God's hand of protection

Lastnight I was driving back to my home in Weyerhaeuser, WI (a YWAM Base) and I was in the car with El. It was around 730 and I was going 55 on a two lane road. All the sudden a deer came in my lane from my right. And it poceeded to go rom my lane to the one with oncoming traffic. There happened to be a 4 door full size pickup heading right toward it. The truck driver swerved to miss the deer, and ended up in my lane. All I could think was "I am going to be dead. El is going to die." (She was behind me in her carseat.. And my mom had TOLD me that it was very unsafe for her to be behind me because of head on collisions. )

The truck got within a foot of my car. I was still going 55 mph (I assume he was too) I did NOT move my hands from the positions they were in. But within milliseconds my car was headed toward the ditch and then it was out of the ditch... A steep ditch. One that a car would have normally flipped over heading out of at such an angle at 55 mph. And guess what? We came back on to the road. In one piece. And I felt this warm feeling... From the core of my body.. And it radiated throughout my entire body as I was going through this. And all I can say was that God saved me. He took the wheel. He saved my daughter. He protected us. Completely.
I can't fully explain what happened lastnight. All I know is I am here and Elle is here. And I am thankful.

Moments Unrehearsed

Tonight we had a watercolor paint party in the dining room. It was magical. It is undoubtedly my pride and joy to see two little girls' faces light up when we get the colors out. I know there is so much creativity in their minds. We started on the paper... Then it migrated to the faces.. Then the hair.. Then the arms. Finally all over their shirts. But I didn't care. It's those unrehearsed, random moments.. The unplanned, unorganized, sometimes downright messy times that bring so much joy to life. And I praise God for letting me experience that. Just watching them giggle and paint each other.. (And the parents paint the girls.. haha) And watching their paint strokes on the pages, even if half of it is just water and no color is getting on the page.. It doesn't matter. It is so wonderful. And I have no doubt in my mind that God made me to be a mother.

To be able to just watch these girls and play with them and see how carefree they are.. It teaches me lessons- it's not about doing everything right or being neat all the time, (sometimes I need that reminder!) but about using imagination and creativity and sometimes that means letting loose on my own ideas of how a "playtime" should look like.. And letting them take control over it.. They come up with a lot better ideas than I do!
Thank you, Jesus for children and their imaginations. And their creativity. And for opening my heart to not only teach them, but to be able to learn from them too.