Rounding up prayers...

Gosh, I feel like my last few posts have been so Debbie Downer! But I must take a moment to share this all with you, as it's been weighing so heavily on my mind all week. For my local blog buddies, I'm sure you all heard about the horrible hit-and-run accident that shut down 85-North Monday night. A huge collision was caused by this 20-year-old kid speeding and weaving in and out of traffic. People had actually called the police on this dumbass before the accident even occurred, because of his reckless driving. The accident that followed left 4 dead and others critically wounded. And what does the dumbass kid do? He keeps trucking up 85. The police of course found him later and he, his family, and his shady-with-a-capital-CHEESE lawyer are all saying he's not at fault. (Good luck with that defense, buddy.)

Among the dead were 3 of the same family - a 14 year old boy, his 21 year old sister and her 13 month old son. Also in the car were the kids' parents (both around 45), the 21 year old's fiance, and the driver (they were in a limo-type vehicle coming from the airport - the driver also died). The 45-year old mother had injuries, but is fine. Her husband is still in critical condition. Their daugther's fiance amazingly escaped almost untouched. This Tuesday I found out that members of this family live in my own little neighborhood. The surviving mother's sister, Sulianna, is in my Bunco group. Tuesday morning, before Sulianna's sister checked out of one hospital to go be by her husband's side in another, Sulianna had to tell her sister that she had lost her daughter, her son, her only grandchild, and that she may lose her husband too. I cannot even imagine. CANNOT imagine. Her entire family just ripped away from her in an instant...

So one of my wonderful neighbors (who I call the goodwill ambassador - she's like the ringleader of our Bunco group) spoke with Sulianna and is coordinating dinners and such for her. The hub and I are bringing them dinner Sunday. I hope a good meal will bring them a little comfort in such a horribly sad time. And if I haven't drug y'all down enough, take a second to read this wonderful article - it's really touching and just makes you want to run home and hold your family tight forever and ever. It also talks about some ways to help the family out if you're interested, but most of all, please just keep Sulianna and her family in your prayers. Please pray for her sister's husband to recover. She needs him more than ever right now. And give your loved ones an *extra* tight squeeze tonight!

Thanks, girls. I promise I'll come back with some more *happy* content soon. Alright, back to work... I got some mega number crunching to do!