You always hear that everyone should carry a pen and paper to write things down. Well this is once in my life that I need to write something down.
My family has a lot to be thankful for. We are thankful to be alive and healthy. We have seen a great deal of misery this past 2 weeks.
It all started with something I wrote about in an earlier blog post a few days ago. Our neighbor passed away. It is very unusual for me to be home at that time of day, but school was 2 hours late because of the snow and I decided to stay home until our girls left for school at 10am. About 9:50 my husband called and asked if I had left yet because he needed to do a parts run. I told him no and he should pick me up on the way and I would ride with him. He called me a few minutes before he would be home and told me to be ready to go. About 10 minutes passed and I heard sirens and looked out the window to emergency vehicles going into our neighbors drive.
I watch and assumed someone had fallen and help was there. I thought about walking over, but didn't want to get in the way. I tried to call my husband to tell him about it but he didn't answer his phone. I kept calling as minutes passed and I gazed out the kitchen window. Then half hour passed and 45 minutes. I continued to call Pat with no success. Panic started to grip me. I think it was from all the commotion outside. I was worried he had an accident on the way home.
Soon I saw people blocking the road and I don't know how, but I just knew there was a helicopter on the way. I was worried about my neighbors, but I was worried about my husband too.
I called my son to drive out and see if his dad was in the ditch somewhere. When he got here he said, "Dad's truck is at the neighbors." I felt relieved for 2 reasons. One, he was safe and 2 - the helicopter had just left empty. I knew someone had died at that point. I was glad he was there to give comfort.
I didn't know at the time that he had helped perform CPR until help arrived. If I would have went to work, we would have left from the shop and Pat wouldn't have been home to help.
That was Thursday.
Tuesday was the funeral. I needed to get to the bank Tuesday morning and Pat offered to drive in for me. He almost got hit by a semi. He was at a green light and saw a tractor trailer coming up to a red light - cars in front of the semi - and started to jack knife. Pat didn't pull out, but he watched as the truck got straightened out and went between vehicles, barely missing all of them and himself, going through a red light going about 50 miles per hour. Thank God.
Tuesday afternoon, funeral. Allen's wife called Pat her angel for being there. Pat had a very hard time at the funeral.
We get back to the office and are told a sheriff had been in earlier.
Wednesday morning the sheriff is back and serves us with foreclosure papers on our business.
Friday night, we are visiting our daughter and another daughter calls us from home and tells us our dog just got killed by a car. We don't even know how to tell our youngest daughter that her dog, that she adores, is dead. She has a friend over tonight so hopefully she won't notice he is gone yet.
My family has a lot to be thankful for. We are thankful to be alive and healthy. We have seen a great deal of misery this past 2 weeks.
It all started with something I wrote about in an earlier blog post a few days ago. Our neighbor passed away. It is very unusual for me to be home at that time of day, but school was 2 hours late because of the snow and I decided to stay home until our girls left for school at 10am. About 9:50 my husband called and asked if I had left yet because he needed to do a parts run. I told him no and he should pick me up on the way and I would ride with him. He called me a few minutes before he would be home and told me to be ready to go. About 10 minutes passed and I heard sirens and looked out the window to emergency vehicles going into our neighbors drive.
I watch and assumed someone had fallen and help was there. I thought about walking over, but didn't want to get in the way. I tried to call my husband to tell him about it but he didn't answer his phone. I kept calling as minutes passed and I gazed out the kitchen window. Then half hour passed and 45 minutes. I continued to call Pat with no success. Panic started to grip me. I think it was from all the commotion outside. I was worried he had an accident on the way home.
Soon I saw people blocking the road and I don't know how, but I just knew there was a helicopter on the way. I was worried about my neighbors, but I was worried about my husband too.
I called my son to drive out and see if his dad was in the ditch somewhere. When he got here he said, "Dad's truck is at the neighbors." I felt relieved for 2 reasons. One, he was safe and 2 - the helicopter had just left empty. I knew someone had died at that point. I was glad he was there to give comfort.
I didn't know at the time that he had helped perform CPR until help arrived. If I would have went to work, we would have left from the shop and Pat wouldn't have been home to help.
That was Thursday.
Tuesday was the funeral. I needed to get to the bank Tuesday morning and Pat offered to drive in for me. He almost got hit by a semi. He was at a green light and saw a tractor trailer coming up to a red light - cars in front of the semi - and started to jack knife. Pat didn't pull out, but he watched as the truck got straightened out and went between vehicles, barely missing all of them and himself, going through a red light going about 50 miles per hour. Thank God.
Tuesday afternoon, funeral. Allen's wife called Pat her angel for being there. Pat had a very hard time at the funeral.
We get back to the office and are told a sheriff had been in earlier.
Wednesday morning the sheriff is back and serves us with foreclosure papers on our business.
Friday night, we are visiting our daughter and another daughter calls us from home and tells us our dog just got killed by a car. We don't even know how to tell our youngest daughter that her dog, that she adores, is dead. She has a friend over tonight so hopefully she won't notice he is gone yet.
We will see the tears of our 12 year old daughter when she realizes her dog is gone.
All of this a few days before Christmas.
All of this a few days before Christmas.
I needed to write these down so that I can offer them up to Jesus at this time and let him help heal me. Jesus takes our worries and stress from us like a gift.
We will always question why things happen, but we need to remember that it is all in His glorious plan.
My friend told me that Jesus is walking with us - what a beautiful picture.
Our love for each other and God will see us through.
Our love for each other and God will see us through.
Dear God, Give us strength to cope and thank you for the gift of family and friends. Amen.
