THE HEALING CIRCLE

The What??? This is one of the traditional ways that the native people have of dealing with something bad that has happened, such as the break-in at our house. One of the band council members and the RCMP set up this meeting for us today. We met with the band chief and council and the kids who broke in and their parents. We were really nervous about this meeting, having never done anything like this before. We were also quite skeptical that anyone would actually show up. We later learned the cops were also very skeptical. We arrived at the band office about a minute before the scheduled start time, and wouldn't you know it - we were the first ones there. However, people began to trickle in. Eventually there were about 5 band council members, the chief, the RCMP, and all the kids except one and their parents. I was shocked that so many people came. We were a little surprised also at a couple of extra kids that had been involved that we hadn't known about. One of them is such a nice girl, it was difficult to deal with the fact that she had been part of the break in. It is a huge thing for any parent to show up at a meeting like this where your child is being reprimanded. It was really difficult at first when the kids came in - I couldn't even look at them. But as the meeting progressed I was able to look at them and even talk in a civilized fashion to them. The whole meeting basically centered on what they had done and what the consequences should be. They asked us what we wanted and we said we are not looking for any monetary compensation, but they should have to do something positive for the community such as community hours. We were able to tell the kids how we felt about what they had done and a couple of them apologized. The parents also had opportunity to talk and they all expressed their regret for what the kids had done and apologized. They also let their kids know how disappointed they were in their actions. When one of the parents had found out what her son had done, she had taken all his electronic equipment (games, mp3, etc) and thrown them out so that he would know what it felt like. (Time for an aside: One of the parents is quite a character. They call him "Tagish Elvis". Apparently he was told by aliens that he is "the Elvis". Anyways, he is running in the territorial election. He wants to be the justice minister. I guess he has filed so many lawsuits for stupid things, that they banned him from filing any more. When he becomes justice minister he will officially apologize to himself. During the last election campaign Brian and I listened to a radio interview with him - I have never laughed so hard in my life. His big ideas for promoting the Yukon were to have candy, chocolate bars and garbage cans in every community with the picture of a Yukon mascot on them. Needless to say, he only garnered 5 votes in the election. During the meeting he kept going on about the corrupt justice system - "how can we tell kids not to be corrupt when the whole system is corrupt." Finally everyone had enough and someone asked "what does that have to do with today?" "It's the same thing" he responded. I half expected everyone to say "Shut up Elvis" all at once.) The band council proposed instituting a curfew and hiring a couple security people that would enforce it. I hope they do this because there is no need for kids to be wandering around town at 2 or 3 in the morning. The cops also told them that if they do something like this again they will be going to the courts. They are going to be working with the justice person to get these kids doing some community service. They want the kids to get some money together and buy us something too - I doubt that this will happen, but it is a nice sentiment. One of the older kids that was involved in the break in has gone to BC and will be working there until October. His uncle said when he gets back he is going to make him take some of his money and buy us something nice. I'm thinking big screen tv or a new computer. LOL. Actually what I really want is that these kids realize that they can't get away with this type of thing and that maybe some of them will change the direction their life is heading.

MY BABY IS RETURNING

As you may know, Josh stayed in Kamloops when we returned home. He went to camp with his cousin Aaron and then stayed at his granparents house. By the time he gets here it will be almost 4 weeks since we have seen him. Our house has never been this quiet before. We are both excited because, it everything goes according to plan, they are starting the trip to the Yukon today. Needless to say we have missed him tremendously.

Our house is coming along very nicely. I only have to put the pine in Josh's room now - I am about 1/3 of the way done. We are going to do the dining room and kitchen after it's moved - actually we will need more wood for that. Brian has finished putting the siding back on in all the places it had come off. And Naomi and Hannah have started painting their room. (Pictures soon). They were really excited about painting it, but I think they are finding it a little tedious. Maybe they were imagining standing there and splashing paint around or waving a magic wand and getting the results they wanted. Who knows!!! This morning we are taking a much needed rest. Actually we are on a mission - we have to go to Faro to buy some white paint for the bathroom. Brian took off the old mirror, light fixture and sink cabinet. I don't know what the people before we thinking, but the bathroom used to be a minty-horrendous looking blueish greenish colour. And before that was an orangy, peachy, pukey colour. Anyways, our new stuff won't cover the same areas as the old, so he will show us how handy he can be with a paintbrush. He worked for a painting company for a very short period of time before we were married - he can use those valuable skills again. He is getting to be quite the handy-man. Nothing like some home renovations for learning some new skills. It's been a lot of fun doing this together.

