Front Window busted...
Living Room (if you could call it that)...
Kitchen...
There are other areas of the house that were not photographed and that's probably to your benefit. All interior doors were kicked in or broken in some way, shape or form to where they all had to be replaced. The backyard was covered in trash, both sheds out back were full of trash bags, as well as the "laundry room". As far as the bathroom is concerned, I'll just say this... I've never seen or smelled anything so awful and disgusting in my life. The commode and tub were both filled to the rim with who knows what... I'd rather not know myself, but I'm sure we can all use our imagination and the smell sorta gave it away. Dad Fadell certainly came to the rescue on that one... he voluntarily spent time emptying out the icky tub and plunging the commode. I really don't know how he did it, but THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!
Ok, getting a little off track here... So, we all arrived at the house at 8:30am to meet with the Sheriff as scheduled. The Sheriff walked through the house, no one was inside and he declared there was nothing of value in the home, so he served notice that we were given back possession of the house and all items remaining, then the Sheriff went on his way. Not 30 minutes later, one of the tenants showed up to the house claiming there was a backpack inside the house that she needed. Well, by this time we had already filled up an entire trailer with things from inside the house so the backpack had most likely already made it onto the trailer somewhere. The Sheriff ended up coming back out along with two more police officers to control this situation because we obviously didn't want to undo everything we had just done to try and find this woman's bag when she was supposed to had moved out days ago. The police decided that if the tenant wanted to take everything off of our trailer, take it away from our property to go through it on her own time to look for her bag, they would allow that. So, the tenant called a friend with a truck to come get her things and for at least three hours she continued to tell us that her friend would be there in 10 minutes with a truck to get her things... during that time, she carried trashbags one by one around the corner to a friend's house to look through them. The tenant's truck never came so the Sheriff finally allowed us to haul everything off to the dump. Turns out the tenant found her backpack in one of the trashbags she had carried off. The day turned out being much longer and more hectic than we had anticipated. The worst part was that our tenant seemed to have no shame at all in the way she had been living which was a little concerning, but at least she got her backpack!
Here is what the scene looked like for the majority of our first day trying to get the house back in order...
Kyle and I trying to remain joyful under all circumstances... ;o)
Needless to say we faced a few obstacles on that first day, but we were able to get the house entirely cleared out and also got most of the house cleaned up to begin repairs. I don't know what we would have done without the help of Dad Fadell, Mom Fadell, Justin and Sailor! Kyle and I returned to the house Wednesday. I touched up paint while Kyle cleaned up the kitchen floors, which was quite the job! Thursday and Friday; Kyle, Justin and Nick worked on replacing all the doors, did some plumbing work and other odd jobs while I continued cleaning and doing paint touch ups. Saturday, Kyle and I had a day of rest and spent time with the family, then we left to come back home early Sunday. There is still work to be done on the house so Kyle will be traveling back to St. Joe to complete the work next week :(
We did get to have a little bit of fun while we were there. We spent a lot of time with Miss Lucy Ellen and I was even able to go to her ballet class!! She did so good! We also got to hang out with the whole McClain crew quite a bit!
Here is the little ballerina...
Snuggling up w/ Uncle Kyle ;o)
Ok, I hate to go back to the bad stuff but I felt I should share this article ABOUT OUR TENANTS, just to give you the whole picture. They were arrested last month for vandalism and it was a pretty big story all over town...
Police arrest three in vandalism spree Each charged with felony property damage by Marshall White Thursday, March 12, 2009
A St. Joseph trio learned that it really isn’t all fun and games after their arrests for allegedly participating in a recent rash of property damage. One of the people arrested was a mother wearing what turned out to be a prophetic black T-shirt with the words “It’s all fun and games until the cops show up.” The state charged Joanne Nelson, 39, Brett Liechti, 18, and Lucas Pace, 17, each with one felony charge of first-degree property damage for their alleged involvement in multiple acts of vandalism. The case broke open following a traffic stop. Shortly after 2 a.m. Tuesday, officers stopped a van in the 4000 block of King Hill Avenue. The driver, Ms. Nelson, was taken into custody for a city warrant alleging stealing, investigation of property damage and a summons for possession of drug paraphernalia, said Capt. Kevin Castle, a police spokesman. The van’s other occupants, Mr. Liechti and Mr. Pace, were taken into custody for investigation of property damage. Officers were able to locate a number of vehicles with broken windows in the South Side, as well as numerous damaged mailboxes in the Garfield Avenue area, Mr. Castle said. Investigators estimate at least 25 to 30 reports of a similar nature were received between Saturday and Tuesday throughout the city. Those incidents included damage to windows of houses and cars, spray painting and throwing paint on houses and cars, and damaging mailboxes, Mr. Castle said. Officers believe there may be more incidents not yet reviewed or reported, he said.
Associate Circuit Judges Keith Marquart and Ronald Taylor set bonds for each person at $35,000. Ms. Nelson and Mr. Liecti, Ms. Nelson’s son, will be arraigned before Mr. Marquart at 8:30 a.m. Friday. Mr. Pace will appear at 8:15 a.m. Friday before Mr. Taylor. All three remain in custody in the Buchanan County Jail.
Joanne Nelson is the tenant who returned to our house the day we were moving all their items out. Clearly, we picked some winners! One reason I've gone into so much detail about this situation is because I would like to ask that you pray for these people. Trust me I know how difficult it is to have compassion for them, especially when they have wronged us the way they have, but there is more to it... While Kyle and I were working at the house, we spoke with one of our neighbors there who gave us a little more insight into these people's lives. There was a young girl around the age of 6 years old who lived in this home. This poor little girl came knocking on the neighbor's door one evening asking to use his phone so she could call her mom. She tried and tried to get a hold of someone, but no one ever answered and the little girl had been home all by herself for who knows how long. Not only that, this little girl acted as though she had not been fed in days when the neighbor offered her something to eat. Apparently, she inhaled the meal he gave her and then also ate seconds. If you remember, the bathroom at the house was not in working order, so I can only imagine what that was like for this poor little girl, let alone living in such a disgusting mess with people who obviously had no concern for this child's life what-so-ever to raise her in such an environment. Some other neighbors let on to us that there were around 15 people who seemed to live in our tiny home over these last few months, so who knows what this poor little girl was exposed to and what her life is like. I do know that one of the bedrooms that an 18 year old boy lived in was covered in pornographic photographs and magazines and judging by the above newspaper article it seems they did drugs. Please pray for these people despite the feelings our flesh might like to have for them. Most of all, please pray for this poor little girl.
Also, please pray for Kyle as he heads back next week to complete work that needs to be done on the house. We also need prayer that we get some good tenants in the house this time around!
Now, on a MUCH MUCH MUCH happier note... Kyle and I were water baptized this past Sunday!!!! Neither of us had ever been water baptized and it's something that had been on both of our hearts. We'd been wanting to for months and finally got the opportunity where we could go at the same time. It was a wonderful experience and an exciting step in obedience to what had been put on our hearts to continue our growth in Him!
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. Romans 6:1-14
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17
Have a fabulous day!!
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