A New 'First' for Eli...

Well, today Eli had the unfortunate experience of being in his first car accident :( He wasn't alone in the car, of course :) I was driving with Eli, Ben & Carly and we were heading for the park for a fun day of playing in water and swinging. We were coming from Einsteins (more pictures from that later in the post...), buckled in nice and tight, when a giant Ford SUV ran a stop sign. I saw it coming, and tried to stop, but I couldn't. Fortunately no one was hurt...at all. Not even Carly, who was sitting closest to the impact-though her cute pink outfit is probably ruined from some chocolate milk...It all happened so fast! I'm sure anyone that's been in an accident knows that weird, time slowing down feeling. The 'bracing yourself for impact' feeling. The 'oh my word! I hope no one gets hurt' feeling...As soon as it was over, I turned around and just started yelling 'Are you okay? Are you okay? Are you okay?' Okay...so the yelling probably didn't help...but I can't do anything about all that adrenaline running through me :) Carly said she was okay, so I jumped out and ran around to the back to check on Eli. He was crying, but seemed to be okay, so I went ahead and pulled him out of his car seat. He was crying, but didn't really cry very long. I called Edgar (my hands were shaking so bad!) and just said 'We got in an accident. We're fine. Can you come NOW?' He, of course, came right away. I really couldn't believe how fast he got there...I have yet to ask him how fast he went. Don't want to know...Ryan was also nearby at a teacher in service, so he came and got the kids. The paramedics came and checked everybody out, and they said everyone looked fine. We didn't go to the hospital or anything, so all in all, we are VERY thankful.

This is our car... I can't help but think that if we were a couple of feet farther ahead, that SUV would have hit right on Carly's door, and this would be a very different blog post...Amazingly enough, with 4 people in the car, we got hit where no one was sitting...

One of the things that was so neat to me was how perfect strangers came to help. I'm pretty sure when someone sees an accident and three kids pile out of the car that causes them to volunteer help more readily, but there were so many people around. I don't even know who drove my car out of the street onto the grass. I was holding Eli and couldn't do it. There was quite the crowd around Carly, checking to make sure she was okay. One lady ran across the street just to get Carly a cup of water. Ben was pretty cute...I heard him say 'Thank you for thinking about getting some water for my sister'. It was so sweet. I don't know if the lady heard him, but I did :) It's good to know that there are people out there that want to help, and really want nothing in return.

Edgar got there and so did Ryan. Edgar cleaned out the car (completely. Seriously...I thought he was going to get the spare tire, just to be thorough. There wasn't a thing left in the car. I love my husband :) ) As you can see, everyone is fine. We headed home, and Edgar spent the rest of the afternoon dealing with the insurance. Now the real fun begins, right?! We'll find out in a couple of days if the damage was enough to total the car or not. We might be car shopping this weekend...we'll see.

Eli is COMPLETELY fine, and has been laughing and talking all afternoon. I think he's been enjoying the extra attention he's gotten-daddy's been home...on a Wednesday!

We're so thankful for God's protection. I know that sounds cliche, or incredibly obvious, but it's so true. The fact that we all walked away and are FINE is amazing. I've been thinking today a lot about how we don't deserve all the good that God keeps giving us...yet he showers His love on us daily. On days like today I really remember that...I need to remember that every day...

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We did have some fun today before all of this :)

We went to Einstein's and got brunch. This was our attempt to get a 'cousin' picture...notice Carly's hands, trying to turn Eli's head :) Silly cousin, don't you know that if there are puffs on the table Eli will only pay attention to THAT?
We went to the Einstein's I used to work at-which definitely has its perks. Yve, a friend of mine that still works there, kept bringing us free stuff. Below, Eli is holding a container of 'Bagel Bites', which are like donut holes...only bagels. Yve brought us 2 containers...which we ate in addition to our bagel and smear.

This is Yve. She's such a sweet person! I love getting a chance to go see her.

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One last thing, then I'm done...well, I think I'm done :) Yesterday Abuela got to watch Eli for the first time :) I started teaching my classes yesterday, and mom had the day off, so she came over and watched him. She took him for a walk, gave him breakfast, gave him a bath, played with him, and put him down for a nap. I think I need her to come over every day... :) Eli didn't cry at all while I was gone-he was completely entertained by his Abuela!

She did snag my camera and took some cute pictures and videos of him. The picture below made me laugh :)

Okay...this is the end of my crazy long post. I think I'm going to head to bed early tonight...I'm starting to get pretty stiff...tomorrow should be fun. If only insurance covered a massage...