July 24th, 2008 @ 7:00PM heading East on I-90 at milepost 248.

We were traveling east on I-90 from Seattle to Spokane in the left (inside) lane @ 80 MPH coming up alongside an 18 wheeler when it started to enter our lane. Jamie was driving, and I was in the back seat in between the boys. She swerved left to avoid a collision, and when she went to recover, she lost control.

We went left then right, and when we went left again, I could tell that each swerve was getting bigger than the last. I said “This is on good”, and Jamie was starting to panic. “Oh my God, Oh my God” she said with a tone of terror as she tried to recover from here second left hand swerve. She turned back to the right to stay on the road, and you could feel the rear tires fish tailing. The thought flashed through Jamie’s mind “We might die… this could be it…”, all I could think was “we’re going to flip”.

Then we collided with the semi. We were in the 1999 Land Rover Discovery II (thank God). This thing is built like a tank. We connected at around a 45 degree angle, and the front end hit the front set of trailer tires, and the front passenger window struck the bottom of the semi trailer. Thank God, no one was in the front passenger seat.

On impact, the hood of the Rover flipped up to cover the windshield completely, and the throttle stuck. We fish tailed back to the left, and the rear passenger window struck the semi trailer and burst open. At this point, I assume the semi is about half way in our lane.

We headed off the road and into the median. The median was about 20 yards wide and a big ditch. We barreled down the median without slowing, and Jamie says she thinks she let go of the wheel and closed her eyes in panic. Carrie underwood wasn’t playing, but I think this is where Jesus took the wheel. We can see nothing in front of us, and having her foot off the gas is not slowing the car because the throttle is stuck.

I look out the right rear passenger window just before we crossed both lanes of oncoming traffic to see wide open freeway for a long way. We fly right up and over the two lane highway, and continue through a farmer’s fence and out about 100 yards into his field. As we entered the fields I start telling Jamie to hit the brakes, as it feels far overdue. A combination of the stuck throttle and a state of panic caused this seeming miscalculation, but very likely perfect maneuvering on Jamie’s part.

When the car finally stops all attention turns to the boys. Are hey all right? Jamie puts the car in park, but it continues to rev up because of the throttle issue. We get the boys out of the car, and Jamie is balling saying “I’ m so sorry, I’m so sorry…” she’s shaking in panic and remorse. The boys are both screaming out of fear from what happened, and fear of why mommy is so scared. The car is starting to smoke, so I go in and turn off the ignition. The boys are both fine, not a scratch on them, but Bennett repeatedly says “scared. scared.” Now after the accident, Bennett says “truck, boom, mommy cries. scared. scared.” If you’re looking for the short version, that’s it.

As we collect ourselves, gather the family together, and pray thanking Jesus for saving our lives, we see two patrol cars already on the scene. Granted, we’re 100 yards off the opposite side of the freeway from the collision, but we can see them off in the distance. The semi, and two witnesses have stopped on the other side. Could God provide more fully and promptly? The officer told us later that they are usually an hour away from these things. The officer is walking out into field to meet us, picking up our items that have flown from the rear window.. He lets us know that he is wearing a microphone, and everything is being recorded.

After finding out that Jamie was driving, he takes here aside to get her side of the story. He shortly after tells us that they have already place the fault on the semi truck driver. We gather the things we think we will need for the next few hours and head back to the under cover Charger cop car. We all sit in the back seat, which is no treat. The seats are hard plastic and molded to fit a full size man with his hands behind his back. The truck driver came over and apologized, and told us that he had just lost a grandson in a tone that suggested, he couldn’t take the idea of being at fault for our little ones getting hurt. He seemed very relieved that they were okay.

We tried to get ahold of family who were out at Loon Lake (which was where we were headed), but nobody answered… We called mom and Bill’s cell phone, no answer. We called Daniel’s cell phone, no answer. I called my cousin Michelle who was in Spokane to try and get Jonathan’s phone number to try and get ahold of him, but she didn’t have it either. I called information, got Uncle Dave’s phone number, and got ahold of Beth. Beth ended up getting ahold of uncle Mike who headed out from Spokane to meet us.

The cop called a tow truck who made it out there very quickly. We weren’t sure how we would get the car out of the field, because we figured it was not drivable. Both cops and the tow truck driver were saying they’d never seen a vehicle so far off the road after an accident. The tow truck driver ended up going out and starting it up and backing out of the field. He’s the one who alerted us to the fact that the throttle was stuck, because he was fighting it the whole time.

The cops took us to a little restaurant in Sprague called The Viking. We just had the boys in our laps in the back seat. The tow truck followed us there so we could get the rest of our things. We unloaded all we thought would fit in Mike’s car and took it into the restaurant. Mike showed up in about 30 minutes, and gave us a ride back to his house in Spokane.

Mom and Bill met us there and we headed to the ER to get everyone checked out. No one was in pain or having obvious injuries, but we wanted to error on the safe side. Everybody checked out fine. Another minor miracle is getting in and out of the ER within 1 hour. Jamie got prescribed some pain killers and muscle relaxants, and I got prescribed some muscle relaxants.

We actually enjoyed our weekend at the lake cabin and the boys were able to play in the water and sand. Jamie got tighter and more sore each day, but was able to enjoy herself as well. The worst noticeable injuries so far is a bruise on Jamie’s leg and knee.

The Miracles:

1. Not flipping in a Land Rover swerving @ 80 MPH
2. Hitting no obstructions, cliffs, or drop-offs as we crossed the median and field. Go 1 mile in either direction, and you will see cliffs, large rocks, and drop-offs.
3. Wide open lanes of oncoming traffic. Hindsight haunts me on this one of what could have been.
4. Two cops on the scene by the time we got out of our cars
5. Two witnesses stopping and giving testimonies
6. Getting in and out of the ER in 1 hour

Gods hand in saving our lives is un-deniable, and we thank him, praise him, and trust him fully with our lives. We belong to him, and he has a purpose for our lives. Praise God for his grace and protection.