Watched Over
With the month that we have had I knew that my family was being watched over... I didn't know just how watched over until we made the very, very, very dumb last minute decision to drive all night from Oregon to Utah instead of staying at a friend's house (as planned) and waking up early Saturday to start our journey out of Oregon. We were exhausted, we had been preparing our home and family to move halfway across the country. Friday the moving truck finished loading up our stuff, so we cleaned our entire home and decided to just get the drive over with and headed out of Oregon around 7:30 p.m. We thought it would be easier to get the drive over with, we thought it would be easier for kids to sleep through the drive. We thought it would be easier... We thought wrong. Seth fell asleep at the wheel around 5:30 a.m. just outside of Burley Idaho. He had his cruise control set and we struck a truck carrying a cattle trailer on my side and went spinning after what felt like we hit a brick wall. Once we hit, we eventually broke away from the trailer and started to spin. I woke up on impact. I felt the blow, heard the crunch, smelled the smoke from the airbags, my teeth started to crumbled and my very first thought was "He fell asleep. We're in an accident. This is happening. We're in a car accident right now. The car isn't stopping. This is bad. My kids are in the back. WHY did I go back to sleep. He promised. Please do flip. Protect me children" ...ran through my mind like slow motion. Once we stopped spinning. Fear went through me that I hope I NEVER feel again. I didn't know where we stopped? We were still on the freeway?? I was so afraid we were about to be t-boned. I literally held my breath. Seth still had his hands on the steering wheel, I literally heard my children's chest rise and fall as they were trying to recover their breathing. The cab lights were on but it was so dark outside I couldn't see where we were. I just started to shout "where are we???" "SETH, where are we??" I was just waiting to get creamed again. A few seconds later a heavy knocking on Seth window started followed by "your babies? your babies?" The sweet man we had hit so said he saw us coming and that we were not slowing down. Had run across the freeway to our aid. I felt bit's of my teeth crumbled in my mouth. I started to spit them out and felt incredible pain in my tongue. I started to shoot questions at Seth "What happened? What Happened? Did you fall asleep?" While staring straight ahead he responded with "Yeah, I feel asleep. I'm so sorry" I felt anger rip through me from my head to my toes. He promised me. I felt anger, I felt guilt. I turned to see my children and the looks on the faces, utter fear, my heart broke. I told them they were okay, pushed the glass off my lap from the windshield, opened my door and tried to get in the back to them but their doors would not open. I got back in the van and crawled through all the debris (somehow some of the suitcases combusted and things were in the windshield) we were already packed so tight, there was so walkway so I literally crawled (as soon as I moved I could feel my neck/spine radiating with pain) over everything and put each one of my children's faces in my hand and made eye contact with them. I sat on top of Seth's huge rifle cases that were in the aisle so I could reach Shay & Mason who were in the captain's chairs and Aiden who was in the back and held all of their hands and started to pray. I remember pleading for my children to feel peace, to be blanketed with comfort and to feel the angels that were there."
It was the scariest moment of my life, as well Seth's and I'm sure my children's. It's taken a few days to process but we were once again protected when it could have ended so very different. When we were taken back to the van to collect what we could the tow truck driver asked if I remembered anything about the windshield (other than a mouth full of glass) I said no. He showed me that part of the trailer came through the windshield and should have stuck my head but because I was sleeping off to the side it missed me. That along with the only good decision I made which was to always keep my kids buckled even when sleeping is what ended up saving us. We have so much guilt, regret, and wish we would haves but are so aware of the many angels that attended to us that night. I know we were protected. I know we were watched over. I know we have more to accomplish here on earth. I'm filled beyond words with gratitude for my Heavenly Father for keeping each one of my children here and safe, along with Seth and I safe to still be their parents! We are very, very blessed❤
(Seth has a badly bruised foot/toe, Aiden had quite the seatbelt burn & a bruise on his face, Shay had a goose egg an her forehead, Mason had whiplash and I injured my neck/spine (C7), had some cracked teeth on my lower right side and a pretty deep cut on my tongue. That being said it could have been SO much worse!)
