Amazingly, after five days of searching, she located her family's car. It was parked just a few miles from their home. Sadly it was stripped of parts and smelt of fast food and cigarettes.
She said it was heart wrenching to see all of her belongings gone- a bugaboo stroller that she pieced together off of craigslist, a sibling gift that her son had given to his sister when he was born, the kids' car seats and, of course, their baby books.
Although devastated, Erin didn't give up hope. She noticed that the garbage bins in the area were full and contacted the local recycling center. She actually raked through a week's worth of garbage from that neighborhood searching for her books.
Her story continues, "After hours of searching I gave up in tears. Then the floor manager stopped me and said one of his sorters spotted one of my books! It must have come in on a different load from a different neighborhood and by some miracle made it to the sorters hands. He then unknowingly threw it into another pile of trash. The supervisor and I dug through three huge piles of the trash but never found the books. So I let them go.
I found my closure. I was brushed by a miracle that the books made themselves known that they were there. And I know what happened to them. They were thrown away and not kept for some other crime against my family. They will 'return to the earth' or be recycled into a new baby book for another family to create. I have since ordered new baby books and they will have a wonderful prologue to put in them. Our family will rebuild... If there is anything positive to come out of this its that it has reminded me to be thankful of all that I have and I am everyday."
Thank you, Erin, for sharing your story with all of us. Your kids will definitely have an amazing story to share when they tell others about their baby books.
