even in the little things

we just returned from a week long vacation to lincoln city, oregon and i have to say that we had a great time! mom and dad came with us which made it even better. with the kids getting older it is harder and harder to get them to family things so a full week, out of town, where they can't leave...brilliant!

early in the week as we were on the beach looking for treasures my dad said something about a sand dollar. emily asked what that was so he told her. he said he would find one for her and set off to do just that. her poppa searched, head down, scouring the beach all week for a sand dollar that he could give to his baby granddaughter. it got to be thursday and other than the teeny tiny sand dollar that i found he had had no luck.

we just got done playing at hidden beach and he and my mom were off to search some more. as we were all going our different directions in search of whatever treasures caught our attention i started praying. nothing big, i just asked god if he would allow them to find one. i told him that i knew it was just a small thing for him to do but it would mean so much for them to find one. had i not been there for this next part i wouldn't have believed it, but not five minutes after my little talk with god my mom starts calling my name. i walk over to her and you know what she had in her hand?! a stinkin sand dollar!!! a whole, unbroken normal sized sand dollar!

i was overjoyed and a little surprised, although i know i shouldn't be.
1 john 5:14 says "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." it goes on to say in verse 15 "And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him."

i know from experience that god doesn't always work like that. if he did i would be a millionaire :o) but why was i so surprised that god actually heard my prayer and cared enough about me to answer it? he cares about everything we care about no matter how small. so thankful for my 'rainbow' and a lesson that i needed reminding in.

the light of day

the day after the accident we went to get austin's stuff out of the truck. 

the accident looked bad by moonlight but it really gave us a new perspective when we saw in in the light of day.

i can't thank god enough for sparing those two boys.

i can't thank him enough for protecting them.

i keep wondering how they have no visible injuries.

nothing from breaking glass, no bumps, no bruises.

jake has since been diagnosed with a bad concussion and we pray for his quick recovery.

this is what miracles look like.

this is where jake was sitting.

i can't imagine the feelings he must have felt when he realized what had happened considering his side was against the ground, it was dark and he couldn't see austin.

before we left i told austin to stand in front of the truck and smile.

rob asked what there was to smile about (since we only had liability, it's a total loss) to which i replied,

"he's alive. that's plenty to smile about".

Psalm 121:1-8

Psalm 121:1-8
I lift up my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip-he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you-the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm-he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

we got that phone call.

you know, the one that no parent ever wants to receive.

the one that says your child has been in an accident.

fortunately, for us, it was austin doing the calling so i knew, at least for that moment, he was ok.
i answered my phone and all he said was "well, we rolled it".
"rolled what?!"
"the truck".

after asking questions...
are you hurt?
where are you?
are the police there?
...and trying to cope with my mixed emotions of wanting to kill him and hug him at the same time we went after them.

they were about twenty minutes away from where we were so we raced there.

i had no idea what we would find.

all i knew that they they had rolled the truck.

were they covered in cuts and bruises?

was anything broken?

whiplash?

internal bleeding?

we had no idea.

they were on a dirt road in the foothills so as we made the drive up the hill we could sporadically see flashing lights.

we pull around the corner and this is all i could see.

 as we got closer we finally saw the truck.

the boys said they were coming around the corner, hit ice and started sliding.

i can only assume that austin tried to correct and just couldn't get it righted.

the officer said that it looked like they fishtailed several times before they flipped, which made it worse.
the boys don't remember what happened.
they said they were sliding and the next thing they knew they were upside down.

it looked serious upside down.

my child and another mother's child were in this car.

and that was bad enough.

then they flipped it over. 

they didn't just roll the truck.

they hit the ditch and the back end flipped up and over and smashed down onto the edge of the ditch.

the brunt of the impact was in the middle.

right between them.

the officer said that had they landed cross ways they probably wouldn't have made it.

had it been a few inches either direction their heads would've been under that crease.

i know that god watches over our children.

i pray for them daily to be safe in his hands.

this is proof of that protection.

those two boys were able to walk away with no visible effects other than a tiny scratch on austin's hand.

they will be sore and banged up for a few days but when i look at these pictures i think of what might have been and can do nothing but praise god for giving them another chance and giving us more time with them.