Prayer Request

Many of you know my friend, Evelyn. For those that don't, Evelyn is like a mother to me and also a dear friend. Please hold Evelyn and her family in prayer today. Evelyn's husband is losing his battle with multiple myeloma. Things are progressing much more quickly than expected. Hospice is involved and families are saying their goodbyes.

Bill and I were gifted with the opportunity to be with them this morning. As you might imagine, it was difficult for me and brought back many memories after having gone through this with Mom. However, I wouldn't have chosen to be anywhere else; it truly felt like a privilege. There was so much love in that house, it was that feeling that comforted me as we left.

Please hold Evelyn and her family in prayer today during this incredibly difficult time.

UPDATE: Dick passed away tonight at approximately 5 p.m. surrounded by his wife and his children. My heart breaks for my dear friend and her entire family.

Halloween Fraud - Part Two

We never did figure out how our credit card number was "compromised." Don't you love that term? I have good news and bad news about this episode - fortunately, mostly good. I did found out that the charges - to the tune of $86.00 and some change - were to what was referred to as a subscription to an "adult entertainment site." The charges were made from some other country, as international assessment fees were also charged.

The billing company reversed the charges when I called (the good news). The bad news is that I still don't know for sure how this happened. My hunch is that it surrounds a website I visited a few months back where I purchased some magazine subscriptions for my brother's birthday. He let me know they'd never arrived. I found the site again and tried to check into the delivery. Funny - no response, but suddenly these charges started relating to a much different kind of subscription.

Bill and I have had our jokes around this. Couldn't they at least tell us what the site was? What was the password at least? haha. Yeah. Trying to keep up the humor in a frustrating situation sometimes doesn't last long.

Any advice on not having this happen again? We're all ears!

Halloween Fraud

My credit union is really good about notifying me when there are out-of-the-ordinary charges on my credit card. At times, it feels they are too good. Several months ago, Marcie and I were shopping up North and I got a call when we were in the car on the way home. I had to call their fraud department and verify charges I'd made that day. I remember saying to Marcie, "Geez, I haven't spent that much money have I?" She told me that it was just different than my normal spending pattern. Charges made in a different location, close together...

I got another one of those verification calls yesterday right after I got home from work. I didn't think much of it, called the 800#, but this call was different. I didn't recognize the charges they listed off. I went on-line to look at my account and there was a $1 I-Tunes charge and right after it four charges within seconds of each other from some odd "billing" website. I have used I-Tunes, but haven't done anything with that account in a couple of months. I didn't even recognize the other website and when I pulled it up it listed only very generic information. To even look up a charge you had to enter your credit number (I'm not that dumb!). The credit card company said it appeared to be fraudulent use of my card and it would be canceled. I have to report this to my local police department and then pick up a "fraud packet" at the credit union. This is the card I use to pay all almost all of our bills. This is going to be as much of a pain as changing my name! Grrrrrr!

I'm thankful that this was caught early, but feeling very confused and angry this has happened. Wow - some Happy Halloween! I think I need some more candy.