Monday, November 9, 2009

Grapes of Wrath

Yesterday I had a lovely afternoon of shopping by myself while my husband took care of the kids. I was all finished with my outing and was driving home, listening to the radio and feeling totally relaxed. I left the busy shopping center and turned into my quiet neighborhood. My window was rolled down a quarter of the way so I could enjoy fresh air on this beautiful day.
All of a sudden I was struck by an object that came flying through my window. It hit me so hard that I screamed out loud in pain and grabbed the side of my face. I pulled the car over and threw on my hazards so I could come back to my senses. It felt like someone had punched me. I felt something in my hand and I looked at it. It was a broken grape. I looked down at my lap. Another grape was sitting on it.
A car had passed me at the same time this incident happened. When they heard a scream, they slowed down. I thought maybe they were going to check on me. Instead they quickly turned down a side street. I know it was an older car, sedan type, but I didn't get a look at the plates and the individual. If I hadn't been alone in the car, maybe I could've gotten their info, but I was still in serious pain, trying to get over my shock. I debated calling my husband because it hurt so much, but I was only a few blocks away from home, so I decided to drive on home.
By the time I got to the house I could tell it was already starting to swell. I looked in the bathroom mirror and my face was red, so I went to get some ice. My husband was very upset so he made the whole family get into the car to drive to the general area where it happened. We saw a car in the parking lot of a local park with a young man in it just sitting in the car. He looked nervous when he saw us. The car looked like it could have been the one. But, I can't say for sure.
My husband called 911 to report the incident. A police officer came to our home and filed a report and gave me a case number in case I decided I needed to go the hospital. He could see the redness. I apologized that I had very little info to give him, but thought it should be reported in case the individual continues to throw things at vehicles in the area. He agreed and said he would drive around and maybe even check out the guy in the car I saw. He took me seriously, and asked questions like "did you cut someone off at the shopping center and make them mad?" I told him, "not that I'm aware of". I knew he couldn't do much with the little info I had, but who knows. If this throwing continues, the police will know it has happened more than once in the area.
So, I guess I'm coming out of this whole thing feeling very grateful. It is the next day, and my face is only tender. I don't see any bad bruising. The grapes hurt so much, I wondered if it could have been frozen. I really think the individual was a young teenager or adult that thought it would be funny to throw fruit at a car and didn't intend it to go through an open window. The back windows of the driver's side are also streaked with grape residue. I'm just glad it wasn't a rock, because if a grape could hurt so much, a rock would've been even worse.
Watch out for flying fruit!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Money Stuff

Money has been on my mind a lot lately. My husband and I have stopped using credit cards. That is quite the change for us. But, we were living beyond our means and knew we had to quit that habit.
Now we are working on paying off our debt. I am happy to report that we recently paid off a credit card. It feels good!!!!
Money has been super tight every month. Sometimes we haven't known how the next bill would get covered. God has been providing for us EVERY time. For example, we were 83 dollars short on making our mortgage payment. Well, that week I got a last minute babysitting job that paid $84. That is just one example of how amazing God has been to us. He has been providing EXACTLY what we need, not more, not less.
It will take a couple years to get out of all the debt we have, but we have learned through this experience, and once our debt is gone, we will continue better habits we have learned the hard way.