We live a life of faith-filled adventure! We are a family with eight energetic, loving, crazy, happy, and very noisy children. Ray and I thought our family was complete when we had four children. Now, when people ask us if we will have any more children, we simply answer, "We don't know." We have learned that God sometimes has surprises in store for us, as He did when He brought home our two girls from Ethiopia!
As the winter came on the laundry continued, and so did the need to keep saving money. For the first time in twelve years there is no winter work in the construction field. It has been nearly two months of steady unemployment, but we keep tweaking things to keep ends met.
We have a laugh when we bring the laundry in on the cold winter days! It is hard to show exactly how stiff it looks, but when we send the children out to get the laundry it is formed to the shape of the chair it is drying on. Savannah tries to get the laundry in the basket, but she can't quite make it fit! lol
I have to say it must be making a difference in my hydro bill because when I got my bill this month I was expecting it to be much more than it was, because I had a girl stay here for three weeks this winter and she stayed in our travel trailer. (Not because she had to, but so she had a little room of her own). For heat she had to use an electric plug in heater. I am sure those things eat up the pennies.
We have taken to using as little lights as possible. It would be good if we were that conscientiousness all the time. I understand from doing research on the internet regarding lighting for our new home that 20-50% of our electric bills goes to lighting! And if our dryer uses up another huge chunk, well, we know what we can do to cut costs!
I remember growing up and my mother telling us to turn off lights. It didn't make sense to me. Whatever. We did it when we were told, but didn't carry it in our memories for long. She tried fining us 10 cents a light, but that didn't work. And we grew up without money, so I know how important that was.
Ray is like my mum. He gets on the kids and reminds them. I don't. I just turn them off when I walk by. Probably related to my childhood. So, it is interesting that I am the one that is really cracking down on the light usage right now. I think it is because I want to see how much I can bring the bill down. If it is really related to lights and dryer then I have a lot of control over my monthly bills.
So as the evening creeps in and the shadows start to come down we gather in the main room. The children are wonderful about cooperating because I have explained to them that this is a way to help Daddy with the bills. I found Austin peeling potatoes in the near dark the other day. lol I told him to use the lights!
But as I told Dane, "This is what memories are made of!" I said this because I walked in the TV room one evening and said, "What are all these lights on?" Then I bust out laughing. Dane joined me when he found out what I was cracking up about.
All these lights - all 2 of them. We have two light fixtures in our TV room and they both hold six Christmas light size bulbs. I had no control over all the lights being on in the house, so I had taken the liberty to unscrew some bulbs. In this room I had unscrewed all but one in one of the fixtures. This night it seemed really bright. Dane had turned on another one in the second fixture. *laugh* The room really did seem light in comparison to what it has been. And it is a TV room, after all. It is supposed to be more like a movie theatre.
But it was funny.
The nice thing is we are doing more clustering. We are gathering in the main room more and I find I am cooking, a child has pulled up a comfy chair to read, another is doing a puzzle, and others are doing chores. I don't really see the downside in saving money by using less lights! And each day the sun stays up an extra two minutes! *grin*
Another thing we have done is cut out our cable. We did this way back in May. That has saved us about $60 a month. Not much? Well, that adds up to $720 a year. Plus the tax you pay to take home that $720. You end up saving about $900 a year from that one thing! For starters, I began watching old TV series like The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, Seventh Heaven, so I was already taming down my TV.
Then we discovered that you can watch any tv shows you want on the internet. Now, the children and I don't watch TV shows at all, so this doesn't affect us, but it does mean that Ray can watch the couple shows he likes to watch - for Free! So here you see Dane and I huddled around the computer screen watching a show! (laugh) Not exactly the most comfortable seats. I understand you can hook it up to your TV screen. Maybe one day.
One thing that Ray misses the most are the hockey games. Not that he is a complainer; he's not! But we couldn't justify the $60 a month it cost for him to watch hockey - not at this time. So now it is like the old days. The family huddles around the radio (computer) to listen to the play by play. *grin*
Casually Listening
The Crowds Move In As the Game Picks Up
And.... OVERTIME!
