Then Comes the Blessings

Since the time, our son Matthew turned in his mission papers, we have been tried and tried. Here is a list of things that have happened since, along with the blessings.
Realizing that we still have 19 more days left and a lot can happen, I'm posting this anyway.

October 4, 2009: Hit a deer while driving home from Monte Cristo. We were driving through Eden when it happened.
Blessings: The air bags didn't deploy. Bryce wasn't driving. Tom was driving and didn't swerve to miss it, because there were ravines on both sides of the road that dropped 30-40 feet down. A policeman stopped and assessed the damages and wrote up a report. Finding later that the Insurance company would not have covered it without the report.

February 1, 2010: Bryce got in a car accident, in the van totaling 5 accidents for the van in 5 years.
Blessings: No one was hurt, and he had just taken Emma to school so there were no kids in the car. Tyler had stayed home also and was taking care of Gracie. It wasn’t Bryce’s fault.

February 1, 2010: Matt is breaking out in hives. Don’t know why.
Blessings: It only lasted 2 days and they were gone. He had them for 2 weeks last time.

March 16, 2010: Gracie cut all of her long hair off. It was choppy and short. Her hair was long to her bum and we were scheduled to have our pictures taken the next week.
Blessings: At least she didn’t shave her head or cut it to the scalp.

March 21,2010: Matt's car battery is dead. We keep charging it, but it won't hold the charge for long. He called from school to come jump his car.
Blessings: I got to teach Matt how to jump his car without help. Seeing that it is a Standard transmission, I taught him how to get it rolling and pop the clutch. He made it home.

March 22,2010: Matt got a parking ticket for facing his car the wrong direction on the road. He was trying to park his car facing down hill so he could pop the clutch if his battery was dead. 35.oo for the ticket.
Blessings: He was able to roll his car to start it with the dead battery. He learned to not park facing the wrong way.

March 26, 2010: Family pictures were scheduled and it was snowing, blowing and cold.
Blessings: It stopped snowing the moment we parked the car and entered the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and the sun came out.

March 31, 2010: Tyler hurt his foot playing soccer.
Blessings: It’s not broken,

April 2, 2010: Tyler’s foot still hurts, so we had an x-ray and still no knowledge of what’s going on.
Blessings: We had a boot and we had him wear it until his appointment with Dr. Goucher. I also learned that he is not a great Orthopedic Surgeon, so for future accidents, we won't go to him.

April 5, 2010: Gracie jumped off a chair and landed on Emma’s head with her nose. Broke her nose and she looks awful.
Blessings: She didn’t loose teeth or split Emma’s head. She is definitely still alive.

April 6, 2010: Matt was breaking out in hives. We got 5 inches of snow, and Matt got in a car accident after running a red light.
Blessings: Matt’s hives went away after just 1 day. He was driving the Buick instead of the Geo Metro. The Buick didn’t look very bad. The girl was driving by herself and no one was injured. The Buick had comprehensive insurance so all we had to pay out was 500 dollars.

April 7, 2010: Tyler got to see Dr Goucher for his foot. He got put in a cast.
Blessings: This didn’t happen before the play Annie Get Your Gun. He only has to wear it for 2 weeks instead of 6-8 weeks. He’s received a lot of attention from a lot of kids including his older brothers.

April 16, 2010: Monica called to say that Cameron was sick, so I picked him up and took him home from school. The garage door spring broke when I went to pick him up.
Blessings: We weren’t under the garage door when the spring broke. Tom knew someone that could fix it and it only cost us 75.00. It broke when no one was in the way. I was able to help Cameron.

April 16, 2010: Matt locked himself out of the car.
Blessings: I had been prompted to go and tape a spare key in the back of the Geo to save him from doing that again like he did this last winter. He claims I saved the day.

May 7, 2010: The lawn mower won't start and chain keeps coming off.
Blessings: Tom got to spend some time with the boys teaching them how to tighten a chain by taking out some of the links, and he also taught them how to hot wire the lawn mower. The seat safety mechanism isn't working, so we need to hot wire it every time. We still can mow our lawn with the ancient riding mower. We also got a new ignition for the mower because the other one was worn out.

May 21, 2010: The garage door gears stripped out and can’t open the door. We were getting ready for a date, and found that the door wouldn’t close. Oh Raspberries. So, Tom called and got it fixed on June 7, 2010.
Blessings: It didn’t cost us 200.00, It only cost 110.00 and the guy that fixed it was really nice and friendly.
Now, the belt is making an awful noise and needs to be fixed. (To be continued)

June 8, 2010: We lost 2 trees; One of our peach trees and a flowering pear tree.
Blessings: Our favorite neighbor Leon Fowers, helped us till our garden, pull out the dead trees and cut them up with the chain saw. We have connections with Lomond View Nursery and we were able to haul the dead wood over there to be burned. I also had a fresh loaf of banana bread to give him.

The ultimate blessing in all of this, is knowing that our Father in Heaven is aware of what we are going through and sees what we need to become better people. He loves us and won't let us suffer through this alone. I have been so grateful for Tom, who can see the bright side in things when it gets overwhelming for me. He completes me. I am grateful for the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the knowledge of Satan and his plan to tear us down. We are trying to keep things in perspective and hope and pray that we will become all that we need to while here on earth.