I Need to Find My Mommy . . . . .

SO yesterday morning, I got up early enough to go for a run while the kids and Randy were still sleeping. It was a pretty great run honestly. When I was on the last stretch and walking it out, I looked ahead and saw an older Asian lady and a little girl walking down the street. My first thought was, "That must be a grandma and granddaughter heading to the park." Followed by, "That little girl has the same jammies as Ava." Followed by me yelling, "Ava! What are you doing?" Yep, my sweet little thing was a good 3 blocks away from our house, outside of the security gate, walking down a busy street with a random lady. At first she was excited and said, "Mommy! I came to find you on your walk because I want to play with you!" Then she saw my face and wasn't so excited anymore. The lady didn't speak great English, but I did get that Ava was wandering by the security gate telling her that she needed to find her mommy on a walk. Well, I immediately knew that Randy was either still asleep and Ava had somehow slipped out undetected, or he was flipping out. It turned out to be the latter and we found him walking around the neighborhood with bare feet yelling for Ava.

Yep - fun morning for us. Bottom line - she got a good talking to and cried and cried. We told her over and over that somebody could steal her and she would never see Mommy and Daddy again and Kai would be so sad without his big sister. We definitely used the scare tactic because what else do you do in a situation like this? She understands fear and not wanting to be away from her family. I understand the same thing and that's why as the day went on yesterday, the situation became scarier and scarier to me. On a spiritual note, I wasn't actually planning on running up that road. I was planning to turn earlier and make the run a bit shorter, but when I hit that point I decided to go a little further, which took me up that exact road. I think it was a bit of my own personal revelation and I'm so grateful that she was safe. It's devastating to think of the "what if's." Apparently, when I was Ava's exact age I took a stroll home from a dance class all by myself and my mom found me at the front door. Apparently the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I hope Ava understands the seriousness of the situation and has a bit of fear instilled in her about this.

Since she probably doesn't, I'm headed to Home Depot to buy a lock that she can't open. Better safe than sorry. :)