Well, the situation was recently remedied for Ray. We still don't watch TV, but Ray takes nothing for himself, spends nothing, and expects nothing, so coming up with the money for his hockey is quite a reasonable thing even in the light of unemployment.
I still didn't really want the tv due to the horrible brain control it seems to hold over certain members of our household. So I was quite happy to have it gone. The short version of the story is that I called the company to disconnect with them when our six month sabbatical was over. They didn't want me to. They said I would have to pay another months fees as notice. I said I couldn't. They put me through to another department. That day I discovered there is such a thing as the Save Department. There job is to keep the customer at all costs!
It was so funny. I was trying to convince that food was more important than TV, lol, and he was trying to convince me to stay. Finally, when it was abundantly clear that he was not going to keep this customer he offered to drop my fees. Suddenly, my resolve dropped, my ears perked up.
What? Huh? How much? My suspicious nature came out. I asked all kinds of questions. Yep, I could take it to the new house. It would be my new fee for good. He keeps trying to convince me, I'm not convinced. Finally. Okay, so then I'm listening, my face is looking thoughtful and then when I realized it was really a good deal I said, "I'll take the deal." You had to be there, but seriously, I felt like it was Deal or No Deal. Lol
Here he was offering me this deal. If I didn't take it and wanted TV in the future I would pay $55 a month. Here he was offering it to me for $31 a month. Shucks. What to do!! I knew my hubby deserved to have his hockey. What to do. What to do!! lol
So when I said, "I'll take the deal," it felt just like when you got the $50,000 or you can go for the next question. But no, I took the deal.
It was very cute when I called my son in to turn on the TV that had sat inactive for nine months, only to discover it had been active the whole time. He was pleased for his dad. And his dad was pleased. So now I know, there is a Save Department and that is where you get fantastic deals!
I still wish it were gone, but I figure if we are allowed a 6 month sabbatical, then we can use it for six months for hockey and a few shows and take six months off, and that will cut the yearly fee in half - down to $15 a month!
.
You should have heard the gales of belly laughter in our home.
Colt came home four months ago with nicely coiffed hair. A young man that took pride in his appearance.
Over the next four months all Colt has focused on has been working at paid jobs for his dad's business, building our home, and saving every penny he could. That meant not buying junk food, except on rare occasions, or doing anything that cost money.
According to Colt it also meant not getting haircuts. I offered to give him a hair cut, which I do for all the boys, but he decided he would like to see how long and shaggy he could get it before he left to go see his girlfriend, enroute to college.
So while we were 'admiring' his bush one night right before he left, I decided since there was a brush on hand that I should have some fun brushing his hair as *big* as I could get it. Well, the fun went from there. Next I had spray from the girls and was dousing him with hair oil. Oh, it was funny!
I should just mention that that 'oh so stylish' green sweatshirt is a *workshirt* and when the guys go to work they wear anything, no matter how ugly! lol
Mimicking Jim Carrey
The fun continued when Colt found an old trenchcoat, put up the collar and sat down at the piano pretending to be Count Olaf from The Series of Unfortunate Events .
I would like to address something Tammy said in one of my last posts.
"Wow, Justine...it is going to be amazing! I'm envious of ALL that space (my house is only 1315 sq ft.), although there is only the 3 of us, ha ha. Love the pics!"
Tammy, we are truly blessed. I agree, it is going to be amazing!! I am in disbelief that we have the honour of such a fine home!! But it didn't happen overnight, and as I look back now, I wonder if we are heading in a direction that God had planned for us along...
We began with a tiny 5th wheel travel trailer. We built a small addition of a livingroom and a bedroom for our firstborn.
We moved out of that when he was 9 months old into a two bedroom condo. We lived in that two bedroom place til our second son was 8 months old. He slept in a playpen in our walk-in closet til then. Small beginnings. Never be ashamed to start small! *smile*
We then moved into a 3 bedroom house, which was 1100 sq. ft. We renovated the carport and turned it into a preschool centre, which later became my homeschool/playroom for our boys. When we watched the Horse Whisperer, we saw the gorgeous countryside and we left the theatre thinking. Within 36 hours, we had made a firm decision to take our children to the land. We decided to rent a movie that weekend. We fell across Mountain Family Robinson at the movie store, watched it, giggled and laughed at watching a family do the very thing we were seriously considering: selling all, packing a truck, and heading out of the Big City into the Vast Unknown. We were giddy! Seriously.
