Plans change.  Ours did.

As I was returning from filling the tank with propane, I encountered another large vehicle near the crest of a hill.  The road is of a twisty, turny, hilly, woodsy, Brown County sort.  Making a split-second decision to move onto the shoulder to avoid the oncoming accident, I caught a tree leaning slightly toward the road.

I pulled into someone’s front yard to assess the situation and then slowly proceeded to Opa’s, which was near enough.  Here are some pictures.

Those who know the area knew THE tree I hit, because they had come so close to doing so themselves!  And when Cliff drove to work the next morning, there was another accident in the same spot!  That heals me.

While I was still on the phone with the insurance company, Uriah had planned, executed, and led the other children into an “evacuation” of essentials to Opa’s pole barn, complete with Christmas decorations.

Again, the next day Uriah led the others in a total evacuation while I was still pulling my act together!  It was halfway done before I even realized what they had accomplished.  To help you appreciate, they had to hand-carry every load across the field, over the creek, and up to the pole barn, all in 30 degree, windy weather.  I joined them to finish off the rest!  This is the first time I’ve ever felt homeless!

We slept there for four nights.  Certain members of our family were in boy heaven!  Others of us, not so much.  I’ll leave it to your detective skills to determine who fell where.  But, we did all come together as a family and received MUCH love from extended family, as well.

We moved into Rosie’s Monday night and will be staying there until she returns in early January from a Christmas trip.

After that, who knows?

We have much to be thankful for.  The Lord protected us and has promised to lead us.  That’s enough for us.

Merry Christmas!