God Takes Care of Us Always.

We had no school yesterday because they were forecasting wind chills of -40F. Of course, it wasn't that bad, actual temps were around -7F for a high, and the winds were typical SD winds. So, I called a friend (she was going to take her daughter to school for their 2hr late start) and we met at Starbucks for a quick cup of coffee. Since I had the boys with me I got them hot chocolate (a real treat, they only had Starbucks hot chocolate once before) as a bribe :) We had a nice visit.
A side note, Rachael has this thing now where she'd misbehave as long as it takes to get a spanking (I usually don't spank her unless she is hitting a hot cup of coffee I am holding threatening to spill it and burn both of us or of she is throwing food hard enough to get people sitting at the table next to ours. Or something along these lines.) So, she got her spanking yesterday and was a perfectly happy little girl after that, playing and giggling, quite a contrast to a winy unhappy child she had been all morning. She did it again this morning when M and I went out on a little 'breakfast' date. The transformation was so drastic that even M. (who is usually not keen to observe things like that) commented on the subject. Is that what terrible twos look like in a girl? Because the boys NEVER did this.
Anyway, back to yesterday. I wasn't feeling very well all day but decided to go work out (to make my body 'snap out of it' Didn't work quite as well, I only did 400 cal. and had to quit). We got back home without any trouble (and by that I mean the car worked and I didn't vomit all over it:).
Well, this morning M. went to start the van to take the boys to school. It was completely dead. Wouldn't start. At all. It appears that the battery finally died (after 8 years of faithful service) and nothing helped.
Now, what would I have done if it happened last night? -7F isn't that bad, unless you have to walk home with three little children in tow. If today wasn't M's day off, the kids would have to miss school (they had a trip to the stock show planned for today, both were really excited about that). Providentially, M WAS home and took them to school in his pickup. And the van held together yesterday. God really does take care of us.