Within a month of this decision to move, I discovered I was pregnant with number 4. We gave that baby the middle name of "Blue" because "we were heading for the blue skies". And that is where we ended up! 10 months later, we left that house with 8, 6, 2 year old boys, and a newborn baby. We packed a U-Haul trailer (just like in the movie) and headed North. We had spent the last nine months researching properties on the internet; I had done a couple long distance road trips complete with three small children, and wee one nestled inside, and scouted out possible land ideas. We had had a miracle when we approached a bank that was six hours away from where we lived and asked them if they would finance us building a home. They said yes, without even having met us. That was a miracle!
It was like God was preparing our hearts for a bigger home, and better environment for our children, before he blessed us with the next one. He kept preparing our nest before sending more children!
From that little 1100 sq ft home we moved to the country, because we could not afford to live in the city anymore. It was never an option for me to go to work; raising our children was a fulltime privilege that I was not willing to share with anyone else. We also wanted our children to grow up knowing what it felt like to run free and wild, which is why the land of Montana in the Horse Whisperer spoke to my soul. The cost of living was way less and our mortgage dropped by half, and there on a 10 acre parcel of land surrounded by thousands of acres of the Queen's crown land (free range forest) that we paid $33,000 for, we built our first home. It truly was our Little House in the Big Woods!
From the Big City to a Small Town
It was a tiny box of 28 ft x 28 ft. There was a main floor of 800 sq ft:
My Kitchen and Livingroom
The livingroom became a great room when we built on the addition, which became the new livingroom.
We also had a tiny 532 sq ft upstairs with 3 tiny bedrooms:
Master Bedroom
Landing to Three Tiny Rooms
I used every available inch: the landing was built a little bigger to make it a Library. The landing had a 5' foot wide closet that I used as a sewing room. Not an inch was wasted.
And then we had a full unheated basement. This was hard to use in winter, but the kid dressed warmly and romped around this space anyway. We eventually added on 400 sq ft to the main floor. This was the life!
The View From Our Deck
Wood For the Winter
Country Boys Are Born
Freedom to Run
Note the Outhouse, Minus a Door!
We even added on an addition going from our bedroom over the great room loft area. This was to be a small office, but little did we know that months later I would find out our unexpected 6th blessing was on the way. It was remarkable to us to see that we had built our baby a bedroom before we had even known we were expecting him!! This tiny room became his bedroom. It was wee tiny, but we decorated it up with childish prints and he was just off our bedroom, so it was nice. The other five children shared two other bedrooms of 9 x 9 each. Two in one, three in another.
Notice the 3rd Bed on the Floor on the Left
As there was no room for playing we decided to built beds into the closets. These worked wonderfully.
I never thought we would move again. I was determined that my grandchildren would grow up in the country. But God knew different. He planted a seed in my head when my husband was away in Toronto. Thirteen short months later, we had completed our second house build and moved in time for Christmas. This time it was 2800 sq ft. A virtual mansion! lol
Then we added two more unexpected children and our teens increased in number! More body, more testosterone = less room!
We still had no plans to move. But once again, God had other plans. We were inspired to move back to the country. Too many children for a town lot. They needed that freedom to be and explore again. The perfect property came up at a killer price, and it was next door to town. Everything fell into place.
And then God opened our hearts again...
So perhaps he has moved us because he has plans for 'our' children:
God gives security.
He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge. Proverbs 14:26
You know, I was writing my post and this verse crossed my mind as being the perfect one to add to the blog. Why? Because about a month ago, when we had an unexpected adoption situation cross our path, this verse was given to me. So writing this blog post made me think of that verse. I walked across the livingroom to get my Bible. I picked it up, cracked it open, and it fell to the very verse I wanted. My husband saw this happen, which is so cool, because he always hears me tell that this happens to me when it is important. Well, for the first time he saw it happen!!
This verse speaks to me. I sometimes wonder if God has given us this wonderful large house because he has further plans to increase us?
