOTHY CHAMBERS STUDIO said...

I think Joe is a gun magnet! Think about it...held up at gun point in the convenience store where he was working...then on the bus you and Joe were on somewhere in the Carribean! Yikes! That boy needs to stay home! I'd love to see all the angels who were assigned to each of those moments! Enjoying your blog (yours and one other person are the only blogs I read!)Love and prayers, T,K,D&C

Unknown said...

awww...that puppy is so cute! i'm glad you guys found her. I honestly don't know how y'all can stay so calm in the midst of everything. prayin' for you!
brittany

Valhalla said...

Holy Cow! We're so happy that you're all safe! And that that the puppy found her way back home. Take good care of yourselves! We're praying for you and miss you SO much! J&D