dont take life for granted. . .

okay so today was not a good day by any means. my lil sister, mady, headed out this morning with her friend alana to pick up one of mady's friends from boise. little did they know what was about to happen. Mady totalled her '07 toyota matrix and could have been hurt alot worse than what she was. the scarey thing is that we could've lost her today if it wasnt for the lord watching out for her. i guess she dosed off at the wheel and when she looked up all she saw was the back of a truck right in front of her and she slammed on the brakes and tried to swerve out of the way. but in doing so the car started to spin out of control and before they new it all the windows were blown out and mady had a huge gash in her forehead. she got taken to a hospital in Mt Home a little outside of boise where they had to stitch and staple her back up. She's much braver than i would have been, im a pansy when it comes to these things.

the above picture is what her cut looked like before they stitched it up. she said that you could see clear through to her skull. and the one below is what it looked like after the dr had put in the staples and stitched her forehead back up.

its times like these that give you a shock and make you think how quickly life can change in the blink of an eye. i dont know what i would have done if i would have lost her today. she is my best friend and i dont think i could live without her. cars can be replaced but sisters cant! mady is not the easiest child due to the fact that she usually thinks she is right and has a hard time taking advise from other people. she likes to do things her way most of the time. this is why when my mom told her she thought it was a bad idea for her to drive all the way to boise alone, without the parents, mady got mad and said she was gonna do it anyway and that there was no need to worry she knew what she was doing. (my mom is still recovering from knee and neck surgery and trying to deal with her mother, our grandmother, who just fell this past week and broke her arm and had to have surgery as well. that is why my mom let mady convince her she was okay to go alone.) what happened today will probably wake her up a bit to the fact that no one knows everthing and she does need to be a bit more careful and aware of how much learning she still has to do in life. this does however make me very sad to think that this is the way she has to learn this lesson. she has worked hard for the past year for that car and was following exactly in my footsteps just as i did when i bought a brand new car at the age of 16. it makes me sick to think that she might not have a new car for a while. its a privillage that alot of people never get to experience. and she is alot like me, when she is stressed her car was her outlet. she would go driving just to get away from the chaos at home. it might be a while before she can get back out there behind the wheel of another "dream car" for herself. but the most important thing is that we still have mady!!! there will always be other cars, but mady is a once in a lifetime gift to this family and i am so greatful to heavenly father for letting her stay with us. her friend alana was hardly even touched which is even more incredible. thank heavens for angels watching down on us.