Each time, before God sent more children, He prepared our home for the addition. And then he prepared our hearts for more children, because you see, we were not going to have eight children; we were going to have *four*. Once all was ready - *then* He sent the children, and we could look back and see His hand over it all.
So open your hearts to children if that's what you want, and also to what God might have in store for you, and God will help you prepare the nest. He will make it all work. Trust.
In another post I would like to talk about being able to accept the blessings of children when you think you can't afford it. Or perhaps I should say: When the world tells you that you can't afford it. If I forget to write this post, please someone, email me or comment to remind me. This is one I have a passion for, but I might forget in the busyness of life!
Trying to get back into posting. Believe it or not, for the first time in a *long time* I am fighting off a panic attack. It is not related to blogging. There has been *so much* stress around here for the last 2.5 months. And right now it is related to cars. More on that later. So what has been going on around here for the last 2.5 months?
Very dysfunctional visitor turned our family upside down for a couple weeks.
Discovered some of our children had been through something terrible.
Hubby lost his upcoming winter contract.
Construction bills (not our house) way over cost during financial hard times.
Terrifying teen crisis.
Wonderful house guest from Switzerland for three weeks.
Small son experiencing strange flashes and shapes in vision for several weeks.
Same small son shot in the eye.
Personal crisis.
Mortgage company made huge mistake putting us at great risk.
Son could have been killed.
Family in car accident.
An adoption situation.
So where do I start?
Well, let's begin with my oldest son:
After three and a half months of my oldest son, Colt, being home, it was time for him to leave again. He was heading out into the world of higher education. To be exact: BCIT - a technology institute, where he is studying to become an aircraft maintenance engineer!
He headed to visit his girlfriend who lives 10 hours away from our home. He was with her for a week before he had to leave to head for his new home: The Big City.
I always want my children to call me when they leave somewhere, or arrive if they are leaving from here. This time he did not tell me he had left. At about 5:00 pm, my sister emailed to tell me that he was due anytime. I texted him to see where he was and didn't hear from him for a number of hours. Later that night, he texted me and told me he had arrived. He asked me:
Mum, can you thank God that I'm alive. I nearly didn't make it. It's a miracle I'm alive.
He had left bright and early and headed out. For some strange reason, at about noon, he fell asleep at the wheel. When he woke up he was in the opposite lane, about 100 feet from an oncoming line of track. There was a full-size pickup trucking heading directly at him. He said both he and the other driver pulled hard to their right, with screeching tires. A mere three feet separated them when they passed!
Praise God for His protection! I am so very thankful - what inadequate words - that my son is alive and well today! Our children have been raised seeing me pray before we drive. Often I will call on a child to pray for God's hand to be on us and other drivers. Many times we have forgotten, but God has shown himself to be faithful regardless. Our family has so many stories where we were protected from situations that could have been deathly. I am thankful to say that I have never been at fault, but things like broken brake lines, tie-rods falling off during long road trips, being mysteriously stopped on the side of the freeway just long enough to miss a fatal car accident just miles up the road.... So many situations where we have been protected! God is faithful!
His protection continues....
Last Tuesday I headed to a town a couple hours from where we live. I was taking two of my children to a paediatrician. I had three children with me. Two more had wanted to come with me. I had said no. I am very thankful I did. If I had brought two more, I would have brought the third one, putting six children in my van. If I had done that I might not have brought six home with me. Just writing that gives me chills. But it is true.
When we had our sixth child we looked into buying a 15 passenger van. I really wanted one. I did research and the only information I got was that they were known to flip upon accidents and roll, crushing the back of the vehicle. They were not built as passenger vehicles, but rather, as transport vans, with added seats. We put the idea aside and bought an Astro van.
We then added two more children, bringing our number to eight children - ten people in an 8 seater vehicle. We didn't fit. For the next two years we managed by driving two vehicles. Twice during this time I investigated the Sprinter (too expensive) and the 15 passenger (nothing new - risk of rolling and crushing). Once again, we postponed buying a new car.
