#rolllover

New Year's Eve day was an unexpectedly exciting for my family.

On the way home after 4 days of fun vacation at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, we had a high-speed rollover accident on the way home on the ice just outside of Seminole, Texas. Miraculously, we survived relatively unscathed. Both Stacey and Nicole had cuts on their heads and bumps and bruises. Stacey also had a significant laceration on her ear. (I did not take, nor will I be sharing a picture of it.) They had them treated and stitched up as we spend the day at the Seminole hospital. Michael and I have nothing more than sore muscles today and a bit of seat belt burn.

Our car, my beloved SportTrac, is now destroyed, doomed for the scrap pile. But we feel grateful for this car, which provided a life-protecting shell that took the brunt of the energy from the wreck, limiting what we were exposed to. Most of our belongings are working and are still with us. Our computers and camera gear survived and are still functioning. Only one of our phones is still in a working condition. We still have most of our clothes and shoes.

Throughout the day and overnight, I have not been able to help but to replay the crash over and over in my head. Once we started to slide, I quickly realized we could be in big trouble. I repeatedly yelled for everyone to hold on, before and during the wreck. The seconds during the rollover will stay with me forever. You hang on as tight as you can, trying to be as stable as possible. But you just wait for what you think will be a crushing blow to your head or body. Fortunately, that blow never came.

Once we stopped moving, I started to assess my body, determining if I was hurt, and then checked on the rest of my family. Stacey was stunned and bleeding, but she was conscious and responding positively. Michael said he was fine and was unharmed. Nicole didn't respond or move for about 10 seconds. In hindsight, we think she had been temporarily knocked out. That 10 seconds was horrible, trying to determine if my daughter was dead, trying to keep my mind under control. But then she came to, moaned, and moved her head. She was alright. We then began to talk to her to asses her injuries, their severity, and to keep her calm.

At that point, Michael called 911 to get emergency personnel (who were out in force that day on the road dealing with 15 rollovers on the day) on their way. Other drivers also had stopped to help. People found my (broken) phone and my wallet on the ground and brought them both to me. The paramedics arrived and cut both doors off of the passenger side of the car to get Nicole and Stacey out of the car. After climbing out my broken window, I was able get Michael's door open. We then assisted as they got Nicole and Stacey out and into the ambulances. Before I knew it, Stacey was gone and Michael had left in the ambulance with Nicole.

I proceeded to try to collect the most important of our stuff and it was spread across the path of our wreck. The cover on the back of the truck had come off, dispersing everything all over the place. I gathered the computers and camera gear, which had the photos and videos from our trip, along with all of the information and memories that we keep on our computers. The firemen then brought me and our stuff over to the hospital.

While we are especially grateful for our health today, I want to share how we've been ministered to by the kind and generous people of Seminole: from the firemen and paramedics at the wreck site; to the staff at the hospital; to fireman Pete who got us a hotel room and took our bags over to the room so they were awaiting us on arrival; to the chaplain (Bill Wiebe from Gospel Mission Church) who prayed with and for us, picked up our remaining belongings off the debris field of our wreck and drove us around so that we didn't have to walk from the hospital; and my friend Michael, who is driving out here this morning to get us and bring us home. All of these people have been Jesus to us, whether they knew it or not. They went so far above and beyond the call of duty.

Most of all, God is good all of the time! I don't understand what happened or why, good or bad, but we praise him!

How do you process an experience like that? How do you respond to a near-death experience for you and your family? I don't know the answers to those questions. I do know that we will be wrestling with them for a while. For right now, I'm just glad to have my family together, safe and sound. Last night, once we all got over to the hotel, we cried and prayed together. We thanked God that we are still all alive and together. So the answer, today, is to hold fast to those you love.

Today, we work to get home. Tomorrow, Michael is scheduled to fly to Bolivia with his soccer team to play in a tournament. We are trying to get him there in time to go on that trip.

Tomorrow, we go onto the next logistical things as we recover from this event. We schedule follow-up doctor visits. We work with insurance companies to figure out to replace our car. We go back to work, to school, to church, to practice. We clean up, we get up, we continue. Why? Because the sun came up this morning; life continues; and we keep on living.