mom, I got in an accident...

Okay. Okay. Are you okay? Yes, she's okay. But Dad's truck, um, it's not so okay.

Emily borrowed Paul's truck to do some work at her house (she built a bench with cement blocks and pieces of wood for her new patio). She was driving through a flashing yellow light and this poor older woman didn't see her, just paused at the flashing red light, and pulled right out in front of Emily. The airbags deployed, the front quarterpanel of the lady's car is all smashed in, she's very lucky the hit wasn't just a bit farther back where she was sitting, it would have been really really bad. The poor woman had just spent the day in the hospital in the big city with her husband who had surgery, it had been a rough day already, then she had this accident...thankfully no one was hurt. I drove up to pick up Emily, and this woman came and hugged me and said how sorry she was, she was ready to fall apart. I do not believe in coincidences, although I don't know why this all happened, I know I was meant to pray for this poor lady. And poor Emily was a bit shaken too. She put on a brave face, but it was quite a crash.

It was an out of the blue event in a seemingly normal day....

Yesterday was Clean-Off-The-Bookcases day. Books are dear to me, the childrens' books we weeded through all carry memories of happy times and cuddles...and quotes..."Ten Apples Up On Top", (All of this must stop stop stop!), Dr. Seuss (Can this go on all day and night, it could you know, and it just might!), and the stacks of Little Golden Books (The Book About God, Elouise Wilkin)...precious little books, but we had way too many. We sorted, and most of them went to the thrift store so other children can be cuddled and read to. At least that's my hope, instead of being handed a tablet or a phone to play with. We kept the Little House books and the National Geographic books, and others that were special to us.

Evelyn had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, so we stopped to drop off the books afterward. That's a huge accomplishment, to actually drop off the donated items, instead of bagging them up and intending to...but anyway. We had to shop a little bit. Ev found shoes and dresses. I bought a few more books, and a nice shirt for one of the girls. Evelyn has a good eye, and flexible taste. She wears what she likes, and she always looks nice, not caring if it's in style or not.

We stopped at BJ's for chicken, pepperoni, milk, and a bag of Dunkin coffee.

Home...ah, home...Mali was there with sweet Lydia Eleanor...

Oh, Gramma loves her!!!

Mali had to leave for work, we were watching baby, and making a big dinner...I cubed up six pounds of chicken breast, tossed it into lemon juice/olive oil with fajita seasonings, and browned it up in olive oil, we opened up some black olives, sliced up green and red peppers, cut some cheese, warmed up rice, steamed the corn, ect.

Then the phone call from Emily. Okay, Em, no problem, I'll be right there to get you. On the way out the door, I grabbed a Hershey's milk chocolate bar with almonds from the pantry...stress makes me want chocolate. But I knew that if I opened it I would eat the entire four ounce bar, so I waited. Nope, Em didn't want want any. So I decided not to open it, and it was a good victory for me. Mirielle came over when we got home (Em came here for a bit) and joined me for dinner, because the rest of the family had already eaten and it was all cleaned up. (Em's accident was over a half hour away from here).

So. Keep that hair clean, you never know when you have to jump in the car and go rescue someone.

And here's the thing: when you have a lot of kids, and a lot of vehicles, these things happen. Poor Paul, his trucks have gotten so banged up through the years...Ben flipped the old Ford, Margaret and Abigail both drove it off the road...and there have been fender benders and nicks and bumps, mostly with his trucks. This one's a Nissan, and I hope it's not totaled because we couldn't replace it for what we would get for it. Oh well. Everyone was okay, and that's the important part...I told the poor lady that, not to worry, at least everyone was okay.

And tomorrow...France. I haven't packed yet...(and this weekend, the kids have a soccer weekend, and are staying in our camper, so I have to help them pack, and drive them there tonight, and the camper hasn't been cleaned out yet this season....) Never a dull moment. But things have changed so much, it's not nearly as busy as it was in the old days...


Fourteen years ago..eight older kids were in school, these were the ones home during the day. Margaret was home too because she was in kindergarten the next year when Robert was "born". These were kids number 10, 11, 12, and 13, Kathryn, Evelyn, Suzanne, and Sonja. (the crazy part is that I had four more after this).

Anyway. Time to get moving...