Family Scare

We had a little bit of a rough and emotionally draining Sunday afternoon a couple weeks ago.  We had gotten home from church and we were having quiet time.  We were all relaxing in our bedrooms and around 3 in the afternoon, Hayden came to our door with a knock.  We asked him what he needed and he responded with, "Um...I don't know where Hadley is.  I can't find her."

We responded startled with , "What?!  What do you mean?"  

He then responded with, "I think she went outside." 

We went over to the front door and Jared sure enough found it cracked open.  We then reached a panic and Jared went outside and started looking around while I talked to Hayden about it and looked inside.  Jared asked a neighbor who was talking to another, if he had seen our daughter.  He replied, "Yeah, I saw her poke out her head about two minutes ago and then go back inside."

The other neighbor told Jared, "She's probably hiding in her room inside."

Jared didn't believe him because we know our daughter and if the door WAS open, she definitely, didn't stay inside.  Jared then decided to grab the car and start driving around.  I told him, Hayden told me that, "I watched her out my window."

Jared drove down the street and checked at the park strip in the middle just to check since he figured she would go there.  He saw a couple kids moving around here and there, but didn't see her.  Meanwhile, I kept looking around the house and I asked Hayden more about what happened.  He mentioned that he thought, "Hadley went outside to go find grandma."

I kept looking out the window and hoping she didn't go on the main road and wasn't hurt or lost.  I said a quick little prayer in my heart as I continued to search.  Jared kept driving the streets and called me at home saying, "I really hope you have good news for me and that you have found her."

I told him no and while I was on the phone, I heard the words, "I see her."

I was relieved and listened on the phone as Jared threw the car in park and ran up to her and told her he was so worried about her and brought her to the car.  He had found two groups of children with parents a street up from us walking in opposite directions and Hadley was with one of them.  He talked to the lady who was holding her hand and asked if she was ours and then asked where we lived in case she needed to call child protective services on us in the future or something, I don't know.  While they walked to the car, I heard Hadley say, "Look out!  (or Be careful!) Gotta watch out for cars."

At least, I had taught her something good to know.  When we got her back into the house, we scolded her and talked to her about what she did and then she had a time out.  She had been wearing her dress, her diaper was sagging and her feet were black from the street.  I felt so bad.  We gave her lots of hugs and telling her we loved her and to never do that again.  I had no clue how to cope with this, but I knew I definitely needed to send Jared to the hardware store and pick up an additional latch for our door on the top now that she knew how to unlock the front door.  I did not want that happening again so here are the pictures of our new lock to keep our adventurous Hadley inside where she belongs.

and an even closer look

I have never been so concerned before in my life.  I guess all parents have to experience it some time in their life about a child.  If any of my children were to do it, it had to have been Hadley.  I am so very grateful for my daughter and for kids in the neighborhood who were caring enough to see that she was by herself and that was wrong and to go find their parents to help out.  I'm grateful for her safety and realize just how precious she is in our life.