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Saturday, September 06, 2008

Thankful

I am so thankful today.  Thankful that everyone is safe, except for the poor man who decided that life wasn't worth living anymore.

Thankful for golf, that kept Scott out of the office yesterday when a gunman disarmed a cop, ran into Wheaton Bank and took all 12 of the employees and a few customers in the lobby hostage.  From 1:30 pm until about 4:45 pm the whole city held its breath, waiting and watching to see what he would do.  Swat teams from the FBI and the County, strange looking green tanks and helicopters descended around the building.  All trains were shut down coming to and from Wheaton.

Thankful for Ruth Carlson, another senior commercial lender in the bank with Scott, who courageously and fearlessly talked the gunman into letting people go one by one, until he was left with just two, my cousin Christian and another woman named Kim.

Thankful for the incredible chain of prayer that started almost immediately...we and our family were receiving calls, emails and facebook messages from people all over the globe saying that they were praying right then.  

Thankful that everyone got out safe and unharmed, and that no one had to witness that final shot.

Thankful that day is over.  

Please pray for the family of Mr. Long, he had two little children (4 and 2) and a wife who are left to pick up the pieces.  And for the employees who lived through this ordeal and have to go back to work on Tuesday.

Yes, that is Scott up there in this photo from today's Chicago Tribune, and my cousin Christian is hugging Ruth, after finally making it out of there.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow Jenni, I had no idea this had happened. SO grateful that Scott and the bank family are all OK.
-kristin

Jen said...

Yeah, while it was huge news out here in the Chicago area, somehow I don't think it made much of a blip anywhere else. It was a crazy couple days but I think we're finally back in the swing of things. Scott is over at the bank now, trying to figure out if he's supposed to be working or what.