Please Buckle Up!

It was July 26th, 2008.  We were headed back from Fairfield, TX,  to Dallas, driving North on I-45 just ouside of Ennis, to have dinner with some of our friends.  The kids were listening to a book on tape, I was driving, and Matt was sleeping in the passenger seat.  Lauren was in the far back passenger side of our 2003 white Suburban, Kyle was in the third row driver side, and Luke was sitting directly behind me in the second row.  The next thing I knew there was a dark SUV no more than 6 inches in front of me.  Knowing there was nothing I could do at this moment, we hit the back of the SUV, and I immediately started praying in my head over and over, "Lord keep us safe, Lord keep us safe...."  

We did a complete side flip in the air, hit the ground and rolled our Suburban two more times down the side of the embankment off I-45.  We landed wheels down and two men were immediately standing at my window.  All of our children were buckled and in car seats.  Matt obviously was awake now, and he surveyed the kids.  All of us were miraculously alive.  Luke had scratches and cuts all over the top of his feet from the window that shattered next to him, 

Lauren had a cut on her arm which resulted in 2 stitches that Matt wrapped up with a pillow case to help stop the bleeding,

and Kyle was completely unscathed. 

 

The two men at my window helped me climb out because the driver door wouldn't open.  They also helped us get our children out of the car.  Driving behind us at the time of the accident was a sweet couple who pastor the Cowboy Church off 45 in Ennis.  After seeing us fly through the air they immediately pulled over to help.  The wife held my crying daughter in her arms while I did my best to comfort our boys.   They helped us find our way down the hill, and were such a blessing to our family at this crazy moment in our lives.  They helped Matt find his glasses, gave us water and sat with my sweet children until the ambulance arrived. Knowing we could no longer drive our suburban due to its condition:

we opted to all take a ride in the ambulance which drove us to the Ennis Regional Medical Center.  Lauren received two stitches and Luke received X rays of his neck because he had neck pain.  Luke's X-rays turned out to be clear, yet another praise to God. As we were waiting in the ER (our 15th Moran family visit by the way) the couple from the Cowboy Church came by the hospital to see how we were doing.  They prayed for us, and we thanked them for being there for us.  

We called our friends to say we would NOT be coming for dinner as we were in the ER.  They asked if they could do anything for us and of course I said we were all fine.  I hung up the phone and 2 minutes later called them back to see if they could come pick us up in Ennis to take us back to Dallas.  Of course, they agreed---what great friends!  Matt and I were pretty sore for the next few weeks.  I thought I had glass in my head and saw the doctor a few days later, but it somehow seemed to have worked its way out.  I am truly thankful for the Lord protecting and keeping my family safe.  We never met or saw those in the dark SUV in front of us, but they too were OK.  So please, buckle up---even if it is just around the corner, or just down the street.  Please, buckle up.