Tragedy and Joy

Hey everyone,

May is about over and we're headed into June already. Does anyone else feel like this year is flying by? 

We live on a busy street and a couple weeks ago I had gone to bed around 10:00 when I heard a car fly by our house. The speed limit is 35 but sometimes people go so fast. I laid in bed calculating their speed 'They have to be going at least 60' when I heard 'Bam!!" I thought, 'Oh no! Please don't let that be from the car!' There's a very sharp turn a block or two from us and the street heads up a big hill. Then I heard, "Ka-boom!"

I flew out of bed, grabbed a sweatshirt and headed outside. Chuck had been watching TV but heard the sound too and was right behind me. By that time we could hear the sirens. From the sidewalk in front of our house we could see tons of flashing lights up the street. The article said the driver 'was traveling at an excessive speed.'

We learned the driver didn't survive and now there is a memorial at the corner where the car left the road. I don't think I will ever forget the sounds of that car that night. I keep thinking about that persons last thoughts as they lost control of the car, and about their family members receiving the news. It just breaks my heart. 

On to something a little lighter -

I was out watering the other night and happened to notice this on one of our evergreen trees -

I've been watering these trees for 25 years and this heart has just appeared in about the last 6 months. I just smiled thinking about how God's creation sings it's praises to Him. Isaiah 55:12 "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace, the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." The Lord speaks to us through His word, through others, and through His creation. His love is like no other.

Beth had some lab work done recently. It showed she's slightly anemic so she's now taking iron a few times a week.

Before I got on here, I was going around closing the blinds and noticed a pink hue outside. Our house faces east so I headed to the backyard and sure enough, a gorgeous pink sky! The sunset was beautiful tonight.

And tomorrow... Diana and Peter fly in and we get to see these two!!

Not sure I'll get much sleep tonight! We saw them back in December but when they're this age it seems like forever. They'll be staying with us for a week so Sharaya and Ally will be over a lot, we bought a kids slide, kids patio chairs, lots of new toys, took some extra furniture to storage, our house looks very different than it did a couple weeks ago!  

There's going to be a lot going on at the end of next week too so I'm not sure when I'll be back on here. I'll try to log on and read posts when I can. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

The Car and the Pole

I think the reason I didn't explain about the car before is because I wasn't sure how it happened myself. 😧

We have our main lot, then two overflow lots. This happened in one of the overflow lots.

About three hours after church ended one of the custodians went over to lock the gates. They have 'arms' or poles, that swing and lock into position. He locked the gates and went back across the street to the church. That's when he heard someone calling him.

There had been a couple of cars parked behind some landscaping and the custodian hadn't seen them when he locked the gates. So he went back over. You remove the lock, pull out the large pin and push one arm over to one side, and the other arm to the other side.

The poles are extremely heavy and to secure them you have to lift them up slightly so they fit between the brace/bracket thing, then keep adjusting until the large pin fits inside.

In the first picture, you can see the upright posts behind the gate. That's where you secure the gates when they're open.

The custodian thought the people would quickly pull out so he pushed the arm all the way over, but didn't secure it.

As they were pulling out, the man stopped to chat. The custodian was on the driver's side, standing in front of that gate arm and couldn't see the other arm very slowly swinging back toward the center. The man's car was back far enough that the arm swung just in front of it as he began to move forward again. Both he and the custodian heard a 'pop' and that's when the arm went through the windshield. 

The two officers held the arm still while the driver s-l-o-w-l-y backed up. The pole came out clean and there was no more damage to the windshield. He was able to drive it home. I'm so thankful it wasn't more serious.

Bark, The Junkos, and It Could Have Been Worse

 Every few years I break down and buy some bark for the yard. I brought it home the other day and put it out in the front. Shovel-full by shovel-full I kind of shook it out across my little garden area. I didn't buy enough so of course every time I'd try to rake it you could see the dirt... so I ended up on my hands and knees spreading it out with my hands. I also bought some yellow pansies and put them in the big planter. By the time I got done and cleaned everything up I was so sore! As I slowly made my way back into the house, I remembered why I don't buy bark every year!

 We all went out to LUMI Dessert Cafe on Mother's Day and I got a Berrylicious Bingsu. It's a Korean shaved iced dessert and it was really good. It was huge, I got the small and couldn't finish it. It comes with cream that you pour over it that makes it more like an ice cream texture more than just ice. It was good.

Remember the picture I showed of the nest, when you couldn't even see the eggs because it was so deep? Well, now they fill it up quite well!

Mr. and Mrs. Junko sit out on the wires watching the nest. They chirp nonstop whenever we come or go.

 Chuck texted me at work the other day to say someone had run into ours and our neighbors mailboxes. A lady had just flown in on a red-eye and was taking her kids to school when - we think - she fell asleep, drove up on the curb and smashed into the mail boxes! Thankfully no one was hurt.

Our neighbor had their box on a metal pole and that's what stopped her. If she had kept going, she might have driven into the bricks and our big trees.

I'll give her credit because she did knock on our door and she gave Chuck all of her information. She also admitted she probably shouldn't have been driving.

The Car

Here are a few pictures of Ryan and Sharaya's car. (Thank you 'Lena!) If you didn't have a chance to read my last post, he was in a car accident on Wednesday. He fell asleep while driving on the freeway, drove off the side of an overpass (a grassy area, just before the guardrail of the bridge) and rolled a few times.

Sharaya woke up Wednesday morning and when she realized he wasn't home she called him. He answered and apologized that he had fallen asleep at his friends and that he was getting ready to leave. (A conversation he doesn't remember having.) Sharaya fell back asleep and when she woke up an hour later, he still wasn't home. It should have only taken him a few minutes.

She called M and he said Ryan had left right after she spoke with him. Sharaya kept calling his cell phone and it just rang and rang. Ryan remembers feeling it vibrate when he was in the ambulance and tried to tell them that his wife was expecting him. Course, now he doesn't know exactly how coherent he was at the time and if they even understood him.

In the meantime, Sharaya's still at home, wondering where he was. Finally her phone rang. It was a social worker from the hospital. "We just want to let you know that Ryan is here and he's going to be okay."

"What? Who is this? Where are you calling from?"

Sharaya said they talked to her like she had already known about the accident. She said there was no preparing her or anything. Just matter-of-fact details. We thought that was a little strange. Anyway, he IS okay. Swelling from the air bags, bruising from the seat belt, but that's all. It's a miracle he didn't break any bones.

It's a miracle he's alive.