LEARNING SOMETHING NEW...

Our day off working on the house provided a much needed break. Brian and I made the trip to Faro to buy paint and while we were there we went golfing. They have recently redone their entire course and it is actually really nice. This was my first time golfing, so my impression of the golf course could be a little off. I had a great time. I won't tell you my score, but let's just say I didn't make par. I will leave it to your imagination how far off I was (and no, I did not score 8 on every hole!). I'm really looking forward to going again with Brian, it was so much fun. Maybe next time I will remember to take the camera so I can post some awesome pics.

COMING RIGHT ALONG

Pictures never do justice, but you will at least get some idea of what we are doing. This shows the contrast between the pine and the old panelling. As I said before we were content with the panelling until we started putting up the pine.

Here is our living room. (The board on the window has come off now). It is a very bright room.

This picture is of the entrance and looking down the hallway. The front door is just to the right.

So, as you can see we are making progress. As for moving the house - we are still waiting. When I talked to George yesterday he said he would be here in about a week and a half. Now, where have I heard that before????? (He's been saying that since the beginning of June.) Oh well, we don't have many options in that department, so we just have to wait. But we have tons of stuff to keep us busy in the meantime. By the way, anyone want to help us move a 500 lb wood stove off the back of our truck???

GOOD FROM THE BAD

We just got back from another whirlwind trip to Whitehorse. While we were there we met with the insurance adjuster. Wouldn't you know, I have more work to do. I have to make another list of everything that was stolen or wrecked, along with when we bought it, how much we paid and the replacement cost. Then they will pay us either the depreciated value or the replacement cost (if we turn in the receipts). Anyways, out of all of this Brian and I ended up buying ourselves a very nice digital video camera. It's a Canon DVD one - burns the movies right onto a small disc that you can just pop into your DVD player. It's just tiny. We were also able to replace the digital camera - so I will have house pictures for you soon. Things are slowly getting sorted out. Thank goodness.

Also when we were in Whitehorse we did some more shopping for the house. We ordered our flooring. I can't wait until it comes and we can start installing it. I won't even try to describe it - you will have to wait for the pictures!

WORKING ON THE NEW HOUSE

Yesterday we started working on our new house. We are so excited about it. We had panelling throughout the house, but some was older and had been painted so we wanted to change it. Our plan was to put pine in the bedrooms (a real cabin look) and just replace the panelling in the hallway. The rest was going to be left panelled. However, when I went to start putting the panelling in the hall, I discovered that the new stuff didn't match. So, Brian and I had a conference and decided that we would put the pine in the hall also. So, I started putting it up and we both loved it so much we decided to put it in the living room too. So, I took down the pieces I had put up and started again, this time in the living room. This room is now 2/3 done and looks great. (I would put pictures here, but the camera was stolen.) We have put 2 days in now and the place is really starting to come together. Brian has become a demolition expert - he has been busy ripping out the old panelling and linoleum. We have found ourselves caught in the classic renovation puzzle - we keep asking ourselves "what were they thinking????" We've come to the conclusion that the previous renovator was looking for a quick fix. Pulling walls apart always leaves one open to great surprises - lucky for us, there have not been too many bad ones yet. Anyways that's all for now. Hopefully, I will be able to get some pictures out there one of these days.

TADAH!!!

Well, we didn't do any cleaning today - we are all finished, except for the laundry. It felt great to be done and the house looks so clean now. However, I am still finding spots where there is fire extinguisher powder. I guess I will have to put up with that until we move.

Speaking of moving...we have been trying to get ahold of the house mover for over a week now. I couldn't even leave a message because his message box was full. But today, surprisingly enough, he had emptied his mailbox and I was able to leave a message. The jist of it was contact us very soon or we will find someone else to do the job. Anyways, enough of that.

Josh is still in Kamloops with his grandparents and his cousins. He is homesick, but is having a great time. They have gone mini-golfing, gone to Ruckers and are planning to go to the Wildlife park tomorrow. It's so quiet around our house without him - it will be great to have him back home again soon.

