Lost and Found

This morning Joy and I visited a pumpkin patch with some friends, and being the snap-happy mom that I am, I brought our camera along to catch a few memories (cuz that's what memory cards are for, right?). We then took the kids for a walk, and on the way home Joy and I stopped at a store to get something we needed. As I was paying for our purchase, I suddenly realized my camera wasn't in its usual spot - or any other spot that I could see.

I searched the store, then retraced all of our steps that morning. Twice. No luck. I couldn't even imagine how the camera had been separated from the stroller, but even if someone hadn't intentionally removed it, they had obviously picked it up from wherever I dropped it. Either way, it was long gone.

When we reached home, I called the police station to report the loss just in case some good citizen decided to bring it in, but I honestly wasn't very hopeful. I had said plenty of prayers, and I believe that God answers them, but sometimes the answer is, "Sorry, sweetie."

An hour or so later we got a call from one of the police officers. He said someone had brought a camera by the station, and he asked where I had been that morning. When I mentioned the pumpkin patch, he replied, "And the little girl pushing the stroller - what was she wearing?"

"Purple pants, a long-sleeved shirt, a little hat . . ."

"Yeah - this is your camera," he said. "I'm looking at that picture right now. You can come get it anytime." Joy and I hopped right in the car to retrieve our camera, and when we arrived the officer told us that a woman had found it down the street from the pumpkin patch and brought it by the station. I still don't know how we could have dropped it, but I'm very grateful that there are still good, honest people in this old world. Thanks, ma'am, whoever you are.

P.S. Joy was really impressed by the pumpkin patch's pop-up vampire. "Mom, did you SEE that?"