[mmcquain]

Thanks Brian!

Saturday Update... It's always something!

The Good News - I'm so glad I came up here this weekend as it seems I've been able to help my aunt, uncle and other cousin (Nianne's brother) as they work to tie up many of the loose ends while Nianne continues to go downhill (it's a matter of days at this point). And God continues to meet their needs as they now have guardianship for Nianne's 4 adopted kids in place... the kids will get to stay together and with family (they were worried they could be put back into the foster system!). It also looks like they will be able to find good homes for Nianne's 2 great danes, 2 macaws, and pet boa. I took the 2 small horses ('er dogs) to somebody today for my uncle... that was an adventure since each dog is about 180 lbs! Harley put his front paws on my shoulders and looked me in the eye (and I'm 6' 3" tall).

The Bad News - In addition to the obvious, just a few hours ago I got word that my one sister and mom were in a car accident this afternoon on the way to a wedding. They hit a patch of ice crossing a mountain and went about 30 feet over the side. Thankfully a rather large tree stopped them from going farther! God was with them as both remained conscious and appear to be somewhat OK given what happened. However, they are keeping mom in the hospital overnight as a precaution. Right after it happened a car and a truck came along and, while the car driver went for help (cell coverage ***** in the W.Va. mountains), the guys in the truck were lumber men and they hooked their wench up to the back of mom's car to secure it until the rescue workers got there about 20 minutes later. They ended up using the jaws-of-life to cut the door and steering wheel to get my sister out. Amazingly nothing was broken in her or mom.

Scary stuff since initially the message I got was that they'd hit a snow bank and were just being checked out in the ER... no mention of mountainsides, jaws-of-life, etc... yikes!

Long story short, I'm extending my trip up here and driving up to see mom tomorrow. Thankfully the weather forcast is better tomorrow and it is all Interstate (vs. 2-lane mountain roads).

So thanks for the continued prayers... it seems my family is in need of several of them right about now! They say this stuff happens in 3's
If so then we should be good for a while since I forgot to mention that the night before I flew up to see my cousin, I had a fender bender and have to get a new front grill and hood on my car when I get back to FL. But that is the least of my worries right now.

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Well I made it up to my mom's and I'm happy to report that they are doing well considering what
they went through last Saturday. Mom came home from the hospital the next day and, while being
very bruised and sore, is doing pretty well. My sister is also very blessed... she pulled a hunk of
wood about the size of a hot dog out of her hair in the ER. It was from the tree that they slammed
into (see the pics to see what it did to the driver's side). It is amazing her head wasn't crushed on
impact. All she got was a bad headache, a cut on her ear, and some bruising. I'll let the pictures
tell the story... but God was certainly watching out for them that day!

And in other good news...
My cousin is still with us and has actually shown some signs of getting a little stronger...
so we continue to pray and watch how this all plays out.