Days 61-62

Had a great time yesterday when Dana and I took the grandkids to see their great-grandmother in Tuscaloosa.  It was a beautiful day to travel and we had an ALMOST uneventful trip.  More about that in a minute.  It had been months since Mother had seen the kids and she was so excited.  I can now announce that two of them are taller than she is.  I'm thinking it will be awhile for Carter.  It was, as usual, a noisy reunion.  There were many stories to be shared and fun to be had.  Hopefully, if all goes well, we will return for Thanksgiving and the BIG annual reunion.  That is when my brother and sister-in-law, my niece and her husband and three boys, and my nephew and his wife and their daughter converge on Tuscaloosa from points west [Kansas and Texas].  Also, Dan and I, Dana & Steve & kids, and Daniel will converge from North Alabama.  This is the one time a year that our family is together.  We always have such a great time.  Plenty of delicious food, lots of talking, much playing with the little ones, and the required card playing [a family tradition!].

About that ALMOST uneventful trip.  We were about 20 minutes out of Tuscaloosa on I-59 South when an 18-wheeler to our right lost a LARGE amount of tread off of a tire.  It came flying across the lanes so quickly that there wasn't much time to react.  I saw it coming, but there was no place to go.  I swerved a little to the left to try to avoid it, but it hit on Dana's side at the front tire/bumper area.  There was a loud sound and we rode over it.  I slowed down to assess if the van would drive okay.  It seemed to drive fine so we continued on to Mother's house.  We piled out and went in to share hugs.  Dana decided to check out the van.  It drove so well, I never even thought about damage.  May I tell you that Heavenly Father was watching over us in a BIG WAY.  There was:  damage to the bumper, the little light under the headlight was missing, the panel that should be behind the tire was missing and the panel along the whole side of the van was barely attached!!  Dana took care of the necessary calls to Steve and the insurance agent.  So good news is we survived and the van will be repaired. 

Today has been a good day.  I felt good enough to buy groceries this morning and do the laundry when I got home!  It is so nice to be able to do common chores!  Looking forward to seeing my church family tomorrow.

Sandra