ugh

Back in March, on a really bad Saturday , we had a minor fender bender. (The Saturday was bad before the fender bender. This just added to it.) I mean MINOR--the Suburban ended up with a crack in a license plate frame (a $5 part should we choose to replace it). That's it. Nothing more, and not because the Suburban is some monster vehicle. We were maybe going 10 mph...maybe. The impact had less force than the quick stop at the end of a roller coaster. Truly, it was nothing. The other vehicle appeared undamaged. A minor scratch in the bumper perhaps, but nothing significant, and hard to determine which scratch was caused by our incident and which ones were already there. So many scratches on the back of this car....and I bet you can guess where this is going. :(

The other driver spoke no English (red flag #1). The other driver had panicked at a yellow light, coming to an abrupt stop in the intersection. IN the intersection--she didn't want to get a ticket from a traffic camera (red flag #2). The other driver was not willing to exchange information with us--she wanted ours but didn't want to give us anything (red flag #3). The other driver was in a vehicle WITHOUT a headrest on the seat (documented with pictures taken at the scene, fortunately) (red flag #4. Actually, neon sign screaming "WARNING! WARNING!") . We DID end up with her information and did contact our insurance company in case she contacted them. We closed the case on our end--no need for insurance to be involved in replacing a $5 part, right? Then we waited. For a time there was no word. Until this morning. It seems that the other driver has hired an attorney. Our insurance needs a statement from the driver at our house. Our insurance is frustrated that they have gone and done this--they were offered a 'fair settlement' for the 'damage' done by the incident, and instead chose to respond with an attorney. It could get ugly. I am frustrated. And angry. And upset. And lots of other things. I know this could turn out to be a very expensive trip to Fred Meyer for 2 gallons of milk. I have to say that I'm not surprised by it--I told Jim when it happened that if this passed without issues I would be surprised. But still...my goodness!

Surprisingly, the one thing I am not in all of this is afraid--afraid of how it will turn out. Seeing every day how faithful God is, how much He cares for me and the littlest, tiniest things in my life has given me a sense of peace. Yes, I'm still frustrated and angry. But through it all, I know that this incident, while it seems crazy and ugly, is no match for my God. He is bigger than any of this and His provision is more than enough. I even had a fun opportunity this morning on the phone with the guy from our insurance company! :) He was looking to talk to Jim, who was (obviously) at the office. I suggested several possible times he could try again, letting him know that tonight would not work because we had company coming. His reply? "You are having people over and you didn't invite me?" Keep in mind that I have no idea who this guy is--just someone on the other end of the phone! I told him he was welcome to join us for our small group Bible study. There was a brief silence, awkward for him I'm sure, then he let me know that he couldn't make it since tonight was his daughter's birthday. (Today is Hailey's birthday too!) I let him know that the group met every Tuesday night and the invitation was open should he ever want to join us. We finished our conversation and hung up. I'm sure he thinks I'm nuts, but I had fun with it all and got a real kick out of God's sense of humor. I am SO not a people person! I do NOT just up and invite strangers to my house! I am not one to 'boldly share my faith' but God opened a door and I took the next step.

As that Saturday in March comes back to haunt us, keep us in your prayers. Pray for God to be glorified in our actions and responses. Pray that we would trust Him to provide what we need, regardless of the outcome. It would be so easy to ask to pray for this to all blow over (and the Jennifer-before-adopting-Logan would have asked that) . Instead, I want this to be an opportunity for us to see God at work, for Him to use us for His glory.

It's been a crazy, busy, chaotic, and often hard spring. Through it all, James 1:2-4 has been on my mind and in my heart:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so thta you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Mature? Complete? Not lacking anything? Then I will consider these last weeks pure joy and will seek to keep my eyes on Him.