Finally, last fall, we bit the bullet. I did more research and read all I could on the vans and what the risks were:
overloading
seat belts not used
under-inflated tires
going too fast
not paying attention to road conditions
stopping too quickly
I called a dealer of vans. We had a long talk about the idea of buying a dually van. They sell beautiful adventure vans and I was seriously considering one of them. We would have had to fly to the States but I thought the six wheels would make it safer. Long and short of it, my long talks with different dealers who sold dual wheel vans, Chev and Ford 15 passenger vans, led me to feeling that a lot had to do with the driver.
Ray and I talked it through and we decided to do it. We would buy a 15 passenger Chev express. The Savanna and the Chev Express are both better than Ford as far as I can see. Why? They have done what they can to improve the passenger safety in the passenger part of the van. It is not just a box with seats. But more importantly they have added 'stabiltrak'
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, they estimate that nearly 10,000 deadly wrecks could be prevented yearly if electronic stabilization technology was used on every vehicle. GM and Chevy are working to that end.
What is StabiliTrak? That’s the same question I had, and I expected some answer that I couldn’t readily comprehend, something that went way over my head, not so much.
StabiliTrak is a fairly simple concept to grasp, it measures the difference between the steering wheel angle and the direction the vehicle is actually turning. Then it checks the steering wheel position, sideways force, the speed of the vehicle, and its response to the steering wheel to apply braking forces and/or change the torque of your engine to help keep you safe and on the road.
Once I had the van, I became *very* careful to follow the safety precautions that I had put in place for myself: when I have driven over 500 km, I always get the tire pressure checked; I stay near 80 km an hour, and yes, that means I do have to pull over when I get a line-up behind me; my kids *always* have seat-belts, and for me that means five in car seats! Last, but not least, I do not overload.
At Christmas, when I told my brother how I was going to be with it, he thought I was being paranoid. My kids are worth it! I love, love, love my van, but it could also be a death-trap. Treat it with respect!
Five minutes after I entered the freeway on November 1st, something very surreal happened. I was traveling in the right hand lane, probably at around 80 km. Thank God I usually follow my own rule about speed, and trust me, I will be much more vigilant about watching my speedometer in the future! There was noone coming towards me.
All of a sudden, I noticed a car turning from the lane on my right - the merging exit en-ramp. She was only about 100 feet in front of me, and honestly, I have no memory of telling myself how to react. I simply reacted, and I know God was with me because we are here to tell the story today!
What I do remember is that she was turning *across* me as if she were turning in a parking lot, so that instead of traveling parallel to me, she was suddenly running perpendicular to me. If I carried on straight, I would drive right through her driver's door. Not that I thought this. Not til later. No, I simply swerved carefully to the left and according to the kids I braked. I have no memory of planning that. But I do know that my braking was relatively gentle. A hard brake would flip my van.
I remember when I first got the van I had an incident where something frightening happened twice. Once, I was driving down the freeway, and then I saw a car passing another car as it was coming towards me. There was no way I could drive straight. I had to swerve to the edge of the road. That freaked me out. It wasn't a hard swerve, but the kids in the back told me it fishtailed. For the next while, I had the kids monitor what movement caused what level of movement in the back. I was determined that I would *know* my vehicle, since that was one of the things I was told. Another day, I was on a quiet road and there before me was a *semi* casually driving down my side of the road. Again, I had to swerve to the right. This had *never* happened in my other vans! Perhaps it was God preparing me for what was to come?
So, on the day of the accident, I just handled it. I swerved to the left, felt the other vehicle make contact with Savannah's side of the van, and then the impact seemed to go on for a while, and then I was swerving in front of van, back to the right hand side of the freeway. I could feel myself bumping across the road. I came to a gentle stop. Truly, I wonder if it is a miracle that the accident was quite so 'gentle'?
I have a friend who was in a near fatal (should have been fatal) car accident. Hit on the freeway, rolled three times, end to end, landed upside down. Each member of the car (four of them) stated the same thing: it felt like they had landed on marshmallows.
Well, I can tell you, my car did swerve, but it felt controlled. It did not careen wildly all over the road, and it did come to a gentle stop. And not one child cried. Noone but me. lol Well, not at first, but I nearly cried later from the shock of what happened.
As I sat there in my car, in shock that I had just had a car accident, a man appeared at my window.
