Christmas Ends with a Dangerous CRASH!

We headed to see my family this past week.  It had been a LONG time since I had been home. I was very excited to see everyone and a little nervous too.   My mom had only seen Clark for a few minutes when he was four months old, but she had never meet Joel.  It was a great chance for the boys to meet their grandma.  The boys enjoyed meeting their Grandma. 

For a Christmas treat, we went with my sister and her three AWESOME kids to a fun pizza entertainment place with laser tag, go carts, bumper cars, archade games, etc. We all had a really good time.

Clark (and Michael) LOVED the go carts.  They rode them at least six times.   Don't let the scared face fool you.  Clark couldn't get enough of the go-carts. 

Later, we all went to see my dad.  All five kids played with GeoTrax while the adults talked.  It melted my heart to watch my boys play with their cousins whom they hardly know.  It reminded me that there is something very special and unique about blood relatives.  There was a bond there, that only God in His gracious love could make.   Here's my dad.  I have always been told I look just like my mom, but I think I have his nose!  Thanks Dad! ;-)

After spending a great afternoon with my dad and family, Michael and I took the kids to a store to pick up a few things.   Sounds like a pretty normal family get together so far, right????  Well if you know me, just wait for it.  You know something is about to happen with MY FAMILY.....

 While in the store, my sister called me and told me not to come home because it wasn't safe.   In a frantic craze, she told me someone had driven his truck into her house and was threatening to kill her and had a gun.  Thank God , we decided to stop at the store, or we would have driven up to a crazed gunman trying to kill someone, and we could have been his target.  Apparently, a neighbor and his wife got into a fight, and he tried to run his wife down and slammed into my sister's house.  The lady ran into my sister's house for safety.  My sister locked the doors and called the police.  He was finally caught later that night, but our last night together with family was a blend of police cars flashing, officers searching the property, and us singing Christmas carols loudly as we tried to make Christmas memories with a truck stuck in our house.