A Sad, sad day

Tuesday morning after I (Jeanne) had dropped the kids off to school she came home for a few minutes and then left again for a Christian book club meeting. It was on a fantastic book called Stepping into the shadows. The subject was why women want to convert to Islam. However, for some reason I took the country roads instead of sticking to the main roads that I like best. And Tuesday was not the day to go out for a country drive. The fog was thick and dense...and combined with the frigid temperatures that meant ice. My well loved van slipped off the road and into a small ditch with a hedgerow next to it. The road was barren and no one passed for a full 20 minutes. I was quite flustered and called Scott. He helped pass on phone numbers of who I should call which then lead to about 30 minutes on the phone.

Meanwhile some of the friends I was to meet (Cathy and Janice) carefully drove to be of support (very nice of them). I was finally done on the phone with instructions and information so the insurance person told me to collect my things and wait with my friends in their warm car down the road. My van was lodged against the thorn bushes (remember UK drivers sit on the right side) so I had to get out the passengers side. Just as I shut the door another car came racing around the corner. I couldn't tell that it actually was out of control but knew that I had to get out of the road FAST! So I jumped in front of my van. I remember thinking I hope it doesn't hit my van and then wanting to turn around and see where it slid and then I don't remember seeing anything-I only remember hearing things. First came the colapsing thud of car hitting car...then came a "ooof" from me as I was hit by my van and then various crackling noises of branches being snapped...then I remember hearing Cathy yelling "call 911..no 999" which as I was opening my eyes in the thornbush I found extremely humorous. 999 is the UK emergency number.

But I was perfectly fine. I stood up out of the thorn bushes without a scratch. My car had been pushed forward about 4 feet and right in front of my front bumper the other cars tire marks can be seen. She hit my van in the rear corner and spun 180 degrees beside my van and then continued forward (or backward) down the road and landed in the same ditch. She climbed out and came running toward me as I was getting up and gave me a huge hug. She of course was spinning and didn't see much either. The other driver did have a very sore leg where the steering wheel hit her thigh.

I did have a bit of a stiff neck and eventually went to get checked out at the hospital. The doctor just said tylenol and ibuprofen for the sore muscles that I would probably get later...and I did. I figured out I was hit by my van on my rear end (good place actually) and landed on my left shoulder in the ditch/hedge.

But God was absolutely in control. There was a very small area where I would not have been hit by the other car. A few seconds earlier and I would have had whiplash, a few seconds later I would have been walking down the road with no where to hide. I feel fortunate to have friends that are willing to come and help after being here such a short period of time. And although this may seem silly, I am thankful that the other driver was so nice about the whole situation.

Where I landed in the ditch (you can see a slight indentation).

Scott went and picked the kids up from school and Christina came running in first and wanted to give me a kiss. Then Madison came in and offered one of her fantastic head-rubs. Then Bryce came in and asked how my day was... I said "uhhh, SMASHING!". He liked that line and then went and made me a cup of hot chocolate.

:-)

I sure have wonderful kids!

:-)

We were able to go and see the car today (Saturday) and pick up some things that were left inside the vehicle. The damage estimate is over 14,000 GBP which is about $28,000. In the US it probably would have been around $14,000. Needless to say, my van is being written off. It will probably be an insurance nightmare with the two separate accidents though. The other amazing thing is how good my cell phone takes pictures!

You can see some of the tire marks of the spinning car

The major damage

and the other car

Malta

We were able to obtain a cheap air tickets to Malta for half-term break...so we decided to go. Malta sounded interesting. Little did we know all of the amazing sights that we would get to see...








We soon found that Malta has a very interesting medieval history of knights along with ancient "prehistoric" temples, biblical sights, curches, and natural wonders.

We left London Luton airport late afternoon and arrived 3 hours later in Malta. It was dark so we couldn't see much when we drove to our hotel. The main island is so small that the airport landing strip is about 20% the length of the island. The roads are confusing and not well maintained so it was a bit of an adventure to find our hotel. But one thing about a small island is that you can't get too lost! The hotel was amazingly inexpensive also since it is winter. The room we had would cost 4 times more during summer. It had two balconies that overlooked a wide 5 story staircase.

The first day was beautiful. We enjoyed the sun and pleasant breeze along the coast. The kids wanted to play along the ocean among the tide pools and gentle waves. (little did we know that it was to be our last warm day). We got to see the city of Valletta and the Palace of the Grand Master. At the royal armory the most amusing armor to me was the smiling helmet.

Madison and Christina were able to convince Scott to pay for a horse carriage around the town which made the girls very happy!

Christina and her "MR. BEAN CAR".

The day finished up with a trip to the Blue Grotto. The kids enjoyed playing along the rocks so much that we didn't realize that we missed the actual Blue Grotto. The sun was setting and it was absolutely beautiful.





