Nine Days of Madness, but Many Blessings!

The last nine days have been very trying but have also made me realize how blessed my family and I are. Although things got pretty bad, it could have been WAY worse. Here is a list of the problems and difficult situations we faced the past nine days and the blessings hidden within all the chaos....

Thursday, May 28, 2009:

Josh called me on his way to work to tell me he got into a car accident. The road that leads from our house to his job is very curvy and he got distracted just long enough to miss one of the curves and careen off the road into a granite boulder. The car was totalled.

Blessing #1: He walked away from the crash without a scratch!

We JUST receieved the car as a gift from Josh's dad in Oklahoma who bought a new car two months ago. We got his old 2000 Pontiac Bonneville with airbags and comfortable seats and we happy we got a new car without a car payment (yet another blessing). So we sold my little "card-board" truck, that did not have airbags.

Blessing #2: He could have been SERIOUSLY injured (or worse) if he had been in the truck. It probably would have crumbled upon hitting the boulder.

Saturday, May 30:

My dad found a car he liked for us at his dealership in San Antonio. We drove down Friday night, then went to look at the car Saturday morning with my parents. We found a different car and decided it was the best option for us. Dad started to work on getting the car ready to purchase on Monday.

Blessing #3: My dad has a great job at a car dealership and got us his employee discount!

Monday, June 1:

Started preparing for a trip to San Antonio for a three day conference Josh was scheduled to attend. Linc and I tagged along for fun. While putting Linc to bed that night, he tripped and fell forehead first into the corner of his crib. He got a pretty good goose egg on his head, but was otherwise okay.

Blessing #4: He came really close to hitting the metal bracket that holds the crib together. Could have been worse.

Wednesday, June 3:

Drove to San Antonio, dropped off Josh and saw our friends Charly and Casey and their family. Also caught up with another friend Nicole Winmill for lunch. Very fun. When we tried to leave, our other car (Toyota Camry) wouldn't start. I let it sit for a little bit, then jumped the battery. It worked. I picked up Josh and went straight to my dad's dealership to have it looked at. They said it would need a new battery and alternator AT LEAST!

Blessing #5: We were given a free rental car to get us around the rest of the week. Also test drove another car, same model just cheaper, and made a decision about purchasing our

"new-to-us" used car.

Wednesday night at the hotel room, Linc was standing up on the bed, fell off backwards and bit a hole through his tongue. My shoulder was covering with blood as we tried to get him to eat some ice chips to slow/stop the bleeding, which worked.

Blessing #6: He could have bit all the way through and needed stiches.

Friday, June 5:

Josh finished his conference and we left to go pick up both cars. It was very disheartening to know we would have a car payment for a little while, but we got a great car that should last us for a very long time.

Blessing #7: We saved about $6,000 by using my dad's employee discount.

Saturday, June 6:

We were excited to sleep in and recover from our bery busy week. Josh went to clean the church building around 9 am, and I was planning a trip to the City Pool. At 11 am, Lincoln grabbed the cord to my iron and pulled it down on his leg, severely burning him. I rushed him first to the bath tub for some cool water, then to our closest emergency center. After 90 MINUTES of waiting, they surveyed his leg and assessed it as a second degree burn, which meant 3-4 weeks of burn cream treatments and lots of gauze.

Blessing #8: Lincoln was sitting down in a chair when he pulled the iron down. It could easily have burned his face, arms, chest, and more. But it didn't.

There is a country song on the radio right now that is called "You're going to miss this" by Trace Adkins. It talks about kids growing up, getting married, having screaming kids of their own, etc, and how even though it's tough now, you're going to miss this. I have to remind myself that these days go by so quickly and I ought to enjoy EVERY moment I have with my family. You never know when it could be gone.

Although we've had some very stressful situations come up this past nine days, we are grateful to have escaped serious injury in several instances. I'm so thankful to my Heavenly Father for reminding me to look for the positive in all things and to love my familiy each day!