I called our parents from the scene and was still in shock. Seth's parent starting working on borrowing a van from family that we could all fit in. They hitched a little trailer to it and drove up and got us. In the meantime the Tow Truck drivers amazing wife and family took us in. The tow truck driver got to the scene and was confused as why there was no ambulance. We had actually made it through intense fog in Idaho before the crash. Some people weren't so lucky. We were told there were 7 accidents back at the fog and that's where all the highway patrolmen were. So we got a "towny cop" is how the TT Driver referred to him as. A town cop that didn't really deal with this large of accidents. We were literally sitting on the side of the road, cold, in pain, terrified and completely lost on what to do. The tow truck driver loaded us up in his truck and took me and the kids to his shop, he unlocked it and let us in. He took Seth to Twin Falls to be able to rent a car. As I sat there with kids that were totally shaken up I started to feel sick. I started to feel light headed, I was scared. I was alone with scared kids and in a strange place. I texted Seth who was with the TT Driver who said "yeah, I didn't think she looked too good" He was amazing and sent his wife over who borrowed her daughter's minivan and loaded us all up. She took me and Mason who was complaining of neck pain to the ER. She then took Aiden and Shay home with her and promised me she was a good person and would take good care of them. My heart felt safe with her, I knew she was sent there for us. Seth decided to not rent a car not feeling as confident enough to get behind the wheel met me back at the hospital. The sweet lady picked us up at the hospital and brought us back to her home where the kids were eating donuts and playing with her grandkids. The love and warmth in their home provided us refuge until our family arrived. I have no idea what we would have done with out them.
CL & VV arrived and the tow truck driver took us over to tow yard where he towed our van and we were able to gather our belongings. It was hard to see. My van who just 12 hours ago we loaded as a family and started the next phase of our life. You just never know.
Today, we are counting our blessings. Twice!
It was the scariest moment of my life, as well Seth's and I'm sure my children's. It's taken a few days to process but we were once again protected when it could have ended so very different. When we were taken back to the van to collect what we could the tow truck driver asked if I remembered anything about the windshield (other than a mouth full of glass) I said no. He showed me that part of the trailer came through the windshield and should have stuck my head but because I was sleeping off to the side it missed me. That along with the only good decision I made which was to always keep my kids buckled even when sleeping is what ended up saving us. We have so much guilt, regret, and wish we would haves but are so aware of the many angels that attended to us that night. I know we were protected. I know we were watched over. I know we have more to accomplish here on earth. I'm filled beyond words with gratitude for my Heavenly Father for keeping each one of my children here and safe, along with Seth and I safe to still be their parents! We are very, very blessed❤
(Seth has a badly bruised foot/toe, Aiden had quite the seatbelt burn & a bruise on his face, Shay had a goose egg an her forehead, Mason had whiplash and I injured my neck/spine (C7), had some cracked teeth on my lower right side and a pretty deep cut on my tongue. That being said it could have been SO much worse!)
I called our parents from the scene and was still in shock. Seth's parent starting working on borrowing a van from family that we could all fit in. They hitched a little trailer to it and drove up and got us. In the meantime the Tow Truck drivers amazing wife and family took us in. The tow truck driver got to the scene and was confused as why there was no ambulance. We had actually made it through intense fog in Idaho before the crash. Some people weren't so lucky. We were told there were 7 accidents back at the fog and that's where all the highway patrolmen were. So we got a "towny cop" is how the TT Driver referred to him as. A town cop that didn't really deal with this large of accidents. We were literally sitting on the side of the road, cold, in pain, terrified and completely lost on what to do. The tow truck driver loaded us up in his truck and took me and the kids to his shop, he unlocked it and let us in. He took Seth to Twin Falls to be able to rent a car. As I sat there with kids that were totally shaken up I started to feel sick. I started to feel light headed, I was scared. I was alone with scared kids and in a strange place. I texted Seth who was with the TT Driver who said "yeah, I didn't think she looked too good" He was amazing and sent his wife over who borrowed her daughter's minivan and loaded us all up. She took me and Mason who was complaining of neck pain to the ER. She then took Aiden and Shay home with her and promised me she was a good person and would take good care of them. My heart felt safe with her, I knew she was sent there for us. Seth decided to not rent a car not feeling as confident enough to get behind the wheel met me back at the hospital. The sweet lady picked us up at the hospital and brought us back to her home where the kids were eating donuts and playing with her grandkids. The love and warmth in their home provided us refuge until our family arrived. I have no idea what we would have done with out them.
CL & VV arrived and the tow truck driver took us over to tow yard where he towed our van and we were able to gather our belongings. It was hard to see. My van who just 12 hours ago we loaded as a family and started the next phase of our life. You just never know.
Today, we are counting our blessings. Twice!
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