You Never Know What a Week Will Bring

It seemed like it was going to be a "normal week." There was nothing to indicate that it would be any different, but it was.... It has been filled with lots of trials, but they all have something positive attached to them. First, we needed a new transmission in the van. Even though we were passed the mileage for the warranty, the Honda dealer gave us a new transmission for $100, rather than the $3,500 it normally costs. When I had taken it in to find out what was wrong, I told them that I would appreciate "anything they can do for us," and I went in the waiting room and said a quick prayer since we definitely didn't have an extra $3,500 laying around. I knew God would do something for us. The dealer told us that they would knock $3,400 off of the price since we have been loyal customers of theirs for many, many years. I felt like hugging the guy, but I brought him "thank you" cookies instead.

The next day, the kids got off the school bus and told me that they "almost died..." I thought they were exaggerating, but after hearing what happened, I realized that they were very fortunate that nothing serious happened to them. Their bus driver had a medical emergency while driving the bus (we had heard it was a stroke, but then heard they couldn't share because of privacy). The bus driver drove on a couple of sidewalks, almost hit a pole, knocked over a fence with the bus feeling like it was going to tip over, etc! Thankfully, the bus driver finished the route without the kids getting hurt, and the district was able to find him and take him to the hospital.

The next day, Peter found out that he got a 10% pay cut. We have officially joined the ranks of being directly affected by the economy. I will find out February 20th what cuts my program will be facing. We are both grateful to still have jobs, though! Despite the hard times in the economy, it has been neat to see people's generosity. McKenzie and her 2 friends have been canvassing our neighborhood asking people if they can donate pennies, nickels, and quarters to raise money for cancer (a fundraiser they're doing at school). They have been given $100 in change for about 2 hours of work!

Then Friday night Kelsey came down with the flu. She usually gets pretty wiped out when she gets the flu (I think because she is so small), and she ended up needing to get an IV on Saturday night because of dehydration. We are thankful to live in a place where we can just drive to a hospital and get help. From check-in to getting her IV, it only took about 20 minutes! Not the way we planned to spend our Valentine's Day - good thing Peter and I decided to go out for dinner on Wednesday night to celebrate!

So, that's been our week. It will be interesting to see what the next 7 days will bring....