Precious Life

One does not realize how precious life is and how suddenly it can be taken away until it has happened to you. I lost a very dear friend on Valentine's Day. The story is as follows:Dad was taking Mom out for dinner in Williston. I didn't want to stay home alone so I tried having friends over, but they were busy. So I decided to text a friend up in Williston and see if I could hang out there for a while. She said I could, but since she wasn't done with work, she said I could go and be their 'supervisor'. It was her dad, two older sisters, one younger sister, and two younger brothers, her dad's brother, and herself. We were there for about two more hours, then they said that if I could stay, they would take me out for pizza then bring me home. I called Dad and Mom and after thought, they said I could. So they finished up, and took me out for supper. The whole family was there (6 girls and 2 boys), including the uncle. After supper, Camille (22), Amy (my age), Anna (12), Christian (10), and Caleb (7) all brought me home. It had been a beautiful day all day. We were sitting in the van waiting for Camille, who was driving, when it started to snow. We dropped the others (the parents and Charity, 3 or 4) off at home, then we went out to a farm they were watching for some friends. We put the horse, chickens, and ducks in the barn for the night, then went inside for about 15 minutes. We finally left around 9, and proceeded on our way to my house. It continued to snow for the remainder of the night...and since it had been a nice day, it started getting slushy. We made it home fine, although we slid past the approach and therefore had to backup. They dropped me off and let the parents know where they were. Then they left. I was texting both Amy and Anna when they left. I received a txt from Anna and I responded, but I never heard back. I had also txted Amy telling her to let me know when they get home. I never heard back from her, either. In the back of my head, I wondered if they had gotten into an accident, but I thought nothing more of it. The roads weren't that bad, I thought. I went to bed and at about 9:30, Dad and Mom came up and woke me up. The said that Crystal (the oldest, 25) called and said that the others had gotten into an accident. Amy was killed. At first, I thought it was all a nightmare and that I would wake up, but it wasn't. I was awake until about 12:30, crying. I couldn't believe it, I was just with her!!!  Camille, Christian, and Caleb were taken back to Williston, but Anna was taken to Watford City. Her Dad and uncle were on their way to Anna, since she was by herself,  but they couldn't get through because of the accident. So Crystal called Mom to see if she would go in and sit with Anna until they could get through. That was at about 12:00. When she got there, a couple other friends were there, so they all sat with Anna. Her Dad and uncle got there about an hour later, but Mom didn't leave till about 1:30. At about 8:30 Mom came and got me up saying that Anna wanted to see me. We went in at about 9:00. She and Amy were very close so it's really hard on Anna. She's doing pretty good. She had a broken clavicle, a blood clot on her lung, and a really bad burn from the seat belt. Other than that, and a bruised up leg, she was fine. Camille and Christian were sent home that night. Christian just got a gash on his cheek, so he had to get that stitched up, and really bruised legs. Camille just has a burn from the seat belt, amazingly. Caleb was flown to Minot, and his Mom went with. He had lacerations on his liver, and a spot right above his eyebrow where the skin was taken off all the way to his skull. He couldn't have skin grafting until he was stabalized, so they did the grafting on Friday. He was released yesterday. Anna was transported to Minot to have a specialist look at her clavicle, was released on Thursday, but chose to stay with Caleb. They both got home yesterday.
Crystal is getting married in two weeks, and Amy was going to be a bridesmaid. But Anna said that one of the first things the boys said, was that 'Ari will have to take Amy's place in the wedding, now.' Then Crystal called later that afternoon and asked if I would be. So I am now taking Amy's place as bridesmaid, and I'm also playing violin in her funeral. Anna and her sister Andrea will be playing with me. Amy, Anna, and I would play violin together as often as we could.  They are all doing as well and can be expected.     
We must all remember that, however tired or cross we may be, we must be gentle and loving, because life can be taken away in the blink of an eye. Please pray for the Litfin family.
~Miss Kindel

Composing and my Knee...(and I am perfectly sound of mind)

I play violin on the worship band in our church. And trying to play loud enough so people can here it, and yet playing quiet enough so that I can here where everyone is is somewhat hard for me. I try not to play the melody, and just do chords, but it's kind of boring...so today I decided to figure out the harmony! So easy, right? NOT!!! I gave up after the first couple lines...I might get back to it eventually, but I'm not motivated anymore...the thing that makes it the hardest is that three out of the four songs are in the key of E. I do not like playing in that key. Four sharps, and two of which are really hard to play. They are beautiful songs that have deep meanings, but in the wrong key... I decided to have a friend over this afternoon to watch a movie:)
Some of my friends might go skating this afternoon, but I won't be among them...Here is my very short, but tragic story:
 About a month ago, I was skating, and I fell on my knee. It didn't heal up completely by the next week when I went skating again. I fell on it again! Then it bothered me. But not enough for me not to go the following week...I didn't fall, but I used it too much, and it hasn't healed...rather, it has gotten worse. Now I can't run, jump (but I usually don't do either of those anyways...), and I can't go ice skating...that's the worse part. It hurts to walk some days, but other days, not as much. I am going to a physical therapist on Monday, so hopefully we can figure it out. The end.
So, here I am and there you are. I hope all of you are without injury, or pain! On another note, I would like to find out what kind of tree it is on my Hawaii Photography page, so if you could go over to it, and let me know what you think, I would greatly appreciate it!!! Thanks to all!!!
~Miss Kindel

Frosties....

When Mom asked me to take out our dog and bring the van around to the front, I discovered that there was frost everywhere!!! I've been wanting to get some pictures of the frost...I just haven't gotten out that early... But I finally got one this morning!!!!

                                                                    Tada!!!!
                                             (the whiteness on the grass is frost...)
~Miss Kindel