Everyone's ok...

but the car isn't. I don't have much time to write but wanted everyone to know that we were in a car accident yesterday. I was in the left turn lane when a car in front of me decided they were turning left too. We were side-swiped in the front quarter panel. It didn't want to move so I left it where it was till the tow truck got there. The other driver was able to pull into a drive way. I had all the kids in the car but everyone is fine. A shop owner must be used to accidents there. She let the kids come into the back of her comic book store to stay warm while I dealt with the sheriff and everything else. I then had a friend from church come and get them. Mark came to the scene as soon as I called and almost beat the sheriff there. The other lady was ticketed for failure to yield the right-of-way. The sheriff said that it was clear that I was in that lane and she should have looked better before pulling out.
Unfortunately, we both have just PLPD insurance. Looks like we'll be able to get $500 from her insurance to pay for repairs. The question is just how much the repairs are going to be. We had the tow truck take the car to the recommended shop and we'll hear from them later today. Of course, we can't pursue the money from her until I get a copy of the accident report which could take 5 business days, which is even longer with the holidays.
Depending what we find out on the estimate, we have a friend with a heated garage and lots of experience. He may be able to keep the repairs under the $500. He has also loaned us his Neon to use till we get this mess worked out.
It doesn't help with the budget or the Christmas spirit, but we are just very grateful that we are all fine. Cars are replaceable, kids aren't.
Gotta get busy now though. I was doing 3 large cakes for AWANA at church tonight but that got rather messed up with the "excitment" of late night.