The Merciful Hand of God

Our God is a merciful God. Every day we have is a gift from Him. So often we take for granted each breath we take. Saturday, November 28 we were reminded of how much our lives depend on our Heavenly Father. Forest had taken Hannah shopping with him across the river in Indiana. On their way back, on the bridge over the Ohio River, they were in a serious car accident. Behind Forest was an older Ford truck that was pulling a loaded trailer that was unable or did not try to stop soon enough as traffic built up on the bridge in the right lane and Forest had to stop. That Ford slammed into the back of the Mountaineer, pushing it into the Altima in front of it, smashing it's trunk into the back seat. The truck's momentum still carried both the Mountaineer and Altima into the next lane over. The Mountaineer scraped the whole driver's side of the Altima, trunk to front panel. Then a U-Haul truck, that had already merged over to the far left lane, was unable to avoid Forest's car coming into his lane, swiped the front, driver's corner panel with the cargo area of the truck. Finally everything came to a stop.

Hannah was terrified and hurting, since Forest's seat had come back onto her left foot. Her carseat was in the center of the back seat, but the driver's seat overlaps the space for her seat by about a fourth, so when the back of his seat broke free, it landed on her little foot. When Forest called Laura to tell her they had been hit, Hannah was still screaming in the background. Once Forest got her out of the car and was holding her she calmed down. Praise the LORD no one, in any of the four vehicles, was injured. Just bruises and strained muscles. Hannah, being a little person, was taken by ambulance to the children's hospital to make sure nothing was wrong that she couldn't communicate to Forest. She was great with the ambulance crew and didn't complain one bit, even though it was uncomfortable. She wouldn't say anything while she had the brace and straps on though. She really is a calm, easy-going little girl.

Laura was able to borrow a vehicle from some wonderful friends who even had extra car seats for Nathanael and Talitha. Nathanael stayed at their house and Talitha went with Laura to meet Forest and Hannah at the hospital. They actually arrived at about the same time as the ambulance. Hannah was in good spirits, hungry, but a little disheveled since Forest's open coffee cup from the morning had spilled all over her during the accident. She was happy to see Laura and Talitha and ate lunch and was playing around. She was limping a little bit, and complained about her foot hurting, but she was her happy, dancing self. After precautionary x-rays revealed no damage, she was released. The only other thing that appears to be wrong with her is her carseat straps gave her a couple bruises on her neck, but she doesn't complain of any pain there. Her first night home, she woke a little more than usual, but since then appears to have no lasting effects. She even still asks to go on the bridge since that is a favorite route for the kids to take because they can see the Ohio River from the car, and sometimes there are boats or barges down there.

Hannah in her hospital gown, complete with coffee-filled hair.

When Laura asked Hannah what happened in the car with Daddy, Hannah said, "I was dancing in my seat like this (wiggles side-to-side) and I got all wet and my foot hurt." It was cute to hear her describe it this way. A few hours later, Forest told Laura that they hadn't been listening to any music. So the reference to dancing must be the only way she can describe the impact with her two-year-old vocabulary. We are thankful she is not saying she was scared, or anything that indicates lasting psycological effects.

Forest went the next day to the doctor to make sure he did only receive bumps and bruises and not some deeper injury that he couldn't see or feel fully. He is really sore, though. He'll tell you, "I feel like I got hit by a truck, or two." We'll probably never use that phrase to describe how we feel when we're just tired and sore, or have the flu or something, because that just doesn't feel near as bad as actually being hit by a truck.

Now we begin the process of dealing with insurance companies to try to replace our vehicle and carseats that were in the car. We don't want to take chances with their seats since they were all in the car at the time and may have damage that we can't see. Technically right now the car is drivable, though it doesn't look it. When the tow truck dropped it off at our house, Forest drove it into our parking space, dragging something hanging down in the front the whole way. We're pretty sure the cost to fix it will exceed it's value due to the multiple hits it received. We were going to have to replace it at some point before next summer anyhow, since our family is out-growing the Mountaineer. We just were planning on waiting till spring and taking our time finding a good, reliable vehicle at a reasonable price.

The LORD is always good to us. We may not know why something unpredictable happens to us, but we always know we serve a Sovereign God who is in control. We are thankful for each day, whether it contains an accident, or is just a run-of-the-mill day full of work, chores, meals, fun, etc.

Some pictures of the damage. Ford sure does know how to build a sturdy vehicle.