I asked him if he was the one that hit me. He said he didn't. He had witnessed it and was from a nearby town. The woman that hit my van arrived shortly after at my window. The only thing I said to the woman was to let her know that her hitting this van was the worst thing she could have done because it had such a history of rolling over. The poor woman probably felt bad enough, but honestly, at that moment, I was in shock realizing that my worst nightmare had happened! I had been hit and I had *not* rolled over!! I hadn't even gotten out to see the damage yet.
I suddenly realized I had to call 911 - again, seriously, where did that thought come from? It's not like I have ever been in a car accident before!!
I dialed, the officer answered, and as she asked: Fire, Ambulance or Police? I didn't even hear her. I simply barreled quite incoherently right over her words and said, My car has been hit on the freeway and I have three children in the car!
She very calmly and 'nicely' (ha!) told me that was Fine, just exchange insurance papers with the person who hit you. I must have reacted pretty much like I was saying: Are you nuts? Someone just hit my car. I can't do that. I don't know what to do! I've never been in an accident before! I need the police to come here!!
I didn't use so many words, (pretty close though!) but apparently she got the message because shortly after I got them all: Fire, Ambulance, and Police! lol Complete with sirens blasting. Quite the field trip for my children, who, btw, were doing remarkably well. Not a tear. Nothing!
My eleven year old son took my camera and got good shots, since he knows I have a blog, but more I think because he wants to start his own blog, and he figured it would be a great first post! lol
Stressed Out Mother Calling Her Dad
"Dad, I need your help!" Second call I made after calling the police. I am sure those were not reassuring words to a dad that had just heard from his daughter an hour ago, knowing she was out of town, and having just told her to 'drive safe' when she drove home!
Nice Fireman Checking Out the Kids
The side door couldn't open, so he had to climb into the front to chat with them. Cute kids!!! He told me. Aren't they cute? He said to the rest of the crew that piled around the open back and front.
One of the Witnesses
I sat in the vehicle for what seemed like ages before I realized I should probably see what damage was done to my van. Funny how shock works! I mean, seriously, normally I would have just hopped out and looked, but it didn't even occur to me to go look! lol
When I got out and walked around another man appeared and handed me his business card. I was in a bit of la-la land right then. What was he giving me his business card for? Was he offering to fix my van? Seriously, that is what I thought! lol
I saw my van and was floored! I had no clue I had been hit that hard. I knew I was hit, but I was expecting *one* spot, not the entire side of my van to have been wiped down!!
She had even done the worst possible thing: she had ripped a hole in my tire!!!! One of the main reasons for the vehicle flipping is having a tire blow-out. Oh, my, goodness!
The good thing that has come of this is that I know that God truly has us in the palm of His hand! Twenty-four years driving and never had an accident, and it has to happen in the *very* vehicle I don't it *ever* to happen in. And He carried us through!
The police officer was great. I had no clue what to do! Seriously, there were so many people but they expected me to know what to do. I don't think they realized how in shock I was! Or how inexperienced at accidents I was! lol
A mechanic, a tow truck driver, two witnesses, the woman, police, ambulance, fire - all there. And they were asking *me* what I wanted to do. How did *I* know? I asked if I changed the tire, could I drive it home? They seemed to be about to let me. Then I asked: What would you do if it were your wife? To which they both said: Tow it. Well, thanks! lol Why didn't you *tell* me I wasn't safe to drive it?
Then I said, What do *I* do once my car is towed? They looked unsure. Get a ride? Hello? I am from hours away from here! lol I think they need to realize that shock can really confuse a person and make them not able to make sane decisions or even know *what* to do!! But they missed that cause I looked like I was coping. Mind you, I sure was shaking!
So then I asked the police officer if we could have a ride to McDonalds Play Place. I called my dad and he drove out to our land to get Ray, so Ray could come and get me. If my mind were about me I would have called Rusty, my good friend, who lives 10 minutes from the land, rather than my dad, who lives an hour from our land!! lol
Did you know cops listen to their music loud? lol Our cop likes rock music. He very kindly packed my boxes of shopping in the back of his truck and the children hopped into the back seat. Of course, by now, I had my camera and was taking shots for the blog. I knew my audience would love to be part of the adventure! lol Our children had just last week been to the police station on a field trip. They had had to share looking in the squad car with a ton of other kids. This time they actually got a real ride. If I was myself I would have asked him to use the lights and siren. Darn! Missed the chance!
