When the fates align against you...

Can't say I have ever been much of believer in fate, but this past weekend might have changed my mind. We have never had so much happen in one single weekend.

Our purpose was simple. We were headed to good ol' Yellow Pine, Idaho to my grandparent's cabin. We really (and I do mean REALLY) love Yellow Pine. It is a small town located in a valley surrounded by some of prettiest mountains and scenery. Look how pretty this place is!

View of the mountains in back of my grandparent's cabin.

View of the town from the lookout.

View of the main street in the town in the snow.
(Sorry, Grandma, I couldn't find my non-snow pics.)

We were going to spend a long weekend hanging out with my Grandma and Grandpa Morgan, my parents, sisters, brother-in-law (can I just say that I love that I have a brother-in-law on my side of the fam. Now for the nieces and nephews... I kid, I kid... well, sorta.) and my cousins. It was looking to be an awfully fun time with four wheeling, good food, card games, movies, lots of laughter and hanging out.

But it wasn't meant to be.

Deterrent 1

On Wednesday night, John and I headed out with a packed car and two excited little people (Tom absolutely adores Yellow Pine! And Mary Alice absolutely adores having lots of people to give her lots of attention.) But three miles before Snowville, our car died.... as we were driving. After trying to change out the alternator and the battery, it was finally determined that the motor had seized and we were essentially out of luck. The car was effectively totaled. So, we left the car in Snowville and returned home.

Now, we knew that we were going to have to buy a new car sometime soon... but we weren't planning on that right now. And we weren't planning on it being my Buick, a.k.a. the good car. It was always supposed to be John's Intrepid that would go first. But it mostly frustrating right now because we are all set to close on our first home on Monday. (Woohoo!) A new house and a new car sound wonderful.... wonderful, that is, until you start looking at the budget. Then it gets depressing. But budgets tend to be depressing, don't they? Oh, well. We wont' think of that right now.

To this part of the story, though I need to give much thanks to my Dad for helping us tow the car and spending six hours trying to fix everything. And also a humungous thank you to our good friend Ian, who got us all the new parts, traveled up to deliver them, finally figured out what was wrong with the car and towed it home for us the next day. Especially seeing as how he put off a lot of other pressing responsibilities to help us out. Seriously, we feel so blessed to have such generous people in our lives!

Deterrent 2
Thursday after my Mom and Dad had arrived in Yellow Pine with my grandparents, my mom fell down the side of ravine and broke her leg in three spots. She had to be lifted out of the ravine and taken to a waiting truck - and had a four hour, painful ride to the nearest hospital. At the hospital, they had to reset her leg and splint it before she could go home. She is due to have surgery on it on Monday. But she and the family returned home Friday, also having to cut short their Yellow Pine weekend.

Deterrent 3
Friday evening, after much poking, prodding, and a rather uncomfortable CT scan, I was diagnosed with appendicitis and was immediately sent in for an appendectomy. Can we just say yuck! Seriously... just look at this bugger. Triple the normal size of an appendix.

After feeling awful for most of Friday, I was ready for any relief, but I must say that the recovery process is not a really fun one. Luckily they released me from the hospital this afternoon (Saturday) - cause it is a whole lot more comfortable at home without IVs stuck in my arm. (And it took eight tries to get those darn IVs in, too...)

Once again, I feel really blessed to have such a good husband who takes such tender care of me. From walking me around to helping me dress and making me food and going to store to get anything I could even think of needing - and especially for spending the night in those awful hospital chairs just so I wouldn't be alone. If it wasn't such an uncomfortable experience, I would say it was fun to spend some time just the two of us.

Which leads me to another round of thanks for my sisters who have stepped in to not only help out my mom while she is laid up, but who also took on the responsibility of our kids so that John could stay with me in the hospital. Thank you guys! I can't say how much it has helped out.


So, I guess these challenges have shown us just how blessed we really are. And it has also reinforced just how much we really want to get to Yellow Pine. Soon, hopefully soon!