The girls have been lazing around since we got home. Naomi appears from her room when she is hungry. Other than that she is busy reading and we hardly see her. Hannah has been enjoying going swimming at the river. They have a rope swing attached to the bridge. They have a blast everytime they go.

Brian and I begin working on the new house tomorrow. We will do what we can while we wait for it to be moved. Work, Work, Work!!!

SOME GOOD NEWS

Today, was another day of intense cleaning - we tackled Josh's room. His seemed to be the worst. There was more extinguisher powder there than any other room. But in the midst of this one of the police officers showed up with some of Brian's coin collection, his wedding ring and one of my gold chains. They have also found out who has the xbox and the gun. Things are slowly getting back to normal. Thank goodness.

WE'RE BAAAACCCKKK!!!!!

Well, we finally arrived back home yesterday. We drove into town around 4:45 and pulled up at the house to find that they had changed the locks. So, we all piled back into the truck and went to the police station. While we were there they showed us the pictures they had taken of the house after the breakins. They also had 2 of our bikes there. What we can't figure out is why they stole the bike that didn't have any pedals and left another one that worked well and was whole. I guess we'll never figure that one out. In any case, we are still short 2 bikes. Anyways, after the police station we had to go to someones house to get our new keys. When we got there his brother came out to inform us that he was passed out. He went in to try and rouse him. Eventually his sister showed up and she was able to get him moving. But the keys were still proving to be elusive. It turns out he didn't have them, someone else did. So, he went to find her. After about 15 minutes he showed up at our house minus the keys. He couldn't find her. Then this very hungover man says we'll just remove the boards from one of the windows. So, he got a big sledge hammer from his truck and took one swing at the window. Then he decided that wasn't going to work. He would go home and get a saw. After another 10 minutes he is just coming back, he pulls into our driveway then states "that's the car I'm looking for" and takes off again. This time he was back in 5 minutes with the keys - thank God.

I thought that after seeing all the pictures I would be prepared for what awaited us. But it was still a tremendous shock. We just walked around looking at everything. Bursting into tears at some things. One of the most heart wrenching was finding that they had drawn rude things on a picture we had from when we were in Disneyland. It was one take the rides, so it is irreplaceable. Another was finding they had taken our wedding rings and other jewellry.We just wandered for over an hour. Since then we have spent all our time cleaning. The powder from the fire extinguishers is in absolutely everything. We have had to wash down walls and even after 3 washings the floors still have the powder on them. My laundry room is piled high with laundry. Practically everything we own has to be washed because of the powder. They had emptied all our drawers and stuff was thrown around everywhere. We still have tons of cleaning to do, but it will all come in time. We are coming to terms with things even though it has been hard. As we compile our list of missing and damaged items, I am more relieved than ever that we have insurance.

That's all for now. My next post will be about something more uplifting - promise.

MORE RED WRITING!!!!!

We had a wonderful day today until we returned to my Mom and Dad's house. Upon arrival we had a message from the RCMP in Ross. It turns out the same kids broke into our house again last night. This time they broke the window in our bedroom. This means that my bedroom will be a nightmare to clean before I even begin on the rest of the damage. I guess they threw our stuff all over and they stole one of our .22's. We don't know what has been stolen and we won't know this until we get home. The police have recovered 2 of our bikes, both with flat tires. I had a very hard time swallowing this one. I am not dealing with it well. The sense of personal violation is incredible.

MORE MEMORABLE HOLIDAY MOMENTS

I wish all holiday memories could be happy ones, but unfortunately, not everything that happens is good. Naomi opened her email today and found out that our house has been broken in to. So I got on the phone to the RCMP and Yukon Housing to find out what was going on. I guess a couple kids broke the window in our laundry room and climbed in. They went through all the drawers in our bedroom and one of the kids rooms. They released a fire extinguisher both upstairs and downstairs. And they broke into our shed and stole at least 3 of our bikes. I have no idea if anything was wrecked or stolen other than that. Needless to say, this has put quite a damper on our holiday. But there is absolutely nothing I can do until we get home so there is no reason to worry about it. But it won't stop me from being mad. The cops said they may be able to get information easier if we promise not to press charges, but that was not a promise I was willing to make. They have a very strong suspicion who did it, they just have to prove it. I guess my first priority upon arriving home will be to take pictures for insurance purposes and then start cleaning. (notice the colour of the writing today - red as in anger!)