He dropped us at McDonald's where we proceeded to spend the next *three hours* until Ray picked us up.
Upon arrival I stopped with the children to pray and thank God for his protectin during the accident. I was still rather shaken up. It was quite hard for me to believe that it had really happened, and that the worst had not happened. After I had prayed, I suddenly had a strong, overwhelming feeling of revelation and thankfulness. Thankfulness for something I had not thought of before. I suddenly realized that if I had not swerved to the left there was a *very* strong chance that the woman that had hit me would not have walked away from the accident. As I drove down the highway, my car was aimed directly for her driver's door. With the speed of an oncoming vehicle, the angle of her car, and the weight of my van, this woman would most likely have been killed. This changed from whole perspective from 'this woman wrecked my van and could have killed my family', to being ' Thank God she is still alive!'
Something else - I am so very thankful that I stood strong and did not buy a Ford. When you read the words up above about the Stabiltrak you will see that I was hit with a sideways force just like the kind they refer to!!! I can only imagine what might have happened if we had not had a Chev Express or Savanna van!!
StabiliTrak is a fairly simple concept to grasp, it measures the difference between the steering wheel angle and the direction the vehicle is actually turning. Then it checks the steering wheel position, sideways force, the speed of the vehicle, and its response to the steering wheel to apply braking forces and/or change the torque of your engine to help keep you safe and on the road.
Enjoying Dinner
Savannah Watching TV; Raine and Austin: Workbooks
Our Girls and Two Austins
Later on, our long stay was made more enjoyable when a young gramma and her grandson arrived. Apparently, she has a nephew who came home from Ethiopia just last Christmas! A small world!
When Ray picked me up and drove us home it was rather stressful. He drove at normal speed, but I kept my foot pressing through the floor boards. I made a comment to him, and he, not understanding said, "What do you want me to do, go 90?" Cause that was the speed limit and he was going 92 km. I said, NO! I want to you to go 30!! I want to WALK!
I had to drive 2 hours home after the accident and it wasn't too easy. To say the least!
That night I had a terrible sleep. I couldn't sleep, no matter how many natural sleep aids I took. I was thinking of the fact that in two weeks I would have to drive to the Big City and just the thought of it was freaking me out.
As the week went by, I got better.
I had no Loss of Use or Road Star on my insurance, which meant they would not tow the van home to repair it, nor would they cover a rental vehicle when it was being fixed. Well, God is good!! The adjustor heard that I had six children that had swimming lessons starting on Saturday in another town, plus one child that needed to go to Children's Hospital on the 14th, and that there was a seven passenger van at the body shop we had chosen, and she told me she had to make a phone call and would get back to me.
Ten minutes later, she called me to tell me she had authorized the overriding of the problems. I would have my van towed to our town (a few hours), plus she had authorized a rental van for our family, fully covered!! I am so thankful!!
I picked up the van on Friday and it might seem funny to you, but when I opened the door and got in I was not impressed. This van might as well have been a space ship. Seriously, I drive a Limo Van - That's what we call it - Our Limo. But our limo has Power Nothing - well, windows, sure, but that is about it. This has every button you can imagine! I had no clue how to even get this thing to start, use the windshield wipers, or lights!
I sat there for about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get the wipers going before I finally went in and got some help. Driving home was fine.
Then came Saturday.....
I got the kids in the car. I was feeling the stress. I had someone else's car to drive. I had lost my confidence. And then...
the door would not shut!! ARRRGGHH!!
The kids were in. I was getting in. The side door would shut. Bing. Then slide open again. Someone would shut it. Slide shut. Bing. Slide open again.
"WHO TOUCHED WHAT?" I had threatened them all with death (not literally!) if they touched ANYTHING on this van - Did I want this responsibility? NO!!! And now the stupid door wouldn't stay shut. Who did it????
They all looked so innocent and promised they hadn't touched anything. Yeah, sure! (boys....)
