A near miss?

At the beginning of our 5,000+ mile trip we were almost hit by a drunk driver.  By almost, I mean that he was within a foot of our van.  We had been driving on a mostly empty freeway in the middle of Texas.  I had just about passed a semi truck, but was not far enough ahead to pull back into the right lane.  I saw a white mini van coming up behind me very fast.  It was easy to see that he was going to try to pass me on the right and go in front of the truck.  I pulled as far to the left as I could so there was less chance that anyone would get hurt.  There was not room for him to get between me and the truck, and he lost control.  He swerved back and forth a few times coming withing a foot of hitting us.  He ended up going off the road and away from us.  He rolled a couple of times.

At this point we were pulling over as quickly as we could.  Paul was calling 911 and threw the phone at me and ran out the door back to the van before I was even stopped.  Paul was the first one at the van, but there was no one inside.  The driver had been thrown, and was already dead.  Our biggest fear was that there were children inside, thankfully there weren't.  Paul said he could smell the alcohol even without before he was close enough to examine the driver.  He had been driving drunk.  His recklessness nearly caused a tragedy for our family.  But, he was dead, I couldn't be angry, only thankful that we had escaped.  The fussing and whining of our kids didn't sound so bad afterwards.

The more I think about this incident the more I learn from it.  The first thing is that God really is protecting us.  My view is that angels pushed his van away from us.  We were on our way to visit one of my sisters.  She has been worried that we were being reckless taking our kids to such a far away place.  It taught her that God is watching out for us. 

It also seems that there is another lesson God wanted me to learn.  I am a careful mom, I keep my kids close to me and do my best to make sure they stay safe.  There was nothing I could have done to prevent this guy from coming our way.  I had no way to get away from him.  If I can't keep my family safe here in the U.S. how can I expect to keep them safe in Asia?  Instead of making me more afraid, it makes me feel more bold.  How long we survive is up to God, not me.  Knowing that there are people in the world who could hurt us is not going to keep me from going to help when God seems to be directing us to go.

I WILL TRUST GOD.

Crazy Field Trip

 We have been on this crazy cross country trip for almost two weeks.  Here is a sampling of what we have learned.

1.       Chili on top of spaghetti and smothered in cheddar cheese at Skyline in Cincinnati, OH is pretty tasty.

2.       Our kids are terrific even when they are stuck in the car for several hours a day and several days in a row.

3.       Leaving a hotel during 36 degree weather while it is raining is not fun.

4.       God is protecting our family… even from drunk drivers.

5.       3463 miles in a car with five children may be doable… but going back the other way looks pretty daunting from this angle.

6.       Having a sick kid in a hotel is better than having a sick kid in a car.

7.       The four year old version of museum is much more fun to say…  ‘zoozam’.

8.       Crossing into a later time zone the same night as daylight savings time makes getting up the next morning REALLY hard.

9.       Our kids are able to make friends quickly and seem to get along well with everyone.

10.   Listening to three replays of one Dora DVD in a day is three too many and after a while, you don’t  even need to play the DVD to hear everything on it.