Felon in the family

Here was what today was supposed to be: Wake up around 11 ish...lounge around until I go to work at 2. Wind down after work, and that's that.

Here's how it went:

11 o'clock: I wake up..turn over and just lie there. My cellular device rings. I don't know about you, but my morning voice sounds like the troll who lives under "the bridge." I looked and saw that it was from North Carolina, so I answered it. TUrns out it was my new roommate from NGC. I have e-mailed her and given her my number, and now I've talked to her. I mustered up the best morning voice that I could and talked to her for a good 40 min. It was interesting.

12:30: *knock knock + doorbell* This alarms me because I'm currently in my PJs, glasses, no make up, hair in the nasty state before I fix it, and eating lunch. So I tried to figure out what to do to make up for my appearance, but decided to just throw a jacket on and see who it was. I wish I would have ignored the knock. This is where my day starts to go crazy. I answer the door in my homely appearance to find 2 police officers. My thoughts go towards my brother as there is currently a warrant out for his arrest due to unpaid fines/failure to appear in court. He just found out that he owes more than $500 because he didn't pay the fines in time. So I step out of the door and I think the policeman smirked at me. I apologized for my appearance, and He went on to interrogate me about my brother.
Him: Is Joel here?
Me: No, he doesn't live here anymore*I told them this family info. hoping to get them to leave.*.
Him: Oh? Where is he living?
Me: He's going to school now.
Him: Over at Tech?
Me: Yes.
Him: Well, we're here because there's a warrant out for him and I am wanting to get ahold of him to try and work out some kind of deal so he doesn' t have to go to jail.
Me: Yes, we've been told about the fines. I understand.
Him: Do you have a number to reach him at?
Me: uh...yeah, hold on. * at this point I went into the house and was freaking out. I didn't want to give them my brother's info. It felt like I was betraying him and the new sheriff of our town is what you'd call..."untrustworthy," but I didn't want to lie either. I gave them the number*
Me: Are you guys going to go and arrest my brother?
Him: No, we are just going to call him and see if we can work something out.

So they left and I'm freaking out, knowing that the hunt is on. THey informed me that the warrant was sent out to all of the surrounding areas. NOT GOOD.

I called my dad and told him about it. At this point I was crying. When it comes to my brother Joel and all the situations he gets into, I lose it. Plus, I still felt like I had done something wrong. My dad told me to call Joel and let him know about it and also encourage him to fix the problem by contacting the police and working out a deal. So I called him.

Me: Uh, Joel, the police came by, got your phone number and want to talk to you. You may want to call them and work this out.
Joel: WHAT?! YOU GAVE THEM MY NUMBER?
Me: yes
Joel: WHY!?!?
Me: I also told them where you were. They said they are wanting to get ahold of you to try and work out a deal.
Joel: YOU TOLD THEM WHERE I WAS!? WHY? NOW THEY'RE GOING TO ARREST ME LEAH.
Me: Well..you get paid in a couple of weeks right?
Joel: MAYBE..I DON'T KNOW.
Me: I didn't know what to tell them!! They came by and asked about you.
Joel: YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO TELL THEM ANYTHING.
Me: Hey, you had a chance to pay your tickets, but you didn't!
Joel: I KNOW, BUT I DON'T HAVE THAT MONEY.
Me: yeah, but if you make a deal with them, maybe they won't take you to jail.
Joel: I DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY!! AAAHH...THANKS ALOT LEAH. *CLICK*

I was really crying now. I talked to my dad once more before I went to work, but was still in emotional shambles. I just didnt' want to be at work. Then at work, i saw the cops. They were in wal-mart now. I dont' think they recognized me, but it was very unsettling. So I work all day and just didn't perk up until after my lunch break. Even still, my heart was heavy with what I had done, even though there was nothing wrong with it. I called my mom after work because she wanted to know how i was doing. I started crying again and was getting encouragement. I knew that if anything had happened there would be a message on the answering machine when I got home. I got home and had 6 new messages. My heart began to sink. Lo and behold, there were 3 messages from an inmate named Joel in Okmulgee county jail. I lost it. A mix of betrayal, shame, and being burdened for my brother came to the surface. The cops told me they weren't going to arrest him!!! I dont' know what happened at all. I was told by my dad not to talk to Joel until they get back. <> So I don't know what's going to happen. Joel likes to blame his problems on everyone else. Oh dear. Maybe the Lord will use this to help Joel get saved. It's hard, and it hurts, but there's a purpose in it. I'm just scared of my brother now.

This was my day.