I ran inside, called the bodyshop, found out that the man who answered the phone was only there for five minutes and was leaving. Once again, God saves the day! Someone was there just at the moment I needed him, or I would have missed the swimming lessons. The man knew what to do. Apparently, there was a button on the interior roof that could disarm the electronic doors. Done! The door shut. And we were off to swimming lessons.
I had no idea I would have mild anxiety while driving. I had to pull over at one point and walk around the car to get fresh air. My head was reacting funny.
I got to town, did our swimming lessons, all was well, and then I left to do shopping. Only a couple stops, but I could feel that I had to *be quick*. I had this need to get on the road and get home.
I could feel my muscles in my neck tightening, and I knew I had to get through my stuff quick and get going. I went into one store, shopped as quick as I could, and then, a little later, I felt a bit better, so I headed to Walmart.
Well, that didn't do so well. lol I told the kids we would be an hour. I wanted to be on the road at 5:00 pm, to be home for 6:00 pm.
We dashed (literally) into Walmart at 4:57, and I darted to the electronics department with six children running to keep up, asked some questions regarding computers, and then all of a sudden this NOISE started. It was like that horrible high-pitched noise microphones make when they are malfunctioning. It didn't stop. It kept on going and going and going, and I remember thinking: This is a great way to evacuate the store!
How much worse can it get? I am having a panic attack, and a store starts screaming at me. lol I knew I had to leave the store - now! As I was racing from the store, I thought to myself how funny this would be on my blog. Seriously, you got a crazy woman having a panic attack, running madly through Walmart not knowing if her children were even following her, but trusting they would help each other to keep up.
This noise kept screaming for the whole time it took to finish in the department, and even as we flew out the front door it was still going. At that moment, I realized Cassidy had thrown something in my cart. NO! I was not paying for it. Take it BACK. I'm leaving and if you want a ride, you better catch up!
I realized how insanely funny this situation looked like. Poor kids! Cassidy, running behind saying, I thought you said we would be in here an hour? That was seven minutes?
Yeah, well, I changed my mind.
The kids and I got to the car, got settled, and then waited for Cass. I was not waiting patiently. lol My wheels were turned to the entrance, and if he wanted a ride, he had better hurry! I knew I *had* to go to Staples because we have nothing in our town, and I needed to get school supplies. I ran in there with one child, and immediately felt a little less stressed. My anxiety slowed down, and the child and I did our shopping. Right before I left, I quickly grabbed some anxiety food: Coke and Toffifee. I knew if the anxiety returned this would help.
I figured if I had comfort food I might make it home. Well, it was a good plan. I gave each child one Toffifee, and then every 5-10 km I ate one myself, while slugging down Coke.
By the time I was about 10 km from home, Cassidy asked me if my anxiety was gone yet. I asked him why he asked? Because you have finished your chocolates.
Yep, I was feeling better. lol
Now, I am asking you to pray for me. I have to drive that same drive next Saturday for swimming lessons, and then the following day I have to drive five hours to the Big City. I have to keep Cooper up til midnight that night, so that his brain will be tired, then I have to have him up at 5:00 am the next morning, and then I have to drive right into the Big City at rush hour time, to be at Children's Hospital for 9:00 am. That means I am maneuvering this *feather* (as this vehicle feels!) around in serious traffic, when I would rather just stay home, until this stress leaves my system. I then have to turn around and drive 5 hours home again a day or so later. So please pray for me to relax. Cause tonight I felt that anxiety again, and I have not felt anxiety since the girls came home.
And I would suggest you pray when you drive. It truly has saved us from many situations! And maybe more that we don't know about!
Oh, and the van will be 19 business days to fix. Praise God, it was not a write-off. It will be about $10,000 to fix, plus the cost of the rental car, so we are very thankful that they are fixing it. It was not an easy one to find. Most of them are like ugly white transport trucks. Mine is a classy one. grin
And *that* is the end of the saga. At least for now.
BTW- if you want me to have the energy to blog (and I really do love to blog when I know I have readers) then *please* do drop comments. They inspire me to write. And considering how many comments I got privately, I know you are out there! lol So please, do comment and I will respond with posts. smile
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