(Actually, the last day we were able to drive back and see the actual rock formation that is called the Blue Grotto. We just missed being able to ride a boat because they decided to close early due to the cold winds. )

That evening we were able to celebrate valentine's day with Christina helping provide the music for the dining room. Christina played a single note to the music and actually did a great job! The pianist told her that she could help him if she finished the food on her plate. All of a sudden she wanted to eat! she did a fantastic job!








The next day we woke to the sound of water.




We didn’t think much about it until we opened the curtains. Our balcony was overlooking a massive waterfall! They designed the stairs to act as drainage for the island with two functional stairs on either side. The rainfall flows down the large middle section. We found out that the weather was supposed to clear up some so we decided to still try to go to the island of Gozo.

We took the ferry with our rent-a-van across the channel to see Gigantia (a 5,000 year old temple site with giant rocks set in place) and the Azure window. The latter being the family favorite of the whole trip. The Azure window refers to the blue sky and bright blue water that can be seen through a natural arch formed by the rocks. There were plenty of rocks and caves for the kids to climb up and around. We found out later that some earthquake tremors were felt in Malta earlier that day- but we didn’t see any evidence from the waves (whew!). But the kids did find all sorts of sealife in the tide pools. And Christina was quite the trooper climbing rocks and jumping across gaps in the weathered rock. They even climbed through a cave/tunnel from close to water level that emerged up above.











It was a fantastic day!

On Saturday the winds picked up and the waves grew stronger. But being another rainy day we decided to do try to find indoor things to do. So travelling to Rabat we found St. Paul's cathedral. We actually were looking for St. Paul's catacombs and came in to find a beautiful cathedral. Beneath the cathedral was St. Paul's grotto. It had iron gates across a room. Thinking it wasn't what we were looking for we went back up. Outside as Scott was asking directions a man walked up and said that he had taken a quick lunch and was back. He invited us below. We almost refused but decided to go down. He gave a tour and then opened up a side door that we had missed.

It was where Paul was kept as a
prisoner by the Romans after the shipwreck on his way to Rome. It was amazing being in the same place where Paul spent some of the last months of his life. It also is amazing looking at the entire country and how it was changed by one person.


We then found our way to the catacombs. The kids enjoyed the tunnels and exploring.
















Having a little fun in the fishing town of Marsalokk.





The last day dawned with cold stiff winds. Undaunted, the kids begged to go back to the tide pools near St. Pauls Bay. Very close to this spot is where it is believed that Paul was shipwrecked...with waves like these it is understandable!




The cathedral in Mosta claim to fame is that during WW2 a bomb was dropped Sunday during church services through the dome and fell amongst the church members. The bomb failed to explode and no one was harmed.

Lastly, we visited the Tarxien Temples. These were huge and were very close to the Hypogeum which we visited earlier but weren't allowed to take photographs. It was an interesting tour though!
We ended the trip with dinner along the sea...not too glamorous as it was just sandwiches. But it still was a nice end to a great trip. Our flight didn't leave Malta until 9:40 pm which put us back at home at 3am.

Our First Visitor!

Jan 23-Feb 7 Grandma "Honey" visits

Jeanne's mom was able to obtain cheap tickets and come to visit us! Flying to the UK during the winter months is pretty cheap compared to the summer flights! We enjoyed her visit and the kids enjoyed her wonderful hot breakfasts!

We were able to try a couple of quaint pubs for lunch. Just for clarification...pubs here are non-smoking eating and socializing centers for villages. They are usually in older buildings with plenty of charm. Their menus consist of local traditional recipies and of course tea and coffee. They typically have a "bar" section but it isn't seen as a primarily drinking establishment. The hamlet that we live in is so small that it doesn't have a pub and is therefore considered by many to be a hamlet instead of a village.

We were able to take a short trip to London one weekend with Bonnie. It was our first trial run at going down to London. We drove to Potters bar train station since we had a car full and then rode the train from there into downtown London. We were able to ride the subways and see alot of the sights...Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, The London Eye. We were hoping to catch a theatre but found that we need to plan ahead. We were however able to see some of the British museum. Jeanne was quite excited to see the actual Rosetta Stone! It is the archaeological find that enabled the hiroglyphic writing of ancient Egypt to be understood. It is very exciting to see such an important item in history!

Jeanne's mom said that her most favorite thing about visiting was driving and seeing the countryside. But she also enjoyed watching the British real estate shows that show a lot of the home styles.

Her first flight home was cancelled so

we were able to keep her one more day! It really worked out well as she was able to catch a better flight out the next day. The kids were able to say goodbye when we dropped them off in the morning at school.

Grandma loves their uniforms!