Mike had an accident~the Kenworth is totaled

I'm finding myself with a jumble of thoughts inside my head... so I can only pray that they have made thier way out in such a way that they will make sense!

Mike had an accident last week, and our Kenworth is totaled... Thank God that my husband is ok. He came so close to so many different things happening that would have killed him or seriously injured him. Angels were definitely with him!!

The accident was last Wednesday night (August 22nd). He called me just befor 11 pm, right after I had drifted off to sleep. I was barely coherent until he started talking about screeching tires and the trailer nearly turning over. That caught my attention enough to wake me up. I was scared to death... all I could do was pray until I fell back to sleep. But I know I didn't sleep much that night.

Seems that a farmer had left his gate open (or someone knocked it open--it's still not completely clear)... there were several cows in the road--black ones, and it was pitch dark. Mike didn't see them until he got close enough that he couldn't stop.

Mike said that he skidded sideways down the highway & the trailer jackknifed. He plowed down a line of trees. The truck's fenders are gone, and the hood is all smashed up. The front axle came out from underneath the truck. I told him I wanted to see pictures of it (our insurance company requires pictures, so I had wanted to see them too)... he didn't want me to see them. It must be worse than he is telling me.

He told me that the truck finally stopped just before it hit "the biggest tree in Texas", in his words... he said he knew he would have been dead if he'd hit that tree. He said that he kept seeing the trailer teetering in his rear view mirror, but somehow it didn't flip over... that would have caused the tractor to flip over as well, quite possibly killing him.

He had a trailer load of cattle, and amazingly, none of them were injured. They were really tossed around, and they made the trailer teeter again when they all stood back up.

Twelve of the farmer's cows died that night on the highway. Seven of them were killed by our truck. One was killed by a pickup coming from the other direction. Four were injured badly enough that they had to be shot at the scene. So sad. And it could have been prevented if someone had just paid attention to the gate.

All of this has really made me question our very existence and what we're doing with our lives... but Mike doesn't seem to be affected in quite the same way. I pray. I thank God for his protection, and I ask Him to place angels on guard. Mike gets on the phone. He looks for another truck online. For him, it's like life just goes on. You get right back on the horse. He and I are so different. Very different. Sometimes enough that we seem to have nothing at all in common.

We're still waiting for insurance to come back with an amount because they're waiting on the axle (which came out from under the truck) to be shipped to where the rest of the truck was towed. It's ridiculous that it should take over a week, but that's what they're waiting on. I guess I could go get it myself, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't fit in the back of my minivan. I'd have to rent a dually truck & a lowboy trailer. I don't see that happening, but it's pretty tempting.

When will this ever end? It seems like we have one bad spell after another... Why can't things just work out like we want them to once in a while? I take it to heart, letting myself believe that we somehow deserve this disastrous occurrence. I know better. God has seen us through so much. He's certainly not going to give up now. As long as I keep the faith. I have to believe. I must believe.

I am a believer that all things happen for a reason. I may never know the reason, but I know that God has a plan. It is obvious to be that He is not finished with my husband. He could have easily died that night, but he is still with me. He knows that my girls need a daddy and I need a husband. There is a reason. He has a plan. Thank God for his divine plan.

Choosing Thankfulness

I'm enrolled in a Sunday School class at our church where we're studying the First Place book about thankfulness.

First place is a program that I'm doing along with the others in the class where we choose to change our diet to be healthier. We started it last Sunday, and I've already lost 2 pounds in one week! My goal weight is now only 38 pounds away. Yippee! :-D If this keeps up, I could lose up to 26 pounds by the time our Sunday school quarter is up! That would be awesome. I'm really hoping to set some healthy habits that will last, for myself and for my children!

Back to the thankfulness part... We've been challenged to write down 5 things each morning & 5 things each evening for which we are thankful. There have already been days it's been pretty hard!

I figured I might share tonight's list, hoping that it might trigger a few more thankful thoughts. :)

Tonight, I am thankful to the Lord for:

* air conditioning (especially since it was 102 degrees today!)
* children who go to sleep easily and sleep all night
* my husband, and that he has a job that supports our family (even if it is a tight budget, we still have food to eat & a roof over our heads!)
* my church family (I'd be LOST without them!)
* my health, and the health of each of my children & my husband. I pray that we will always be healthy.

