Guardian Angel

Late last Wednesday night, as we approached the crest of the hill by our house, the one that looks down on the entire valley below, we could see emergency lights - police cars, ambulances, firetrucks, etc- a lot of them, just down the street.  

My heart sunk, and began beating irregularly as I thought of #1 who would have been on his way home from work.

At that very moment as the what I call "mom-panic" was setting in, I receive a text, from #1.

"I've been in a wreck"-

My mind screams at once, What? No! This isn't happening.  Where are you?  Are you hurt?  Is anyone else hurt?  Was it your fault?

I think because he knew my mama-heart couldn't handle it, and because we had two little sleepy girls in the back, Clint dropped us off at home, and he and #2 and #3 went down to investigate the flashing lights below - and yes they belonged to #1.

 While they were gone, I was a nervous wreck.  Luckily I had two kids there with their own cell phone.  I was texting them both- Is #1 okay?  Is anyone hurt?  What happened?  What can you see?  How bad is it? etc etc

Unfortunately, Clint had told them to stay in the car, and they couldn't see or hear much.

 Finally close to 1 am, 1.5 hours later, my baby boy walked through the door.  It was the best feeling ever! 

 Here's what happened:  The car you see in this photo was stopped at a stop sign facing west.  The red truck was stopped at the stop sign facing east. #1 was headed south about 40 miles per hour, up the hill to our house with no stop sign.  The car pulled out right in front of  #1.  He hit his brakes, and in the split seconds before impact, knew he needed to swerve hard or he would t-bone right into the girl sitting in the passenger seat. He swerved fast enough, and hit her on the back right. (You can see this in the photo above)

His car ricocheted off the car and crashed into a brick fence.  The girls flew into the truck.

The amazing part - no one was seriously hurt.

5 days later, #1 is extremely sore (all his airbags went off).  He tore the soft tissues in his neck and spine, which he is and will for quite some time be seeing a doctor for. But there was no blood, no broken bones, no concussions. . . It was a miracle.

After sending a photo to my mom, her response was, "#1 had a guardian angel with him for sure!"

After the panic and stress has settled, and I've spent time reflecting on this traumatic event, I know that she is right. He did have a Guardian Angel there protecting him, and helping him maneuver his car so he so no one was hurt. This accident was in Divine hands, God's hands. 

Miracles

"Have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men.  For behold, they are subject unto him, to minister according to the word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness." 

Moroni 7:29-30

The hand of the Lord has definitely been in my life.  He has blessed me with many miracles.  One such miracle happened exactly a year ago today.  It has affected me deeply and has changed me in many ways.  I feel I need to share it. (Please don't judge)

 A year ago, I had just send the older 5 off to school and was finishing getting dressed for the day when I heard the big wall mirror in my bedroom fall down.  I immediately called for my youngest, #6, hoping she would answer me from somewhere else in the house, at the same time, I lifted up the huge heavy still intact mirror.  (MIRACLE #1 THE MIRROR WAS COMPLETELY FINE NOT EVEN A SINGLE CRACK.) To my utter horror, there was my tiny, 30 lb, baby girl underneath that 7 ft, 70 lb mirror that had just fallen on top of her.  She was pale and lifeless.  I called her name and tried to wake her.  No response.  I was sure she was dead.  Then I noticed her eyes roll back into her head and I with relief, realized she was still breathing.  Panic set in.  I scooped her up into my arms and started rushing to the car.  It's funny how in these types of situations you forget everything logical, and just react.  Before I even made it out of my room, I somehow had the thought "Call 911".   Looking back, I know angels were there helping me to act and think logically.  MIRACLE #2).

After what seemed like 10 minutes, but probably more like 15 seconds,  I finally located my phone and fumbled around (again, it's amazing how crazy your mind gets) trying to remember the password to unlock it, and then trying to figure out how to get to the phone part to place a call. . . it was crazy.

My kids often quote  Buckwheat's line from the movie Little Rascals:  "Quick, what's the number for 9-1-1?"  That was me this day.

 Finally I figured it out and after what seemed like forever someone answered.  They asked me for my address, which I had a hard time remembering too.  Finally I was able to give them my address and the police and paramedics were on their way. While waiting for someone to show up, and still on the phone answering questions with 9-1-1 (They won't let you hang up until someone gets there- probably because they know how crazy and illogical you are), #6 started whining and a couple minutes later crying. 

She was conscious when the police officer (who beat the ambulance by about 5 minutes) arrived. He gave her a stuffed animal and kept talking to the both of us until the paramedics arrived. (God bless Officer Rodger).

The EMTs checked her pupils were fine, no bumps on her head, no cuts, no broken bones, no internal bleeding they could feel. (MIRACLE #3) They left telling me to just watch her and take her to the doctor if I couldn't wake her up from a nap, or if she started vomited, or walking or acting funny. 

After they left, she slept for 2 hours. She woke up on her own and was acting somewhat okay, just really quiet.  She slept another 2 hours and woke up more like herself, but was complaining of a tummy ache. I thought she was hungry, since she didn't have an appetite earlier, and so I gave her a piece of bread. She immediately threw it up. A while later, she ate a little peppermint candy, that Clint had brought home for her.  She immediately threw that up. All the while she was just wanting to lay down on the couch or have someone hold her. I was worried and knew I wouldn't sleep unless we took her to the doctor and had him check her out. 

Luckily, we were able to get her into an after hours clinic just as they were closing. (MIRACLE #4). The doctor thoroughly checked her out. He told us how lucky we were that 1.-She was alive, & 2.- The mirror didn't break. (All this we already knew.)  He also diagnosed her with having a major concussion. 

So for the next week or so our little miracle child was put on complete bed rest. We had to wake her  up every 3 hours (even during the night) and ask her to do a simple command. No activity, no tv, iPads, computers, etc. anything that will stimulate her mind for a week. She needed to let her brain heal. 

When we got home, Clint and our neighbor gave her a Priesthood blessing and 

the next morning she woke up back to her normal self and hungry as a bear! (MIRACLE #5).  Unfortunately, the doctor told us to start her out on high calorie liquids and work up to solids when her stomach could tolerate them again. And boy did she.

This experience shook up my entire family.  It made us all so grateful to still have our little #6 and that was she okay.  

Time together is precious.  Don't waste a single second of it.

For those who may be concerned:  The mirror was tethered to the wall that night!