Surprises

Yesterday, I received the kind of phone call no parent wants to receive:

"Hi. I am here with your daughter and we've been in an accident - she pulled out in front of me. No one is hurt, but if I call the police, she will probably get a ticket, so what would you like to do?"

Me: "Uhhh....No, I'll be there in 10 minutes."

I went into "solve the problem mode," as I usually do and sped to be with my daughter. As I drove, I thought about the correct response I should have, knowing the significance of this moment for Amanda. I got there, and went straight to her and hugged her. Then, we began to talk about what happened.

The woman involved was extremely gracious and kind. She explained to me that she had called her fire chief husband, and they had agreed not to call the police, in order to protect Amanda from getting a ticket. I thanked her profusely. We then exchanged all of our necessary information, and the woman hugged Amanda as we left. THEN, this sweet lady even called last night to check on her!

The car was OK enough to drive home, so I followed Amanda. I had awakened Joe before I left, so he was waiting at the front door as we drove up. I mouthed "it was her fault" to him, as she had her back turned, and he scrunched up his face as he assessed the damage. He immediately thought the car was going to be totaled.

The update today is, that Amanda is doing OK. I took her to the doctor to get her back and neck pain checked out. It's only muscle strain - praise the Lord. The autobody place called, and informed me that if they run the numbers with new replacement parts, it would exceed the amount allowed, and therefore the car would have to be totaled. However, the guy did some research and found some used parts, which would keep us $500 under the total mark. I said "go for it," so we should have our car back by next Friday. This was an answer to prayer, as we would not be able to replace that car without financing a portion of the cost, which we really can't do right now. So, for our $500 deductible, we'll get our car back restored.

Life is full of surprises. It's comforting to remember that God is never surprised, and he knew ahead of time that Amanda would make this mistake, and in His sovereignty, took care of my daughter, the other woman and our car. Praise Him for his grace and love for us!