Thursday, June 9, 2011

Heavy-Duty Shoes.

It was bound to happen. There are so many more cars on the streets of LA that at some point or another, we were going to end up in an accident. Thankfully the three of us Brewers that were in the car are safe and sound. The kids were sleeping and woke up to the accident, I however was thrown around a bit. My neck and back (and left arm/shoulder, too) are sore and worse for the wear. It could have been much worse. We could have been t-boned or rolled over. There is always the "What-if". 
 I think that Josiah's list of what he is thankful for after the accident sums up all the of the emotions I've had:
 "I'm thankful for God and our car keeping us safe."
 After visiting Pan Pacific park in Los Angeles, we were driving back down Sunset. I was about to get on the 101, but I could see how bad traffic was. I (fatefully) skipped the on ramp and drove down Sunset towards Alvarado where you can get on the 2 freeway.  As I was happily listening to NPR, the kids were asleep and I was mentally planning my next cleaning move when I got home. At the intersection at Sunset and Coronado, I slowed for a yellow light. Before I knew it, I heard a very loud screeching sound. I checked my mirror and saw the grill of a Dodge Ram 3500 van. I looked out my front window and realized there was no escaping the situation and just prayed. He hit and we were thrown into the intersection. I screamed and tried in vain to steer the car & pumped the breaks (I don't know what I thought I was doing). I hit a gentlemen in the turning lane who was waiting to make a left hand turn on Coronado. That I remember. I don't remember hitting another silver car who was making a right hand turn and ended up over-compensating and landed on the side walk, hitting a pole. I checked the kids, they were stunned, but fine. Thank God for our Britax car seats! Within a minutes time, no joke, an LAPD showed up and started checking on everyone. I was yelling out to everyone to see if they were okay. The guy that hit us ignored me and this seemed to be a theme for the whole experience with him. He never once spoke to any of us, apologized or even looked our way. The other two men involved were kind and spoke to me several times.
 Fire-Station 20 happens to be a few blocks from the sight of the accident. They came and helped get the kids out. I'll never forget the image of Mae being carried by one of the fire fighters. It was so sweet, so amazing and it instantly calmed me.
 My kids were amazing. They sat patiently on Sunset Blvd for a couple of hours. They behaved, were sweet to one another and seriously deserve kudos for their attitudes during all of this.
 It took several hours to get everything taken care of. Cameron, thank God was working from home. When we finally arrived home, we got Del Taco, flipped on the TV and just wanted to veg. Both of our wonderful neighbors, Wendy and Richard and Tiffani were quick to make sure everything was okay. Richard & Wendy even offered to watch the kids if we needed to go to the hospital. Tiffani brought the kids cookies and rented Mary Poppins for them to watch. So awesome to have fantastic neighbors. Tiffani visited for awhile and totally got my mind off of the day.



 That night I sank into my bed with my kids by my side and Cameron working at the desk in the same room. I felt nothing but overwhelming gratitude for my life. These beautiful kids that God has given me and my wonderful, strong and gracious husband. He is my biggest advocate. He's working hard to make sure that we are taken care of not only physically, mentally and monetarily, but he is on top of all the insurance stuff. Pray for Cameron that he can speak well through all of this and get his work done. Pray that he has peace and courage.
 I went to Urgent Care yesterday and I'll have my x-rays done this week.

Women's Retreat friends! 
 While it seems that everything is only getting worse, or that life is piling all the "crap" on right now, I could not be in a better place.  God knew I would need to go to Women's Retreat to help deal with this. Every lesson I learned up there has spoken to me in this situation.  Not only do I have the lessons and the word, but I have new friends and allies because of the fellowship this weekend. I really, really need that right now. At the urging of Karen Chaddick (our speaker this weekend and our Pastor's amazing Mom), I've been writing down every day during quiet time what I am thankful for. It helps put things in perspective. I find that my attitude is one of gratitude, not blame. I've even started doing it with the kids.








 We were in LA to go to Mom's Park Day at Pan Pacific. We met up with a couple other mommies and kids. Josiah and Mae had a blast. The park has a play ground that resembles an old time train.






Again, I have to say that the lessons from Women's Retreat truly have kept my heart and mind on Jesus during this trial. Like Karen said, there is a beginning and end to every trial. The days of a trial are numbered. I found that incredibly encouraging. She also mentioned Spurgeon's Faith's Checkbook entry entitled Heavy-Duty Shoes:

  
Thank you all for your encouragement and prayers. We look forward to getting back to "normal". I also look forward to visiting LA without getting hit by a car! ;)



The day after the accident.Hanging out with Daddy.

1 comments:

good+growing said...

SO glad everyone is generally okay - I hope you are not too sore for too long. You have such a great perspective.

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