Wednesday afternoon we left home for North Carolina to visit my folks, participate in memorial activities for my grandparents, make some money, and jog down to Florida to visit my G’ma there.

Wednesday night around 9.30, we hit Nashville.
Really.
Well, okay, we didn’t hit the whole city, but the two cars we did hit probably feel like we did.

It was a dark and rainy night… and Jonathan doesn’t like driving in the rain. I understand why.

He saw a long line of brake lights ahead of us, and hit the brakes. In retrospect, he thinks that it should have been soon enough to stop (taking distance into account and all…). But the brakes locked up, and down the wet road we slid.

When we hit the first car, we were probably going between 20-30 mph. Despite the fact that the turning was ineffectual due to everything being locked up, because Jonathan was trying to turn the van into the empty lane, we knocked that first car out of the way. When we hit the second car, we had slowed down to around 5 mph, we’re guessing.

I say “we’re guessing,” but that’s a lie. Jonathan is guessing. I have nothing on which to base a guess. I threw the book I had been reading aloud onto the dashboard (face down to save our place, hilariously enough), covered my face with my hands, and cried out “Oh God!” No, I was not taking His name in vain – it was a heartfelt cry for help.

Help was given.

The lady driving the first car we hit was not seriously injured, though the back half of her car was completely smashed. Thankfully, she had no one riding with her. Anyone who had been in that back seat would have had slim chances of survival (I would say none, but we have a big God, you know). They did have to cut the woman out, but the EMT’s seemed convinced she did not have any “serious” injuries. But I pray that she has a good chiropractor and that our insurance is generous in paying for her treatment.

The couple in the second car we hit did not appear to be injured (though again, I hope they see the chiropractor). They drove off once all reports were filed.

And us?

I’ve never been so thankful to hear 7 children cry at the same time. Well, maybe I’ve never heard that before, but it was a sweet sound because it meant that they were all okay enough to cry.

It turns out that the Blessings are all fine. We will be getting follow-up care to insure that they have no lingering effects from the wreck, as their little bodies took quite a shaking up. But they have no critical immediate injuries. Jonathan is sore, but okay. I must have hit the dashboard/console area pretty hard – my left elbow/arm was unusable for the first day or so (I changed a diaper by myself for the first time this morning – kudos to my sweetie!), and my right shoulder has some developing soreness from the seat belt impact. All the relaxin in my system left over from my pregnancy makes a crash like that worse than at another time, but I am functioning pretty well for the most part. Yesterday I would have been typing with one hand, so I’m thankful for my progress.

We have so much to be thankful for in this, and the Lord has kept His faithfulness at the forefront of our minds. He is so good to us!

I’ll write more later about what happened after the wreck, but my body needs a break from the computer.

God is good. All the time.