Thankful Thursday (or "The Death of a Car")

This Thankful Thursday finds my heart overflowing with thankfulness to the Lord for His care and watching over us during what could have been a devastating event in our lives.

Sunday night we were headed home from our small group and a little girl, about eight or so, darted out into the road right in front of us. Brian swerved to miss her and hit a tree instead.

Sorry, its a little dark!

Someone from across the street must have called 911 cause the whole crew arrived, lights, sirens and all. Colton loved it! The whole time the truck was there he could be heard every few minutes saying "whoa!" in his deep little voice.

Yes, it was scary. And yes, i suppose you could say that it might have been nice to not have to go through that at all, but let me list for you the many "thankfuls" that have circled over and over in my mind and heart and by the end i think you might just end up agreeing with us that even this has been worked together for good by our all wise heavenly Father.

I am thankful...
... most especially that right now that little girl that ran out into the street is alive and well. Both for her safety and for my husbands heart that would have been grieved beyond words had he hurt or even killed her.
... that she entered from the opposite side of the road, giving Brian a little more time to react.
... that we (Brian, Chloe, Colton and I) are all safe and had no horrible injuries. (Chloe bit her tongue and might have a rib out of place. She brings it up about once a day so we're gonna take her to get it looked at.)
... that it was late enough at night that there were not other cars around.
... that the tree we hit was small enough to snap off at ground level. Had we hit a tree any bigger our airbags probably could have deployed and i'm not sure that those are the best thing for pregnant bellies.
... that we didn't hit the light pole just another 10 or so feet down the curb.
... that we had sweet new friends to call for a ride home.
... for the loan of a van from the same sweet friends.
... for the lesson this has been to Chloe to never ever run into the street. Also for all the times Brian and I have been able to talk to her and remind her that the Lord takes care of us and keeps us safe and that even though our car is messed up he'll provide what we need.
... that the next day was memorial day which meant our whole family (including Brian) had nowhere important to be and could just take it easy.
... that my sweet husband got up the next morning with the kiddos and let me sleep for as long as I needed.
... that the insurance company declared our car totaled and that more that likely we'll get more from that than we would have trying to sell it a year or two down the road.
... that this happened exactly when it did. Further explanation. Just the week before, we found out that Brian's car needs a new transmission and would cost almost 2 grand to fix. We had decided not to fix it, but to try to sell it and put whatever money we could get out of it towards something a little newer/better. We were strongly considering going with a bigger family car and having Brian drive the passport.
... also that that this happened when it did because I believe it tested even more so our dependance on and trust in Gods wisdom and sovereignty to have to be looking at replacing TWO cars.
... That the Lord used the accident and the car totaling to take the decision as to whether we wait to get a bigger family car or get one right now completely out of our hands.
... that this happened now before we (yeah we procrastinated a little) had paid all the fees to register our cars in the state of Nebraska.

Here it is in the daylight.

Poor car!

You can see bits of tree bark stuck on the jagged parts of the bumper.

This is actually really how it happened. Paint him green and he could have doubled for the hulk ;D

... that the Lord gave us another sweet friend at our new church that works in sales for a car company. She was able to help us find a good deal on a new car. We signed the papers last night and officially got it today!

There it is! 2008 Chevy Uplander. We are now officially a "mini-van family". Not sure yet what I think of that... But it's so roomy and I'm thankful that I won't be squeezing baby #3 in with Chloe and Colton on the one bench seat in the Passport.

......that we have such an all wise, loving heavenly Father that uses all kinds of situations and events not only to teach us to trust Him more but to remind us that He is always with us. It's so amazing to know He is there and see His mighty hand at work in our lives! What a blessed comfort!!