April 1 – “Vandalism”

Well, that’s the last time I’ll ever do that.  We left the paint and brushes and everything out last night since we were going to hit the ground running this morning.  And what to our wondering eyes should appear when we woke up?  Someone had gotten into our back yard and splashed paint everywhere.  The back walls of the house that we just finished Thursday afternoon now all have to be repainted to cover up the graffiti.  I think we can power wash the concrete pavers to get the paint off them.  I have no idea what effect paint has on St. Augustine grass, though.  Guess we’ll find out soon enough. 

We’re still debating whether to call the police or not.  I suppose we’ll have to get them involved if we hope to have any restitution from our homeowner’s insurance company.  It’s their fault anyway that all of this happened.  They are the ones that required us to make the repairs that we were trying to save up for.  If they had just left us alone, we would have replaced the entire back part of our house with brand new siding and painted the whole house to match.  It would have been a glorious accomplishment.  But no.  They insisted the repairs be made and gave us about two weeks to get it done.  Now they get to cut us a check to cover some of these unforeseen costs.  Of course with the deductible it won’t be nearly enough to pay for everything, but we’ll just have to tighten our belts a little more this month. 

I’ve been wondering what all the police will need for an investigation (like they’re really going to do an investigation on something this trivial).  I guess we should take pictures of everything, but we have already painted over the worst of the graffiti.  Just wasn’t thinking ahead.  We both remember what it said, though.  Something along the lines of “April fool.” 

Gotta love it when you can tell all sorts of whoppers one day a year, and all is deemed proper as long as you add the disclaimer.  Lest there be any doubt … our house is fine.  There was no vandalism.  We are still painting today.  No police are involved. 

2 Timothy 2:23 says, “Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.”

Father, thank you for fun and pranks and especially friends to play them on.  Help us to keep them lighthearted and not hateful.  Amen.