We could have had a code adam yesterday...

Thank you so much, Abba, for bringing her home safely and for letting the right people take care of her. I keep playing the what if game in my head and I keep seeing flashing police car lights in my mind.

This is what happened yesterday...

I went and got Deidra from school, things were going pretty normally. She watched some tv, ate her snack, played dress-up in her room, then around 4:30 she wanted to go outside. She was playing in the front yard with the kitty and she'd come in and out. I was answering some ebay questions and trying to clean up a little bit. Finally, I realized that she hadn't been inside in a few minutes and I went to check on her. She wasn't in the front yard so I figured she must have went in the back yard. went back there and she wasn't back there. I called for her and didn't get an answer. Went back in the house and checked for her wondering if we were just on opposite sides of the house or something and she had gone inside while I was walking to the backyard. No sign of her. I did laps around the house 3 times, asked the neighbors if they had seen her since they were outside getting ready to go somewhere. No sign of her. It was then that I started getting panicky. I kept calling for her and no answer.

I walked back in and saw that it was 5 o'clock. I started to cry and my mind went completely blank when I tried to call Andy. I looked for my cell phone since his numbers were pre-programmed in there. I told him that I was going to walk up to the church to see if she tried to go to the playground or something. She's never ever left her yard before and since we don't know neighbors and we don't really seem to have little kids on the street, I had no idea where to look for her other than there. I took my cell phone and ran up there. No Deidra. I ran back to the house and called my Mom. Andy was still an hour away and I needed someone to be there with me. They paged her twice and no answer and then Andy beeped in. I answered the call and then our regular house phone rang. I answered it thinking it was going to be my Mom....it was the school principal. Deidra was at the school. She had wandered away from home and couldn't find her way back. She wound up telling someone that she was lost. She knew our names, her own name, and couldn't remember her street address, but she knew which school she went too. They called the police and the police took her to the school and they were able to call me from there. I was 2 seconds away from calling the police when they called me. The principal told me that the neighbors were willing to transport her back to the house...seeing as to the fact that I didn't know who they were and who had even brought her up to the school at that point, I said that I would feel more comfortable if they kept her where she was and I would come get her. We only live a couple blocks from the school.

Deidra was crying for me and when I walked in the door, I didn't know whether to yell at her or hug her I had been so worried. The cops told me that as far as they were concerned that it was a done deal, they weren't going to do anything to me this time, but take some notes on what happened. I don't plan on there ever being a next time. The principals ID'd me and then we were told that we could go. At that point, I was a little miffed that they were going to let the neighbors (that I didn't even know) take her back home, but I'm someone that they see everday and I'm getting ID'd. I guess I would have been mad though had they not done that either.

She had told the cops that she told me that she was going to a friend's house. Of couse, she never told me that and she told me when I was putting her in the car, that she forgot to tell me what she was doing. I told her that she doesn't know anybody on our street, so I didn't understand what happened. I told her that I had been out looking for her. We went home and I was able to call Andy and my Mom and tell them that all that happened and that she was fine. Deidra wouldn't talk to me about where she was found and who found her and how she got up to the school at first. After we both calmed down, I asked her to go on a walk with me and see where she went. We went up our street both ways and to a few cross streets both ways and what it came down to was she didn't remember. I did get out of her finally that 2 boys were playing outside and she told them that she was lost. They took her inside their house and the cops were called. The cops came and got her and asked her some questions and they took her to the school. It was the cops that were going to bring her home, I guess....but the principal had told me the neighbors. I'm still glad that I went up there. I didn't want her anywhere else to wonder where she was or who she was with.

We made up a few new rules with her though last night and I don't think she'll be leaving the yard anytime soon. It scared her pretty bad. She's not to play in the front yard anymore though unless she has Andy or I outside with her and I'm putting padlocks on the gates in the back and she's only to play out there from now on since it's all fenced in. She finally told us last night that she chased a kitty down the street and when she looked up, she didn't know where she was or how to get back home.

I just thank the Lord, that she was found in the right hands and that she's back home safe and sound. I've been feeling pretty guilty that I didn't have a closer eye on her in that few minutes for her to wind up missing and especially when I heard the police officers say that they weren't going to do anything to me this time. I wasn't in the right frame of mind when I was there to really ask them some questions that I've thought about. I'm going to talk to the principals on Tuesday when school starts up again (they have Monday off) to see what they can tell me. I've apologized over and over to Andy for that and I just feel horrible that it happened. My Mom keeps telling me that it could have happened to anyone and it's not the first or the last time that it's going to happen to someone. I just don't ever want it to happen to me again. I think it scared Deidra pretty bad too that she won't wander away like that again anytime soon.

I told my Mom that I will not ever judge someone for losing their child again. It was a matter of 10-15 minutes for that to happen and she was missing for about a half an hour. We're definitely not letting her out of our sight for a long time. I never thought that we'd deal with this as she has always known the rule and followed it that you don't leave your yard until now.