~Stacy

Never dull

Delaney stayed with my niece last night, who had sleepover... so Delaney is wanting to do the same before school starts. LOL... I am not sure I'm ready for more than one guest at a time! My sister-in-law must truly be brave.

It's just been me & Jenna this morning, and there's been no lack of activity. I feel like I have chased her constantly! She gets into EVERYTHING she can reach. And if she can't reach it, she will just push a dining room chair across the floor! I think I have my work cut out for me with that little monkey.

There is never a dull moment as long as Jenna is around. If it ever gets quiet in the house, it's a good idea to hunt down the quiet... 'cause you never know what you'll find!!

Where did the summer go?

School starts for my first-grader (yes, it's hard to believe that she's that old!) on August 20th. That's only 10 days from now! Where did the summer go?

We have hardly done anything all summer... it's not that we didn't want to, but that we couldn't afford to!

Mike has been working all the time, trying to get us caught up on all the bills we got behind on from such a bad winter & spring. But it doesn't seem to be working fast enough. Before we know it, winter will be here again... then it all starts over again. All I can do is pray that God will provide the jobs, and that the truck stays in good shape to take them.

The girls & I went to Branson with my mom for two nights...We spent the most of three days shopping and doing fun things. Delaney refers to this as her "vacation." It was really nice.

It's been so hot out thatI haven't wanted to be outside! My girls haven't spent a lot of time outside because I have such a fear of heat exhaustion. When it's near 100 degrees, I much prefer to keep my babies inside. Maybe that makes me crazy, but I am what I am...

I am looking forward to the start of school, but I'm not at the same time. Delaney is ready, but Jenna won't like having big sis out of the house every day, all day long. I am going to babysit two kids during the school year though, so hopefully Jenna won't miss her as much with someone else around to play with!

Car troubles~Time to trade? Ugh.

Last Thursday I took my van (a 2006 Caravan—not even old enough to have problems!) into the dealership because it had a little shimmy. Nothing big, but I was afraid something was wrong with the brakes because it was doing it when I took off from a complete stop.
They told me that they had a “bulletin” on it, and they “fixed” it by re-routing the power steering line.

Yesterday we drove to Springdale to get parts for the Kenworth. On the way back home, we stopped at a stoplight. We noticed a horrible smell, and there was a huge puff of smoke when we took off. I managed to pull over, and there was NO power steering. I knew right then that somebody had messed up!

I called the dealership that had “fixed” it on Thursday, and they brought us a different van. They also took my van to their shop. The guy who came after it was one of their mechanics, and he found the problem immediately. He said they had used a different kind of clamp that wasn’t holding… so the hose had slipped off the power steering pump. All that smoke was actually steam—it was the fluid blowing all over the place, creating a steam when it hit the hot parts under the van.

On the way back to town, we were inspecting the van. It was a Chrysler Town & Country, a bit bigger than my Caravan, a year newer… had more miles & the check-engine light was on. It also wasn’t nearly as nice as our van. So we decided to cruise through the dealership to see what they had! LOL!

We found a really nice Chrysler Pacifica that we both fell in love with. I’m still not sure if we’re going to get it. We haven’t really made the deal yet, but we tried a little last night. In fact, we spent most of our day at the dealership yesterday!

This is the car we should have bought to begin with. We both loved them, and Mike hated the idea of a van. I begged for a van. Why? I dunno. LOL! He will actually DRIVE the Pacifica. He has driven the van to the donut shop across town twice since we have had it (and we’ve had it since Dec 05!). And he only drove then because he really wanted donuts. LOL!!

Trading cars is so frustrating. They want to give you about half of what your car is worth for trade-in, and then they want you to pay more than what the other one is worth for their car. Ugh. I thought we had reached some decent numbers by the time we left last night… We’ll see what happens today. We may be driving a new (well, different! It’s a 2005) vehicle by the end of the day… or maybe not!

Only problem I see with the Pacifica? It's not red. I love red. I'd choose red over anything else. Always. ;)

Tooth Fairy Update (

Saturday, July 28th
The tooth fairy managed to redeem herself... Remembered to leave a dollar under Delaney's pillow. Thank goodness! :) I thought I might have to hunt her down. lol

When Delaney got up the next morning, she was excited to find the dollar... She did ask me if I needed to borrow it. Ha ha... Poor kid! Obviously she hears much more than she needs to. I told her she can do whatever she wanted to with it, so she put it in the offering plate at church.

She's a pretty good kid, that Delaney. Most of the time. ;-)