Don't you all start having conniption fits.
This happened way back in 2008. lol
Nine years ago.... Wow
All this snow, and nerve-wracking drives through it and the ice got me to thinking about our accident years go.
It was snowing, and we were on our way home from our new house which was still under construction.
We have deep ravines and ditches along our roads (I mean, the road was built into a hill!) and they can be pretty steep....
I remember thinking little about the snow and slush.
I was pretty young and, come on, Daddy won't let anything happen to us, right?
Of course he wouldn't, but I was too young to know the difference between what Daddy can and can't do.
We little 'chillens' were watching 'The Apple Dumpling Gang' on our little screen that hung from the van ceiling, paying little attention to the scenery outside, when I heard my dad say something.
I looked up and saw him desperately cranking the wheel, his face cold and urgent, and knew something bad was going on.
The rest of the kids weren't paying attention.
All I remember is the van started sliding, I closed my eyes tight, and began praying, out loud, "Jesus, please, save us. Jesus, please save us."
I could feel the van moving, but didn't dare open my eyes, until, for just a split second, everything was still, and I peeked my eyes open.
Everything seemed to be flying by, and the trees were coming up fast.
I realized we were in the air, and quickly closed my eyes again.
If we were going over, I didn't want to see.
Then WHAM!
I heard my mom cry, "God, help us!", the crash of glass, and then I was slammed against my van door, hitting my head on the glass window.
When I opened my eyes, Liberty's car seat was squishing me against the door, it's plastic edge hurting my shoulder, and we were leaning against a tree in the deep ravine.
My mom only had a small cut above her eye (amazingly, you'll agree when you see where she was sitting) Daminika a small cut/rash in her neck from her seatbelt, and couple of us had whiplash.
I remember my mom turning to look at us and kept asking if we were ok.
We kept saying yes, and then she said, "Thank the Lord!"
Being the obedient little child I was, I promptly said, "Thank you, Lord Jesus!"
(Yes, I was a character. You ought to hear the candy story...but's that for another day.lol)
But it had been my first brush with death.
My first realization that
I could have died.
I remember telling my mom as we waited for the ambulance, "Mommy, we could have died."
She was kind of preoccupied (rightly so, wouldn't you agree?) and just kind of said, "Yes, yes, we could have."
"But we didn't, Mommy." I couldn't really explain.
I couldn't really describe to anyone what I was feeling then.
Only that God is really in control, and my life was in His Hands.
It was actually a very wonderful thought, to think that nobody, not even I, had a say whether I lived or died.
Only God.
I remember getting into the ambulance, and being a little frightened, shivering even though I wasn't really cold.
They offered me a blanket but I shook my head silently.
The paramedics asked each one of us in turn if we hurt anywhere, and I told them my shoulder really hurt, but when they pulled my sweatshirt off to look, they saw that it was only a bruise.
My great-aunt and uncle came to pick us all up and brought us their house, and a couple of us went down Urgent Care to get checked out better.
But there were no serious injuries. :)
My mom's side, where we hit the tree
And that, my friends, is why I have trouble riding or driving in the snow.
I can't even go by that spot, snowy or not, without hearing that crash again.
But, our lives are God's Hands, and we just be careful, do the best we can. and leave the rest to Him.
LaKaysha